But the agency was sitting on the results.
Poore said Terence Jackson, the agency’s public housing director, told her Omaha
Healthy Kids didn’t send him testing results until July 30, when he was helping
Poore prepare an answer to the newsroom’s inquiry about testing.
But according to internal emails obtained through an open records request,
Jackson received high test results in December 2018 from a housing authority
employee and in May directly from Omaha Healthy Kids.
Poore announced Jackson’s departure the same day she provided the emails to
The Oregonian/OregonLive. Poore declined to say why Jackson no longer works
for her. A severance agreement shows Jackson resigned and will be paid four
months’ salary.
He declined repeated requests for comment.
As a result of the newsroom’s investigation, Omaha has told tenants whose
homes tested high and has installed radon removal systems.
But Poore also decided to stop looking for additional radon problems. She
suspended the Omaha Healthy Kids’ contract, which authorized testing in
hundreds more units. She initially said her agency needed to get a better handle
on how it processed test results.
Poore later said the agency’s board will have to decide whether to test at all, as a
matter of policy. There’s no timeline for a decision.
Radon in Portland and Oregon
The shaded map shows the percentage of radon test locations in each zip code that showed high levels of
the carcinogenic gas. The Oregon Health Authority tracks the results of tests conducted by private
homeowners and submitted to test manufacturers. No shading means no data, or only limited testing, exists
for the zipcode.