Seven Portland City Bureaus Need New Chiefs After Wave of Resignations

More than half the city's bureaus have new leadership — or will soon.

Portland City Council meeting. (Thomas Teal)

The city of Portland is putting out the "help wanted" sign for a remarkable number of top management positions after three city bureau directors announced their resignations in just over a week.

The latest announcement: city budget director Andrew Scott, who is leaving to become the deputy chief operating officer of Metro after 15 years with the city.

He follows Parks & Recreation director Mike Abbaté, who was pushed out by City Commissioner Amanda Fritz, and transportation chief Leah Treat, who is leaving for a San Francisco-based consulting firm with offices in Portland.

There are now seven bureau director slots that need to be filled with permanent directors (though some have interim leadership). An eighth director at Bureau of Internal Business Services left after the bureau was eliminated.

Those bureaus that need a permanent director:

  • Parks and Recreation
  • Bureau of Transportation
  • City Budget Office
  • Bureau of Emergency Management
  • Housing Bureau
  • Bureau of Planning and Sustainability
  • Office of Equity and Human Rights

That means that more than half the city's bureaus will experience turnover at the top over a less than two-year period.

In the last year and half, other bureaus and offices that have come under leadership, partly as a result of the election of Mayor Ted Wheeler and Commissioner Chloe Eudaly in November 2016:

  • The Office of Neighborhood Involvement
  • Bureau of Development Services
  • Bureau of Emergency Communications
  • Office of Government Relations
  • Bureau of Human Resources
  • Police Bureau
  • Office of Management and Finance
  • Bureau of Revenue and Financial Services

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