Portland, Oregon City Council

Portland City Council
Portland City Council
Type
Type	Unicameral
Leadership
Mayor	Ted Wheeler
President of the Council	Dan Ryan
Structure
Seats	5
Political groups	Democratic (5) ; (Officially Nonpartisan)
Elections
Voting system	At-large
Last election	November 8, 2022
Meeting place
	Portland City Hall ; Council Chamber; Portland, Oregon 97204

Last updated December 21, 2023

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	Terry Schrunk		Neil Goldschmidt
1973	Neil Goldschmidt		Mildred Schwab
1974					Charles Jordan
1975
1976
1977
1978
1979	Connie McCready	Mike Lindberg
1980	Connie McCready
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]

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References

↑ "City Government | Portland.gov". www.portland.gov. Retrieved 2023-08-15.
↑ "Upcoming Council Meetings and Work Sessions | Portland.gov". www.portland.gov. 2023-08-15. Retrieved 2023-08-15.
↑ "2024 Election | Portland.gov". www.portland.gov. Retrieved 2023-08-07.
↑ "Frequently Asked Questions: Recent Changes to Portland Election Code | Portland.gov". www.portland.gov. 2023-05-04. Retrieved 2023-08-07.
↑ "Portland's future in governance, city organization, and facilities | Portland.gov". www.portland.gov. Retrieved 2023-08-15.
↑ "Commission unanimously votes for new Portland voting district map". KOIN.com. 2023-08-17. Retrieved 2023-08-21.
↑ "Districtr". districtr.org. Retrieved 2023-08-22.
↑ McBain, Howard Lee. The Law and the Practice of Municipal Home Rule. pp. 598–599.
↑ 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.
↑ "Phase I: Proposed Ballot Measure Regarding the Structure of City Government | Portland.gov". www.portland.gov. Retrieved 2022-11-09.
↑ "Ambitious Charter Reform Measure Appears Poised for Victory, Fundamentally Changing Portland City Hall". Willamette Week. Retrieved 2022-11-09.
↑ "Massive change coming to Portland city government". opb. Retrieved 2022-11-14.
↑ "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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[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.

[:0-3] "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.

[:12-6] "Commission unanimously votes for new Portland voting district map". KOIN.com. 2023-08-17. Retrieved 2023-08-21.

[:1-7] "Districtr". districtr.org. Retrieved 2023-08-22.

[8] McBain, Howard Lee. The Law and the Practice of Municipal Home Rule. pp. 598–599.

[maccoll-shaping-443-9] 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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