Parkrose Community Alliance Town Hall - City Charter Commission
Three members of the Portland City Charter Commission met with the Parkrose Community Alliance to discuss the proposed changes that will be on the ballot this coming November after review by the City Attorneys. These are (a lot of!) notes from their presentation.
Charter Commission Members in attendance: Melanie Billings-Yun, Bryan William Lewis & Sophia Alvarez-Castro
Commission has come to a unanimous decision, which is kind of miraculous given that they all come from different backgrounds and didn’t know each other prior to working together on this
Unanimous decision means this will go directly to the ballot in November - bypasses City Council
Unanimity comes from everyone listening to Portlanders and listening to what they needed
Based on what Portlanders asked for, the commission came up with three main changes:
Rank Choice Voting
Four new geographic districts
City Council that focuses on setting policy and a mayor that runs the day-to-day with a professional administrator that oversees bureau operations
Rank Choice Voting
Popular with Portlanders in polling
Can vote for just one or up to three candidates you like
Someone you like can go from 50% in a regular election to 70-90% in rank choice
Goes hand-in-hand with multi-member districts
Multi-Member Districts
Eastside wants better representation
Have never had a council person until Jo Ann Hardesty was elected
Why four districts with three council members each?
Wanted 12-13 members to grow council as Portlanders asked for
1 per 50k people - we have grown since the council of 4 was selected
Districts are all dominated by white homeowners 50%
Chances for women, renters, & ethnic groups goes up with multi-member model
Changes how you legislate with a robust city council and representative bodies
Many issues in Portland; harder to be fully represented with only one person to rely on
Studies show multi-member districts mean different voices are heard
Less incumbents, less partisanship
Gives those with less connections and money a chance to win
Mayor Led City
Running big bureaus instead of legislating
There are two forms of government in this model:
Mayor/Council Form - Mayor and City Council
Council/Manager Form - City Council and Chief Administrator
PORTLAND LIKES BOTH FORMS!
Mayor is Chief Executive
Proposes budget and policy
Names city manager / administrator
Council is Representative / Legislative Body
Amends / confirms proposed budget and policies
Committees to address issues
City Manager / Administrator
Oversee day-to-day management of bureaus
Reports to Mayor
Cost of going from 4 to 12 council members?
Taking away bureau management will greatly reduce number of staff each person needs
Eliminate current waste with better management / oversight under one administrator
Example: 4 different bureaus are doing 4 different surveys about trash right now
Not communicating / coordinating with each other
A new commission will be formed (different people than this commission) to draw the new district lines
This commission sets rules like contiguous boundary lines
This new commission will not be assembled until after the November election results
Districts would vote in different years - staggered elections
Council member terms are 4 years
Top 3 vote receivers win
Commissioners will have a joint shared office in city hall and a shared district office
Split responsibilities; different committee assignments
You will go to homeless committee person for homeless issues in district, for example
Trying to establish incentives to avoid ‘being a politician’ and going after personal issues; come together and champion issues for all classes of people
12 Commisioners - Mayor can’t break tie
Forces collaboration
No 50/50 split like national politics
How to sell to voters who aren’t on board?
Independent polls have shown that Portlanders:
72% support rank choice voting
58% support multi-member district
53% support increase to 12 members
70% support city manager
COMBINING ALL THESE OPTIONS MAKE SUPPORT GO UP!!
Not seeing much strong opposition
City Attorneys determine if options are 1 line item or 3 separate line items to vote on
New council wouldn’t be until 2024, but Mayor currently has power to hire a city manager so he could do that right away