Another bureau director is resigning from the city of Portland.
Sonia Schmanski, the interim director of Portland Parks and Recreation, submitted her resignation Wednesday, effective at the end of June, according to an email to staff from Public Works Deputy City Administrator Priya Dhanapal.
Art Pearce, deputy director of planning at the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) will take over the interim role.
Schmanski is the second person to leave the parks bureau leadership position in the past year. Last June, Adena Long was placed on administrative leave before resigning the following month following a six-year stint as the bureau’s director. Schmanski stepped in as interim director after Long’s unexplained exit.
The parks bureau leadership shakeup follows a pattern of high turnover at the city’s highest levels. Schmanski is one of at least seven city leaders—including six bureau directors and a deputy city administrator—to leave the city over the past year.
The parks bureau has faced heavy financial strain in recent years and is expected to lose significant funding under Mayor Keith Wilson’s budget, which goes into effect on July 1.
Schmanski worked at the city for 18 years in various capacities. She served as Commissioner Nick Fish’s chief of staff, and served as liaison to the Portland Housing Bureau from 2012 to 2013.
More recently, she briefly led the city’s Vibrant Communities (formerly called the Office of Community & Civic Life) service area as deputy chief administrative officer during the city’s government transition.
“During her tenure as PP&R’s director, she helped guide the bureau through a significant period of transition, including renewal of the Parks Levy and advancement of several important organizational and strategic priorities…” Dhanapal wrote in her email to staff and city leaders.
While Schmanski didn’t disclose whether she’s moving on to take a position elsewhere, she appears to be leaving of her own accord. In a leadership transition letter shared with her colleagues, Schmanski called the last year leading Portland Parks & Recreation (PP&R) “the most interesting and rewarding” among her 18 years with the city.
“It’s been quite a year—referring and now preparing to implement the new levy, pivoting and adapting to new priorities, and beginning work toward a long-range funding plan that will support the stability and predictability you deserve,” Schmanski wrote. “Throughout, my biggest takeaway is how valued this parks and recreation system is by Portlanders and City leaders, and the amount of care and expertise you bring to delivering it each day.”
Portland City Council President Jamie Dunphy, who worked alongside Schmanski in Commissioner Nick Fish’s office years prior, called her exit “a huge loss.”
“Sonia was my chief of staff at Nick’s office and continues to be a close and trusted advisor and friend,” Dunphy told the Mercury. “She has literally dedicated her entire professional career to the City of Portland, with her first job out of college working the front desk at Nick Fish’s office, making her way up to Chief and then to the DCA. She’s an incredibly talented and dedicated public servant. … I’ve actually had the privilege of knowing Sonia since I was 16 years old. We went to high school together.”
Dhanapal, the deputy city administrator, said the city has “already initiated a national recruitment process” for the bureau’s next permanent director and expects to publicly launch that recruitment this summer.
