Portland's Chief Administrative Officer Michael Jordan on his proposed new org chart, change management for 7,000 city employees, and an ever-growing to-do list.
Thanks, David! I hope city reporters will cover this story (I try to complement their coverage rather than compete with it), but if they don't write about it, I certainly will! I found the debate about the org chart a bit theatrical. The reality is that there will need to be multiple iterations, and the new council may very well decide to revamp it completely. It does have budget implications, though, and that's an important story.
Good point! I agree that it’s possible to centralize to much and local government is often one of those things where “you had to be there” to get all the necessary nuance. I also agree that councilors will be incentivized to address constituent concerns since being accessible and responsive may be the best way to get re-elected. M
Hello Maja, on November 1, 2023 Portland City Council approved new organizational chart for Portland city government in which the new City Administrator, and indirectly the new Mayor, will oversee the staff of the new city council. You might consider doing a post on how that will work.
What is the reason why each councilor should have a district office? One likely reason is that a significant part of each councilor's work will be addressing constituent concerns. Councilors will want a visible presence in their districts. Even if the city manager creates an office that is amazingly efficient in handling constituent concerns, which would be a landmark in municipal governance, citizens will likely turn their elected representative(s) for dealing with the bureaucracy. If those representative(s) want to be re-elected, they won't shrug off those concerns as "not my responsibility," which some opponents of reform predict will happen. On the contrary, elected representatives might be more likely to compete for the opportunity to take credit for addressing and, perhaps, resolving the concerns of this, that, or the other individual, group or neighborhood within their district. Councilors will have much more responsibility than pondering complexities of public policy. Still, this leaves unresolved a challenge for the city administrator: rearranging bureaus in an organization chart doesn't guarantee that they'll innovate to better serve constituents city-wide. How will he or she accomplish that?
Thanks, David! I hope city reporters will cover this story (I try to complement their coverage rather than compete with it), but if they don't write about it, I certainly will! I found the debate about the org chart a bit theatrical. The reality is that there will need to be multiple iterations, and the new council may very well decide to revamp it completely. It does have budget implications, though, and that's an important story.
Good point! I agree that it’s possible to centralize to much and local government is often one of those things where “you had to be there” to get all the necessary nuance. I also agree that councilors will be incentivized to address constituent concerns since being accessible and responsive may be the best way to get re-elected. M
Hello Maja, on November 1, 2023 Portland City Council approved new organizational chart for Portland city government in which the new City Administrator, and indirectly the new Mayor, will oversee the staff of the new city council. You might consider doing a post on how that will work.
What is the reason why each councilor should have a district office? One likely reason is that a significant part of each councilor's work will be addressing constituent concerns. Councilors will want a visible presence in their districts. Even if the city manager creates an office that is amazingly efficient in handling constituent concerns, which would be a landmark in municipal governance, citizens will likely turn their elected representative(s) for dealing with the bureaucracy. If those representative(s) want to be re-elected, they won't shrug off those concerns as "not my responsibility," which some opponents of reform predict will happen. On the contrary, elected representatives might be more likely to compete for the opportunity to take credit for addressing and, perhaps, resolving the concerns of this, that, or the other individual, group or neighborhood within their district. Councilors will have much more responsibility than pondering complexities of public policy. Still, this leaves unresolved a challenge for the city administrator: rearranging bureaus in an organization chart doesn't guarantee that they'll innovate to better serve constituents city-wide. How will he or she accomplish that?