Government of Portland, Oregon

Government of the City of Portland, Oregon

Seal of Portland, Oregon
Formation	1851; 171 years ago (1851)
City charter	Portland City Charter
Website	www.portland.gov
City-wide elected officials
City Auditor	Portland City Auditor
Legislative branch
Legislature	Portland City Commission
Meeting place	Portland City Hall
Executive branch
Mayor	Mayor of Portland, Oregon
Appointer	Election
Headquarters	Portland City Hall

The Government of Portland, Oregon is based on a city commission government system. Elected officials include the mayor, commissioners, and a city auditor. The mayor and commissioners (members of City Council) are responsible for legislative policy and oversee the various bureaus that oversee the day-to-day operation of the city.^[1] Portland began using a commission form of government in 1913 following a public vote on May 3 of that year.^[2] Each elected official serves a four-year term, without term limits. Each city council member is elected at-large.

Current members[]

History[]

The Portland Charter was the subject of much debate circa 1911–1912. Rival charters were drafted by four different groups, including the "official charter committee," appointed by the mayor; the "people's charter committee," constituted under the auspices of the East Side Business Men's Club; another citizen's committee which drafted the Short Charter; and the "people's committee," led by W.C. Benbow, which drafted the Benbow Charter. The Short Charter was unusual in that it would have used Bucklin voting to elect the mayor and implemented interactive representation of the people through the commissioner system; each commissioner's vote would have been weighted according to the number of votes he received in the election. The city council appointed a committee to draft a compromise charter. This charter, along with the Short Charter, were defeated in referenda. The following year, the city council submitted another charter to the people, which was accepted.^[4] The city commission government form consequently came into use in 1913, with H. Russell Albee being the first mayor under the new system.^[2]

In May 2007, Portland citizens rejected a ballot measure which would have changed city government from a commission form to a strong mayor system. Similar changes have been proposed and rejected several times over the years.

City Council[]

Portland City Council
Type
Type	Unicameral
Leadership
Mayor	Ted Wheeler
Structure
Seats	5
Political groups	Nonpartisan (de jure) Majority (4) Vacant (1)
Elections
Voting system	At-large
Last election	May 19, 2020
Meeting place
Portland City Hall Council Chamber Portland, Oregon 97204

Composition (since 1971)[]

Portland City Council in session in April 2008. From left, Randy Leonard, Sam Adams (then city commissioner), then-Mayor Tom Potter, and Dan Saltzman.

^[5]

Terms are staggered, with the mayor and the commissioners in positions 1 and 4 elected in the same years as presidential elections, and the auditor and the commissioners in positions 2 and 3 elected in the same years as gubernatorial elections.^[6]

Notable former commissioners[]

• Neil Goldschmidt, who went on to serve as Mayor, U.S. Secretary of Transportation, and Governor.
• Mildred Schwab^[7]
• Congressman Earl Blumenauer served on the Council before his election to the House.^[8]
• Mike Lindberg – member of council for 17 years (1979–1996),^[9] a longer tenure than any other commissioner in the 40-year period up to 2009^[10] (and until surpassed in 2016)
• Gretchen Kafoury^[11]
• Charlie Hales^[12] – on the council 1993–2002 and again – this time as mayor – from January 2013 through 2016
• Jim Francesconi
• Dan Saltzman – member of council for 20 years (January 1999 – December 2018), longer than any person since 1969^[13]

Elections[]

City Council seats, as well as the City Auditor, are non-partisan, elected positions; each carries a four-year term. As with all non-partisan positions in Oregon, candidates face off in a primary election (typically in May of even-numbered years); if no candidate wins more than 50% of the vote, the top two finishers face off in a runoff election (typically the following November.) Three Council seats, including the Mayor, were up for election in 2008; the other two seats, and the Auditor position, were up for election in 2010.

From 2006 to 2010, Portland used a publicly financed election system, allowing candidates to qualify for public funding of $145,000 if they could gather 1000 five-dollar contributions by a certain date (for Mayoral candidates, 1500 contributions of $5 were required for a $160,000 grant). Two candidates availed themselves of this system in 2006: incumbent Erik Sten, who won the primary election, and Amanda Fritz, who lost out to incumbent Dan Saltzman but won a seat two years later (utilizing publicly financed election money).^[14] The November 2010 elections saw Portlanders rescind their support for this publicly financed election system.^[15]

Neighborhood government[]

Portland's neighborhood system, the Office of Community and Civic Life, is made up of 94 recognized neighborhood associations and seven neighborhood district coalition offices located throughout the city. These offices provide support and technical assistance to the volunteer-based neighborhood associations, community groups and individual activists.^[16]

Handling of illegal-camp cleanups[]

Multiple news outlet reported on the city auditor's report on the city's handling of illegal campsite clean ups by the Homelessness/Urban Camping Impact Reduction Program.^[17][18][19] Since 2015, the City of Portland implemented a streamlined campsite complaint intake. City contractor then removed tents, items and other items and stored them. The database was to prioritize cleanup based on "biohazards, garbage and other factors, such as whether campers are aggressive or openly using drugs". The Oregonian summarized that the auditors found little evidence prioritization was occurring and no clear indication of what criteria were invoked in selecting which camps are to be removed or not removed and auditors documented the city often ignored hundreds of complaints made by residents. The newspaper commented "That non-response doesn’t comport with the crackdown on illegal camping instituted by Mayor Ted Wheeler earlier in his term." The audit conducted in summer and fall of 2018 reported that the city needed to improve communications to illegal campers as well as complainants.^[20] The auditor recommends providing complainants with a status update. In 2019, the city announced they intend to do that with a new app that helps people "better record and understand HUCIRP"^[21] As of June 2020, the status update for reporting party has yet to be implemented per city's own status update.^[22]

Joint Office of Homeless Services[]

Since 2016, Multnomah County chair Deborah Kafoury and Portland mayor Ted Wheeler have paired the city and county together to the Joint Office of Homeless Services.^[23] In September 2020, frustrated with tents downtown, Mayor Wheeler expressed the intent to withdraw the City of Portland from its partnership with county on JOHS.^[24] The intergovernmental agreement between the city and county on the JOHS has an expense of $32.5 million to the Portland City Government and expires in June 2022.^[25]

Public transportation[]

Public transit within the city is primarily the responsibility of TriMet, not the city government, but the Portland Streetcar and Portland Aerial Tram are exceptions; both are owned by the city.^[26][27] The aerial cableway is managed by Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU)^[27]

Related government entities[]

Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, and the core of Metro, a regional government primarily concerned with land use planning. Both of these government entities have a strong impact on Portland policy. Portland is also governed by the government of Oregon and the federal government of the United States.

See also[]

• Portland City Hall (Oregon)
• Portland Fire & Rescue
• Portland Police Bureau
• Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT)

References[]

• List of notable Commissioners from Willamette Week's 25th Anniversary issue (1999)

External links[]

• City Government Structure at City of Portland website
• Official Web Site for the City of Portland, Oregon