The record · Transcript
Council Session — 2025-01-02
Transcript from the session's official auto-captions (27,326 words), shown in readable case and split into speaker turns. Speakers are not yet identified (colors just separate consecutive turns). Auto-captions can contain errors — check the recording for anything that matters.
Session summaryEditor-reviewed
The January 2, 2025 meeting of the Portland City Council opened with a ceremonial welcome featuring two poets, followed by roll call showing all twelve councilors present. The council heard rules of decorum from the city attorney and then took up a single agenda item amending the council organization and procedure code covering committee assignment processes, council agenda flow, the auditor's and council president's roles, and committee creation. Two amendments to the ordinance were discussed and votes occurred, with outcomes recorded in the vote ledger; the item passed to a second reading scheduled for January 15, 2025. Ten members of the public testified on the ordinance, raising topics including committee structure, district representation, transparency, sunset clauses, and public engagement processes; council members then discussed incorporating a sunset clause. The council then addressed a recommended procedure for electing a council president and vice president, including discussion of whether the mayor could break a tie vote, with the city attorney offering a legal analysis; a motion on this question was made and a vote occurred, with the outcome recorded in the vote ledger. Multiple rounds of nominations and roll-call votes for council president occurred, with outcomes recorded in the vote ledger, followed by nomination and a vote for vice president. The mayor and city auditor then offered remarks, after which five members of the public gave testimony during the public communication period on topics including homelessness, public safety, children and families, and neighborhood business concerns.
AI-drafted from the session's auto-captions, reviewed by an editor — describes the discussion only; recorded votes live in the vote ledger. Captions contain errors.
Procedural markers in this session
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0 So, Clark, before I call the roll and formally begin the meeting, we have a ceremonial welcome. I am so pleased to welcome anis mojgani and jen shin to each share a poem with us. Good morning.
1 So, Clark.
2 Thanks, everyone. Call the roll.
3 All right. Fantastic.
4 Optimistic.
5 Welcome.
Procedural episode · turns 6–14
Parliamentary activity detected in this stretch (see the markers above). An editor-reviewed analysis has not been published for this episode yet.
6 Go forward. Go! Whether quick healed or an oak stillness, you do not need to be fully formed to go fully forward. So forward. Oh, forward. Go in. Greening. Leaf or reddening. Ember. Forward into the dark. Go forward. Go! Not as pioneer. No. Go forward as seedling. Cracking itself into the light. You do not go forward as guest. Go neither as settler nor leader, nor bearer of any flag. If there is a flag in your hands, bury it. Any flag that your hands can touch, bury it and see what then might sprout instead. From those threads, weave new cloth woven by way of work, woven by limbs threaded together hand in hand, holder of hand. Go forward, go forward, you forager of forest and fellowship. You smile igniters you seed stirrers carry what little things you carry into the gentle asking earth awaiting our feet in a field. One field over. Go forward here where country becomes coast and become water for what is forward to an ocean. In what direction lies progress our shore or the father move both ways. Lead with what you have to offer. Lighthouse your heart. When you are lost. Be quiet. When your body has the floor. Marry yourself to the listening. Do not tarry. Make action of patience. Starling. Map yourself. Be a beacon inside your own body. Become a newer knowing of a world already here. Eternal. Always collapse any edges. Build lower walls. Lead together. Opposite of conquer. Apostles of outstretched vulnerability. Invite yourself to invite others to invite themselves to invite others. What new affection may brood between us when we do this? What corners of ourselves does the sky over us not touch? We may not know where we are until we are there. This is all right. This is okay. Go forward. Not to go forward, but to be going forward together from here. Where might we go? Thank you.
7 Thank you, anise and hello, everyone. We, the city of Portland, sit at a confluence land of two rivers, the columbia and the Willamette. Two distinct water bodies carrying centuries of time flowing seamlessly into one water. The teacher of many be like water. Bruce lee once said. What is it to be like? Water to flow and flow and flow? I don't think I, an asian American woman. Bleach and whiteness was ever taught to flow. I was taught to fit into reservoirs by a history that had long ago categorized me as other. I flow now, though. I flow because my therapist shows me the headwaters of agency within. They swirl with possibility of change. Here I burble with reflection. What served me then, but no longer serves me now. Changing flow requires effort. Our emotions, coping and memories float down the channels of polished river rocks and carved valley beds. Old with time and wear, like our centuries old governance systems. Like the imprinted memories of my distant ancestors that linger within me. But change is possible, often imminent. Rilles carved into once dry beds, vertical cliffs that define the gorge, the columbia embracing the willamette's final downstream flow in this moment of history making and new beginnings and change, may we, you and I, find that flow with one another in these meetings, in these streets, at events where your grandmother and mine will swim in shared interests. May we remember change as a constant, even when logs and debris obstruct our path. May we remember the two rivers that define Portland and glean the lessons they offer. May we flow on unfamiliar paths even when we don't know where they will lead. Thank you.
8 This is the January 2nd, 2025 meeting of the Portland city council. In accordance with city code, I will serve as the non-voting ex-officio presiding officer at this meeting to facilitate the election of the president of council, I will first call the roll. Councilors, please say here when I call your name. Amylose. Here. Dunphy. Here. Smith. Here. Now. Here. Purtell. Jenny. Here. Ryan. Here. Claire. Elaine. Here. Murillo. Here. Novick.
9 Here. Clark.
10 Here. Green. Here. Zimmerman. Here. The city attorney will now read the rules of decorum.
11 Welcome to the Portland city council to testify before council in person or virtually. You must sign up in advance on the council agenda at. Portland.gov/council/agenda. Information on engaging with council can be found on the council clerk's webpage. Individuals may testify for three minutes unless the presiding officer states otherwise, your microphone will be muted when your time is over. The presiding officer preserves order disruptive conduct such as shouting, refusing to conclude your testimony when your time is up, or interrupting others testimony or council deliberations will not be allowed. If you cause a disruption, a warning will be given. Further disruption will result in an ejection from the meeting. Anyone who fails to leave once ejected is subject to arrest for trespass. Additionally, council may take a short recess and reconvene virtually. Your testimony should address the matter being considered. When testifying, please state your name for the record. Your address is not necessary. If you are a lobbyist, please identify the organization you represent. Virtual testifiers should unmute themselves when the council clerk calls your name. Thank you.
12 We have one item on the agenda. Before we elect the president of council. I will read the title of item one. Amend council organization and procedure code related to the council agenda, council rules and council committees. I will now hand this to city attorney robert taylor, who will introduce the item.
13 Thank you. For the record, my name is robert taylor, the Portland city attorney. First, I want to thank councilor Ryan for his assistance during the transition to make sure this item could be filed and posted on the agenda in advance of this meeting, and I would like to turn it over now to commissioner Canale to discuss the item, and I'm happy to answer any questions.
14 Thank you robert. Thank you, madam interim president, before I begin, thank you to everyone for being here for our first meeting. Your participation in government is vital to ensuring that this works and that Portland can thrive. And thank you as well to then, commissioner, now, councilor Ryan, for your leadership on this and for introducing the item in time. So I'm going to introduce a portion of this and then pass it to councilor Zimmerman to speak more to it. This ordinance is a narrow compromise measure, a short term fix designed to ensure that we're able to operate in a way that's more accessible and easy for the public to participate, more transparent for community members to know what's going on and ultimately more responsive to portlanders. Creating short term clarity around processes. While a longer term conversation around rules helps do that, I'm going to initiate just a quickly three points what the ordinance is and isn't, what it does, and why it's happening now. First, what it is and isn't. As everyone knows, there are city voters approved a large structural change to the way the government functions. The code that governs council operations was developed for us by the old commission form of government, and took effect yesterday. Many of the members of the current council had concerns about some of the processes outlined in the code. As a result, there was a discussion around making a quick change to the code effectively, effectively putting a patch on the starter code. And this ordinance is that patch, and it's not designed to be the long term code governing city council, nor does it include every possible change that was discussed. Again, designed to be a short term fix to get us working well together while we, in parallel, have those broader conversations in communication with the public, with gtac, with everyone that is necessary to work through. It does six things which are, I think, listed in the ordinance. It changes the process by which something is assigned to a committee. It outlines the general framework of a council. Items flow, clarifies the auditor's office role in the process. Clarifies the president's role in setting an agenda, and ensures a council president can't delay an item. Clarifies committee creation processes and removes district requirements from committee membership. Broadly promotes efficiency by removing administrative delay. Promotes representation by ensuring individual councilors can propose items which reflect the priorities of their constituents, and creates clarity and transparency for the public to see where an item is at, and in so doing, also reduces the time pressure that often leads to reduced public participation. And the reason it's coming up now is that it's fundamentally about understanding the president's role before the council determines who the president is. One last note this was not initially proposed as an emergency ordinance, because it would have meant voting on it today, which would have limited public participation and transparency. So there will be a first reading today and a second reading in two weeks. On that day, we may discuss amending it, an emergency clause so that it can take effect immediately after adoption on that date, which also allows for amendments to be proposed and considered. Yeah, this ordinance was developed collectively. It's not how any one of us would have probably written it. I imagine it doesn't fully reflect everyone's views, but represents the commitment to compromise that the full council everyone up here has. And I'll now pass it over to councilor Zimmerman to share his introductory remarks.
15 Thank you. I agree with my fellow councilor, is that there are some things you have to deal with in the first day, and it doesn't mean that everything has to be figured out for our continuing into the rest of the year. But these were important changes that will, I think, reflect this body's need to do the work to protect the changes that this charter has brought forward that allows this council to operate as an equal, as an equal body in this new form of government that I think is incredibly important. There is no secret that councilor Canal and I are both representing some different opinions about what the best procedures are for this council to move forward. But the thing that's unique and perfect about this is that I think we were both working from a position of protecting these changes to our former government and making sure that this council can operate and be effective in our best way. And so I appreciate greatly the detailed work that he has done. And to the other councilors who helped us shape some of this. And most importantly, I think that a body who can say what's important to take action on this first day and what has time to be more deliberate as we look at the rest of this ordinance in a later date, deliberate decision making is always the goal, and sometimes you have to act fast. And so we see a hybrid of that, and I'm happy to it. And I'll I'll support it. I will also if there's any discussion, eventually I will propose an amendment to this one quick change. But for that that's it concludes my remarks. Thank you.
16 Excuse me. I'm so sorry to interrupt. We need to take a brief recess to troubleshoot an audio issue that we're having. So we'll be in recess for five minutes.
17 And my first comments, I shut it down.
18 That talk to us on zoom. And then if that works, we start right up.
19 Christina, can you hear me?
20 Hey, keelan. I can hear you. Okay. Perfect.
21 All right, we're back in session. I just want to thank everyone so much for your patience. We're very sorry about these difficulties. We want to make sure that everyone is able to testify. We have some folks in zoom who want to testify virtually, and we want to just make sure that everybody has access to the meeting. So thank you so much for your patience. We'll get started again. I'll turn it back over to councilor Zimmerman, who was making comments when we had to recess.
22 Thank you.
23 Comments complete.
24 Okay, so is there any other council discussion or questions before we move to public testimony for this item?
25 Madam clerk, I do have an amendment then that I'll make. So, colleagues, I have a motion to amend an exhibit a, section 3.02.0 20b for strike the words complete items and replace with items that meet the administrative requirements. Colleagues, this is a housekeeping item to conform with the language above about administrative requirements, and I'd appreciate a second and then a passage.
26 Councilor Zimmerman moves. Councilor Ryan seconds any other discussion? We'll call the vote on that amendment. Avalos. I Dunphy I Smith I.
27 Canal I guinea I Ryan I coleman Lane I murillo.
28 I Novick I Clark I Green I Zimmerman I the amendment is approved.
29 We did something. Thank you.
30 So madam clerk, I have another amendment amendment two here. Motion to amend in exhibit a, section 3.02.050. A point two is strike the words. The resolution specifies and replace with the council president proposes and the council resolution affirms. Second, this amendment signals some intent and the role of president with relation to committees while maintaining council approval, a council approval action and not bogging down the council. In deciding who will sit each committee. I would appreciate a second on this and a passage to help our next president in starting the important work of committee, assignment and leadership.
31 Second.
32 Councilor Zimmerman moves councilor Novick second. Any further discussion? I'll call.
33 I'll call the roll. Avalos. I. Dunphy, I Smith I mel I guinea I Ryan I.
34 Elaine, I mario I Novick I Clark I Green I Zimmerman I the amendment is approved. Thank you. If there isn't any further discussion on this item we'll move to public testimony. We have ten people signed up for this item. I'll call people by their names. Please come to the front or unmute and zoom.
35 You'll have three minutes to testify.
36 First up we have terry harris. Okay.
37 Good morning. Good morning I'm terry harris from hillsdale. Thank you for this. One of a kind first of a kind opportunity. A quick disclaimer I'm a member of the government transition advisory committee. Although my testimony is, I think, consistent with gtac recommendations, I'm testifying now in my personal capacity. I see that it's already clear to you that the expanded council will need to operate in a fundamentally different way than the previous council, so I do appreciate the desire here to make progress towards organizing new council procedures. Unfortunately, the city code you've been given to start with is utterly inadequate for what the charter amendments envisioned. What's on the table today is barely a band aid, comd to other jurisdictions and outlier in and well understood legislative frameworks that govern modern legislatures and their committees exist elsewhere across the country. Gtac has research on this. Such models provide a better approach to the problems you're trying to solve here. You should deploy them just a couple of quick bullets. On some things, though, I have written testimony that I urge you all to take a look at. First of all, the council should retain district representation on standing committees. Council committees should take advantage of district representation afforded by the charter changes. This is a key gtac recommendation. Residents are expecting to be represented on council committees. Another thing is introducing legislation should be frictionless and instantaneous.
38 There should be no need for three month. Time limits or anything like that.
39 There shouldn't be a bottleneck to just putting a legislative item into the council and the bottleneck, if there's going to be one, shouldn't be in the clerk's office waiting to reach the agenda. Referrals to committee should be guided by rules and committee jurisdiction, not by preferences. And this is something that you'll need to sort out. But finally, given the complexity and importance of brand new procedures and rules for the council, it'll be essential that this council dig more deeply and consider things more carefully, because everything this council does will set lasting precedent. For better or worse, it's important to get this stuff right, or at least as close as possible. Thank you. Let me know how I can be helpful and I look forward to working with you in the future.
40 So next up we have Dan handelman, Portland copwatch, joining us online. This morning. Dan, can you hear us? I can hear you.
41 Yes. Thank you. Greetings to the city council. Thank you. Multnomah.
42 Hey, Dan. Dan, sorry to interrupt. Hang on a second. We're going to turn up the volume here. We hear you, Dan. We're just trying to turn up the volume a little bit. Is your volume turned up all the way?
43 To. Just a moment, Dan. Madam clerk, is it possible to go to other people while we fix this? Who are here? Thanks. All right, we'll move on. Let's.
44 Dan, we're going. We're troubleshooting the audio in the room, so we'll come back to you.
45 Okay? Next we'll go to charlie michelle.
46 Wesley. Yeah. Hello, everybody.
47 Doesn't matter where I sit. Right. All right.
48 I'm going to talk rather fast so I can get through this in three minutes. I'm charlie michelle wesley, tribal member of the confederated tribes of grand ronde of this land now called Oregon, where the bones of my ancestors are buried. So you may reside here today. This city that continues to allow destruction of our mother earth and to keep intact a policing reign of terror to bipoc and other marginalized communities. And that only benefit those in power, certain white society and middle class. Instead of being a proponent to anti-racist, systemic change for true liberation and well-being for us and our land, this means immediately correcting damage done by previous powers and restoring of ocpa community board for police accountability, Portland street response, and the opportunity to deny this new land use application and dignified housing for all. These are life and death decisions. For the city to actually respect the sacrifices of my people, the land acknowledgment should not only be read, but reviewed, expanded and taken into consideration with decisions in earnest. Starting today, know your responsibility as a servant to the people, not putting yourselves above the people. If uncomfortable with this radical truth and the way it's communicated to you, you dismiss my voice and you don't give credence to other voices and lived experience. And that means you are missing out on truth that has been lacking in all previous ineffective decisions. Be a model of racial and social justice by holding all city decisions up to the lens of the city core values. And I gave you all a copy of that instead of further oppressing the oppressed and inflicting the traumatized. So choose a president who will not be all powerful, but someone who can facilitate with city council, not against for personal agenda. Also know the meeting agenda needs to be posted 24 hours in advance and as posted on friday's before the Wednesday sessions, that's fine, but five days is still not enough time for community to talk with council members, and especially concerning past community input, which is a major life and death concern. Core city values is how true justice is administered by upholding those core city values. I just want to say one more thing about one of the values that's anti-racism. Addressing issues concerning anti-blackness will should be a priority and actions to dismantle institutional and systemic racism will be the responsibility of every employee, if not a priority. The rest is mainly performative. Thank you.
49 Dan. Let's go back to you and see if we can hear you now.
50 Good morning.
51 Yes. It's working. Thank you.
52 Thank you. Greetings to the new city council. My name is Dan handelman. I use he him pronouns and I'm a member of Portland copwatch for those not familiar with our group, we have been around since 1992 promoting police accountability through community member action. We're part of a group called peace and justice works, which more broadly promotes nonviolent conflict resolution on local, national and international levels. I apologize not for not having my camera on today, but I'm only testifying because one of Portland cop watch's three initial concerns for the new system of government might potentially be addressed with this agenda item. We sent a letter to each of you through your campaign emails in early December. We'll forward it again to your official email addresses today to be sure you have a chance to look at it. Also, my colleague mark paris and I are signed up for communications on January 15th and we will get more into our group's history, activities and concerns. So to the agenda item before you. One thing that most portlanders probably did not notice in charter changes from measure 26 to 28 is the authority given to city administrator to resolve all lawsuits where the payment is under $50,000. As councilor Ryan can confirm, our group has come before council to testify every time there's been a police misconduct lawsuit on the agenda, because the existing threshold for settlements is $5,000, it is afforded us dozens of opportunities to address council in just the last few years. Sometimes this meant having items pulled from the consent agenda as an informal agreement between then commissioner Jo ann hardesty and the rest of council was to put amounts under $50,000 on that docket. That meant without our intervention, there would have been no discussion at all on these smaller payouts. As a matter of course, it appears the city attorney discourages the council from saying anything about these cases. Our goal in testifying about them is to urge the city to look at the underlying policies and hopes of preventing future occurrences. There have been a few exceptions. Mayor wheeler asked for the policy to be reviewed after officers wrongly allowed people staying at a motel to be evicted, and chief dave voluntarily appeared to talk with council about changes made to the canine policy. When a $500,000 settlement was approved for a couple in happy valley who'd been attacked by a police dog that escaped its handler's yard. We're not really as concerned about lawsuits against other agencies, such as the parks bureau or bureau of transportation. If there are members of the public who are concerned about issues other than police brutality, racism and corruption, we hope they will contact you as well. What we're asking for today is to either codify a document you're considering that any cases of police misconduct, not routine car crashes, or we're also interested in those be placed on the agenda for council approval. It's acceptable if that level is again set to $5,000, though, that doesn't make it more difficult for the community to see how much is being paid out for police misconduct. It's also notable that sometimes sometimes the city attorney agrees to settle a lawsuit via a court judgment, which means the city writ large does not have to approve it. And sometimes we've seen those set for $5,001, meaning they would have qualified to be on the agenda, were quietly resolved out of the public eye. With the new structure, there's no longer a commissioner of police, and the entire council is responsible for the actions of the bureaus, codifying transparency for the cost of police misconduct is imperative, because the police are unique in being able to use, force up to, and including deadly force on behalf of the city. As as you're probably aware, one of the city's five cities values is transparency. Thank you.
53 Next up we have james off sync. Joining us online. Can you hear me?
54 Okay.
55 Go ahead james thank you.
56 Good morning. And coming Portland city council. My name is james. I use he him pronouns. And I'm speaking today as the volunteer board president of Portland forward. We are an intergenerational group focused on the big ideas for the future of our region. And there is no bigger and more important idea that we can help succeed than that of our city's new governance structure. You collectively represent a broader infusion of new ideas and perspectives than has historically joined city council. In any given decade, we strongly believe that your success will drive our city's success. I'm testifying this morning on the proposed amendments to chapter 3.02 of the city code. In general, Portland forward supports the amendments, which we believe improve the council's operations by empowering independent and engaged councilors and groups of councilors. In addition to the proposed amendments, we ask you to consider several others. First, regardless of what specific rules you ultimately adopt, we implore the council to build a sunset date into the initial set of rules. These rules are foundationally important to the operations of council, and will impact its ability to collaborate and develop broad based solutions that harness every councilors talents, expertise and passion for our city. The rules deserve public engagement, study of best practices that work elsewhere, and learning from what is and isn't working in the initial council operations. If the rules are not considered temporary, we worry that organizational inertia will set things in stone solely because that is how they have been previously done in Oregon. Rules designed for a process that relied on horse and parchment should not be the starting point for the modern and effective legislative body that our city needs. I have included with my written testimony the principles and values that we think should or should drive this process. However, we humbly recognize that we don't have all the answers and that many voices should be included in this important conversation. Second, although it need not be specified in code, we encourage the creation of a governance or rules committee tasked with several responsibilities, including making initial recommendations on committee membership and leadership for the council to approve having more councilors participate in this recommendation process will facilitate long term collaboration. Third, while the proposed code does provide for public notice and testimony, it is light on specifying how the people of Portland can meaningfully engage with their city government. Perhaps community engagement will receive more clarification as the role of council committees is further articulated. But we believe that one thing that has made Portland special at its brightest moments has been the accessibility of decision makers to the people. Portlanders have ingenuity and passion for our city, and we encourage you to make sure it's clear how community members can bring their solutions and their concerns to council in a way that respects their time and can meaningfully affect council decisions. In this vein, the council should spend time thinking about participatory mechanisms such as citizen juries and participatory budgeting. Lastly, related to transparency, we recommend that council adopt a process for proposals that requires proposals to have summary language that everyday people can understand. The standard process for proposal should include the why, the specific problem it is trying to address, what it proposes to do, and how council will know if it has been successful. Thank you for your time and commitment to Portland. We look forward to working together with you to ensure this council's success and build a city that reflects the needs and potential of its people.
57 Next up we have jeff Smith joining us online.
58 Thank you for serving at perhaps the most certainly tied for the most important time in portland's history. For the record, my name is jeff Smith. Northeast Portland. Starting from a basic principle of believing in Portland that this city can get it right, we'll start by pointing to a few general principles, and then offer some specific notes. We face some competing needs, and you face some competing needs to get started and to get it right and to advance those, I join in. The recommendation for starting with a set of rules, with a built in sunset, and an intentional process to create the best set of rules in the country, to make sure there are rules to operate and build early confidence among portlanders for your leadership, and also for this new form of government. And also make sure we craft processes that will best suit not only this council, but also future councils. So the decisions made quickly so that you can move quickly don't suddenly become inertia choices that impact decades of operations, other set of competing needs to encourage collaboration and to avoid chaos. To avoid overweening, unnecessarily centralized power. I heard, and was moved by not only the opening words before we gaveled into session, but also the previous testimony to make sure this is an inclusive body and how do we make sure that we get stuff done along those lines? And to advance that, I joined the recommendation to create a governance committee. So how do we maximize our ability to get the best ideas and let the best ideas win? I agree with the testimony of mr. Out-of-sync. Rules, committees and legislative bodies tend to be the garbage trucks of chief legislative leaders, house speaker, chamber presidents, politburo, prime ministers to have a body that works at the whim of the leader to do their dirty work, rather than offer any check or balance. I urge that we I urge that you separate these functions from a governance committee, more akin to the governance or board committee of a well-functioning board of directors that is selected from the whole. That body could be a great way to divvy up committee assignments. That committee could be a great place to consider how to make this the best set of 21st century worthy processes for a functioning city and a functioning democracy. That committee will wield some power, and separating that power from the power of the chair will make each of you more powerful, and will make the people of Portland more powerful. I'm grateful, I must say, for the chance to say this to you now before a council president is named. So it's crystal clear this isn't a suggestion to boost or shrink any particular member, but to strengthen the body as a whole. The culture that we're all rooting for is not one that organizes around factions, not one that learns from our congress or from our state legislature, but that models democracy for our city and for the country to make sure we have one Portland that works from hazelwood to maplewood to woodlawn, from cathedral park to grant park to park rows, from arnold creek to johnson creek to sullivan's gulch, to the mighty creek that flows by hayden island. And I'll hand back my last 20s to just say thanks for the work you're doing.
59 Next up, we have robert butler joining from the overflow room.
60 Good morning. This is robert butler. Welcome aboard. I hope this isn't another titanic. And I think we have the talent here to make sure that happens. I think the most important thing in the council organization is to demand. That's to demand transparency. The transparency must include if there is a justification for something that involves economics, you must establish and print that justification along with the justification with comparative analysis of alternatives. So if there is an alternative that's in contention or should be in contention, there must be an economic justification update. For example, the bull run filtration project had an economic justification needed for an alternative, which was the ultra violet concept of treating cryptosporidium. That was the original plan that was approved. It was changed. The city council refused after many demands for me, refused to update the costs of the ultraviolet. Competing project for sand filtration. I testified before that the savings was $2.3 billion, and that is my example of it is absolutely mandatory that there be transparency from the council demanding the economic comparative analysis of any item that has an economic virtue to it of prominence. Good luck. I hope that our journey is safe and productive and happy new year. Thank you.
61 Next up we have bob weinstein.
62 Good morning everybody. First of all, congratulations to all of you on your election. And in a couple cases, reelection. First, I strongly endorse terry harris's comments regarding the proposed code amendments, especially the need for substantial revisions to the proposed draft. I'm especially concerned about three proposed changes one implement overly complicated, nonstandard procedures for committee referrals and eliminating the current requirement for council approval, and thereby removing a meaningful check on the council president's power two grant the council president unilateral power to arbitrarily delay consideration of agenda items for up to three months. Three remove the requirement for district based representation on committee membership, months of campaigning for the charter and then again in the election was all about giving more power to the people through their elected representatives in the districts. Now the council is being asked to give away power to one person who is not elected citywide. It seems like a bait and switch. I'd like to touch on a couple related sections of the charter. Section 210. At its first regular meeting each calendar year, the council shall elect a president and vice president by a majority vote. Of those present. There are 12 of you present today that requires seven. Affirmative votes. Section 211 states that the council shall determine its own rules of procedures. Any such procedures have to be consistent with, and not contradictory to, any relevant portion of the cit. Charter. Section 2117 states in the transaction of all business, every council, when present, must vote unless a majority of the remainder of the council approves the councilors excuse for disqualification. Disqualification is generally limited to scenarios involving a conflict of interest. None of you have a conflict of interest in the election of officers, and therefore are required by the charter to vote. Elected officials cannot refuse to vote because the subject or the effect of their vote on the outcome may be controversial. Robert's rules of order, which is adopted in city code, considers an abstention as not a vote. It's a refrain from voting. Section two 401 duties of the mayor states that the mayor is responsible for voting on matters before the council in case of a tie. When the mayor cast the deciding vote, no exception to the mayor's legal obligation to vote in case of a tie is provided by the charter. Nor can an exception be made by code or other means, as that would violate the charter given a council with an even number. The charter commission wisely provided a way to break a deadlock on any matter before the council. Without exception, the charter's provisions are clear and unambiguous, creating a coherent framework where council president election requires a majority of present members. All members must participate in voting. The mayor may break and must break a 6 to 6 deadlock. No procedural modifications can override these charter requirements. These provisions work in harmony to ensure effective council governance and prevent procedural deadlock. So thank you.
63 Next up we have matt levine.
64 Hello city council. My name is matt levine. I use he him his pronouns. I identify racially as white and ethnically as ukrainian and irish. I'm an academic activist and facilitator for racial and environmental justice. I work in what's now known as the alberta neighborhood, and live in what's now known as the overlook neighborhood, but both are actually rightful, ancestral occupied lands of the kalapuya peoples, Multnomah peoples, Clackamas peoples, chinook peoples, and many other indigenous peoples of the lower columbia river and the confederated tribes of grand ronde, confederated tribes of warm springs, and confederated tribes of siletz indians. As he worked to implement the technical details of city code for measure 26 228, I implore you to not forget the larger adaptive values that drove support of that measure at every point along the way, 26 228 was meant as radical change from the status quo. This is not unique in the city's recent history either. 26 217 in the d.o.j. Settlement agreement, both called for radical change. City government up to this point has failed to live up to that call. I'm very hopeful for this new city council to do so. And to do this, all you need to do is listen to the wisdom and lived experience of charlie, michelle, wesley and actually live by the city's core values, the tools for radical change in the direction of love, justice, care and community are contained in those core city values. The antiracism value requires taking actions to dismantle institutional and systemic racism. The equity value requires acknowledging oregon's history of exclusion and being dedicated to rebuilding trust through reconciliation and restorative justice, as well as valuing lived experience of those experiencing that exclusion. These values then require centering voices like charlie michelle wesley's an amazing role model for so many of us working for justice in this city. It would also require centering the coalition of community of colors reports prepared for the Portland charter commission and preparation for 26 to 28. Their reports concluded that communities of color in Portland experience a lack of information and knowledge about the city, its services, bureaus, and processes. Furthermore, communities of color in Portland have this experience due to lack of outreach and communication from the city. On top of this, the city government does not adequately respond to the community's needs or concerns because community voices are not meaningfully centered in decision making processes. In short, no matter where you look, you see reasons. We need radical change in this city. Please deliver that for us. It's what we elected you to do. Thank you. Jacob. You.
65 Next up we have Steve herring.
66 Good morning. My name is Steve herring, and I'm the ceo of living room theaters here in downtown Portland. I'm pretty humbled from hearing the testimony of the people before me and looking at the responsibility in front of you as you usher us into this new form of city government. I came today, and the reason I wanted to testify on this particular item before you is, as you guys are modifying rules to please take into consideration the gtac recommendations for everything that they put in it. It was a committee that was put together. Don't fall prey to what the county does at county board meetings, where they have committees that they ignore. Public participation only works when you actually listen to the public as a responsibility here. One of the things in kind of an unspoken thing within the food service industry of if you get really busy or it's stressful, there's a phrase which is slow is fast, and here it's really busy and I know it's stressful, but please take the time to get this right, because you only really get one chance. And if it devolves into a power struggle between the people that are members of the council versus the mayor versus the public, then we're not going to get anywhere. And a big part of the new form of government is the tentacles that are this massive assembly of people in this new dais. It's really overwhelming to see the 12 of you here and realize that, you know, you now have additional voices to reach out directly to your constituents in your district and represent them. And part of that responsibility is to make sure that you're communicating with the people within your district. And I can see from just some of the comments in the testimony already, that there's certainly some misunderstandings about how this new form of government is going to function. And to the gentleman behind me with the cameras that are here from the news media and the local media, I wish they would spend some time actually informing the public on what they can expect from you guys. And that needs a partnership. The city council and the city needs to work with the community. So as a person here representing living room theaters, I want to say that the theater, we're here in the community to support you in our government, and we want to see you successful. Thank you.
67 Next up we have rene kadlubek. Rene. Okay. That completes testimony for this item. Is there any further discussion from council for this item? Councilor Green?
68 Yeah, I just want to say that I'm I'm compelled and moved by the testimony that calls for a sunset clause as we develop this. That gives us a little bit of time to get it right to, to sit through this process. I do think that we need to adopt some rules fairly quickly so we can get to the work of forming our committees. But a sunset clause seems like a reasonable vent for that check.
69 Councilor canal I feel like my thunder was just stolen a little bit, but I was going to say something very similar to councilor Green.
70 I also feel compelled by that as well. I want to both hold two things together here, listening to your voices and making adjustments as needed. That's one way to do that. And then at the same time, in the words of our poet this morning, you don't need to be fully formed to go fully forward. So finding a way to operate on those two tracks is something I'm committed to and adjusting as needed. So thanks councilor Mario.
71 I also want to echo what councilor Green and councilor Canale have already said, that I think that we do need a sunset clause. It's there's a lot of urgency around how we're moving forward in these spaces, because we know that we're expected by the public to get to work and to get things done immediately. And this is our establishing of a government that's hopefully going to be here for the next 100 years or more. And that means that we have to be very deliberate about it. And I think that it's really important to have a sunset clause so that we can have community input about how this worked, what worked, what didn't work, and give us time to make sure that we're doing this right, and actually taking into account what the public wants and needs from us to make sure that it's truly accessible. So I agree with that, and I'm grateful for all the testimony and all the people that showed up today to make your voices heard. Thank you. Okay.
72 Oh, councilor Avalos, I want to echo that, but I also just want to appreciate what we're hearing from the testimony, which is how do we increase the people's voice in our city council.
73 And that does happen through the rules. It happens through the council presidency. And so I think also somebody had mentioned, you know, this is the moment to make big changes. That is why we are all here, because Portland wants robust change to the way that people engage with our government. So totally agree with the sunset clause and something I definitely am eager to see us propose. Ideally, I think we should give ourselves a year to really implement these processes and change them along the way, as well as talk to the community. So I just wanted to echo that and thank you so much for your testimony today.
74 Councilor Smith.
75 Thank you, madam auditor. I would just like to say ditto, ditto, ditto.
76 And to also say that we have public engagement as a result of this large, new, diverse council. And to be able to do that through district offices as well. So we need to make sure that we have the opportunity to do that. So thank you so much for bringing that forward.
77 All right. If there is no further discussion on this item, this is a first reading of a nonemergency ordinance. It passes to second reading, as amended January 15th, 2025 at 9:30 a.m. The next item of business is the election of the council president and vice president. After consultation with the city attorney, we have a recommended procedure that I will describe and then ask council to approve by motion and roll call vote. The recommended procedure is as follows. First, we will elect a council president using nominations from the floor and a roll call vote. Once a council president is elected, we will proceed to elect a council vice president using the same procedure of nominations from the floor and a roll call vote. Under the city code, the vice president must be from a different district than the president, unless no councilor from another district wishes to serve. To begin the process for electing a council president, I will ask for nominations from the floor for council president. Any councilor May nominate themselves or another councilor for the position of council president. A second is not required. If you would like to be recognized to make a nomination, please raise your hand in zoom and I will call on councilors in the order their hands are raised. Once all nominations are made, each nominee may make brief comments. I will call on nominees in the order of nomination so they may make their remarks. I will encourage you to try to limit your comments to three minutes, to ensure everyone has an opportunity to speak. We will then vote on the nominees by roll call, vote for the roll call vote. I will call each councilor By name in the order provided in city code, starting with districts in numerical order, then in alphabetical order by last name within each district. When I call your name, please indicate the name of the nominee you are voting for as council president. Each councilor May vote for one nominee. Charter and code require a majority vote of councilors in attendance to elect the council president. After the roll call is complete, I will announce the tally of the roll call vote. If a nominee receives a majority vote of those present, I will declare the nominee elected as council president. If no nominee receives a majority of votes, council may discuss the nominations. Council members may nominate additional individuals who were not previously nominated. Individuals may withdraw from consideration, but not are not required to do so, and the voting procedure will be repeated until we obtain a majority vote for a single nominee. If additional discussion of the nominations is necessary, councilors should please raise their hand in zoom and I will call on councilors in the order their hands are raised. Once a council president is elected, the president will assume presiding officer duties. This means the president will preside over the same procedure to nominate and elect a council vice president, and will preside over the remainder of today's agenda. I will now ask for a motion and a second to follow. This recommended procedure. Is it so moved? So moved.
78 Second.
79 Councilor Zimmerman moves. Councilor Clark seconds. I'll call the vote. Avalos. Yes. Dunphy. Aye. Smith.
80 I. Canale. Yes.
81 Colonel. Guinea. I. Ryan. I. Elaine. Yes. Murillo. I. Novick. I. Clark. I. Green. I. Zimmerman.
82 Yes.
83 Okay. This procedure is approved. I now call for nominations for the council president. Please raise your hand in zoom if you wish to make a nomination. Councilor Smith.
84 Yes. I'd like to nominate Olivia Clark from district four.
85 Olivia Clark is nominated for president. Councilor Green. Yes, I'd like to nominate councilor Avalos from district nine. Councilor Avalos is nominated. Are there any additional nominations for this round? Okay. Nominations are now closed. The list of nominations is councilor Clark and councilor Avalos. Nominated candidates may now make a statement if they choose. Please limit your comments to three minutes to ensure everyone has an opportunity to speak. Councilor Avalos no, I'm sorry, councilor Clark.
86 Thank you. My hand-raising is malfunctioning, so I might need some it support. Okay, but thank you, thank you. I'm honored to be nominated for council president. And thank you to councilor Smith. I just want to say that I'm here to serve. I'm here to unify to the best of my ability. I'm here to use my lived experience to help us meet the challenges that confront us, to fulfill the promises that the city of Portland has made to the people of Portland, and to fulfill the promise and potential of Portland. I will work to find common ground to achieve our aspirations for our districts, as well as the entire city. It's really a privilege to be here at all and to serve our city in this capacity, and to work with all of you. I ask for your support. I will listen, I will hear you. I will work with you to forge our path forward together. Thank you for your consideration.
87 Councilor Avalos.
88 Good morning. Thank you so much, councilor Green, for the nomination. I am really eager to be put up for this position because I have three main goals for the council presidency. Number one, I think it is important that in this new form of government, we establish a strong council and we ensure that the relationship with the mayor's office and the executive branch is balanced. This is something that the charter asked for. This is something the people asked for, and I think it is the council president's responsibility to deliver on that. Number two, I really want to see our districts thrive, and I want every district to have an agenda and have some wins. I think right now portlanders are looking for that deep community representation. And I believe as council president, I can help usher those winds for each district to make sure that we are honing in on what people from each district are asking for. Our overall agenda. Lastly, I want to open up city hall to the people again. The charter is designed to increase people's representation. Voices in our city government, and I think the council president is going to have a huge responsibility in how to do that. I am somebody who has been sitting. I've been sitting in those seats that you all are for many times, and I have been frustrated at many points, feeling like there weren't easy ways to communicate what I believed my community needed on the council's agenda. And so that is something I'm extremely dedicated to, being able to understand what those barriers are and start to break those down so that this city hall is truly for the people. I feel really strongly as well. I'll end on east Portland having a voice in this new form of government. As the first president, I want to elevate east portland's voice, and I believe starting strong with a district one presidency can do that. Thank you so much for your support. Thank. You.
89 Okay.
90 Thank you. We'll now proceed to voting. Avalos.
91 Avalos. Is that how you want me to do it? Okay.
92 Yes. Thank you. Dunphy.
93 Thrilled to support my fellow district one councilor Avalos. Clerk.
94 Canal councilor. Avalos, colonel.
95 Guinea.
96 We are embarking on a brand new form of government today, and we've been tasked with better representing and serving our neighborhoods and our community members. And just like our city, everybody up here in so many ways brings unique perspectives to the work. It has been my hope that we could elect a leader who can bring people together across not only the city, but across this dais. And I still believe that we can. But I don't think we're quite there yet, I hope, and I suspect that with the vote I make right now, we can have a little more time to work together toward alignment. I vote Clark Ryan, I want to start by thanking both of those who put their name up for the outreach, for the consistent communication you both provided, I really do.
97 I found that very refreshing. Thank you both. At this moment, I vote for councilor Clark.
98 I'm elaine.
99 So I just wanted to say a little bit about, we've got how we've gotten a chance to have discussions and get to know each other a bit over the past month, and to be honest, I feel really optimistic about all of us. And I, including these two people who are putting their names, whose names are being put forth right now to be our first council president. I have optimism, and I have confidence that this council's leadership is going to be able to work together. I had a lot of people I have a lot of people said to me, say to me, you know what this group of 12 is going to need is like a good teacher to make sure people are really listening to each other. And so I think, you know, I might use my teacher voice a little bit, but but I really I'm impressed and I'm excited. I believe us working together is what our constituents deserve. It's what I have heard people are desperate for, and it's what I continue to hear people say they really want to see. And councilor Avalos campaign and her track record of service in so many ways overlap with my values and what I ran on, what my platform has been that I've pledged to my constituents in my district. I'm excited for her leadership. I'm excited to work with all of my colleagues to bring policy responsiveness, great results to the portlanders that we're all accountable for. And so with that, I'm excited to vote for Avalos.
100 Maria.
101 I won't leave you all in suspense. I'm voting for Avalos. But I want to say and we're going to have more discussion. It's very possible here in a second, but I did just want to say a few words about I'm so used to calling you Candace and now I have to call you councilor Avalos. It's strange, but but I you know, I think that what councilor Avalos has done throughout her career and her time is really take community feedback very seriously, really work with people who are the most impacted by these issues. And I have also seen her operate in spaces that are very difficult with people who have conflicting opinions, and those spaces are very difficult to navigate. And we are about to enter, you know, a federal trump presidency. We are going to be dealing with very high tensions, a lot of big issues coming, coming ahead for us. And I've seen Candace navigate those spaces with grace. And I have full confidence that whoever becomes our council president, I think we're going to all be there to uplift them and help them as well. But I think that Candace brings a special perspective that I think is very necessary for this moment, to v. Thank you. Know, vic, the one member of this council who has sung at carnegie hall, Olivia Clark.
102 Clark, Clark Green, councilor Avalos.
103 Zimmerman, Clark. Voting is complete. We have a tie vote. No one is elected president in this round. Will need to repeat the procedure again. Are we prepared to? Are there any additional nominations for this round?
104 Madam auditor?
105 Councilor Smith.
Procedural episode · turns 106–139
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106 Oh, okay. Councilor Clark, I have a question. In terms of procedure, looking in the charter, it says if the council has a tie vote for council president, the mayor must use his power and responsibility to break tie votes as provided in article 42-401 under the duties of the mayor. And I need a legal consult to see if this counts for this vote.
107 I'll ask our city attorney to weigh in.
108 For the record, robert taylor, city attorney. Thank you for the question.
109 It is very important as well as the answer.
110 For that reason, I have prepared an analysis and without objection, I would like to have it entered into the record. Given the historic the historic nature of the vote we are having here today. The conclusion is that on this vote to elect the council president, the charter reserves that decision solely to the 12 members who are present. The charter provides that the president and vice president are elected by the members present. The charter also explicitly provides. The mayor is not a member of the council. Further, if a court were ever to analyze this issue, the court would look to the measure's history and the measures. History includes the ballot title and the explanatory statement that were in the voters pamphlet. The ballot title and the explanatory statement both make it clear when discussing the tie breaker, that that was intended to break ties on non-emergency ordinances. That's consistent with the charter language that gives the mayor and any councilor the ability to introduce items to the council, and if there is a tie, vote on those items, like a non-emergency ordinance, then the mayor may break a tie.
111 So based on the text and the context and the history of the measure, we have concluded that the mayor is not authorized to cast a vote in the election for council president and vice president, because the mayor is not a member of council and is not one of the councilors present at the meeting where this election occurs. As a result, a court would likely conclude the charter requires the council alone to elect its officers.
112 Thank you. Mr. Thank you, city attorney taylor, I'm going to read for you what chapter two, article four of the mayor's responsibilities, what that says. And I appreciate your legal opinion, but it does not reflect what's in the charter under article four, the mayor, the duties under section e, and I quote the vote on matters before the council in case of a tie. When the mayor cast the deciding vote, there are no exceptions. There are no additions. That is your assessment and your recommendation, your legal counsel. But it does not reflect what is in the current charter.
113 I believe that the analysis we have provided does reflect the requirement of the charter, that this decision be left solely to the prerogative of the 12 members who were present.
114 Thank you, city attorney taylor. That is your opinion. That is your legal opinion. But the opinion of the charter is very clear. It gives no exceptions. We did not include that in our rules that we approved prior to taking this vote. And if that were the case, it would probably have been in our rules. As the mayor not being able to take this vote, I would like to put a motion on the floor to be able to have the mayor take the tie vote, and I don't even think that I need to do that, especially since the charter is very clear and I think we need to follow the charter. Timothy grewe the second half.
115 Councilor Smith motions. Is there a second? Motion, councilor Maria?
116 I, I completely disagree with that. Everything that we have been told thus far is that the council body itself is making a vote on this decision and that, respectfully, mayor, that you would not be a part of that decision. And if I think many of us, if we had known that we'd be having discussions with the mayor and, you know, there would have been a whole process that would have been done. So this feels very like it's trying to circumvent other processes that we would have had as a council body to include another member into this vote. So I think we should just proceed as, as necessary.
117 Madam clerk, for the purposes of discussion, I will always be a second.
118 Is there any further discussion?
119 Okay. What are we discussing? If there is a motion and a second. Are we discussing that now or are we back at council president?
120 If I might suggest the procedure here, as I understand that, that we're trying to get to the there has been a point of order raised about whether the mayor may cast a tie breaking vote. The city attorney has offered their opinion. I believe that opinion is affirmed by the ex officio presiding officer. That becomes the ruling on that point of order. It may be appealed to the body. The body may decide to follow that point of order or not. So the question is, and we can it's been moved. I think it should be seconded on the point of order, and the vote would be whether the chair's decision stands. If you vote that it stands, then the mayor does not have the tie breaking vote. If you vote that the ruling of the chair should be overturned, then it would be the will of this council that the mayor should break the tie. Mayor.
121 Councilor Smith.
122 Yes, ma'am. Thank you, city attorney taylor. But your legal opinion is not based on city code. And so I will push back on you. I will push back on the on the thought that just because we didn't know before that ignorance of the law and the and the charter is no excuse for us not to follow the charter as it is stated in the charter. So I would like to be able to finish this vote and be able to take the vote.
123 Councilor peragine.
124 I believe we have a motion on the table to take that vote, and that we are in a place of discussion on that motion. I would just like to clarify that. Yes. Okay.
125 Thank you.
126 Point of order, please. There is a motion on the table or there is a vote happening on th. At the moment there is the vote ended in a tie. The conversation is whether or not the mayor may now cast a vote on a vote, as already happened. I think that would require a new vote, would it not? This seems like it's out of order.
127 So the voting on the what? I would just suggest this to try to give us a path forward to get this issue resolved. The first round of voting has concluded, as I understand, councilor Smith has suggested that council adopt a rule giving the mayor the authority to break a tie.
128 Yes, yes, but I would like us to follow the charter, and I don't know the best way to change that. I can take away my motion because I don't feel like I have to take a motion for something that's already in the charter. And I think that we could take a recess. I'll take it off the off the I'll take it off the floor. But I shouldn't have to put a vote, a motion on the floor to do something that's already in the charter. That seems like an oxymoron. I don't know, I, I don't want to, you know, cancel myself out because it's already in the charter.
129 And as I as I have explained, I, I do not agree with that interpretation of the charter.
130 Well, we're going to have to get a legal a second legal opinion because yours is a legal opinion. It's not based on the city code. And it's not based on the charter either.
131 And the charter and this I think is the path forward here. The charter also does give the council the ability to set its rules. So if you are making a motion to adopt a rule for the election of the president that allows the mayor to cast the tie breaking vote and council passes that rule, then we could proceed on that based on the charter's authority. That gives you the ability to set those rules.
132 That would require a charter change, which would require a charter review. And so we would be out of order in doing that, we need to follow what is in the rules. We can't suspend the charter. We can suspend rules, but we can't suspend the charter. The charter is very clear. And I.
133 I would like to provide a path for this council to try to get this issue resolved. And, and I think there are two ways to do that. One way is, as I understood you to propose, was for this council under their charter rulemaking authority, to explicitly adopt a rule that says the president can break a tie. I think you can proceed that way if you choose the and that is the motion, I believe that's been made and that's been seconded to break a tie in a case of identifying who our president is.
134 Correct?
135 Correct. And so if council adopts that rule on your motion, we could take nominations again, hold the vote again, and the mayor can break a tie. So that's the one way we can handle this. And I believe that's the question that's pending. The other way it could be handled is what I had mentioned where you could consider this a ruling by the chair about whether the mayor can vote or not. That ruling by the chair is a point of order. It could be appealed again, the body would get to decide whether to follow that or not.
136 And who is the chair under under the code for purposes of this meeting, until we elect a president, the chair is the ex officio council clerk. I think we are at an impasse, because I feel like we may be doing something that we shouldn't be doing, because we would be breaking the rules of the charter by putting a new rule up. And before we take this vote, can we go to recess? There's a lot of people I'd like to speak.
137 Okay. We should speak.
138 Okay. Go ahead.
139 Councilor Avalos.
140 Yeah, I guess what I'll just say is, I believe regardless of what the law says, the rules, the charter, I think that the spirit of this is wrong because we are our own branch. We have our own powers. And I think it's completely inappropriate to try to adjust the rules in any way to have the mayor have a say on who our leaders are. So, I mean, I just wanted to put that on the record. I'm happy to continue to debate what the, you know, legal opinions are. But I think regardless of that, the spirit of this I am strongly against. Thank you. Councilor.
141 Councilor Novick, I just wanted to say, councilor Smith, that I don't think that a recess would serve a purpose, and it's not practical for us to seek a second legal opinion.
142 So I would prefer that we proceed to vote in your motion.
143 Yes, councilor Peragine, I would also like us to proceed to a vote.
144 It seems to me that if we are getting the legal opinion of the attorney whose job it is in part to advise this body that we have the legal support that we need to make a decision here. There is clearly a disagreement over that interpretation, but all we can do as a body is take the advice from our attorney and adhere to it, or choose not to, which is what we now have the choice to do. I'd like to proceed with discussion and a vote.
145 Councilor.
146 Councilor moreno yeah, I thought that we were having the discussion already. So I think the part that one I would like to see if robert, I don't know if you're able to pull up the language as far as the this specific vote and what the mayor's powers are here, because I was under the impression that the mayor would not be part of this vote, same as your analysis. So thank you for providing that for us. But additionally, I think that we as a council body have really been trying to work well together in order to thank you. Okay, I'm going to ask the city attorney to continue to look for it. I think that as a body, we've been trying to be transparent with one another and work in good faith. And the fact that this has not come up until now, I find very frustrating because I've been told from everybody here that we want to work together and kumbaya and be in good faith. And now I feel a little bit ambushed about this decision. If I can be very frank, it is very important that the council be independent and have our own vote on who this person is. And even if that takes longer and we have more discussion, that's okay. I don't mind it being a little messy and hard, but to have another vote added in for a person that I have not consulted about this specific decision is very frustrating to me. And if we need a second opinion, I'd like to do that, but I would urge the rest of my council body for the health of our decision making together, that we not just ambush each other in these ways. I don't think it's helpful or productive. Thank you, councilor Green.
147 Yes, I just want to first start by acknowledging councilor Smith. I appreciate your willingness to challenge the received opinion of the city attorney. No offense to the city attorney. I think it's a really healthy function that this body must exercise and will have to exercise again in the future.
148 So there is that.
149 That being said, I also exercise my ability to interpret the charter. And the charter says in section two 110 under organization. And I quote at its first regular meeting each calendar year, or often at its option, the council shall elect a president and vice president by a majority of the vote. President. Furthermore, the. The charter defines what the council is. The charter defines what the executive function is. So it's very clear that the council is this 12 person body. And so it's to me clear that it requires seven people to come to a conclusion to elect that, that that council president. And I think that's what we should do. So I will be voting no on the motion on the floor, councilor Canal, once again, I should not follow councilor Green because I agree with the broader statement as well about choosing to challenge at times the advice of the city attorney and also the statement on this.
150 I think we have also the opportunity to send a message here, which is that we're able to be respectful to the mayor, who I think is someone I'm very excited to work with more as th, you know, years continue and also that we should retain our prerogative to decide upon our own leadership. I think it's worthwhile to have a conversation about what kind of president we want. That is why I was so adamantly in support of discussing the rules prior to this as well. And part of that is because we had an idea that there might not be seven votes in favor of any particular nominee, and there are colleagues in this chamber who are on different sides of the question in terms of who the council president should be, who nonetheless have argued in favor of it being okay to do this in public, it being okay to have a little bit of mess and to have a little bit of time spent on on determining our outcomes. And I think regardless of who ends up winning this election, it will be perceived and will in actuality be a stronger decision if it's arrived at by solely the 12 people up here at this moment.
151 Thanks, councilor Smith.
152 Thank you. We cannot pick and choose which pieces of the charter that we want to follow. We cannot make up the rules as we go. We have to follow the rule of law and the rule of law today is that there is no provision in the charter that says the mayor cannot break a tie on on the presidency. Now, we're all going to be on different sides of different issues, and we can't take the stance that just because I don't agree with this issue, that I'm going to change the charter. Thank you, councilor Avalos, you worked very hard on the charter to give us this very diverse, mixed, exciting, smart, intelligent group of councilors. And I know, you know, the process of the charter in the charter review and how you change it. And you all were very clear in your language. If you meant to say that this was not going to include the president's vote, it should have been included. And so from that vantage point, I want us to really understand what we're doing here. We're basically if we allow this not to happen, we have virtually changed the charter without charter review.
153 Councilor Koyama.
154 Thank you. I do trust your analysis. Thank you for that. I also understand this sentiment of kind of wanting to be done with this. I think I've maybe said it to every single one of you. And, you know, there have been some jokes about like, we kind of know this is going to end up, can we flip a coin? I do think that is an easier way out. And I do think that it is messier to have to work through this. And maybe it does take a few rounds, but I do believe that we need to do that. I also don't think it's a the intention of the charter or nor is it fair to ask the mayor to do this. I think that's putting him in an unfair position. And I don't think it's what the charter is, is saying we should do.
155 Also, councilor Novick, with all deference to councilor Elaine and the founders of Portland, I believe that a game of paper, scissors, rock is a more suitable, suitable and respectful way of resolving such an issue than a coin flip.
156 Okay.
157 Councilor Clark.
158 Madam chair, would you mind clarifying what we're actually voting on with a yay or nay does?
159 Now we're prepared to take the vote will clarify the motion on the table.
160 The motion, as I understand it, is to adopt a rule allowing the mayor to cast the tie breaking vote on the election of president.
161 It is to reaffirm what the charter says.
162 But I accept your statement of your motion. I believe that's been seconded.
163 Avalos, I have a question.
164 Sorry, councilor.
165 Yeah?
166 Just before we vote on this, if this motion ties, what happens?
167 It looks really bad.
168 I want to ask it before we get through it.
169 So it's a really good question.
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170 And I'm sorry to put you on the spot.
171 I feel like I've been there quite a bit today. I the, the memo that I've put in in writing before you and I have copies here, I'm happy to share with everybody. I do believe that the tie breaking provision in the charter was intended to apply to final votes on non emergency ordinances. So for example, the budget will come to the council as an ordinance that might be a tie vote. We might need someone to break that tie. The mayor would have that authority for matters of organization of the council, who your president is, who your rules are, what your committees are. I believe the charter reserves that solely to your discretion. So if you're trying to adopt a rule to govern yourself and it's a tie vote, I don't think the mayor gets to break that tie. Thank you.
172 Any other further discussion? Otherwise we'll proceed to voting. Councilor Ryan.
173 Yeah.
174 In the spirit of transparency, and we're talking about the mayor and third person. Hello, marilyn. You're not mayor elect anymore, mayor wilson, do you have an opinion on this vote? Not who you would pick, but do you have an opinion on the vote? Is that out of order?
175 I consider it out of order, councilor.
176 Yes, yes.
177 All right. So that's not going to happen. But I had to be. I can't be the only one that was curious.
178 Yeah.
179 And I know you all want transparency, so I thought I'd let it rip. All right.
180 I'd like to call the question. It's time to vote.
181 Avalos.
182 To be clear, I'm voting no. Right. So that we're not approving this rule. To have the mayor break the tie. Is that how I'm voting? Okay, then. No, Dunphy.
183 No.
184 Smith. I am voting to reaffirm the charter, and I'm voting yes.
185 Canal. No. Colonel. Guinea. No. Ryan. Yes. Cleo. Laine. No. Murillo.
186 No. No, no. Clark.
187 Respect to councilor Smith, I vote yes. Green.
188 No. Zimmerman. No. The motion fails to pass. I'll now call for nominations for the president. We'll start the second round. So in this round. You have a couple options. You may discuss the current nominations. You may nominate additional individuals who are not previously nominated. Individuals may withdraw from consideration but are not required to do so. So I'll open the floor to any new nominations. All right. We have councilor Clark, councilor Avalos as nominated. Councilor Clark, would you like to make any comments before we vote? Councilor Avalos okay, we'll proceed to voting. Avalos. Sorry. Oh, sorry. Councilor canal.
189 Or are we sorry you asked if there were additional nominations, but you also mentioned earlier that there would be an opportunity to discuss it.
190 Yes. Oh, yes. I'm sorry. Is there discussion? Would you all like to have some discussion?
191 I think that would probably be prudent before voting again. Okay.
192 If you want to raise your hands, I'll call on you in the order your hands are raised. Councilor Avalos.
193 I guess I will just add that, you know, I appreciate that we're doing this process. I agree that having a little bit of this in the public is good for transparency and for folks to be brought in to some of the conversations that we've been having about council leadership. I feel very proud of the way that I have been able to talk with all of my fellow councilors, understand their priorities, be able to work across certain aisles. I really, you know, I really hope that we don't get into this weird partizan thing because we are not Salem, we are city council and we don't have parties. Let me just state that. But I do think that it's important that, you know, or I feel that the work that I've been doing over the last few weeks to try to earn everybody's support is why I'm continuing to be in this second vote. I will not be dropping out, and I would urge fellow councilors to consider me in their second vote. Thank you.
194 Yeah.
195 Councilor Green, thank you.
196 Since I initially nominated councilor Avalos, I, I feel like I should say why at this moment. The reason why that I have faith in councilor Avalos is leadership here is that from my perspective, the very most important thing that we need to do as a council is really satisfy this desire to have community oversight and community input in both the legislative process, the budget development process, and then that very, very important last step, which is are we doing what we said we were going to do? Okay. I have seen from councilor Avalos a commitment to disperse that power, to sort of say I trust in this body, I trust in the committees that we are going to do, going to form. And that's that's really what moved me and that's it. That's all I'm going to say.
197 Thank you. Councilor Dunphy.
198 In addition to the absolutely amazing things that have been said about councilor Avalos, I also just want to acknowledge that we have a wealth of talent up here. Part of my motivation for my vote is that I believe my very presence on this dais, alongside councilors Smith and Avalos, is the need for geographic representation of this city that for far too long, geography and economics have defined the people who get to sit in this room. And I am really excited about the idea of having somebody else from the east side representing the first presidency in this new council. So I'm completely.
199 Any further discussion? We'll proceed to voting. Avalos.
200 Avalos.
201 Dunphy. Avalos.
202 Clark.
203 Canal. Avalos.
204 Clark. Ryan. Clark. Koyama. Ling.
205 Avalos.
206 Mario.
207 I'm going to say Avalos. And I also want to say that I think everyone here is talking. What I have heard in all of our discussions is that we want a council president. Everyone has a fear that we're going to have a council president that isn't going to listen to everybody, regardless of their political opinions. Right. And I think it is really important that we have a council president that is willing to meet with everyone and talk to them about their priorities long before it is time to get their vote, just for this moment. Only one person has done that, and that is Candace, who has met with every single member of the council. And I know that there were efforts made at the very last minute to meet with me, and maybe with other members who are a little bit politically different. But that is not an effort that was made before to really get to know my priorities as a council person in order to get my vote. So it feels a little disingenuous when people are talking about their fears about having a council president that's going to actually listen to everybody when it turns out that if someone doesn't take the time to do that, that doesn't automatically disqualify them for your vote. Candace has. Sorry, I'm sorry. Councilor Avalos has taken time to really meet with everyone, listen to their priorities, regardless of where they are on the political spectrum and where their ideas are. And she has proven time and time again that she is able and willing to do that because she has been in very difficult spaces around police accountability, working with people who are on all sides of those issues. And she has managed that well, and I have full faith that she will do that. But let's be let's be for real about what this vote is about and the values that we really want in a council president. And who has demonstrated that. So I maintain my vote for councilor Avalos, and I hope that people will consider that that is something that we need in a council president. Thank you. Yeah. Novick.
208 I just want to second councilor Dunphy's comment that we have a wealth of talent here, and I'm confident that the council will unite in supporting and celebrating whoever is ultimately elected. Clark. Clark park Green, Avalos.
209 Zimmerman, Clark, leave the room.
Procedural episode · turns 210–230
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210 Clark. Voters.
211 This vote has resulted in a tie. So no nominee has received a majority of the votes. We'll need to proceed to another round of voting. Here. Again, council may discuss the nominations. Council members may nominate additional individuals, and individuals may withdraw councilor Smith.
212 I would also like to nominate councilwoman Alana peragine.
213 Councilor peragine is nominated.
214 Could we take a quick recess? Is that out of order? There could be a motion and a second and a vote on that.
215 Okay.
216 Thank you, councilor. Murphy.
217 Councilor murillo moves. And do I have a second? Councilor elaine? Seconds. We're in recess for five minutes. Oh, no. Sorry, a vote. Sorry. Thank you.
218 What is the amount of time for the recess?
219 Five minutes, five minutes.
220 Okay.
221 Five minutes. Okay, we'll. We'll vote on the motion to recess for five minutes. Avalos. Hi, Dunphy. Hi, Smith.
222 Hi. Hi.
223 Hi, Ryan.
224 Hi.
225 Elaine. Yes, muriel, I Novick, I Clark, I Green, I Zimmerman.
226 Madam Clark, I would ask that when we return that we revisit the decorum rules for this room, the applauses and stuff of that nature normally would be would be addressed. I vote I to go to recess.
227 We're in recess. We're getting ready to reconvene in the next couple of minutes.
228 Please take a seat and we'll get started. Before the break. We had three nominees for council president, councilor Clark, councilor. Avalos. Councilor. Purtell, guinea. We can open the floor to discussion. And if councilor Guinea would like to make any comments as a new nominee, please feel free.
229 This may surprise some of my colleagues, but I'll keep this brief.
230 Inside joke.
231 I stated earlier today that it was my hope that we could come together around leaders who can bring people together. I have spent a lot of time throughout my career and throughout my time since being elected. Getting to know the folks sitting at the dais with me, trying to build relationships, trying to build partnerships, trying to think about how we build our city's future together amongst the 12 of us. With those of you who are in the room with us today and with all of our city, if my colleagues believe that I am the person who can help bring us together, I humbly accept the nomination.
232 Any further council discussion before we proceed to the vote? Avalos.
233 Avalos.
234 Dunphy. Avalos.
235 Councilor. Alana.
236 Canal. So the first few times I just said a name, I'll take the opportunity here to speak to it. Now that we have all of our nominees in place. I think that we often discuss this in the context of the message it sends, and it certainly does send a message. Depending on who the council president is, including, based off of the things that a person can see. And, you know, abstractly put into a narrative about a person. And that's all important, too. I think what's also important is the experience that we look at for a council president and someone who is able to understand how the city works, not only how other forms of government work, and understand what it's like to not only be a part of this government as an elected official, but also as a member of the public, a member of the advisory groups, a member of the bureaucracy that they've worked with. And that's really vital to ensuring that this council can succeed. Having experience in the parts of the city that have been left out is a necessity to ensuring that the council can succeed, and having our council succeed is a necessity to ensuring that our capital c city government can succeed, and having our city government succeed is necessary so that all portlanders can succeed and thrive. And so, for the experiential reasons, that's what is guiding my conversations. I think there's a lot of other points that have been raised around communication styles, leadership styles, a commitment to having power that is dispersed and is grown rather than diluted by being shared. And for those reasons, I continue to vote for councilor Avalos.
237 Guinea. Hurtle. Guinea. Ryan. Clark.
238 Elaine Avalos.
239 Maria. Ditto to everything that councilor Connell has just said. And Avalos. Novick, Clark, Clark, park, Green, Avalos.
240 Zimmerman. Come on.
241 Clark. 1970s. Director cozzie.
242 The results of the vote. Councilor Clark received four votes. Councilor Avalos received six votes. Councilor guinea received two votes. A majority vote was not reached. We'll open another round of voting. Councilor Avalos.
243 I just wanted to affirm that I will continue to be in this vote. I feel very strongly about the message that we're trying to send, and it's really not about me. It is about what I believe I can bring to the leadership for all of us to succeed. That is why my platform points revolve around how I help you succeed. And when you succeed, I will. And so yeah, I am committed to continuing this vote until we get it done. So thanks, councilor.
244 Councilor Smith.
245 Thank you. I just want to say that it is so important that we have diverse voices, that we have people who can bring folks together. And I can tell you about councilor Alana. She was asked to jump into this race, and she saw that it was a66, possibly six five vote. And she continued to talk to people about her priorities and talk to us about our priorities. And she's very sincere. She was sincere on the campaign trail. She was sincere since she's been here on onboarding. I really respect her. I respect her, her intellect, her the information and her ability to pull the different levers of government. I didn't know alana before, very well before I got on the council, but I would like to urge all of my colleagues, because we can do this all day long. We need to make sure that we have someone who is going to be committed to diversity, equity and inclusion, who's going to give you an ear. And it doesn't matter what time of day or night. And she is not going to flip on you. So I would like to really impress upon my colleagues to think about changing their votes, because we have to do the work of the people, and we can't do it by being in this kind of gridlock. So thank you so much for allowing me this time to speak.
246 Is there any further council discussion before we take the vote on this round of voting? We'll proceed to the vote.
247 Avalos. Avalos. Dunphy.
248 Avalos.
249 Alana.
250 Now. Avalos.
251 Puerto guinea, guinea.
252 Ryan. Clark.
253 Elaine. Avalos, maria.
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254 Avalos. Novick.
255 Fertile. Guinea. Clark.
256 Early. Guinea. Green. Avalos.
257 Zimmerman.ouncilor. Guinea. One.
258 We. We'll reconvene before we get started. Just a brief reminder about decorum. Please refrain from applauding or making comments. Please give the council an opportunity to deliberate without interruption. Thank you. We'll start the next nomination round as a reminder. Oh, no. I'm sorry. We actually. We have three nominees. Councilor Clark. Councilor Avalos and councilor Peragine. Council may discuss the nominations. They may nominate additional individuals who are not previously nominated. And they may withdraw from consideration, but are not required to do so. Is there any discussion? Looks like there's no further discussion. We'll move to the vote. Avalos.
259 Avalos. Dunphy. Avalos.
260 Smith. Canal. Avalos.
261 Bernal. Guinea.
262 Guinea.
263 Ryan. Fertile. Guinea. Leon. Elaine. Avalos. Murillo.
264 Avalos. Novick.
265 Fertile. Guinea.
266 Clark. Fertile. Guinea. Green.
267 Avalos.
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268 Zimmerman. Fertile. Guinea. Councilor ramos has received six votes. Councilor. Purtell. Guinea has received six votes. No councilor has received a majority of the votes. We'll move to another round of nominees. Thank. Series councilor Canal.
269 I move to amend our previous motion, which established the council rules to allow names to be placed into either separate nomination for president and vice president prior to each vote for president. Is there a second?
270 Sticking with my route, I'll second, I would like to be able to nominate people for vice president now so that we're all aware of what that conversation is shaping up to be.
271 Prior to our next vote for president. I think that might help people with this conversation to resolve an impasse.
272 May I ask a point of clarification, or is that out of order? Councilor canal, is your intention that these would be joined names like a slate, or that there would be a list of folks nominated for president and a list of folks nominated for vice president?
273 My intent was the latter, but I am. I'm open to changing that.
274 I, I was not pushing to change it. I just wanted to make sure I understood. Thank you.
275 So in this situation then it would be informational only. Is that. Am I understanding your intent there, councilor?
276 Yeah. And I think it. Yes, that it would be informational only. I think it would also allow for a discussion to include that information, not our votes, but our discussion.
277 I will, as I said earlier, always be a second, but I'm not sure where I'm at on this yet. Second.
278 Councilor Smith, thank you.
279 I think if we do what councilor Connell is suggesting, it is going to confuse everyone about what's going on. We need to take the vote and we need to understand if we're in an impasse. We just put a new person in and she's increased the number of votes every single time. And I'm going to urge everyone again to please consider alana Pirtle, guinea, as our next president. She is ready. She is someone who's committed, and she's dedicated to making sure that we have good government. And that's what we should be concerned about. And she is going to be accessible, and she's going to be a person that you can look to for information. And she doesn't believe that she knows it all. She is open to suggestions and ideas. So we need to take another vote and make sure after we do this. Councilor. So I just want to put another plug in because we have to get this vote done.
280 Councilor Zimmerman, I tend to agree with my colleague, councilor Smith. I do think this adds a level of confusion. I don't think it's intentional, but I do think it would add a bit. I'd like to take the vote. I'd like to be able to determine a president first and stick to the rules. As we adopted earlier. I think there are some fine folks on this who can serve as a vice president. But let's make that a separate question. I'll vote no on this.
281 Can I withdraw the motion but reserve the right to do so after one more round of voting?
282 If the motion is the motion has been made, it has been seconded. You may withdraw the motion before a vote has has occurred. I'll do that.
283 Councilor Zimmerman, your hand is raised, but are you going to take the opportunity?
284 So since we're back into the nominations piece, I. I want to also comment, I haven't commented yet on on the nominees. I think that councilor Guinea is a person who I've known now for a number of years. We served briefly together on another board. I throughout this onboarding process, throughout the election cycle, I have always found you to be a person who is a thought partner, a person who I've been able to often disagree with, and it was always okay. I appreciated that about you. I think in a in a world where this council has voted two times 6 to 6 and then a, and then a third time after a few more rounds, 6 to 6, I think that you offer an interesting and probably necessary compromise for this council, and I hope that folks have seen your deliberateness in in everything we have done for the last several weeks, and I think everything we will do for the next 52. So I hope that I hope folks will look at you and your candidacy for president as a person who can lead this council and has a mind to the precedent setting nature of everything that we will do moving forward, I think you can be the right person to do that, and I would like to help you do it. And that's why I'll continue to support councilor Alana peragine.
285 Is there any further discussion before we proceed to the vote?
286 Avalos. Avalos, Dunphy.
287 Avalos.
288 Any canal?
289 Avalos. Colonel. Guinea.
290 Colonel. Guinea. Brian. Colonel.
291 Guinea. Cuyama. Lane. Avalos.
292 Mario.
293 Avalos. Novick.
294 Fertile. Guinea. Clark.
295 Fertile. Guinea. Rain.
296 Avalos. Zimmerman. Fertile.
297 Guinea.
298 Councilor. Avalos received six votes. Councilor. Pirtle. Guinea received six votes. A majority present. Did not vote or sorry the vote. It was a tie vote. So we will proceed to another round of voting. Yes, there are any. Oh. Councilor canal.
299 Yeah. I'm not going to make the motion just yet. I think it's worth having the conversation, though, around what is a what is a leadership team that makes sense for this council? I have been incredibly impressed by all of the candidates for president throughout this process. I personally have had really rich conversations with all three, and I think that we are in a position right now where we can have a team emerge from this conversation, and I don't think that that's a bad thing. I don't think that it's always a good decision to have the vice president be the person who is second in the presidential conversation. I think we happen to be in that situation now. And so I would urge that we do have that conversation and explore that possibility here. And that was my intention in raising the question about the rules. I think there probably are other people who would make good vice presidents as well. I don't mean to limit the field there also, but if it has the additional benefit of resolving the impasse and allowing us to work on the things that the city requires us to do, then it has that. That's a win win in my book. At least that's gravy. And so that's something that I wanted to float from a process perspective, from the perspective of how are we doing this and who are we electing? I think it is notable and not necessarily a not necessarily a disqualifier for either role, but I think it is notable that when we had conversations, most of it was around what the president would do. We did not have a lot of conversations around what the vice president would do, and the only person who really put forward a comprehensive vision of the vice presidency is councilor Peragine. I think there were some specific ideas that other people had around what the vice president could do, but I think that's a notable part of this conversation, and I think that's going to be important, regardless of whether it ends up being councilor Bertagni as president or vice president, because the president also needs to be on board with the role of the vice presidency the way it's written now, because it's going to be mostly customary at first. But I also think that that's not something that I saw either councilor Clark or councilor Avalos disagree with. And I imagine that should either of them have ended up or continue to end up being president, that they would be supportive of that, especially if the scenario involves councilor Guiney being vice president? So that's a lot of hypotheticals. And I just wanted to float that. I think it's an important part of this conversation that it makes. This conversation should not be as high stakes as it is, but it is because in part, we're discussing the presidency alone. And I think it's important for us to talk about the vice presidency as well. So if we ended up where I obviously supported and I'll continue to support councilor Avalos for president. But if we ended up with councilor Avalos as president and councilor Peragine as vice president, I think we would be very successful today. And I want to encourage everyone to think about that. In particular, the two folks I just mentioned, because I think it's vital to consider these kinds of questions and also the ability of these folks to work together, which I think is not in doubt from the outside, but I don't know as much from the inside. So that would be my proposal, not as a formal motion, just as a conversation starter to try and resolve this. And I think we can resolve it by by talking openly about the vice presidency to.
300 Councilor Dunphy.
301 Yeah. Building on both what councilor Canal said and our earlier rule adoption. It has been a goal, a goal of mine, to make sure that we do not elect a tyrant into the presidency. And I think that largely we have agreed that the role of this entire the president is to be in many ways our voice and to be able to try and move towards this. I think that there's an opportunity for power sharing and an opportunity for intentional structuring of the office of the president and the office of the vice president of the council, in order to make sure that we arrive at really good, deep, deeply thought out conclusions, and that we are also continuing to be as representative across the city as we can. So I agree with what my colleague was saying, councilor.
302 I appreciate councilor Canal's remarks. I do just want to make sure that we keep an open mind about all of our colleagues across the dais, because I do think there are some other fantastic folks who would add a lot of value in leadership and did not have their names put forward for president, but who might be interested in being considered for vice president. I want to make sure that we don't prematurely take any names off the table for that.
303 But I do appreciate the kind words. Thank you.
304 Councilor Novick.
305 Although, I mean, I don't really disagree with anything councilor Carroll said. I would like to note my preference is that if we have a president with a four year term, I prefer to have a vice president with a two year term. Half of us are up for election in two years from now, and it's simply a fact of life that politicians do keep electoral deadlines in mind, and there is going to be a somewhat different sense of urgency to address the problems of the city from people with two year terms. So it might be valuable to have somebody with a long, longer perspective. But I would have a concern about electing both the president and a vice president with four year terms.
306 Councilor zimmermann, thank you, councilor Novick.
307 I'll take this opportunity. And while I recognize it's not the time to nominate vice presidents, this is on my mind as well in terms of who can make good teams. I think that councilor Canale brings that up. There are a couple of people in this body who I think have shown me that they are ultimately good team members, and one of them fits that category you just described. Councilor Novick. And like I said, while it's not the time to take that nomination right now, I fully intend and I hope you'll accept councilor Koyama to serve as vice president. And I plan to nominate you when we get to that round, because I think you are that team player, and I think you guys would make a great team. And so I am thinking about that as I cast my vote for president. And I am and I will think about that when I cast and when I nominate in the vice president role. Good teammates are going to make this council work. And I think that I think that a guinea. And Koyama Lane is a great team leadership.
308 The current nominees for this round are councilor Clark, councilor Avalos, councilor Peragine. If there's no further discussion, we'll proceed to the vote. Avalos. Avalos.
309 Dunphy. Avalos. Smith.
310 Curto. Gagne.
311 No. Avalos, colonel.
312 Guinea.
313 I want to take a minute because we have a portlander in the front row who's been holding a sign this whole time, and I'm worried your arms are going to get tired with this long as we're taping. And if at some point you need to put that sign down, I will send your website to all of my colleagues to make sure everybody can see it. I've looked it up. Thank you for being here. Guinea Ryan Pirtle.
314 Guinea. Plowman. Lane. Avalos. Mario.
315 Avalos. Novick.
316 Fertile. Guinea.
317 Clark. Fertile. Guinea.
318 Green. Avalos. Zimmerman. Fertile.
319 Guinea.
320 Councilor. Avalos received six votes. Councilor. Purtell. Guinea received six votes. We have a tie. Councilor Smith, thank you.
321 We have tied now more times than I can even count. And I think that the makers of the charter, they were very clear in terms of tie breaking, because we could sit here all day and we could go back and forth with any combination of two people, and we will not be able to get a seventh person. So I'm going to say once again, I urge my colleagues to support councilor Alana Pirtle, guinea. She is the person who's qualified. She is the person who understands rules. She will open up her doors to being all of us, and we have to go to aa2 o'clock as well. And it looks like no one is moving. But I urge one of my colleagues just to come over. I'll take 2 or 3, but one of you all needs to come over so we can take this vote, and we can do the people's business.
322 Councilor mario well, it sounds like that means we're at 1252 and we have another hour.
323 So we can also urge the other side to move and vote for candice as well. There is no reason why we should rush this vote. This is going to be a very serious decision, and we're going to sit here as long as it takes, and I'm fully prepared to do that. Maybe as the youngest member of council, I can sit a little longer than everybody else, but I'm fully prepared to sit here for as long as it takes. I also just want to reaffirm again, that we have really great options. This is a very good problem to have. I have had, you know, I'm going to talk about the folks that have 6 to 6 now. I have had really wonderful discussions with both councilor Avalos and councilor Ilana Pirtle. Guinea. I think both are really good leaders that are here to do right by the people and make sure that there is a lot of access. And I want to say that I think that councilor Avalos has a lot of necessary experience with local government. She's been on the outside. She knows what it's like to not have your voice heard and not have a seat at the table. And I think that because of that, she's going to make sure that everyone does have that opportunity. I've also seen that she is someone who takes feedback really well. You know, you have a frank discussion with her. She takes that feedback, she moves on the issue. And that's something I deeply respect in a leader. That humility and ability to say, you know, I need to listen differently. I need to do something better. I have seen her demonstrate that in all the time that I've known her. So I'm prepared to sit here through lunch if that's what it takes. Maybe we can doordash something over here, but I'm fully prepared to wait, and anyone can move their vote on any side. Thanks.
324 The nominees for this round include councilor Clark, councilor. Avalos, councilor. Guinea. Councilor. Canal.
325 Yeah, well, big captain America fan. And so I'll just say I can do this all day. I think we're in a position where we're we're forced by the rules to make a decision that's really, really big, really, really early. Some of us didn't know each other through the campaigns. Some of us hadn't even met until after the election. But we, you know, we followed the charter and that's important. And so I think that I'm not complaining about it. I'm just representing sort of my view on why that's challenging. And it's also really hard to undo. Right now we have rules saying nothing about the term length in the code. In the in the charter it says one year or if we choose to do it again. But then, you know, it also talks about taking nine votes to remove the president. So this is a very, very large decision, and one that I think deserves whatever amount of time it takes. And I think with we're when we're talking about having experience be represented, that's that's a really vital thing. And experience is not measured equally by everybody. And it doesn't manifest the same in everyone. And I think when we're talking about experience in the city, that's why my lean is towards councilor Avalos. I also know that the city is changing, and that's why I really value the idea of someone with a lot of experience also being in the leadership team, especially who has experience in a in a more legislative process. And that's why I'm hoping we can we can land this. But fundamentally, I think earlier when we were talking about the first reading of the rules ordinance, there was a conversation around having the charter vote 26 to 28 was about making big changes, and the future is begging to be born, and we should help it along instead of standing in its way. Thanks.
326 Councilor Avalos. I raise my hand.
327 Yeah, I guess I just wanted to get a temperature check of what we're all feeling. You know, it's clear that maybe some more conversations need to be had. We also just have our own human needs. You know, I'm worried about us going all the way until two and then continuing to go all the way through the end of the day. So I guess I just wanted to open to the group, like, is this something we feel if we do another recess that that will help us get to that seventh vote? Or do we feel we need to recess for another day? Okay, I'm just opening up for discussion.
328 Councilor Koyama, am I allowed to just talk, or do I have to raise my hand? I don't know, okay. Yeah. I kind of think we should do one more vote, and then someone should make a motion for a recess. And I do think if there are people that are willing to move, not saying which side. This is kind of like the time. I think we all know that, but.
329 Councilor kinney. Oh, sorry.
330 Did you?
331 Councilor morrell okay, I think if we do make a motion for a recess, can we please do 15 minutes instead of five minutes so we can actually make this decision?
332 Councilor Zimmerman, thank you.
333 You know, I think that a number of folks on this body have already, quote unquote, moved, right? I think that our original voting now looks very different than it is at this point. I feel like councilor Clark represented my first choice at what a council president could be. And I feel like I did move because I sensed some some deadlocking at 6 to 6. And councilor Peragine represents that moving vote for me. So I feel like I already have. And again, to I do believe that we've got some riches here in the in the three ladies who've stepped up to lead, but I will slightly resist the call to move, because I feel like a number of us already have. And I think that a compromise candidate will be what takes us into the future of this year. And I hope that that can be reflected. Thanks.
334 If there's no further discussion, we'll call the vote. Avalos. Avalos, Dunphy. Avalos, Smith.
335 Fertile. Guinea canal.
336 Avalos.
337 Fertile. Guinea.
338 Guinea. Ryan.
339 Fertile. Guinea. Elaine. Avalos. Moreno. Avalos.
340 Novick. A couple of preliminary remarks. First, I hope that councilor Canale was making a deliberate reference to the bob dylan lyric. He, not busy being born, is busy dying. Second, I want to say that part of the job of president will be to speak for the council as a whole, and it is very difficult to make the transition from speaking for yourself to speaking for anybody else. Frankly, it's one of the reasons I did not consider running for president myself. I would have a very hard time not speaking for myself. I think that both candidates understand this part of the role very well. One of the reasons I support councilor Guinea is she has had the somewhat similar experience of working for an elected official, where you have to be very careful about what you say, and you're speaking for the elected official, not yourself. So that's one factor. And again, I think that councilor Avalos perfectly understands this and would strive to do as a great job of it. But that's just one factor influencing my vote for councilor Bertagni. And yes, my vote is polygyny. Clerk little guinea Green, Avalos, Zimmerman.
341 Pearl. Guinea.
342 Councilor Avalos and councilor Pearl guinea both received six votes. Councilor.
343 Guinea I heard a call before that vote from some of our colleagues to have a recess after that and to have it be a slightly longer recess.
344 So I would move for us to have councilor Murillo, I believe you said 15 minutes, a 15 minute recess second. Avalos, I Dunphy I Smith I mel in the future.
345 Can we in the future can we do unanimous consent on these I vote I.
346 Fertile guinea.
347 Thank you to all of you here for your patience with us.
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348 I Ryan I glisan elaine I murillo I Novick I Clark, I Green I Zimmerman I we're in recess.
349 The current nominees for this round of voting include councilor Clark, councilor Avalos councilor Guinea. Is there any further discussion before we proceed with the vote? Councilor. Canal.
350 So we're going to have a conversation that eventually yields some sort of outcome. Could be could be now could be later. And I think what I want to stress for everybody is that we are aware of the different constituencies that need to be represented, and whoever ends up winning this needs to make sure that that is something that is reflected in all the decisions that they make, whether it's the proposal that would be affirmed for committee membership or for chair, co-chair, vice chair, whatever that ends up being, whether it's in the conversation shaping work that they'll do as a as a facilitator of what the committees will be in the first place. I don't think that the council president is obligated to be somebody who votes with the middle. I don't think their personal vote is subject to that consideration, and I don't think that should it should be required to be even by our sort of cultures and norms. But I am committed to supporting a vision that is put forward by a council president that reflects not only a balance in terms of those things, but also a recognition that the government has changed. The election has happened. It is over now. But that there was a clear direction from voters as to what we wanted our government to be. And I think I'm able to support anybody that that backs that. And I think that that's something that we should all consider when casting our vote.
351 Any further discussion. On. Oh, sorry, councilor Ryan. Yeah.
352 Thank you for the break. I had an apple. I hope you all had something to eat. I, I want to just say a couple of things. First of all, councilor Avalos has been very direct and very accessible throughout this process, and I want to lift that. It's been refreshing to get to know you outside of the political noise, but as two human beings and I was pretty clear, I was clear on my first votes. And the reason I switched, I thought I should explain that. So in running in district two, I got to spend a lot of time with you, councilor Guinea. And you, councilor O'connell. And I won't say anything shocking, but the way we're seated kind of would explain sometimes how we would look at issues. And since I had a track record, I had a lot of people. Anyway, you're all kind of running at me at times, and that's just what happens in politics. I'm thrilled to be here, and I want to acknowledge what I experienced with you, councilor Guinea. And that was sometimes our strengths and weaknesses are really close together. And sometimes, as you know, because we've had this lovely dialog. You drove me nuts because I couldn't tell exactly where you were landing yet. I was so impressed with how you were able to let every person in that room feel heard. And what we've gone through so far since 930 or whenever this started, has kind of affirmed why that's a strength in this role. And so it was why I switched to you because I thought you were. You are the person up here that I think sits in the middle of not just the issues, but in the way we go about process. And to me, I, I'm into decorum over drama. And so I and I'm not saying there wouldn't be drama elsewhere, but I'm just saying we need decorum. And you dealt with me when I came at you interpersonally, sometimes not in a very charitable way. And I liked how you held in there. And we had good dialog. I expect that from a council president, and I'm not saying others wouldn't do that, but we've I've actually tested it with you probably more than you've experienced with some people. Yeah. You have. Okay. And so I just wanted to bring some voice to why I switched my vote. And, and I'm committed at this moment to continue to vote for councilor in this role.
353 Councilor cuyama, I've heard other people say this too, over the last couple days, few weeks, that this is a good problem to have that in terms that we have quite a few people that could step up and do a great job as president.
354 And there are a lot of people that that see that. And I respect and admire both of you, and I'm excited to work with both of you. I will be holding my vote, my vote with to stay with councilor Avalos. And but I just want to name that again, because I've heard people say that other times. This is in some ways can be viewed positively, because we have a few people that could step up and could do this.
355 Any further discussion? We'll proceed to the vote. Avalos.
356 Avalos.
357 Dunphy.
358 Avalos. Smith.
359 Peragine.
360 Canal. Avalos.
361 Bernal. Guinea.
362 Hurtle. Guinea.
363 Ryan. Kernel. Guinea.
364 Clam. Elaine. Avalos. Mario.
Procedural episode · turns 365–373
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365 Avalos.
366 Novick. Fertile. Guinea. Clark. Brother. Guinea. Green.
367 Just before I say this, I just want to acknowledge that I nominated councilor Avalos on principles that I believe in. In your leadership. I would also like to acknowledge that councilor Pirtle guinea shares many of those traits. And I'm going to reiterate again once more, the most important thing for me is that we can build a system of government that people trust to be effective and, and, you know, conduct oversight for our constituencies, which include labor. I want to recognize that there's rideshare drivers up there in the top who are looking to see what we do today. And labor is very important to me. I have I have seen a lot. Councilor pearl guinea be a champion for labor. I have discussed my deep concerns about our environmental risks, in particularly the critical energy infrastructure hub, which borders both of our districts. And so for that reason, and to kind of move us forward, today, I am voting for pearl guinea Zimmerman.
368 I cast my vote for councilor Alana pearl guinea.
369 Councilor Avalos received six votes. Councilor guinea receives seven. 5055. Sorry. I'm sorry. Councilor Avalos receives five votes. Councilor pearl guinea receives seven votes. That is a majority of votes present. And councilor Pearl guinea is elected council president. I would ask for a five minute recess to hand presiding officer duties and election of vice president off to the new president. Are there any objections?
370 No. Just one comment, actually, please, madam clerk, I, I'm going to take the opportunity to thank you on behalf of our council. You at this point are the most successful presiding officer in the form of this government. I've known a few clerks throughout my career, and I know nobody goes into clerking to do what you just did. And so the weight of that is now off your shoulders. But you did a great job. And I want to thank you.
371 Thank you, councilor Zimmerman. Thank you. All right, without objection, we'll take a five minute recess. Then.
372 We. Work bearing with us.
373 And to everybody who has been watching us on the open signal stream, I know that took a little bit longer than we all thought it might. Thank you also to my colleagues, councilors Clark and Avalos. Stepping forward in a role like this is never something someone undertakes lightly. I look forward to working with both of you. You bring amazing experience to the council. The next action item two on our agenda is the election of the council vice president. We will follow the same nomination and voting procedure that we previously approved. I will ask for nominations from the floor for vice president. As announced before, under the city code, the vice president must be from a different district than the president, unless no councilor from another district wishes to serve, I apologize councilors canal and Ryan, if you would like to be recognized to make a nomination, please raise your hand on zoom and I will call on councilors in the order their hands are raised. If no nominees from a district other than district two are nominated, then we can open nominations from district two.
374 Councilor murillo I would also like to echo what councilor Zimmerman said earlier, and I would like to also nominate councilor Tiffany Koyama.
375 Okay. Councilor Koyama has been nominated and there are no other hands waiting.
376 Councilor canal, this is not a nomination. I just have a question for you and I get to do this. Madam president, if you could speak to your vision, we referred to it earlier, but I think it might be helpful for transparency to understand beyond what is written, what you'd like to see, or what you envision the role of the vice president being.
377 Absolutely. Is that in order? Okay. And I have been asked this by a few of our colleagues before, but for the benefit of those who haven't been able to have this conversation together and for the benefit of those here with us today, the role of the vice president isn't well defined in the charter, and I think that leaves a lot of opportunity for the role to shift, depending on the personalities of the president and the vice president. I. Am I'm interested in that flexibility depending on whose names are put forth. But I would envision a role where we had somebody as vice president who could support work that comes up outside of committees. I expect that there will be ad hoc work, temporary short term committees that we need to establish and will need somebody who knows the council well to help lead some of that work. I expect that this could be somebody who could take on the role of helping to move conversations forward. As a group, we have some pretty strict rules around our public forums and how we operate together outside of public meetings, to make sure that you all know what our thought processes are, and having a vice president who can help hold some conversations before meetings, since we can't actually count votes in the same way that other bodies may be able to, is important. I think having a vice president who can help to reach out to communities who are particularly vulnerable at this time in our history with the dynamics at the national level is important. Having somebody who can be a voice in community, complimenting the president to make sure that we can't all be everywhere at the same time, but somebody who can carry forward the vision of council when the president isn't available to do that. I think those are all really important roles. I also would hope, personally, that I have a vice president who is interested in being a thought partner as we help to create a vision collectively for our city through the work that's done in all of the committees that many of you will help lead. Is that a little bit of a taste of what I've talked about before, councilor Canal?
378 Yeah, and I'd love to hear before we end up with a vote or finishing nominations, if anyone else has any other visions. But I appreciate that. Thank you.
379 We are still open for nominations. If anybody else would like to put a name forward. Okay. Seeing no one else in the queue, Clark, I think that we can close nominations. We have one person nominated, I believe. Is that correct?
380 Yeah. Councilor Koyama Lane is nominated for vice president.
381 Councilor Koyama Lane, would you like to make a statement? Yes.
382 I will try to touch on what you just brought up, councilor Canham. First, I want to say I've deeply enjoyed getting to know president purtell. Guinea. Is that what I say? Okay. As a fellow mom, fellow first time elected official, I have seen her being incredibly generous in sharing her time. We've spent a lot of time talking on the phone. I think she's spent a lot of time talking to all of you. I've seen her to be a great listener, and what I have seen so far from her as a leader has been really impressive. I have enjoyed being able to puzzle things out and think about things with you. We have done a couple different trust building exercises and leadership trainings, and in some of those we've talked about, you know, what kind of leader are you? Do you tend to be like the front person, the bridge builder? And we both have come out oftentimes as the bridge builder. I think that's how people see us. And so there's been I've really enjoyed getting to know you and doing some some initial thinking with you. I want to thank my colleagues for putting their faith in me to serve as possible council vice president. Those who have talked to me about it or just put my name forward, it's not something that I pursued, but something I've considered because my fellow councilors have urged me to think about this and that have also pledged that they would support me along this, that I wouldn't be going there, going, doing it on my own. I view this position as someone that's able to spend some time organizing this group, someone who's going to spend time thinking about the health of us as a body of 12, I was I had was just speaking with reverend sarah fisher, who just said something, and I was like, wait, let me write that down. And she said, you have to care about each other as people. And once you do that, you can do anything. I believe that part of my role is to keep us remembering why we're here, how we move forward, how us being able to work together is really what we've promised. And yeah, ever since I was a little kid, I've always been a bridge builder. I'm actually thinking about one of my favorite endorsement interview questions was with the Willamette week, when they asked us all what we were like in high school, and my answer was that I was like a pollinator between lots of different groups because I ran cross country, and I was also really into art. And, you know, perhaps that type of attribute is something that we need serving alongside our council president. I am willing to do this if it's helpful to the group. If that's what people want. And also, you know, know what you're getting into, I'm going to push us to take off our council hats and genuinely think about caring about each other, thinking about each other as humans. So if you don't like that, you might not like me in this role. So given that this is my first time ever in a role like city councilor, I don't take this responsibility lightly. And despite some of my initial hesitations, I'm willing to accept this encouragement from my colleagues and my supporters to do something with them that I wouldn't normally be interested in doing by myself. So humbly, I will accept this offer. Is that how you say it? I don't know, nomination, I believe nomination.
383 Thank you. Keelan. I believe we now move to a roll call. Avalos.
384 Koyama, elaine. Dunphy.
385 Koyama. Laney.
386 Koyama. Lee. Janelle.
387 Koyama. Lin.
388 Fertile. Guinea.
389 Koyama. Elaine.
390 Ryan.
391 Koyama. Elaine.
392 Maria.
393 Koyama, lynn. Novick, alyssa.
394 Koyama. Elaine. I thank you so much for being willing to take this role, particularly because it allows this body to demonstrate that we can make some decisions unanimously and in less than five hours. Here we go. Oh, I'm elaine, sorry.
395 Elaine Green Koyama.
396 Elaine.
397 I'm elaine.
398 Councilor Koyama elaine receives 12 votes. Congratulations.
399 It's my understanding that mayor keith wilson and auditor simone rede are here and would like to provide a greeting to the council. I know you both have been waiting, but if we could get you to wait for just a few more minutes. I know some of my colleagues wanted to say a few words at this point in the meeting, and I'd like to take that point of privilege for them, if that's all right. If anybody wanted to share some remarks after a contentious morning, now would be the time. Councilor Zimmerman. Councilor Green.
400 Okay. Councilor Green, first of all, I just want to I want to thank everybody for coming today.
401 There are fewer people now in the rotunda than there were this morning. So, you know, I acknowledge my part in that. But democracy is really important. I started my day by witnessing a group of climate activists in the right, right on fourth avenue. I also saw labor leaders in this building and, you know, everyone in between. And I think my interpretation of that is to say, getting elected was just the first step. What you really need to do now is implement this, this new form of government in a way that is responsive to the people. Okay. And so for me, from my perspective and my office, I'm going to care a lot about oversight and transparency and accountability. Policy work is great. It's important. But the city council has a very robust role for oversight and public process. And I and I think it's you know, I would I would I would invite the mayor to, to kind of think about that, that, that, that charge. So thank you.
402 Councilor Zimmerman. Did you want to be back in the queue? Okay. Councilor Smith, thank you.
403 This was a long day, but one well worth it. And I want to thank all of the candidates for president and vice president. This is a tough job. And sometimes we meet somewhere in the middle where we met for many rounds. But one thing for sure is that you can't say about any of us is that we care about the people. We care about transparency. We care about making sure that diverse communities are a part of every decision making that we do as a body. For me personally, putting an equity lens on every single dime that comes through the city council is important. We have an $8.2 billion budget. The struggle is real for a lot of folks in our communities, and it is more real for those who live in district one. So I am going to be really, really trying to build those relationships on this board to make sure that people understand that we're hurting in district one today. As of yesterday, we have more representation for district one than we have ever had in the history of the city and the county. We all have our strengths. We all have our weaknesses. And I'm just happy to say that one of us has tried to do a job that is going to be tough and to work with the mayor, city manager, city attorney's office and the clerk's office. Homelessness and housing is a big, big issue for all of our districts. And I want to work with the mayor to make sure that there are resources in the budget that would give us those nightly shelters that we need. Housing first only has not worked for us, and we need this leadership to make sure that the inhumane treatment that many in our community are experiencing by sleeping on sidewalks, camping in rvs, basically there were like 486,000, not 1000, but 486 homeless folks who died this past year. That's not acceptable. So I'm looking forward to working with this group to make sure that we house more people who are out there unhoused in the city of Portland, period. Thank you.
404 Thank you, councilor. Councilor Clark, thank you.
405 Do I call you madam president? Thank you all who nominated me and voted for me and expressed your confidence to me. I really appreciate it. I'm very confident. We have a great council. I feel very good about where we are, where we're going to go and that we are going to make this form of government work. So thank you again. And you're really lucky I didn't break into a song.
406 There will be time for that.
407 Councilor.
408 Councilor Avalos.
409 Thank you so much for the discussion that we've had. I've really enjoyed, even though it was messy, the process, because I think it just helps us better understand each other, where our values are. And, you know, I'm proud that I stood in what I believed. I ran for a council president because I want to increase the voice of the people in city hall. I know that I can do that in other ways, but now I've been relieved of the administrative duties of being president. So I will be, because it was going to come at a cost, right? Being president, even though I really wanted that to come from east Portland, I wish president ghani and vice president Koyama Lane, man, you both have long names. Gosh. I really wish you the best. Obviously, you know, I'm part of this team and we all succeed when you all succeed. So I'm looking for your success. And now, you know I'm going to double down on east Portland. I feel really strongly about being in my district, and I'm glad that I have this opportunity. But I just wanted to say, you know, no hard feelings. I know this is a tough call, but ultimately we landed on something that I think we all have confidence in and that's what's most important. So thank you for this discussion and I look forward to serving with all of you.
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410 Thank you. Councilor. Councilor canal.
411 Hi, everybody. Thanks for your patience and being part of this in particular. I know the mayor and auditor are waiting and I appreciate that as well. Congratulations to president peragine, to vice president Koyama Lane. Thank you to keelan, who in addition to the previous praise, is one of the most professional people I've ever worked with in my career. And really awesome that it got to be you at the beginning of this meeting. I want to echo a couple of things that were said earlier about the purpose of this council policy is a very big part of this, but the two other parts of it that I want to highlight are equally, if not more important. One is the budgetary authority vested in this council. Budgets are moral documents, and I'm committed to utilizing my role and my one vote of 12 to ensure that our budgets reflect our priorities, both in terms of our big picture priorities and actually implementing the policies we say we support. We were given by a testifier earlier today, a copy of our own core values. And I echo the concern that that charlie brought up, as well as that councilor Smith brought up, that we have not always lived up to those values, our core values as a city. And that's a core commitment for me as well. And then finally and, well, relatedly, the oversight piece, I think it is incredibly fair for people to say that they are not seeing the impacts of the tax dollars they are paying and we are committed, I think, as a body, to making sure that the money that you pay in to this system, and even for those of you who are not paying taxes into it, but you're benefited by this government and that we're spending that money wisely. And I think that's really vital to commit to as an entire group, regardless of our priorities on policy or our political convictions. For those who don't know my background, I'm a human rights activist. First, I'm a project manager. I've worked at the city for three years. I'm very happy to bring all of those to this role, and I'm excited to get a chance to work in support of a more equitable and more effective city that doesn't sacrifice its values to solve its problems. Thanks.
412 Thank you, councilor. Councilor Zimmerman, thank you.
413 Yeah, I'm getting used to the order of things here, and I intended these comments kind of toward the end. And I think this will be the most appropriate time, given our agenda, a little slightly different than my colleagues. But I just want to acknowledge I want to take a moment, frankly, at the beginning of a new year, at the beginning of a new council, to acknowledge some of the tragedy that has occurred in our country in the past 48 hours. While we are focused on and going through very important changes here in Portland, another city is mourning the loss of at least 15 people and the injuries of dozens more. And I think that deserves our acknowledgment. Let us acknowledge that violent acts on the streets in any American city is a failure of our system. It's a failure of our society. It is what many what so many of us are trying to work against and to prevent. Let us acknowledge that the acts of one or a few almost never represent the beliefs of many. Let us acknowledge that lone acts, whether they be determined as terror, as targeted or random, have ruined the lives of too many people. They have attempted to intimidate a city, if not a country, and once again, they will fail to bring anybody to their side. They have failed to intimidate that city in this country, and they result only in the senseless loss of life and lost hopes. And so I just want to thank my colleagues for letting us acknowledge the pain that there are other families in America that are experiencing today. Thank you, thank you.
414 Thank you. Council Zimmerman. Before we move on, we are now past 2:00 and we had another meeting scheduled for 2:00. I am wondering if any of you might be interested in making a motion to postpone our two later meetings today, our work session and our executive session by 45 minutes each so that we can finish this meeting and get the room turned over. So moved. Second, is there any. Are there any objections or can we do this by unanimous consent? Okay. Seeing no objections, we will postpone the next two meetings of the day by 45 minutes each. We will try to wrap this meeting up in time to give staff time to turn over the room so that we can have our work session with mayor wilson at 245. I'd like to now invite up mayor wilson and auditor rede to share some remarks with us.
415 Good afternoon. Happy new year, everyone. I'll start by just talking about and reiterating what our poets said to us earlier this morning, poet mojgani said, go forward.
416 And that's what we just accomplished. While it was certainly a little messy, incredibly important, and I will tell you, I think it ended just how it should have with dissent, perhaps with consent. But discussion out in the open and then poet shin said. Flow, it's that process or that movement forward that we all must undertake. But I want to make sure everybody understands flow is important. Vision and value have to be that anchored on where we're going. As that process moves forward. Congratulations on your decision today. Welcome new city councilors, councilors, and congratulations to councilor Peragine, our new city council president. I'm going to have to get used to saying these things, so forgive me. Also, congratulations to councilor Koyama Lane, our new vice president. I couldn't be prouder of the people and potential you represent as we build the future of Portland in this new year, you have a generational opportunity to balance continuity with progress. The city of Portland must always learn, must always evolve and deliver better, more integrated services for our public. I look forward to working alongside all of you as part of that effort. Together, we'll face no shortage of decisions in the coming days, but I've never been more optimistic about portland's ability to repair, to revitalize and to restore the community that we all love and we've spoke about for so many months. Thank you. I'm excited to shamelessly steal ideas from other high performing cities, and to work with you to implement them here in Portland, and I'm grateful for the commitment, innovation and leadership you bring to meet the Portland and the moment and the crisis we now face. We'll need every bit of that commitment, innovation and leadership as we join together to do the hard work and important work in the days ahead. Thank you and I look forward to working with you to really focus on our Portland. I look forward to working with your staff, and I look forward to working with the hard working city employees that are going to help deliver the changes that we all need, need, want and desire. Thank you. Congratulations.
417 Thank you, mayor wilson. You heard it all.
418 Congratulations. Yeah. Auditor rede. I fixed it.
419 Welcome, auditor rede.
420 Thank you.
421 I, I heard that last message loud and clear. Hopefully you can hear me clearly now. Thank you, mayor wilson. I'm happy to be here at this historic moment in the city's transition. My name is simone ruddy. I'm the city auditor. I want to wish you congratulations. President pearl guinea and vice president Koyama. And also congratulate everyone here as councilors and welcome you to your role as an elected officials. I want to remind you that you'll be seeing me and my office here regularly at council chambers. Thank you. Sometimes I'm going to be asking you to take action on areas that my office oversees, like city elections and lobbying regulations. But most often I'll be here to share the results with you about audits and investigations that my office has conducted. Those presentations are opportunities for you and for the public to engage more deeply with the work of my office. And today, I'm here to welcome you as the first truly legislative body that this city has ever seen. And I want to thank you for stepping up into those roles. May the actions you take be intelligent. And please also remember that your entrusted hands are councilor or council clerk. Keelan mcclymont and her team are dedicated professionals. We've seen already today that they are always here to ensure that the public can access these meetings, and that they can participate in the legislative process, which is consistent with my office's mission of open and accountable government. I want to thank you for bringing Portland voters vision of a more representative and just government to life. And with that, I want to wish you a happy new year and happy governing. Thank you.
422 Thank you. Auditor rede.
423 We will now move on to the remainder of our agenda. Agenda item three. We have five individuals who signed up for public communication. I am hoping that they are all still with us today. Keelan could you please call up our first member of the public to make their comments?
424 First up, we have Eric weiser. Please make sure Eric is joining us online.
425 Yes. Great. Good afternoon. My name is Eric weiser. I'm a family physician and assistant professor at OHSU. The opinions I expressed today are solely my own and not that of my employers. My disclaimer I spent most of my time teaching about health inequities and the root cause. In my spare time, I'm on the board member of neighborhood house, which is a community based nonprofit organization. Multnomah village and I live near there in in maplewood. First of all, congrats to everybody on your election and on your business today. That was fantastic. And many of you ran on platforms and hirji has talked about in your individual comments on on houselessness, and I'm going to talk about that today. I think when you see anybody who's homeless, the idea is to think about the canary in the coal mine. Canaries were used to detect noxious gases and keep miners safe, but more importantly, they kind of detected unsafe environments. And so when we see houseless people, I think we should think about and prevent the unwellness that we see in society currently. And that's the livability that was talked about. And so whether it's transport or employment opportunities or education, those are all things that need to be addressed. I'm concerned that in our rush to put people in houses that we if we don't fix the underlying issue, we'll just continue the cycle of putting people in temporary housing. With that said, though, continue with the metaphor. The real issue, though, is also the canary really suffers for this situation. As councilman Smith mentioned, housing first has its limitations. Definitely shouldn't be housing only and surrounding people wrap around human services is really important. And whether that's healthcare, mental health care, daycare, legal help to help them get into subsidized housing and food services at neighborhood house before the pandemic in 2019, we delivered 300,000 pounds of food a year. We're up to 1 million pounds of food a year in southwest Portland, which is it's hard to deliver that much. And even though we get free food, which is great from the Oregon food bank, it doesn't pay for our staffing. And so all that is privately raised, which is which is hard to continue. The last part about that is really as we provide both the shelter and the services around those who are houseless, we have to do it in a respectful and dignified manner. People need to feel like people. They need to feel like us. And without that, they get despair and conditions and despair really lead to substance abuse and addiction and things. It's not the other way around. Despair comes first. And if we don't treat in our rush to build shelters and move people, if we don't provide the dignity that goes with that, we will not address one of the underlying issues. These are big stuff. This is a big challenge. You're not going to be able to do this alone. Nobody can. So please watch out for those or keep in mind out for potential partnerships, whether it's state, local, community based organizations. We'll take all of us to help address this. Thank you.
426 Mr. Weiser. Thank you so much for your comments today. Keelan, could you please invite up our second commenter?
427 Next up we have payton chapman. Payton is joining us online. Payton are you oh there you go.
428 Thank you so much. Good afternoon, mayor wilson and city council. Congratulations to all of you and thank you for your service. My name is payton chapman and I also speak on behalf of myself and not my employer, but I really wanted to take this opportunity to just ask you all to center children and families in your decision and in your thinking around Portland. I moved to Portland 32 years ago because my husband and I researched it as a great place to raise children, and I'm downtown. I'm in the business of children, but our city hasn't been a place recently where people have wanted to return or to raise children. I googled cities, best cities to raise a family recently, and Portland was not on that. And we all love Portland so much, and we want it to be that city where families from birth to end of life want to come and be part of our community. So I hope that we will try and work on safe places, community centers that are open to the public. We don't have enough public swimming pools or soccer fields or playgrounds for all of our children. We have enough, probably for 250,000 people, but we have closer to 700,000 people. We need to make sure our schools are safe and excellent, and partnering with the city in every way. We need public community spaces, places where our children can learn to swim so they don't drown in our rivers and our seas, and where older people can stay healthy and fit and rehabilitate. We need to be able to congregate and connect in our beautiful, beautiful city. So I just want to encourage all of you. I know you share this value. I'm thankful you all were elected because you share this value of really centering children and families in our city. Because our city will age out. It will die if we don't have the future of our children and active, safe and healthy children with positive places to play and to be curious and to create and to innovate and to sustain the culture that we all moved here for. So my topic was more public safety. And I think enough people have talked about some of the things we don't want to see on our streets or near schools, or some things that don't attract families and children or our elders to feel safe. And from all kinds of beautiful, diverse backgrounds. So many cultures value and center family. And that's my hope for Portland. I'll never bet against Portland. I stand with you and your leadership of Portland in any way that I can help. I would love to do that. So thank you for centering children and family in your discussions and in your thinking. Thank you so much.
429 Thank you, miss chapman, and thank you for making sure. That was part of our conversation today. Keelan, could you please welcome our third person for public comment?
430 Madam president, the next three individuals would like to come up as a group to speak on the same topic. Great. Okay. We have karen sherry, corey seymour, and pete colt.
431 Welcome to all of you. Thank you for being here with us today and wading through a long meeting to be able to offer your comments. We appreciate your patience.
432 Thank you.
433 I'm having ptsd. My last boyfriend said stay 6 to 8in away from the microphone to.
434 Say good afternoon. My name is karen cherry. I'm a member of stadium hood. I was born and raised in Portland and other than my time in the army, I have been a portlander for all my life. I chose to come back to Portland because this is and will always be home, but my home is anything but inviting. It is littered with garbage, graffiti, drugs and drug paraphernalia. Everywhere I turn there are tents, blankets, tarps, sleeping bags, not to mention the mentally ill, homeless and drug addicts walking the streets. I cannot go a half a mile without seeing any of these things. Over four years ago, my husband and I built and opened our convenience store stadium superette, located across from Portland providence park. Today we employ six employees and I manage the store. It was always my husband's dream to own a convenience store and be an essential business that could rely on for retail goods, along with providing a sense of community and family. When shopping at our store. Unfortunately, we have faced numerous challenges over the last four excuse me four years, including multiple intentional fires set around our building and threats of violence against our employees and ourselves. My husband was threatened with a gun a few years ago and was one of my employees just a few weeks ago. I've been assaulted on several occasions, as well as some of my employees. Despite providing free meals to the community during holidays, we have dealt with over 450 incidents of shoplifting, including nine in just the last week. We've also incurred significant costs due to vandalism, including broken glass doors and windows totaling over $6,000, along with two burglaries that resulted in 13,000 in stolen goods and damages. We have since installed protective shutters, but not without significant cost. I was fortunate enough to apply for the prosper grant to help pay for some of the cost of this damage, and I really appreciate the financial help. Our family has been deeply affected, with four of our children having worked at the store witnessing the same threats, theft and violence. Two of our kids who work at the store regularly must deal with shoplifters and disgruntled customers almost daily. Just recently, they had a regular customer find a rock at one location and come back and break the glass of our storefront door by throwing the rock, all because he was asked to not loiter. In light of these challenges, I implore our city commissioners to take decisive action by implementing stricter policies on shoplifting, enhancing measures to address camping on public sidewalk sidewalks, and consider the outsourcing of enforcement to local security agencies. Additionally, it is crucial to penalize those who commit crimes, otherwise they will continue to do so without recourse. These actions are necessary to restore safety and security for our businesses and residents alike. I will continue to be an advocate for our health and safety and stadium hood. Just recently we had commissioner or sorry, chairwoman peterson come out to our neighborhood and collaborate with us, and we encourage commissioners to do the same. So our group, stadium hood, wants to be a template for other communities. So I would encourage you guys to really look into what it is that we are doing. I've been speaking at Multnomah county council meetings every single week for the last couple of months. I will continue to do so here as well. I want to be a voice for business owners and community members, and just like you guys said here, that that's what you want to hear and that's what I'm going to be doing. Despite our family business struggles and our home currently in shambles, we remain committed to our community and strive to maintain a safe environment for our customers and our community. Thank you.
435 Thank you for your testimony. And I should note that our clerk, keelan, put nine minutes for the three of you on the clock. I think that you have that there to. Okay, perfect.
436 Thank you. My name is corey seymour. I speak to you as a relatively recent transplant to the city and as a recovering addict that has experienced addiction related homelessness and arrests. I moved to Portland a little over two years ago and bought a condo in the stadium neighborhood near providence park in the hope of finding a safe and welcoming Portland experience. However, since moving there, I have witnessed drug deals, vehicle break ins, package theft, the aftermath of an assault, trespassing, indecent exposure, harassment, and I and I see open er, fentanyl use on a daily basis. The majority of these crimes have been perpetrated by the unhoused experiencing active addiction. Addiction related homelessness is directly linked to the public safety issues in my neighborhood. While addiction related homelessness and its corresponding crime may be a symptom of a greater societal problem, those symptoms must be treated rather than enabled. Otherwise, the community pays the price for the loss of public safety. From my windows, I see unhoused individuals using the parking lot next to my building as a meeting place to smoke fentanyl around 2 to 3 times a day, once or twice a week on average. I witnessed drug deals, sometimes with money and drugs, in full view. A couple of times a week, myself or a neighbor will have to run off a trespasser that has scaled our fence or is sleeping in our building stoop. All of this is happening right across the street from a school and church. We need compassionate, long term solutions to this public safety crisis. However, if we do not treat the symptoms by opening up more short term shelters and enforcing the laws regarding urban camping and illegal narcotic use, while continuing to hand out tents and drug paraphernalia, we are enabling continued active addiction and corresponding homelessness at the expense of the community. This is neither compassionate nor fair. Unpleasant street living conditions in jail are not the answer to recovery from addiction, but they are often part of the answer. Unfortunately, the impetus for my first attempt at getting clean was my impending move from sleeping in cars to sleeping unsheltered on the street. My last and successful attempt was prompted by the prospect of spending multiple years in jail through treatment, and a lack of willingness on the part of society to enable my behavior. I got clean and became a productive member of society at 28 years ago. In conclusion, I ask that the city council to continue to move away from enabling addiction and criminal behavior at the expense of the community by treating the symptoms while combating the problems that initiate addiction related homelessness. To begin with, I would also like to see the city expand overnight shelters as promised by the new mayor, continue outreach efforts to the unhoused, and give more resources and support to the Portland police bureau. I cannot overstate the importance of this last, last request for supporting law enforcement. The attitude of impunity I see among those breaking the law must end if the community is to be safe and feel secure. Thank you for your time.
437 Thank you, mr. Green. Thank you for changing your vote, your flexibility really endears you to me, miss Smith. I you nailed it. I completely get everything that you said, and I can see how you are affected by it in the way that I am also affected by the things that I see in the city. On the streets. I found a woman 17 years ago, brutally gang raped and beaten on trinity episcopal cathedral property by other homeless people, and since that day, I've been on a crusade to not let that happen again in my neighborhood. But unfortunately, it continues. I've seen young women being pushed to the ground and perform oral sex on filthy old men. In my neighborhood, I see people doing this right across the street from a school, and I have to. From the bottom of my heart, I am optimistic after seeing you today and seeing how you worked with each other today. Thank you. Your problem is going to be the county. I said to the mayor, we need to divorce ourselves from the county. Why? They have the pocketbook. You guys need to go there with your hands out and then the county hands out. The county is going to be your worst friend. They're going to be that the best friend that stabs you in the back because they have the purse. They have the jail. Our police will arrest somebody who assaults a woman. Six hours later, that man is back on the street and ready to assault another woman. You know why she won't open inverness? We have all these beds that the county has that they're not opening up to keep the low level criminals away from the women on the streets. We need to protect these women. Women's rights are human rights, and women's safety is human safety. Amen to that.
438 Thank you, madam president.
439 That completes communications.
440 Thank you all so much for being here today. We appreciate your comments and the time that you took one more thing, please.
441 I would like to meet with you three folks, because we really do have a template to help you in your neighborhoods with what's going on to reduce the crime. And I wanted to thank the city administrator, mr. Jordan, because per mayor wheeler, he's looking into using police hotspots where there have been a lot of 911 calls to change the way the traffic moves through the neighborhood to prevent crime.
442 Thank you. We'll make sure that folks are available for you to have follow up conversations with. Thank you all so much. Thank you to everybody who is here with the conclusion of our public communication. That is the last item on our agenda. I will close our meeting. We are adjourned.