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The city of Portland will give its next procurement officer greater authority to approve construction and professional services contracts, a move intended to save projects a time-consuming trip to City Council.

The council voted Thursday to increase the value of contracts that can be approved without a council vote as a pilot program scheduled to end December 2018. Construction contracts of $1 million or less, and professional and technical service contracts of $500,000 or less, may now be approved administratively.

A review of the past 17 months found that the new rule would have applied to 95 contracts valued at $9.5 million. Several of these contracts were amended at council, but not rejected.

City code requires contracts of certain dollar amounts receive council approval prior to the issuance of a notice to proceed.

The rule change is intended to speed the execution of permits for developers and lighten the load of council, according to Jen Clodius, spokeswoman for the Office of Management and Finance. The wait to be scheduled for a council hearing is approximately two months, she said.

Mayor Ted Wheeler and his predecessor, Charlie Hales, came under fire for not acting fast enough in response to the growing wave of housing unaffordability.

“Conceptually, I think this is a good idea,” said Wheeler, who introduced the ordinance. “It’s been my observation over seven months that a lot come to the council, and few get pulled.”

The position of chief procurement officer is currently vacant. Larry Pelatt has been filling in until a replacement for previous procurement officer Christine Moody, who recently started at a similar position at the Port of Portland.

The authorization change is happening now because the procurement officer position is currently vacant and Chief Financial Officer Ken Rust is nearing retirement, Clodius said.

The next procurement officer will be authorized to solicit and execute contracts for construction projects valued under $1 million, with permission from the bureau initiating the project. Contracts for the purchase or lease of goods and services are also now capped at $1 million.

It passed as an emergency ordinance and thus doesn’t require a second reading at council. Clodius said this was done with speed in mind.

“It’s like, let’s just get this done,” she said by phone Thursday.

Construction contracts represent a far smaller number of the total contracts the city enters into with vendors – 6.7 percent of 1,258. However, at $245 million of $375 million total, their value is by far higher than goods, services, and professional and technical contracts.

Approximately 35 people work under the chief procurement officer.