Millicent Williams, who has helped lead local transportation agencies and worked for a private sector urban design firm, has been tapped to lead the Portland Bureau of Transportation, Portland Commissioner Mingus Mapps announced Friday.
Williams has previously worked as a deputy director of PBOT and was most recently the regional director for Otak, a Portland-based urban design firm. She also works for the Interstate Bridge Replacement program, as a facilitator for the group of regional and local officials behind the effort to replace the Interstate 5 bridge across the Columbia River.
In a news release, Mapps described Williams as a “career public servant” and said he held an “open, competitive process” to find a new director for the agency. He said he looked for someone with executive experience in transportation and someone who could build strong relationships with other agencies.
Williams said she is excited to work with her new staff and with communities around Portland.
“At a time when the bureau and city are facing tremendous challenges, I look forward to advancing PBOT’s work with compassion, viewing the work through an equity lens, considering the work in relation to our climate goals, and performing the work with excellence,” Williams said in a statement.
Williams’ predecessor, Chris Warner, left Portland’s transportation bureau in January to work for Gov. Tina Kotek. In the interim, PBOT Deputy Director Tara Wasiak led the agency.
Williams will step into the role at a “turning point” for PBOT, Mapps said.
The bureau is facing a $32 million shortfall next year, which will fall mainly on its road maintenance budget. The city will reduce services like repaving roads and filling potholes, and may have to cut between 50 and 100 jobs. Mapps said the agency will need to find a new funding model, as its primary sources of transportation funding, gas taxes and parking fees, have plummeted. The city will also be transitioning to a new organizational structure under charter reform.
Mapps said he’s confident Williams can lead PBOT through those changes.
“She will bring a fresh viewpoint to the challenges the bureau faces, having served as agency director or senior executive under three separate agencies in Washington, D.C., and in her current position as regional director at Otak,” Mapps said in a written statement.
During her time in D.C., Williams was one of several people implicated in a federal investigation of a D.C. city councilor. She pleaded guilty in 2013 to directing $110,000 funds from a Washington, D.C., based nonprofit that she ran toward an inaugural ball, at the direction of the city councilor, then signed tax forms misrepresenting the purpose of the funds.
Williams served 15 months of probation, and documents show that she was not accused of personally benefiting from the misdirection of funds.
Mapps said he was aware of Williams’ legal history from the beginning of the search.
“Ms. Williams underwent a thorough and rigorous selection process for the director position,” Mapps said in a statement. “She has been very forthcoming about her legal history, and I have been impressed with her honesty and willingness to take responsibility for her actions. I am confident she is the right person for the position, and I am grateful she accepted.”
Williams will take the agency reins on July 24.
—Jayati Ramakrishnan; jramakrishnan@oregonian.com