Portland cut a quiet six-figure check to its top emergency manager to get him to walk away from the job, records show. Shad Ahmed, who had run the Portland Bureau of Emergency Management since 2022, was placed on administrative leave in mid-January and resigned in early February. His exit package, totaling just under $115,000 and including six months of health insurance, is the latest payout to raise eyebrows among residents and members of the City Council.
Terms of the exit deal
According to OregonLive, a severance agreement dated Feb. 9, 2026, spells out a one-time payment of "just shy of $115,000" along with six months of continued health coverage in exchange for Ahmed agreeing to resign. The documents state that the payout was negotiated while he was on leave and that it includes nondisclosure and legal release provisions. OregonLive’s review of the agreement quickly prompted questions about how the deal was approved and why the city chose to pay out at all.
Leave, pay and bureau role
Deputy City Administrator Bob Cozzie told staff that Ahmed had been placed on paid administrative leave on Jan. 16, 2026, as first reported by OPB. OPB reported that Ahmed’s annual salary was $229,424 and that he remained on the city’s payroll for the duration of his leave. The Portland Bureau of Emergency Management, which coordinates the city’s response to pandemics, extreme weather and other crises, will be run by an interim director while city officials figure out what comes next.
A string of six-figure payouts
Ahmed’s deal is part of a growing list of costly send-offs for top city staff. OregonLive reports that over the past year, Portland has shelled out more than $700,000 to departing leaders, including roughly $240,880 to former Housing Bureau Director Helmi Hisserich. Local coverage has also detailed a $140,000 severance for former Parks Director Adena Long, according to Willamette Week, and a $212,992 payout to Prosper Portland’s former interim director Shea Flaherty Betin, as reported by Willamette Week. Taken together, the numbers suggest that six-figure goodbye checks are becoming something of a habit at City Hall.
Transparency and scrutiny
Advocates and several council members argue that when City Hall quietly negotiates severance deals for high-level officials, taxpayers deserve far more explanation than they have been getting. Ahmed did not respond to reporters’ questions about his departure, and the city has not publicly laid out the reasoning behind his resignation or several other recent exits, according to OPB. For now, an interim director is keeping daily operations at the emergency management bureau on track while city leaders weigh their longer-term options.
The Ahmed agreement lands on top of a year’s worth of headlines about senior staff departures and sizable payouts in Portland, and it is feeding a broader local debate over whether the city’s current personnel practices provide enough transparency or accountability for the people who ultimately fund them.
