City sets up centralized program management, hires chief program officer and budgets staff to deliver Choose How You Move

City staff told the advisory committee they are building a centralized program-management function to coordinate delivery across multiple departments and to provide a single public-facing source of information and accountability.

Kendra Apkowitz, acting program director for the initiative, described early steps after the referendum, including supplier outreach, posting for a chief program officer, a $59 million supplemental budget to fund 11 initial projects and the formation of the advisory committee by executive order.

Sabrina Sussman, the incoming chief program officer, described FY26 budgeting as “building the foundation” and emphasized workforce and institutional capacity: “I think, you know, budgets are policy, and budgets tell you what priorities are and people are policy,” she said, adding the city plans to hire and retain staff while also contracting vendor partners where appropriate.

Staff outlined a two-tier delivery model: a central program office (led by the chief program officer and deputy chief program officer) with responsibility for alignment, transparency and cross-departmental decisions, and department-led project implementation where NDOT, WeGo and other departments will execute projects and expand capacity.

Staff said they have secured short-term program support from HDR and are negotiating a long-term program-management contract with HNTB. NDOT and WeGo are also planning indefinite-delivery (IDIQ) and on-call contract vehicles for on‑demand design and engineering services.

Officials repeatedly said the city would strike a balance between building internal expertise and using vendor capacity for rapid delivery, and they said outreach to small and local firms is a priority for supplier events planned through the summer.