Raymond Lee confirmed as Portland’s city administrator

On Wednesday, Raymond Lee became Portland’s first full-time and permanent city administrator. When Mayor Keith Wilson announced his nominee for the role in front of City Council yesterday, he described Lee’s job as, “a role that will oversee day-to-day operations across more than two dozen bureaus and departments, ensuring accountability, alignment, and service to our residents.”

Lee earned unanimous support from council and never faltered or flinched during nearly two hours of questioning from city councilors and the media. During his opening remarks, Lee shared that he comes from a family of public servants. His mother was a city manager and his father spent 30 years in the Dallas Fire Department. After leaving his hometown of Dallas, Lee earned a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Kansas and a bachelor’s degree in public administration from Henderson State University in Arkansas. According to his resume, Lee has also completed leadership and financial certification programs at Cornell, Harvard, and Yale.

Lee faces the daunting task of realizing the (sometimes competing) visions of Mayor Wilson and the 12 councilors. And whether or not he should even have an opinion about specific legislation and policy ideas is still up for debate. During his questioning of Lee, Councilor Eric Zimmerman said, “The city administration has to have a spine. [Council] will come up with good ideas, but we will also come up with some bad ideas. It doesn’t work if the city administration does not have an opinion on our legislation… It requires you to enter the knowledge void and get into the mix with us about what is good and what is bad policy.”

But during a press conference that followed his confirmation, Lee was asked by Willamette Week reporter Sophie Peel about that exchange. “Do you think you should have an opinion?” she asked.

“No,” Lee clarified. “My role is just to provide our professional expertise and call in knowledge.”

Biking and transportation-related issues weren’t discussed during the confirmation hearing (except for Councilor Jamie Dunphy saying to Lee, “Portland is a weird place, and it’s weird in that we have naked bike rides and Voodoo Donuts and things like that.”). However, I was able to ask Lee a question at the press conference.

After inviting him to an interview-by-bike, I asked:

“Can you share your personal experience with mobility and getting around? Do you ever take the bus? Do you mostly drive? Do you walk? Do you have a bike? Do you ride it? And how will those experiences inform the way you look at transportation issues in Portland?”

To which he responded:

“You know, I’ve done it all. I’ve walked to work when I actually lived downtown in Dallas. I’ve driven to work, so I understand how much time residents and people who work in the downtown area may waste time of their life just in traffic as a whole. And I want to make sure we’re getting people to point A to point B in the safest, securest way possible, in the fastest way possible, ensuring that’s happening at a rate that is adding life back to people — instead of taking away time from their loved ones and the work that they enjoy doing every day.

And that’s looking at, how do we address transportation overall? Not just for today, but also for tomorrow, and ensuring that the plans that we have, that we’re partners with other entities and quasi-governmental entities that partner with us in Portland, to ensure that all of our plans are integrated to help move traffic and transportation forward as a whole.

A good portion of my career has been spent in transportation and ensuring it’s done in an efficient, effective and economical manner. And that’s always been a proponent of my philosophy, ensuring that people are being able to get to their destinations in a safe and secure manner.”

You can watch our exchange in the video below:

Lee faces a daunting task. Our city government and Portlanders in general are restless and desperate for an injection of confidence and civic victories. Mayor Wilson cultivated broad council support for Lee and that effort provides Lee with solid footing to begin his work. But there’s likely to be a big adjustment coming from the relatively small city of Greeley to the much larger, and at times almost ungovernable, Portland.

At one point during his confirmation discussion, Lee referred to Dallas, Texas as a progressive city. That led Councilor Sameer Kanal to say, “If you think Dallas is progressive, buckle up.”

Lee appears to be fully strapped-in and seems undeterred by the challenge. “I’m excited about what the future has in store for this great city,” he told councilors. “And I’m excited about the opportunity to be able to partner with the city council and the mayor to shape what the future will be for Portland.”