Mayor Wheeler Announces New Bureau Process

Today, Mayor Wheeler announced the new assignments of City Bureaus beginning an overhauled process of grouping City Bureaus into five service areas: Administration, Public Safety, Community and Economic Development, Public Works, and Culture and Livability. The bureaus within each service area will report to the same Commissioner-in Charge, as assigned by the Mayor.

“Today marks an important step toward the creation of five service-focused city areas that will create the basis for how the future City Administrator will lead bureaus in 2025, overseen by the Mayor,” said Mayor Ted Wheeler. “Over the next two years, we will continue working with commissioner staff and bureaus to help make city-offered services more integrative. I have met with each Commissioner several times over the last few weeks to discuss service areas, including newly elected Commissioner Rene Gonzalez. This shift will help improve how the city manages and oversees bureaus and will ease our full transition to a City Administrator management system over the course of the next two years.”

Under Portland’s current form of government, the Mayor is given the duty to assign city bureaus to each City Commissioner. This follows a recent Executive Order signed on December 30, 2022, which went into effect January 1, 2023, to assign bureaus by service area.

MAYOR TED WHEELER - Administration 

• Office of Management and Finance
• City Budget Office
• Office of Government Relations
• Office of the City Attorney
• Portland Police Bureau
• Joint Office of Homeless Services

Liaison Responsibilities 

• League of Oregon Cities    

COMMISSIONER CARMEN RUBIO - Community and Economic Development 

• Portland Housing Bureau
• Bureau of Development Services
• Bureau of Planning and Sustainability 
• Prosper Portland  

Liaison Responsibilities  

• Venture Portland 
• Home Forward 
• Visitor Development Fund Board (with Mapps) 
• Travel Portland   
• The Gateway Center
• Workforce Development Board   
• Portland Mall Management, Inc.   
• Portland Film Office   
• Metro Policy Advisory Committee   
• Mt. Hood Cable Regulatory Commission    

COMMISSIONER MINGUS MAPPS – Public Works 

• Portland Water Bureau   
• Bureau of Hydroelectric Power   
• Bureau of Environmental Services 
• Portland Bureau of Transportation     

Liaison Responsibilities   

• Portland Aerial Tram Board   
• Portland Streetcar, Inc.   
• Joint Policy Advisory Committee on Transportation   
• Rose Festival Foundation   
• Royal Rosarians   
• Fair & Moral Claims Committee (with Ryan) 
• Visitor Development Fund Board (with Rubio) 
• Local Public Safety Coordinating Council (with Gonzalez)  

COMMISSIONER RENE GONZALEZ – Public Safety 

• Portland Fire & Rescue   
• Fire & Police Disability & Retirement  
• Bureau of Emergency Communications
• Portland Bureau of Emergency Management  

Liaison Responsibilities   

• Regional Disaster Policy Organization 
• Local Public Safety Coordinating Council (with Mapps)
• BOEC User Board  

COMMISSIONER DAN RYAN – Culture and Livability  

• Office of Community and Civic Life
• Office of Equity and Human Rights 
• Portland Parks & Recreation    

Liaison Responsibilities  

• Regional Arts and Culture Council 
• Metropolitan Exposition and Recreation Commission   
• Portland’5 Centers for the Arts
• Multnomah Youth Commission   
• Multnomah County Animal Control 
• Portland Children’s Levy 
• Pioneer Courthouse Square  
• Portland Parks Foundation   
• East Portland Action Plan 
• Fair & Moral Claims Committee (with Mapps)  

Oversight of the Small Donor Elections Program is set by City Code 2.16.190, which will be amended in early 2023.  

Note on Portland Voters Approve Charter Change

On November 8, 2022, voters approved Portland Measure 26-228, which amended the City’s Charter by establishing a mayor-council form of government, establishing the role of a City Administrator, creating four new geographic districts with three councilors representing each district, and electing City officials using ranked choice voting.  

With this new form of government taking effect in January 2025, City Council has two years to implement these charter changes, including transitioning how City bureaus are administratively managed to align with and prepare for City Administrator oversight and improve service delivery to Portlanders.  

During the two-year implementation window, the City must continue to focus on addressing major challenges citywide, specifically regarding homelessness and public safety. The work listed above represents three essential drivers of change: preparing for better governance, improving service delivery and bureau management, and addressing Portland’s most challenging problems of homelessness and public safety.