The Portland Bureau of Environmental Services (BES) requested comments from the public on its proposed updates to Portland City Code Title 17 and related BES administrative rules regarding the administrative review process. As used in the proposal, “administrative review” refers to reconsideration of a bureau decision by Environmental Services employees upon request by an affected ratepayer or customer. In an effort to ensure the bureau is providing clear and consistent information to its customers, BES reviewed language in city code and BES rules and identified sections that could be updated to make sure that requesting and participating in the administrative review process is predictable, consistent, and user-friendly for our customers.

The proposed updates to code and rule include addressing inconsistencies regarding deadlines, including adding deadlines where there are none currently or extending deadlines. BES is also proposing removing or changing language that is inconsistent between code and rules regarding which decisions are eligible for administrative review. Other, more minor, proposed updates include removing or revising grammatical errors, missing words, and typos, as well as removing and revising any gender-specific language. The proposed changes relate only to city code and rule that is implemented solely by BES.

The proposed code and rule revisions and a fact sheet are available for download and review at the links below.

The comment period is now closed.

Please send questions to Alice Brawley-Chesworth at alice.brawley-chesworth@portlandoregon.gov or call 503-823-4913.