Portland City Council
Type
Type
Leadership
Mayor
President of the Council
Structure
Seats5
Political groups
  Democratic (5)
(Officially Nonpartisan)
Elections
At-large
Last election
November 8, 2022
Meeting place
Portland City Hall
Council Chamber
Portland, Oregon 97204

The Portland City Council, (officially the Portland City Commission), is the legislative body of the City of Portland in Oregon and forms part of the Government of the city.

Portland runs on a commission form of government, the largest city in the United States to do so. The council is composed of five members, referred to as Commissioners, which includes the Mayor, each elected at-large for a term of four years. One of the Commissioners elected to be the ceremonial President of the Council. There are no term-limits for Commissioners and Commissioners are all officially nonpartisan.[1]

Commissioners are each assigned to run and oversee various city Bureaus (eg. Police, Fire, Environmental Services, Water). These assignments are occasionally switched around with the exception of the Police Bureau of which the Mayor is always Commissioner based on tradition.

The City Council convenes on Wednesday mornings and Wednesday afternoons in the council chamber on the second floor of Portland City Hall, and meetings are open to the public.[2]

In 2022, Portland voters approved a ballot measure that amends the City Charter and changes Portland's form of government. This will go into effect on January 1, 2025. Under the new form of government, approved by voters in 2022, Portland will operate under a unique system. The mayor will no longer be a part of the city council, and instead of five at-large positions, the council will have twelve districted seats. Three councilmembers will each represent one of four districts, each with approximately 160,000 residents.[3] Special elections will also no longer be used to fill vacancies in the council.[4] The elections will continue to be officially nonpartisan.[5] The first election for this new form of government will take place on November 5, 2024.

Current members

Position Name Elected Party (officially nonpartisan)
Mayor Ted Wheeler 2016 Democratic
1 Carmen Rubio 2020 Democratic
2

(President of the Council)

 Dan Ryan 2020 Democratic
3 Rene Gonzalez 2022 Democratic
4 Mingus Mapps 2020 Democratic

Districts

Beginning in 2024, the council will be districted as follows:[6][7]

District Geography and neighborhoods
1 The eastern part of the city, primarily everything east of Interstate 205 all the way to the city's eastern border with Gresham, as well as Portland International Airport: Argay, Centennial, Glenfair, Hazelwood, Lents, Mill Park, Parkrose, Parkrose Heights, Pleasant Valley, Powellhurst-Gilbert, Russell, Sumner, Wilkes, and Woodland Park.
2 Most of North and Northeast Portland north of Interstate 84 and west of 82nd Avenue: Alameda, Arbor Lodge, Beaumont-Wilshire, Boise, Bridgeton, Cathedral Park, Concordia, Cully, Dignity Village, East Columbia, Eliot, Grant Park, Hayden Island, Hollywood, Humboldt, Irvington, Kenton, King, Lloyd District, Madison South, Overlook, Piedmont, Portsmouth, Sabin, St. Johns, Sullivan's Gulch, Sumner, Sunderland, University Park, Vernon, and Woodlawn.
3 Most of Southeast Portland south of Interstate 84 and west of Interstate 205, as well as a small sliver of Northeast Portland east of 47th Avenue and south of Prescott Avenue: Brentwood-Darlington, Brooklyn, Buckman, Creston-Kenilworth, Foster-Powell, Hosford-Abernethy (includes Ladd's Addition), Kerns, Laurelhurst, Madison South, Montavilla, Mt. Scott-Arleta, Mt. Tabor, North Tabor, Richmond, Rose City Park, Roseway, South Tabor, Sunnyside, and Woodstock.
4 All of Portland west of the Willamette River (Northwest, Southwest, and South sextants) as well as a small area on the eastside: Arlington Heights, Arnold Creek, Ashcreek, Bridlemile (includes Glencullen), Collins View, Crestwood, Downtown, Eastmoreland, Far Southwest, Forest Park, Goose Hollow, Hayhurst (includes Vermont Hills), Hillsdale, Hillside, Homestead, Linnton, Maplewood, Markham, Marshall Park, Multnomah (includes Multnomah Village), Northwest District (includes Uptown, Nob Hill, Alphabet Historic District), Northwest Heights, Northwest Industrial, Old Town Chinatown, Pearl District, Reed, Sellwood-Moreland, South Burlingame, South Portland (includes Corbett, Fulton, Lair Hill, Terwilliger, and the Johns Landing and South Waterfront developments), Southwest Hills, Sylvan-Highlands, and West Portland Park (includes Capitol Hill).

Past councils

1971-present

Year Mayor Commissioner #1 Commissioner #2 Commissioner #3 Commissioner #4
1971
Terry Schrunk		 Connie McCready
Neil Goldschmidt
Frank Ivancie		 Lloyd Anderson
1972
1973
Neil Goldschmidt		 Mildred Schwab
1974
Charles Jordan
1975
1976
1977
1978
1979 Connie McCready
Mike Lindberg
1980
1981
Frank Ivancie		 Margaret Strachan
1982
1983
1984
1985
Bud Clark		 Dick Bogle
1986
1987
Earl Blumenauer		 Bob Koch
1988
1989
1990
1991 Gretchen Kafoury
1992
1993
Vera Katz
Charlie Hales
1994
1995
1996 Erik Sten
1997 Jim Francesconi
1998
1999
Dan Saltzman
2000
2001
2002
2003
Randy Leonard
2004
2005
Tom Potter
Sam Adams
2006
2007
2008
Nick Fish
2009
Sam Adams
Amanda Fritz
2010
2011
2012
2013
Charlie Hales
Steve Novick
2014
2015
2016
2017
Ted Wheeler
Chloe Eudaly
2018
2019
Jo Ann Hardesty
2020
Dan Ryan
2021
Carmen Rubio
Mingus Mapps
2022
2023
Rene Gonzalez

History

The Portland Charter was the subject of much debate circa 1911–1912. Rival charters were drafted by four different groups. One of these proposed charters 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. eventually, the city council submitted an entirely different charter to the people, which was accepted.[8] The city commission government form then came into use in 1913, with H. Russell Albee being the first mayor under the new system.[9]

2022 Charter Reform

Ballot Measure 26-228 in the November 2022 election was an amendment to the city charter that moved the city away from a commission system of government. It removes the five-person board that includes the mayor to a twelve-person board plus a separate mayor. The new city councilors will be elected using proportional multi-winner ranked-choice voting, with three members being elected each from four districts, instead of the standard first-past-the-post method. It also removes responsibility for direct management of city bureaus from commissioners to a city manager overseen by the mayor and confirmed by the council.[10] Previous attempts to reform the city charter had been defeated seven times since 1913,[11] including as recently as 2007. Portland is set to become the most-populated city to adopt proportional ranked-choice voting to elect city council members.

The first city council elections under the new districts will occur in 2024.[12] In preparation for transitioning management of city bureaus to a city manager, Mayor Ted Wheeler announced he would group city bureaus into five related service areas.[13]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "City Government | Portland.gov". www.portland.gov. Retrieved 2023-08-15.
  2. ↑ "Upcoming Council Meetings and Work Sessions | Portland.gov". www.portland.gov. 2023-08-15. Retrieved 2023-08-15.
  3. ↑ "2024 Election | Portland.gov". www.portland.gov. Retrieved 2023-08-07.
  4. ↑ "Frequently Asked Questions: Recent Changes to Portland Election Code | Portland.gov". www.portland.gov. 2023-05-04. Retrieved 2023-08-07.
  5. ↑ "Portland's future in governance, city organization, and facilities | Portland.gov". www.portland.gov. Retrieved 2023-08-15.
  6. ↑ "Commission unanimously votes for new Portland voting district map". KOIN.com. 2023-08-17. Retrieved 2023-08-21.
  7. ↑ "Districtr". districtr.org. Retrieved 2023-08-22.
  8. ↑ McBain, Howard Lee. The Law and the Practice of Municipal Home Rule. pp. 598–599.
  9. ↑ MacColl, E. Kimbark (1976). "Chapter 14 – The Fruits of Progressivism, 1913–1915". The Shaping of a City: Business and Politics in Portland, Oregon, 1885 to 1915. Portland, Oregon: The Georgian Press Company. pp. 443–445. ISBN 0-89174-043-0.
  10. ↑ "Phase I: Proposed Ballot Measure Regarding the Structure of City Government | Portland.gov". www.portland.gov. Retrieved 2022-11-09.
  11. ↑ "Ambitious Charter Reform Measure Appears Poised for Victory, Fundamentally Changing Portland City Hall". Willamette Week. Retrieved 2022-11-09.
  12. ↑ "Massive change coming to Portland city government". opb. Retrieved 2022-11-14.
  13. ↑ "Mayor Ted Wheeler Will Cluster and Reshuffle City Bureaus Come January in Effort to Ease Charter Transition". Willamette Week. Retrieved 2022-11-14.
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