PORTLAND, Ore. — Last November, voters approved Portland's charter reform, which will overhaul the city's form of government. Plans have been underway to make that happen, including a bigger city council, ranked choice voting and a city administrator who will run day-to-day operations alongside the mayor, with the transition set to take effect at the start of 2025.
Earlier this week, a couple of city commissioners floated a series of so-called tweaks to the plans: giving the mayor veto power over the council, cutting down on the number of councilors from 12 to 8 and adjusting ranked choice voting. The current council doesn't have the authority to change the plan on its own; it would need to put any proposed adjustments into a ballot measure so voters could decide.
Commissioners Rene Gonzalez and Dan Ryan brought the discussion to the public during a work session on Tuesday, but both of them backed away from all but one of the ideas in a statements on Wednesday and Thursday, each saying that they would only be interested in continuing to pursue the mayoral veto in 2024.
Proposed adjustments draw protests
"The train is on its way to the 2025 charter," said Commissioner Gonzalez during the Tuesday work session. "It has left the station and so we are not here to disrupt. We are here to at least question should we make refinements, or should we, more specifically, refer to voters a couple of refinements to what was adopted last November? I want to be crystal clear ... This is not to undo 26-228. All of this is to focus on what tweaks we might make to ensure better implementation and more effective government come 2025."
More than 100 people gathered outside Portland City Hall on Tuesday to defend the voter-approved changes. Melanie Billings-Yun, who served on the Charter Reform Commission, spoke out against the proposals.
"This came from the voters and to start saying 'You didn't know what you were talking about,' that's one of the most insulting things that I think Portlanders have heard in a long time, and we've been insulted a lot lately," she said. "They like to use the word 'tweak.' It was not a tweak, it was a fundamental altering of what the voters had supported."
Tuesday's meeting wasn't exactly well-received. Even Mayor Ted Wheeler weighed in and appeared to oppose making changes to the charter reform ahead of its implementation. He pointed out that many are already working to get ready for the major shift.
"At the end of the day, the question for me is, do we trust the will of the voters? Or don’t we? And though I don’t uniformly like the outcome of the last election, it was clearly stated ... the concerns that were raised today were well vetted in newspapers and televised media, and yet the voters voted the way that they did," Wheeler said. "This is not the opportunity for elected officials to tell the public how we think they should be governed. This is their opportunity to shape their government in the way that they want for better, or for worse."
Billings-Yun said she thinks the city council should at least implement charter reform before making changes to it.
"We did assume that once the people of Portland had voted, that the city council would at least allow it to be put into place and see how it works out before they decide that it didn't work out," said Billings-Yun.
Mayoral veto alone
Gonzalez and Ryan both backed away from the proposals to change the council size or voting methods in the days after the work session, citing the discussion on Tuesday. However, they each said they intended to continue to push the idea of a mayoral veto.
On Wednesday, Commissioner Ryan issued the statement below to KGW:
"Commissioner Gonzalez and I talked briefly about areas we saw that could improve Charter Reform, early thoughts drafted by staff were given to the press prior to me having further discussion.
From the outset, I expressed my support a Mayor veto/Council override mechanism to be brought to the voters. This critical addition is paramount in creating essential checks and balances between the executive and legislative branches in our new form of government, and I remain resolute in my belief.
Commissioner Gonzalez introduced proposals for reducing the city council from 12 to 8 and implementing changes to rank choice voting. Initially, I was curious of these ideas, so I called for a work session to gather public input and gain a deeper understanding of the potential implications. I was crystal clear that this conversation needed to be on public record.
The work session on Tuesday brought much clarity.
I am still steadfast in bringing the Mayor veto/Council override to the voters. After speaking with council colleagues yesterday and learning that moving this proposal to the May 2024 ballot will save the city $630k, I am moving the Mayor Veto proposed ballot referral to a later Council session.
I want to make it clear that I am not prepared to support Commissioner Gonzalez's additional ballot proposals.”
And on Thursday morning, Gonzalez sent out a statement of his own:
"City commissioners have a responsibility to reassess from time-to-time prior decisions that have long-term effects. In response to updated information on charter reform implementation and many questions and concerns from community members, we held a work session to allow council to publicly deliberate on three important issues that voters were not allowed to weigh-in separately on last November. My hope was to reduce cost and streamline its implementation.
After conferring with my colleagues, it has become clear there is a lack of support within City Hall for the referral measures addressing adjustments to the size of council and the ranked choice voting method. I look forward to continued dialogue with my colleagues, and public engagement on the question of a mayoral veto this coming spring."