Portland Courant

Transitioning to a Council-Mayor form of government with a city administrator will allow for a whole-city approach to systems and problem-solving.  

By Jan. 1, 2025, the City of Portland’s 28 bureaus and offices will align under the leadership and management of a city administrator that reports to the mayor. This is a change from the current structure, where bureaus report to one of five council members.   

Portlanders are invited to join us on July 27, as the City of Portland Transition Team will host an information session on the City of Portland’s City Organization and Future Improvements projects, which are part of the voter-approved Charter Transition effort.

To build understanding about how the City can improve its delivery of services, the session will feature a project overview and a report about what the City has learned from years of community engagement surveying and research.  At the session, the City will highlight how it intends to use the community outcomes information to help make decisions about changes to the way the City is organized.

The need for updating organizational structure

Transitioning to a Mayor-Council form of government with a city administrator will allow for a whole-city approach to systems and problem-solving. By Jan. 1, 2025, the City of Portland’s 28 bureaus and offices will align under the leadership and management of a city administrator that reports to the mayor. This is a change from the current structure, where bureaus report to one of five council members. 

Updating the organizational structure to report to a city administrator sets the City up for success in the new form of government and lays the groundwork for future improvements on how services are delivered to Portlanders. City government is evolving to meet the needs of our diverse communities, and this project is one example of that evolution. 

City leadership is designing the new recommended reporting structure

City Council and the chief administrative officer are leading the organizational design process with bureau directors and other leaders to develop a recommendation for a high-level bureau reporting structure. Ultimately, the new structure will include logical groupings of bureaus and programs and will support the new administrator in managing the city’s operations on their very first day.

The goal of the City Organization project is to build a reporting structure that the city administrator can manage. If it stays in its current form, the city administrator would have more than two dozen direct reports. This reporting structure will identify organizational changes at a program level or higher. To design the new organizational structure, the city is working with leadership and stakeholders to complete an assessment of current program and bureau structure to inform future recommendations. 

In October 2023, this workgroup will send a recommendation for a high-level organizational structure to City Council for consideration. This is a critical deadline to meet so that the City can begin its budgeting process to inform the 2024-25 fiscal year budget.

City council will determine the high-level organizational structure in October 2023

After the council decision, the project focus turns to implementation. This requires technical planning, ranging from budget preparations to human resources to facility logistics. This timing will allow the team to provide support to employees impacted by the change – including training, change management, and clear and effective communication. The changes will start to go into effect starting in July 2024, and the new high-level organizational structure is scheduled to be in place by Jan. 1, 2025.

The City is also investing in a future improvements project focused on building culture, enhancing communications, and implementing future structural changes that will help us improve our service delivery to Portlanders.

Employee survey has attracted a response from approximately 17% of City staff so far

In spring and summer 2023, all employees were invited to participate in a survey to inform the ongoing assessments. Survey questions posed to employees during the assessments help to inform answers to the questions bureau directors and city council leadership are tackling. Employees will also have opportunities to participate transition project-wide town halls from summer to fall 2023 and submit comments and feedback via a transition email address. 

Portlanders are invited to attend an information session hosted by the City of Portland Transition Team

The information session on July 27 will share results, learnings, and improvements collected from thousands of Portlanders who have participated in various City-led community engagement opportunities over the last few years.

Results from the employee survey and the Community Outcomes Report will be incorporated into an analysis tool that helps City leadership understand and choose between different organizational options and will help inform the upcoming future improvements project.

Background

In November 2022, Portland voters approved Ballot Measure 26-228 that directs the City of Portland to implement these three connected changes by Jan. 1, 2025: 

• Allow voters to rank candidates in order of preference, using ranked-choice voting.
• Establish four geographic districts, with three city council members elected to represent each district – expanding city council to a total of 12 members.
• Establish the city council to focus on setting policy and engaging with community, transitioning day-to-day oversight of bureaus to a mayor elected citywide and a professional city administrator.

Resources

Track details of the July 27 information session.

Visit Portland.gov/Transition or employees.portland.gov/transition

Ask a question or submit a comment by to: transition@portlandoregon.gov

Subscribe to the monthly transition e-newsletter at portland.gov/transition/updates

Original source can be found here