In an early test of his leadership style, Portland Mayor-elect Ted Wheeler plans on letting city commissioners know which bureaus they'll run by Jan.3 - but those assignments will only be temporary.

The Mayor-elect plans to take all the bureaus back when it comes time to plan the budget in April, Wheeler told The Oregonian/Oregonlive in an interview Wednesday. At that time, he could reassign the bureaus, replace directors or tweak bureau structures.

The ability to assign bureaus at will is one of the few powers granted exclusively to the mayor under Portland's commission form of government. Assignments can sometimes be seen as political statements -and lead to tension with commissioners.

"I want to see progress and clear progress in terms of accomplishing the goals that I've laid out for my administration, and the goals that they have laid out for themselves," Wheeler said.

The mayor said he wants the council to collectively give input on the budget and to think about the best use of resources "enterprise wide."

"What I'm trying to do is use this process as an opportunity to force collaboration into a siloed form of government," Wheeler said.

Commissioners Amanda Fritz and Dan Saltzman declined to comment. Commissioner Nick Fish could not be immediately reached for comment.

--Jessica Floum

jfloum@oregonian.com

@cityhallwatch

@jfloum