Six Portland bureaus have acting or fill-in directors, an unusually high number of vacancies atop the city government amid efforts to modernize and set long-term plans during a period of rapid growth.

Bureaus hosting interim directors run the gamut of city services. The acting directors include Chris Warner at the Bureau of Transportation, Kia Selley at Parks & Recreation, Courtney Patterson at the Bureau of Emergency Management, Joe Zehnder at Planning and Sustainability, Koffi Dessou at the Office of Equity and Human Rights, and Jessica Kinard at the City Budget Office.

Most of the stand-ins were high-level officials within their bureaus before being tapped by a commissioner-in-charge as a temporary director. Others once worked in a commissioner’s office, like Warner, who was chief of staff to then-Commissioner Steve Novick.

Some have served for months in their acting role, like Dessou, who has been an interim director for close to a year.

Churn is common atop Portland’s sprawling bureaucracy. (Police chiefs are notoriously short-tenured.) But so much turnover at once is atypical. It can also affect city services as temporary directors learn the ropes of being a chief executive, and as bureaus take on new, big, important projects.

Take the City Budget Office, a bureau that is obscure and small yet of vital importance to city operations. The bureau has an interim director as officials are working on a million-dollar project to replace the city’s budgeting software and as city bureaus are undertaking a new budget-writing process on the orders of Mayor Ted Wheeler and Tom Rinehart, his chief administrative officer.

The vacancies also offer a chance for Wheeler and the city commissioners, who can hire and fire bureau directors at will, to move their agendas forward — and cement legacies. Executives selected by the mayor and commissioners leave an imprint on bureau cultures and projects, and often outlast the elected official who appointed them.

-- Gordon R. Friedman

GFriedman@Oregonian.com