Skip to main content
The Portland City Council on Wednesday confirmed the appointment of Michael Jordan as the city administrator, the top administrator overseeing all the city’s bureaus, until 2026.
The council voted 11-1 to confirm him. Jordan is a decades-long bureaucrat who’s led the city’s two-year transformation into a new form of government since Portlanders voted to overhaul the system in November 2022.
Jordan, known for his even-handed leadership and diplomatic air, received tough questions from some of the councilors about his work to date in leading the city’s transformation. As WW reported earlier this week, councilors have been vocal about what they see as a top-heavy administration that’s not been trimmed down to save costs as the city faces a $100 million budget deficit. (Jordan has said that the work is in progress, and difficult shrinkage is imminent.)
That tension between the administrative and legislative branches has appeared in other ways, too: over what to cut at the city to fund increased staffing for each of the 12 councilors, over which branch has the authority to issue a land use compatibility statement recently granted to Zenith Energy, and generally over budget plans in a dismal fiscal year.
During the Wednesday meeting, councilors peppered Jordan with difficult questions about the size of the administration and how he’ll handle a tough budget cycle in which sizable cuts are inevitable.
Councilor Dan Ryan asked Jordan if he was willing to do “extremely uncomfortable things” in the next year to slim down the city’s costs.
“In my opinion, now we have some pretty obvious clutter and duplication of roles in middle management. The budget doesn’t give us the luxury of waiting for a city manager in 2026. We need to do difficult surgery today,” Ryan said. “Are you willing to end your celebrated career with a tough year of doing the efficiency of merging the bureaus and providing us a cost-service?”
Jordan said he was willing.
“I’m prepared to do a number of difficult things...this is as severe a budget challenge as I’ve seen in 40 years, and it’s going to require extraordinary change,” Jordan replied. “We will reduce our footprint. There’s just no question. We will haver to be a more streamlined, efficient, and frankly smaller organization than we are today. We don’t have a choice.”
The council, despite peppering Jordan with difficult questions, approved his confirmation by an 11-1 vote. The only holdout was Councilor Sameer Kanal.
The City Council unanimously confirmed the appointment of City Attorney Robert Taylor at the same meeting. Both Taylor and Jordan were nominated by Mayor Keith Wilson.