Wheeler assigns bureaus to incoming City Council December 23 2020
Portland is the only large American city where council members oversee bureaus instead of a professional manager.
Mayor Ted Wheeler has announced the bureau and liaison assignments for the City Council that takes office on Jan. 1, 2021.
Portland is the only large American city where council members oversee bureaus instead of having them all supervised by professional city managers. Assigning bureaus is one of the few powers of the Portland mayor.
Two of the council members, Mingus Mapps and Carmen Rubio, will be new and have never overseen bureaus before.
As expected, Wheeler is keeping the Portland Police Bureau, even though Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty has asked for it.
by Alex Zielinski • Dec 23, 2020 at 2:01 pm COSMONAUT / GETTY IMAGES
Mayor Ted Wheeler has released his much-anticipated bureau assignments for Portland city commissioners in 2021. The decision one of the rare executive powers of a Portland mayor offers a peek at what roles Wheeler wants his freshman commissioners to take on in the coming year.
Here s the breakdown:
Comissioner Jo Ann Hardesty
Hardesty has been assigned two of the top bureaus overseen by outgoing Commissioner Chloe Eudaly: Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) and the Office of Community and Civic Life (OCCL). The later assignment is most notable, since incoming Commissioner Mingus Mapps is a former employee of OCCL and centered much of his campaign on decrying Eudaly s work in the bureau. This decision shows that Wheeler s cautious about tearing down the work Eudaly put into the bureau, including her contentious proposal to allow other community groups the same