Seven Top Portland Bureaucrat Posts Will Be Filled in the Next Six Months

There's a backlog to fill the director jobs at bureaus, after interim directors have served for as long as eight months.

Portland City Council meeting. (Thomas Teal)

There are so many top bureaucrat spots to fill at Portland City Hall that they can't all be replaced at the same time.

The city's Bureau of Human Resources, who has new leadership as of last December, has laid out a plan for filling positions over the next six months. Some of them, including the Portland Housing Bureau and Office of Equity and Human Rights, have been run by interim leaders for as long as eight months already.

Below is the list, in order of when the selection process is projected to be completed, along with the commissioner who will oversee the bureau, beginning in September. New bureau assignments were doled out by Mayor Ted Wheeler on Wednesday.

One wrinkle to the plan is that City Commissioner Nick Fish, who was recently given the assignment of Parks and Recreation, wants a faster recruitment.

"Right now Parks is in good hands," says Fish. "But we're going to go through a national search to settle on the new leader, and right now Parks is at the bottom of the list. It may make sense to see if we can move it up a little bit."

The schedule includes:

—City Budget Office (overseen by Mayor Ted Wheeler), process complete by mid-to-late November.

–Office of Equity and Human Rights (moving to Commissioner Amanda Fritz), late November.

—Portland Housing Bureau (Wheeler), early December.

—Portland Bureau of Transportation (moving to Commissioner Chloe Eudaly), late December.

—Bureau of Planning & Sustainability Director (Wheeler), late December.

—Emergency Management Director (moving to Commissioner Dan Saltzman, and then new commissioner elected in November), late January.

—Portland Parks and Recreation (moving to Commissioner Fish), late February

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