Top Public Works Leader to Leave the City

The deputy city administrator of public works, Priya Dhanapal, is leaving her position at the city of Portland.

Dhanapal is one of the city’s six deputy city administrators under the new form of government. They report directly to City Administrator Raymond Lee.

The circumstances around Dhanapal’s departure—and whether she was asked to resign or is leaving of her own volition—were not immediately clear. She was appointed to the position in May 2024 and oversees 3,200 employees across the Transportation, Water, Parks and Environmental Services bureaus. The directors of those three bureaus report to Dhanapal.

Dhanapal’s last day is Sept. 4, according to an email from Lee to city councilors on Aug. 25.

Lee thanked Dhanapal for her work. “Since joining the City in July 2024, she has played an essential role in integrating this large, complex portfolio – encompassing 3,000 employees and a $4.7 billion budget,” he wrote.

Millicent Williams, director of the Portland Bureau of Transportation, will serve in the interim while the city conducts a national search for a permanent deputy.

Councilor Tiffany Koyama Lane said in a statement she worked closely with Dhanapal on two transportation-based policy initiatives and “got to see firsthand her ability to take on difficult, high-stakes issues, navigate competing perspectives, bring people together across organizational and political boundaries, and move complex work forward.”

Councilor Olivia Clark said she “enjoyed working with her as chair of the public works committee,” adding that she was “very professional, very competent, and we had a great working relationship.”

It was not immediately clear whether Dhanapal would receive severance for her departure.