The record · Transcript
Council session — 2026-05-28
Transcript from the session's official auto-captions (21,717 words), shown in readable case and split into speaker turns. Speakers are AI-suggested and editor-reviewed (low confidence — auto-captions garble names); each color marks a speaker.
Yeah.
All of them. Oh.
Good morning everyone. Before we officially gavel it in I remembering not to hit the gavel before we officially start. I wanted to pass it over. Welcome to the the meeting of the committee of the whole. I'm going to pass it over to our vice chair, councilor Ryan, to welcome some guests in and do a preamble.
Well, thank you, councilor Kanal. It's a pleasure to have some really special guests here this morning. Every year, we always have the opportunity to meet the rose princesses that are representing our city near and far. And it's just a it's a pure delight for us to get to know you just a little bit. So I know that you always have a song prepared or some little bit prepared, and we'll get to hear that now. And I just want to thank all of you in advance for diving into this. It's I know you're getting a scholarship at the end of it, but you're also working really hard to represent our city in the state and even abroad. For, for whoever becomes the queen, of course. And I just want to thank you all, and I really look forward to always hearing about who you are and where you'll be going in life. So welcome to the council chambers. This is where we have lovely meetings to decide things like our budget and where we pass policy. So you're welcome here anytime. I turn it over to the good people at the rose festival, and it's all yours. Thanks.
Hello. We are the 2026 rose festival court. We would like to take a moment to introduce ourselves and let you know what is happening during this year's rose festival. Olivia.
Hi, my name is Olivia baker. I'm a senior at saint mary's academy. Throughout high school, I have made it an effort to engage with my community and help to create welcoming environments, honoring the courage it takes to step into a leadership position is why the queen's coronation is my favorite rose festival event. Join us June 5th under the gazebo at Oregon square park. You don't want to miss this long standing rose festival tradition.
Avery.
Hi, my name is avery mullins and I'm a junior at mcdaniel high school. Spending quality time with my family at the city fair. Each spring is something that I look forward to all year long. From carnival rides and hula performances to magicians and interactive exhibits, there's something for everyone. Also, you can expect to see some exciting new artists performing throughout the early evening. There will be constant entertainment at this year's city fair, running may 22nd through June 7th.
Hello everyone. My name is maddie Green and I'm a senior at sam barlow high school, and being out on the water is one of my favorite pastimes. Joining the water polo team as a freshman taught me determination and leadership. The royal rosarian milk carton race combines these attributes, along with teamwork and a sturdy boat, to ensure a thrilling race. Entries are set to make a splash in the casting pond in westmorland park on Sunday, June 28th, and I hope to see you there.
Gigi.
Hello everyone. My name is gigi and I am a junior at franklin high school. Leaning into my tibetan heritage on stage through dance has truly shown me how important cultural representation is, and the rose festival celebrates many communities and cultural groups, making our city feel bright, alive and connected. The annual rose festival auction makes it possible for the nonprofit foundation to support and celebrate with these different communities, so please remember to save the date for this year's rose festival auction on October 8th.
Arnica.
Hi, my name is anna and I'm a junior at lincoln high school.
As a garden lover, one of my favorite places in Portland is the international rose test garden. And did you know the rose festival has a store there? The rose garden store sells everything that looks like a rose. Smells like a rose. Tastes like a rose. Has a rose on it, or is about growing roses? Come visit the garden and the store. Open now through September.
Adora.
Hi, my name dora tran and I'm a junior at benson polytechnic high school. In my free time, I enjoy playing tennis, volleyball and biking. I currently play volleyball and tennis for vincent, which brings me a lot of joy. The starlight run is portland's most spirited five k run and portrays a community in wacky costumes as they take on this dash throughout downtown. Sign ups are open until race day, June 6th.
Sierra.
Hello everyone. My name is.
Sierra rowden and I'm a senior at parkrose high school. As an experienced student leader, setting an example for my fellow classmates is something I'm very proud of and inspired by. The Portland rose festival is fortunate to lead the way by being one of the few us ports of. Call her visit from the us navy, coast guard and royal canadian navy bridges are raised and floating fortresses navigate the Willamette river to celebrate this festival with us. This annual revelry ships catches the attention of the entire city. Please visit the waterfront June 4th through seventh to gaze at these engineering wonders.
Nia.
Hi everyone. My name is nia moore and I'm a senior at central catholic high school, serving my community members and working closely with kids and family to help me get back to my neighborhood. My experience volunteering at a local hospital made me feel involved while having a positive impact. The rose festival values help with its volunteers and the scenes that would not happen without them. If you're interested in getting involved with the rose festival, head to rose festival.org to learn more about how you can make a difference.
Lydia.
Hi everyone. My name.
Is lydia and I'm a senior at david douglas high school. One of my favorite places to visit is the OHSU area in southwest Portland. The stunning view, especially from the aerial tram, is absolutely breathtaking. This year, the Portland rose festival will have two stunning views with two fireworks displays. Come celebrate america's 250th birthday with a spectacular fireworks show at city fair. This dazzling display will light up the Portland skyline may 30th and be seen all the way from the tram. We hope to see you there. Sophie.
Hi, my name is sophie lafrance and I'm a senior at ida b wells high school. I enjoy spending time admiring the gorgeous architecture and stunning gardens all over Portland for the duration of the rose festival. The bloom tour makes Portland come to life with creations from local florists, artists and downtown retailers. Take a stroll from may 20th 2nd to June 7th along the curated route, a perfect blend of walking tours and floral show.
Caitlin.
Hi, I'm.
Caitlin alexander and I'm a junior at cleveland high school. Visiting the Willamette river has always been one of my favorite things to do. This led me to join dragon boat racing as soon as I could. Having the opportunity to be my team's flag catcher is a dream that I was able to accomplish this year. You can see the rose festival dragon boat races on June 6th and June 7th at south Hawthorne waterfront park. We hope to see you there to watch an incredible spectacle.
Brianna.
Hi there. My name is brianna michaud and I'm a junior at grant high school. Running has become a crucial part of my life, a passion I've been deeply committed to during my high school career. As an avid runner, I'm excited to watch the brand new rose festival street mile on may 30th. This fast paced event showcases athleticism of all types, starting the morning off with the family run and turning up the tempo with elite and competitive runners in timed heats. This event will take place before the fred meyer junior rose festival parade in the hollywood district on sandy boulevard.
Thank you for hosting the 2026 rose festival court. We look forward to seeing you at this year's rose festival.
I know you have a really tight schedule and you'll have to leave. Basically now I'm getting an I from the back, but I just want to acknowledge caitlin is our flight catcher for our team in the dragon boat race, which our big race will be on June 6th at noon, will be going against the mayor's team, which is basically all the bulky security people that work here. Way to go, mayor. And against the kaohsiung city council. And so it's going to be a lot of fun. And caitlin, thank you for bearing with us. It's great to meet all of you. And thank you, councilors, for allowing us to keep this tradition alive, of allowing the princesses to come in and say hello to us. To kick off rose festival.
Thank you. Thank you.
Yeah.
Thank you, councilor Ryan. Thanks, everyone for coming in. And with that, I will formally gavel in today's meeting of the committee of the whole. Could you please call the roll?
Good morning. Pirtle-guiney Ryan.
Here.
Koyama Lane.
Here.
Morillo.
Here.
Novick.
Here.
Clark.
Here.
Green here.
Zimmerman here. Avalos. Present.
Dunphy. Smith. Kanal.
Present. And, christopher, will you please read the statement of conduct?
Welcome to the meeting of the finance and governance committee of the whole. To testify before this committee in person or virtually. You must sign up in advance in the committee agenda at www.Portland.gov/council/agendae or by calling 311. Information on engaging with the committee can be found at this link. Registration for virtual testimony closes one hour prior to the meeting. In person, testifiers must sign up before the agenda item is heard. If public testimony will be taken on an item, individuals may testify for three minutes unless the chair states otherwise, your microphone will be muted when your time is over, the chair preserves order disruptive conduct such as shouting, refusing to conclude your testimony when your time is up, or interrupting others testimony or committee deliberations will not be allowed. If you cause a disruption, a warning will be given. Further disruption will results in ejection from the meeting. Anyone who fails to leave once ejected is subject to arrest for trespass. Additionally, the committee may take a short recess and reconvene virtually. Testimony should address the matter being considered when testifying. State your name for the record. If you're a lobbyist, identify the organization you represent. Virtual testifier should unmute themselves when the clerk calls your name. Thank you.
Thank you. Christopher. Today's meeting has three items on it. We're doing the chair's updates, which we're going to be doing at the top of every meeting. Just to give a little insight on what's coming up next and things that may be of interest to the public as well as councilors. We have two rounds of appointments, one to members of the urban forestry commission and one group of members for the sustainability and climate commission. Today will likely end a little bit early. Just wanted to flag that. I think nobody's going to complain too heavily. If we get a little time back and we will get through both of these, and then you'll see what's coming up in the chair's update. So with that, will you please read the first item.
Item one committee chair updates.
Thank you. So for the public, this is going to be posted online on the item shortly, if not already. For councilors, it's handed out to you. But I wanted to give a brief update of what's coming up next in the committee of the whole. There have been a lot of items which have been speculated about or suggested to come to the committee, and I'm going to use this opportunity to talk a little bit about what is locked in, what's tentatively penciled in, and what may eventually end up coming as well. So next week we are canceling the meeting. I did tell everyone a while ago that we'd cancel either the fourth or the 11th based on the budget calendar, and just looking at how the budget notes are going to end up being discussed in a work session instead of here, this meeting next week will not happen again. I don't think anyone's going to complain about getting a few hours of their Thursday morning back. And then beyond that, we start to have a few things that are tentatively penciled in, including the auditor's report, which is an annual event that occurs right around the time that the list of audit topics are released. We have PCEF committee appointments coming up the following week, which will be a lighter schedule because the 17th is the afternoon, the Wednesday afternoon meeting leading into the evening council meeting. My intention is to have as many of the sort of the appointments that are not likely to spark larger, broader conversations beyond the appointments themselves, ideally on those Wednesday afternoon meetings, so that we are able to end those on time and ensure that the council meeting in the evening is not affected by that. On the 25th will be a larger scale conversation because this is a different type of appointment. There are appointments coming for home forward and its board. I also have tentatively scheduled a presentation discussion on housing providers in the city. And then beyond that, there's a few things that are not yet penciled in. But I did want to flag that we are doing our regular reporting on vision zero on July 23rd, and then sometime in late July and early August, we've been notified by council president's office and the administration. That is when we first start discussing the term sheet for the moda center conversation. I have no information beyond the three words of moda term sheet on that one yet, but I'm hoping that we can get a better idea of what that's going to exactly entail in future chair updates. Leading up to that, I also wanted to flag that there are a few topics for potential council oversight hearings that have been discussed. These are not scheduled or confirmed yet, but contract accountability, home forward nonprofit housing providers and shelter providers, and residents safety are all things that have been discussed in the last few weeks as potential topics for future oversight hearings. Again, those are not confirmed, let alone scheduled, but wanted to flag that that was coming up as well. And then further things that have been suggested. I have been listening as our conversations, especially over the course of the budget, have included councilors mentioning things like pass through money, accountability as something to look at fire and police disability and retirement as a topic. Assessing manager positions at the city. You know, this was the conversation around dcas directors, deputy directors, managers. There's the council rules item. There's also a phase two on the appointed boards and commissions project, which is coming out of civic life. There's some ambiguity as to the timing of all of those. So they're not penciled in here. But I did want to mention that those are all things that we're aware of. There's also a couple budget notes, one related to how we structure the budget, how it's laid out. There was a budget note that direct last year that directed the city budget office to develop and present to council a set of options for restructuring the fiscal year 2627 budget format. Those obviously are not going to be implemented in time for this year's budget, but we are hopefully going to talk about them in the summer with the hopes of them informing how the fiscal year 2728 budget is structured. And I'm quoting here from the note, these options should explore enhanced line item detail, program level structuring and other formats that enable council to more effectively review, amend and engage with the budget in a manner consistent with its legislative responsibilities. And the goal is to ensure the council has meaningful visibility, and it continues from there. I just wanted to flag all those things so that you know that they're coming up. My intention last time we did this exclusively verbally, I said we'd have a written report. My intention is that as we go further, these will get a little bit more detailed with things as we have items filed by deputy city administrators and or the administration, I guess, broadly, so that we know when they're coming up. But that's what we have on the radar coming up at the committee of the whole. Just wanted to flag for everybody. And I think with that, I see two questions. So I'm going to go to councilors and councilor Green.
Mitch Green: Thanks. It's unfortunate the council president is not here, but I would just say I think that it seems a little bit aggressive to have your 11th and 17th there, given that he has scheduled such small amount of time for the final adoption of the budget. So I guess I always kind of assume that that would probably take over this committee's time. And I, I want to just highlight it for you because those are some pretty important appointments, but I'm not sure why the council president did three straight days for the approved budget. And as scheduled, just one short meeting for the adopted. But the the financing governance committee, the whole offers another, you know, two and a half to three hour tranche that I say that because. One, I think we should be programing forward and. And two, that makes it easier if you're not stuck to these appointments happening during that time. And then secondly, given that we have I have some questions about home forward board appointments. So who's bringing that forward? That's going to require a lot of discussion. Yeah. And I want a lot of vetting.
So let me start with the first question. Yeah. I agree with you on both just to not bury the lead here. My assumption has been that if the adopted budget needs more time, the June 11th meeting is the Thursday morning meeting. And my assumption has been that the 10th meeting would be extended, which is the Wednesday morning council meeting, and that would be where additional time for the budget would likely end up first. But I think you're right that it could also extend into Thursday. We haven't locked in these times with anybody because of exactly that level of ambiguity. And if we need more time for the adopted budget, there will be absolutely no pushback from me on ensuring there's time for the adopted budget.
That's appreciated. Thank you.
Yeah. And then to the second point, 100%, I don't know where the home forward board appointments are coming from. For those who don't know, there are five that are, well, four that are coming from the city of Portland, plus a fifth that's traditionally been appointed by the city of Portland of among as a resident representative to the nine member home forward board. There are also two from the city of Gresham and two from Multnomah county. Historically, the ones from Multnomah county and Gresham have been treated more differentially by council, whereas we get into the. The details on the ones that are city ones, I don't know which ones they're going to be. I know there are two vacancies on the home forward board right now. I also don't know if there's another anticipated vacancy.
I hope it's all of them, whether they're currently serving a full term or not. I think everyone needs to be reviewed. So I, I say that to put that flag out in the middle of whatever to say no pass through's right home forward needs resuscitation and it's going to happen publicly. So I hope that as you figure out who it is that's going to bring those forward that you let us know. So because I'm sure a few of us have at least some nominees, some nominees, and some interested parties. And I'm looking for a very different flavor of leadership. So I think that one is going to be time consuming.
Yeah. I think two things on that. One is I'm going to, as I get more information, make sure it's in here and build it out a little bit more. I think you're right to say it's going to take some time. My intention is that there is nothing else besides the home forward discussion on the meeting in which the home forward discussion occurs. Thank you. And that gives us officially three hours to have it, if there's more needed on that. And I have a feeling that outside of the context of the appointments, there will probably need to be more conversation than three hours can provide. I think that's why it's also on the list of potential oversight topics. But I imagine that once we start talking about it, we'll be talking.
About it. And I want to just a personal point, if you are able to schedule it later in the in the even the following week or more, I would consider it personally helpful. That'll be a meeting that I'm very unlikely to make and maybe can make virtually, but certainly have high interest. But if you're. If this is a proposed but loosely scheduled item, I just offer that up as a as a request. Thank you.
Appreciate it. And one last note. July 1st is a council recess, as is July, or I should say July 2nd. And then so is July, sorry, August 19th and 27th will both be recesses as well. Councilor Green.
Mitch Green: Thank you chair. Kanal. Thanks for the the written list. It's really helpful for me to see the visibility coming forward. Just two two questions for you. One. Is sort of June 4th canceled because just trying to create a little space or lack of a topic, or is it column a or column b.
Little column a, little column b? There's a, I think it's largely there are a few things coming from the administration that aren't fully through the process yet filed things like that. And then also the intent we penciled in the entire meeting to discuss budget notes. And council president made the June 3rd meeting for a work session on budget notes.
Yeah, I thank you. I, I don't know if it's possible, but I, I would I would urge us to use that, that time slot to have an initial conversation on urban alchemy oversight, just because it's such a pressing topic. We failed to pass a budget amendment that would do that oversight. And so I think it is incumbent upon this committee to, to to do that oversight sooner rather than later. So just a suggestion there. The second piece is I recently attended a resiliency fair in linton, and one of the topics of conversation was the ci hub. And there was a desire from folks who are tracking and engaging with that policy development to have some kind of a conversation around it that's less formal than a a presentation by the bureau and I, the committee, the whole could be a place to have that that sort of conversation. And so I would I would really urge us to think about maybe programing in some space in the summer to have that conversation. And the desire was the committee, the whole because they want all councilors to have this conversation, not just the committee of five people. So just a suggestion. Heard. Thanks.
Thank you, councilor Green. And just for transparency, when a topic comes up, we make sure that council president and other committee chairs are able to say, hey, this is the reason it should be in this other committee instead, before locking it in, that doesn't mean it's like we get whatever's left. It just means there's a conversation. But I'm definitely going to put that on the list of things to to bring up. Thank you, thank you. Seeing no one else in the queue, we're going to move on to the next item. Rebecca, will you please call the next item?
Item two appoint and reappoint members to the urban forestry commission.
Great. We're going to welcome up director of Portland parks and recreation sonya szymanski. And I'm not sure who else is coming up but. Priscilla salina. Yeah.
Good morning.
Sonya szymanski. I'm interim director of Portland parks and recreation, and we are very happy to be with you today to share our proposed new and continuing appointees to this commission. I'm also really happy to be here on rose festival day. We are at the parks bureau, a new sponsor of the milk carton boat race, and we're proud to be featuring it as part of our summer free for all lineup. So catch that one, priscilla. Go ahead. So as I mentioned here to bring you appointments for three new and three continuing members for the urban forestry commission. Volunteer body plays a crucial advisory role managing portland's trees and forming policies related to the urban forest budget proposals and more. Next slide. Priscilla, we have a short overview of the commission and the proposed appointees, and then you'll have a chance to hear from most of them who are here in person. Three are joining virtually due to work schedules. And one of our reappointments is so smart that she's traveling and is unable to join us today. If you're interested, we have a prerecorded video, and if you're not, we can skip that part. Priscilla. Thank you. The urban forestry commission, you may know this is an 11 member volunteer body advising on a variety of topics related to trees per city code. Their duties include weighing in on plans, policies and projects affecting urban forestry matters, advising relevant bureaus of which there are now at least two, and executive leadership on budget development. Advancing title 11 updates and heritage tree recommendations to council. And they have one other other duty that I'm going to be a little bit more expansive. About five members of the commission sit as the urban forestry appeals board, which hears and decides non-development permit appeals. That mostly means tree removals. Development permit appeals are heard by the code hearings officer. We have a goal of providing clear, fair, accessible appeals processes for permit customers citywide, including in our bureau, and we are reviewing this aspect of the commission's role through the title 11 amendment project underway. Now we are looking at peer city practices and at appeal processes for other permit types here at the city, and we'll be seeking feedback from portlanders who've interacted with the permit system. As part of that project, we anticipate releasing proposed amendments for public review and feedback next spring and submitting recommended amendments to you next fall. I reached out in early March, which was the beginning of the very intensive budget stretch for you to offer information and conversation about the code update project. And now that potentially that most intensive part of budget development is behind you, I want to reiterate that offer to come and speak with you about what you expect or hope or anticipate seeing in that code review process, either as topics for review and consideration or as outcomes. The more that we can hear from you about what you want us to be looking at and what you're hoping to see come back, the better process we'll have and the better product we'll have for you. So watch for an email from me. I'm going to be back in touch to re-extend that offer. Next slide. Priscilla, the recruitment process for this body looks a lot like it does for other bodies citywide. It tracks the office of community and civic life standard procedures, including a uniform application and an optional demographic survey. This process was also informed by lessons from related advisory bodies like the planning commission and the sustainability and climate commission. I think we were here with them last year. They got really good feedback, and so we followed up with them to learn how they had done that process. This opportunity, you can see, was posted for three months starting last September. We had just over 35 applications, including folks from all four districts. Half of them completed the optional demographic survey, which includes information you may know about racial and ethnic identity, household income, gender identity, and more. Although that database doesn't link demographic information to applicants. So we get a snapshot of what came in. But we cannot correspond information to individuals. The application does also include date of birth and home address so that we can verify where people are located. We promoted this opportunity also through rose city connection, through our own newsletters, through linkedin, and through a lot of direct outreach to partner and community organizations, including folks who contract with the city. That's a perspective we think is really valuable. We did direct outreach to neighborhood associations in areas of low canopy or low income. Those are priority areas for this work. Through the Portland parks board, at monthly meetings and in other places, I'm going to call out a few organizations. This is not comprehensive, but I want to share specifically some places we reached out to in district one, where we always are looking for greater representation and perspective. We reached out to Green lens, to the african community development center, to rosewood initiative, which actually led to a proposed appointee, the somali Oregon service center, thrive east pdx and neighborhood associations, and parkrose, rj parkrose heights, hazelwood and mill park staff selected six candidates to interview, and they met with a panel that included our folks, as well as bureau of planning and sustainability staff in reviewing and selecting membership for this commission, we're led by guided by two primary parameters. One is from code directly. So I'm going to read it to you. Women and multicultural groups must be represented. At least three members must have experience and expertise in arboriculture. That means trees, landscape architecture or urban forestry. One member must be on the board of a nonprofit organization that has demonstrated direct interest in the urban forest, who is not a city employee. The remaining seven members, insofar as possible, must represent diverse geographic areas, interests and expertise in the community. Additionally, representation from priority service areas and now across districts is
Important to us. And in this recruitment, we look to amplify voices from district one, which is a priority service area, broadly speaking, and district four, which has the lowest membership. Next slide. So today we bring you six proposed new or continuing members under city code. This is true, I think across the city advisory body appointments are formally submitted by the mayor and they are approved by you. Members of the urban forestry commission are appointed to four year terms and can be reappointed to serve a single second consecutive term. Candidates today bring, we think, valuable expertise, background and perspective. And I think, importantly, if all of these folks are appointed, we will have a fully rostered commission will be filling up some vacancies. Next slide. So we have three more slides here. And then we'll get to our guests and to questions. So we recommend as new appointees paula byrd, jeff donovan and quadri taiwo. Paula works for nonprofit rosewood initiative in district one supporting community in east Portland, has served on nonprofit boards for youth organized and united to help, which you might know by the acronym youth and decoding, decoding dyslexia of Oregon. And paula is co-founder of books, not bars Oregon. Paula was on the advisory committee for the urban forest plan that you adopted last fall, and sees this role as an opportunity to continue actively engaging in this conversation. Jeff, a resident of district three, is a natural resource economist who's dedicated his career to quantifying and communicating the many benefits we receive from urban trees. Jeff has more than two decades as a researcher with the us forest service, based in Portland, and last year transitioned to a private consulting practice translating scientific evidence into policy, relevant research and practical recommendations for organizations, local governments and advocates striving to make cities healthier and more resilient. Similarly, jeff used this role as an opportunity opportunity to help our city use good science to manage our urban forest. And finally, among our new proposed new appointments, taiwo, a resident of district four, is an international society of arboriculture certified arborist and lead stakeholder analysis and relations for the Oregon department of forestry statewide urban and community forestry program. Taiwu's recent master's education in Portland included a community participatory project that was immersive in issues related to urban ecology and social justice in 13 historically underserved neighborhoods in east Portland. Next slide. Additionally, we recommend reappointing adrianne feldstein, leah plack, and melinda mcmillan to the commission for a second term. Adrian, who is not with us today, is a resident of district two, has a three and a half decades of experience as a public environmental and environmental health physician and has served on this commission since may 2021, including serving as co-chair for the last few years. Adrian is also on the Portland parks board. Leah, a resident of district three, is a career educator specializing in science education and teacher professional development who has also served on this commission since may 2021 and as co-chair since June 24th. She's program director at the Portland metro stem partnership. And finally, melinda, a resident of district four, is an urban design and planning professional licensed as both an architect and landscape architect who has served on the commission since April 2022. Recently, melinda was directly involved in shaping the Portland urban forest plan. Also on the community advisory committee. Next slide. Last slide. If appointed, paula, jeff and taiwo would serve four year terms ending may 2030, at which time, as I've said, they'd be eligible to be reappointed for a second term. As previously mentioned, these appointments will fill our three vacancies. If reappointed, adrian and leah would serve through April 2029 and melinda would serve through April 2030. We do not anticipate being back to you with appointments this year, but we do plan to have one new appointment to propose to you next year. With these new appointments, we will have representation across council districts, including two from district one, two members from district one, two from district two, four from district three, where we have a lot of trees and a lot of engagement, and two from district four. I'll mention again, we have jeff and melinda here with us. We have paula, taiwo, and leah online, and we have an optional video from adrian if we're interested. So happy to take questions. I think jeff and melinda have short comments if you'd like to hear those and we can proceed how you like.
Yeah, I'd love to hear from the members and then we can do the video after that and then open it up for council questions and discussion.
Okay, great. Melinda.
Thank you. Melinda mcmillan. And I am honored to be up for reappointment in this first term. I've watched both the urban forestry commission and the phenomenal urban forestry department employees and leadership in action. I've watched the tree code be updated and the urban forest plan adopted. After extensive, impressive community outreach. I'm passionate in my advocacy for equitable, thriving urban tree canopy. I will also push for intelligent, budgeting, responsive and accessible service for our citizens and expanding the urban forest so key to portland's climate goals. Thank you.
Short and sweet. Go ahead jeff. Thank you.
My name is doctor jeffrey donovan, and I greatly appreciate the opportunity to speak to you today. Just to briefly summarize my career, I received a doctorate in forest economics from colorado state university in 2001, and after graduating, I worked in the research branch of the us forest service, briefly in alaska and mostly here in Portland. And my research focused and indeed continues to focus on quantifying the benefits of urban trees. There's an old adage in natural resource economics, which is if you can't count it, then it doesn't count. So we're trying to do the counting and count those benefits from intuitive ones, such as reduced summertime cooling costs to less obvious benefits such as lower crime and in particular, improved public health. So last year, I took early retirement from the us forest service, started my own consulting company called ash and elm consulting. And there I help clients make the business case for urban trees. And I'd like to join the urban forestry commission because I hope it will give me an opportunity to apply some of my research and to help the city use the best available science to inform their decision making. And in closing, I will just say to the council, there is no more cost effective policy lever available to you than planting and retaining trees. Thank you very much for your time.
Video please.
Hello, my name is adrian feldstein. I'm a public health physician and I'm an avid outdoors person. I've been on the urban forestry commission for one term, and I've spent the last few years as co-chair. It's been an absolute pleasure working with the staff and being involved in the lucky program development that we've been able to do. My background is in public health program development, and I feel that I can continue to contribute and would love to continue in the role. On the urban forestry commission. I'd be happy to answer any questions if needed. Thank you.
Presumably, as follow up, she would answer questions. I see also paula on the screen, and I presume that we have taiwo and leah online as well. So however you'd like to go forward. Continue hearing from folks. Okay. I think paula will take you first. Welcome. Thanks for being here. If you could give us a minute about your background and your interest, and then leah will move to you.
Of course. Good morning everyone. My name is paula bird. I am the interim executive director at the rosewood initiative. I also serve as the tax increment finance community liaison for east. 205 I'm excited to be here. I'm excited to talk to you all. I'm excited for this opportunity. I served on the urban forestry advisory committee in 2024, and that experience was great for me. It allowed me to hear more from community, but also to help shape the vision and the goals for the Portland urban forestry plan. I lead in community. Community. I love community, I love people, I've lived, worked and played in east Portland for the last seven years, and I look at this opportunity as a co-creation, not just with the other commissioners on this team, but also with my community. I feel like our community can't make equitable decisions for themselves if they don't have access to the information. So I'm excited to learn more, learn from my peers, and be able to share that information with with the constituents and with the community out in east Portland. Thank you.
Thank you. Paula. Go ahead. Leah.
Hello to the committee, and I apologize. I'm not in a private space, so I hope you all can hear me. Okay. Thank you for having us on your busy agenda. And thank you for the difficult and important work you do to support our city. I'm excited to be here to hopefully be reappointed for a second four year term on the urban forestry commission. I am an educator and program director working for the Portland metro partnership, focused on increasing access to stem educational and pathway opportunities for the youth in our region, and I've served on the urban forestry commission since 2021 and stepped into the co-chair role in 2024. I've always been fascinated by trees and the myriad ways they improve the quality of life for the people and other living things in Portland. Like many of us, I have experienced the deep sense of connection with the elder trees in my neighborhood and watched with heartbreak as some of those trees were removed to make way for development. They made me wonder what this loss of mature trees would mean for portland's future, knowing that a tree of that size would never grow in that space again, I began to learn more about the urban heat island effect and the role that trees play to mitigate hotter summers, which led me to become more interested in how our city manages trees, who has access to mature trees and why, and how to meet the need for denser and more affordable housing, while simultaneously creating the Green spaces that are necessary for our local ecosystems and our own health and wellness. Since joining the urban forestry commission, I've learned so much both in how the city functions, and that is changing, of course, over time, and also how policy decisions can impact what happens to the urban forest. I have also had the privilege to participate in the development and approval of the updated urban forest plan. I'm excited to build on the progress that has been made in rolling out the PCEF funded programs for city maintenance of street trees and strategic tree planting and low canopy neighborhoods, and I look forward to participating in the process to update title 11 to reflect the evolving needs of portlanders and our urban forests in the coming years. I hope that my background in stem education and working in partnership with diverse, community based organizations can continue to be useful to the urban forestry commission and to our city as we continue to plan for the climate resilient future Portland that we all hope to live in. Thank you and happy to answer any questions.
Thank you, leah and taiwo. You're going to bring us home. Go ahead.
Hi everyone. My name is taiwo kadri. A little bit about my background, my commitment to portland's urban forest is rooted in academic research and passion for community engagement. So as a researcher, I completed a 50 year assessment of greenspace distribution in Portland, examining the historical planning processes that have shaped today's canopy inequalities. This academic foundation is complemented by my active involvement with Portland parks and recreation, including graduation from the neighborhood tree stewardship program and ongoing volunteerism, as well as my role as science communication fellow at omsi, where I developed public exhibits connecting urban forestry to environmental justice. Through my appointment to the forestry commission, I aim to serve as a collaborative partner who bridges research, policy and community voices to help advance a more equitable urban forest for all, with particular focus on the east. Portlanders, thank you very much.
Thank you. That concludes the presentation.
That concludes our presentation.
Thank you. Thank you so much. And thank you to all six folks for being willing to be considered. I am going to open it up for any questions for either the staff or the applicants to councilors at this time. Councilor Ryan.
Dan Ryan: Sure.
First of all, good morning, and thank you all for your willingness to serve. And thank you for those that are continuing on with your service. I appreciate you so much. I, I reviewed your bios and I can see that you're all very. I'm impressed with your experience and you come from a pretty solid knowledge base and advocacy makes sense. You get the you get the product that you're focused on here, which are urban forestry trees. And I have to tell you, I love. Who doesn't love the abundance of trees. I always think back to when I was living in new york in my 20s. And when you live in new york, no one understands why you move like it's the center of the universe. Why are you moving? And I go, well, I'm from Portland. I miss nephews and nieces and mountains and trees, so it's in your blood when you're from here. It's a natural thing. I am curious about some things today, especially with the record low snowpack where the mountains look like July and may. I picked raspberries this last weekend and I'm from here. And you're not supposed to pick raspberries until July, so everything's off kilter a bit in the ecosystem right now. And this usually does spell a lot of trouble. It's our infrastructure of our water is is impacted by snowpack throughout the entire state. And obviously it's a big issue for our urban wildfires as well. And with that caution of knowing that we are up against in 2026, the summer of 2026, do any of the commissioners have any background in wildfire background management? As anyone you know fought forest fires when they were younger? I'm just curious if that's part of your dialog at this time.
I have some.
Research experience. My phd was on wildfire economics and several early on in my career. I did quite a lot of research on wildfire, and I've done research on wildfire smoke and health.
Okay.
I just encourage you to have those conversations. I think we can get really micro, almost aggressive about our micro government policies when we need to look at the bigger picture. So I hope that's part of your dialog at this time. I also know in my time on council that the tension between residents and businesses with urban forestry and the code is real. There's no way to get around it. The the rule of the code and the reality of the space that they're seeing often are in conflict. And I do think it's so important to go meet with them, have dialog with the people that are in that place of tension, which I think has been a mistake in terms of our engagement. At times we make decisions based on what we see, perhaps on a screen, as opposed to going out and seeing the space and talking to the people. And so that that tension is never going to go away. And we have to keep just accepting. That's part of the job. That said, I always feel like there, I always think the composite of this group should have people on it that have an understanding of what it's like to do development of land, because we shouldn't shame people that that's the career that they chose and that lack of perspective at the table. I experience it when it gets to this level. And so I just want to know, do you have dialog about having some empathy? It's not a bad word understanding of where they're coming from. I met many and they're not evil in terms of the ecosystem, and they really would like it. They just might be really confused why this one tree is so precious that it's blocking everything, even if they're willing to plant more. And I know that there's nothing like a tree that's mature. And so that's the kind of tension that you experience when you're in this seat, is you. They bubble up into that type of dialog. What is the conversation like about that? And have you ever considered including people on the commission that have some background in development of land?
Yeah.
I actually do. And I'll take the.
Second part. Yeah. Thank you.
I have a background in architecture. I've worked on both restoration projects, and I've worked for developers who have kind of wrung their hands about, I can't say this tree, if I'm going to make this pencil out for any, you know, for the development we want. I've also been the architect on the other side of the planning desk, wondering why all of these requirements are are hindering our development. Some of our internal conversations, especially about how many urban forest employees and city employees are doing permitting. So that is, is kind of a balance between, you know, we're promoting this, we want it in code. We want these things as part of development. We've got to marry the two. We know that we want a better urban forest, but we also want a vibrant, evolving architecture and urban design. Both let our communities thrive. So those are very recent conversations that are going on.
Well, melinda, reading your bio is one reason I wanted to ask the question because I thought we could have some authentic dialog about this. I just encourage you to keep leaning into that conversation. I think it's not about being right or wrong. It's about looking at the nuance of sometimes each plan and sometimes, again, the purity of the code and the reality of that space need to have further dialog. And so I'm glad that you're I appreciate your background, that you're at the table, and I hope you consider getting more people on the commission that have such a background. And by the way, great resumes, and I'm fully supportive and will be supporting all of your appointments. Thank you for your time.
Thank you, councilor Ryan, councilor Green, followed by councilor Koyama Lane.
Tiffany Koyama Lane: Thank you so much, director, for bringing forward these appointments and reappointments. I'm impressed by everyone who is up and I just I thank you for your service and your willingness, willingness to serve. I guess I have a specific set of questions for doctor donovan. I first of all, I just want to say thank you for your service for the federal government. I know what it's like to be an economist and then go into work for the federal government. It can be frustrating at times throughout the career, but then you do get to do extremely meaningful work. And I'm impressed by your research agenda and also the work that you've done. And so my question is, this body considers policy that often affects or interacts with urban forest. And our legislative style guide requires the production of impact statements, financial impact statements, economic impact statements. And I think with your unique experience, and feel free to also weigh in. Director shymansky what role do you see for the commission in helping advise on on the the economics of those impact statements when we're. Because what. Because what I'm worried about is we. We don't do a very good job of that. When we think about setting policy, we've sort of outsourced the economic analysis to prosper Portland, which often doesn't have the capability or the bandwidth to do the work. They don't have forestry economists, for instance, on their staff. And so I'm curious how the commission can help the upstream development of this policy and help us really understand what what our long run. Value proposition is to, to the policies we make.
Well, I can answer maybe more practically than I'm interested in your perspective, that it is interesting to think about how we might hook this expertise into that workflow, getting things ready through that legislative pipeline to come to council. And maybe there is a place to kind of sync up the cadences of the commission and that legislative development process. So you get that particular slice of impact and consideration because you're right, you don't have it now. And there are definitely places where it would be relevant and additive. So I think I'm going to probably follow up on that one, maybe with dc a and council operations team.
Yeah. And I see that vivian satterfield's in the audience as well. I think that there's the potential for some, some collaboration there with, with that, with the sustainability commission as well, because these are the same sorts of questions that we need to ask, particularly with the with respect to the Portland clean energy fund and all of these things. And so I think maturing our ability to do as you as you put it, put it. Exactly. If you don't if you can't put a price on a natural resource, it's worth nothing. Right? And so we really need to have that capability.
I'm here to help. You know, I'm obviously I don't understand the mechanics of the commission yet, but in terms of my technical abilities at the commission service.
Thank you. You have my support.
Thank you, councilor Green. Councilor Koyama Lane will be next, followed by councilor Novick.
Steve Novick: Thank you. Thank you, everyone for being here. Thank you for the video. Looking forward to supporting all of your appointments. Director shymansky. You can decide who's the best person to direct this question to, but I'm wondering how and if it could be appropriate for the urban forestry commission to help bureaus programs in navigating accessing the PCEF resources that could align. When the work directly advances tree canopy climate resilience goals, we know that the. Portland permitting and development. Is it a bureau? Is it a department? What is it the bureau. Okay, that bureau is is newer to working with PCEF positions. And I want to be clear that I have been hearing that you've been doing a great job of helping make sure that parks and that bureau are are talking a little bit more to make sure that there's some more communication and partnership. And I'm wondering if there's any role that the commission could play around supporting, pursuing, sustaining, navigating PCEF funding as needed.
Yeah, that's an interesting question too. And maybe vivian can answer when she's up. I imagine the commission could potentially be a waypoint for people who are on their way toward a psf application to kind of kick the tires on the idea, make sure there's a good understanding from the proposers of interactions with trees. And yes, we're working closely with Portland permitting and development and more generally are in really deep, constant coordination with the PCEF team as we're building out those programs. So I think there's a there there, and we can explore what it might look like.
Great. Thank you, and thanks for all the commitment and work there. And then my other question, you can answer it. We can also have. Chief sustainability sustainability officer satterfield talk about it too. But I am wondering how these two commissioners we're talking about today are intended to interact or coordinate with one another in general, if that's been talked about.
I don't know that answer. Have you interacted with that commission?
We've I believe we've presented. But no, it's it's not a been a collaboration in the past.
We are working toward more cross-pollination and dialog across our bureau committees. So parks board, forestry commission, levy committee, parks foundation, we're trying to get those connected to each other. So yeah, those gears are turning. And we can certainly think also about that commission as well.
Wonderful. Thanks for all the hard work.
Thank you. Councilor Koyama Lane councilor Novick will be next, followed by councilor Avalos.
Candace Avalos: Thank you, mr. Chair. I also have a question directly to doctor donovan, which is you said that there's no policy lever more valuable than retaining, planting and maintaining trees. And I think that some people might hear that and say, okay, this guy's a tree zealot. He thinks that planting, maintaining trees is more important than anything else. And we should never touch a tree. So I just want to give you a chance to respond to that.
Well, I can be both a tree zealot, but I'm also an empiricist. And so that's driven by my own research findings. For example, there's quite a lot of research, but there's one study I did a few years ago in Portland looking at the impact of friends of trees planting on longevity. So in neighborhoods where you have more tree planting, people live longer. And when you looked at the benefit cost ratio of that improved health, what we found is it was 1727 to 1, right? So every dollar spent on trees, you've got 1727, $1,727 of benefit back in terms of improved health. That's what I base it on on numbers. So there's there's very little that is as cost effective as planting and in particular retaining trees. And yeah, okay.
That actually sort of reinforces, I mean, I'm not you obviously have the technical background and expertise, but do you think there's ever any circumstance where it's appropriate to remove a tree?
Absolutely. Okay. Yeah.
Can you tell me what, what some of those circumstances might be?
Well, obviously, if something is, you know, threatening the foundations of a house or something along those times, if the if a tree was planted that isn't appropriate for the space, then the best thing may be due to remove it, either replace it with a tree that does work or take it out completely. But yeah, absolutely. There's times when you should remove a tree, no question.
Thank you. Also, with regard to paul, I just wanted to note that I didn't know what books, not bars was. And I looked it up. And the bar is referred to prison bars. So it's not an anti-social drinking organization that she's with.
It is not an anti organization. It is a literacy organization that promotes books literacy over. Because we know that the school to prison pipeline starts with low literacy rates. So yes, we can talk more about that. If you would like to.
Thank you.
Thank you, councilor Novick councilor Avalos, followed by councilor Zimmerman.
Eric Zimmerman: All right. Thank you so much. Thanks for stepping up to serve. This is a really critical part of the city's work, because we know that urban forestry is not just an environmental issue, it's an infrastructure issue as well. And things like shade access and cooling and air quality that really affects how people are experiencing their neighborhoods. And obviously representing district one that particularly affects us. And I appreciate the work that's been done to make sure that east Portland voices are heard and are getting appointed to this commission. I appreciate that, of course, there's always work to be done to ensure that east portlanders are represented on these boards, because the impact that these policies have on east Portland is disproportionate and their voices disproportionately missing. So I wanted to ask a couple of quick questions. I mean, I think we often talk about planting trees, but long term maintenance is also a major barrier, especially for low income homeowners and seniors and small property owners. I'll note to just in my hoa, we are constantly having drama with the trees and you know, your insurance starts to threaten you if you don't have good tree maintenance and the costs keep going up. So I just want to make sure that that gets inserted into the dialog about trees, that it's not just about planting it and letting it go, because the cost tends to compound over time. So what conversations is the commission having about sustainable maintenance support and preventing trees from becoming an unfunded burden to portlanders?
I can I can speak to this as well. One very exciting development mcclymont this year we've seen the city urban forest department is taking over street tree care, and this will help some of the disproportionate. Under forested areas because, like I write, a landlord who doesn't live on site just cut it down because it's high maintenance and it does affect underserved areas, creating heat islands. And so with this increase in care and maintenance of planting and just the expertise that the urban forestry crews have in caring for these trees and in, in planting specifically for climate change and what will survive long term, it will release the burden on the tenants, even the landlords. And so we'll retain trees and we'll be able to expand in those areas.
Thank you for that answer.
I'll just follow up. Oh, sorry. I.
Was going to say this comes up. We talk about this all the time because it was one of the things we heard. I think we all hear this anecdotally, but when the city did outreach for the urban forest plan, this also was a major theme, the cost of maintenance and how that's a barrier. And so this is something we've really been advocating for is and funds are, have been a huge part of this. Also, there's a program for folks to apply for assistance with tree care, or if it's not a street tree, but it's on their private property.
Thank you. And you know, lastly, speaking of landlords, renters often receive the fewest benefits from urban forestry investments despite experiencing some of the highest heat exposure. So how is the commission thinking about tree equity for renters and multifamily neighborhoods, not just single family areas?
Actually.
The underserved areas, especially those and very specifically empirically been mapped out as areas with low tree canopy often coincide with renting populations. And so it's baked into the urban forest plan that was just passed that these these communities are priority. It's not the services and tree planting and targeted areas are not in the ones that have trees. It's in the ones that aren't. And that has been adopted.
I can add. I took a tour with the team last year, and one of the places we stopped was a large multifamily building out, I think, north, pretty far northeast. And what we looked at was a bunch of recently planted trees that had been kind of arranged and designed in partnership with residents and planted. There was like a kind of barn raising, planting event with community partner organizations. So there's a thread of work that is really specifically focused on adding trees where possible, actually within the footprint of larger developments and working directly with tenants to figure out what kinds of trees and where they should go. And, you know, you get to teach people, they get to participate if they want, and then everybody gets the trees at the back end. So that was cool.
Thank you. I appreciate those answers. And I think I'll just end with a comment to say, you know, east Portland, we talk about it having low canopy coverage, but it also has lots of industrial land. It has a lot of large expanses of asphalt, heat trapping infrastructure. And so I think it's important that the conversation about, you know, tree coverage isn't just about the trees, right? That we're talking about the land, especially in east Portland, where we have all of these areas that are also up for discussion about infrastructure upgrades. Right? So I think there was a conversation you were having around balancing those infrastructure needs, housing production, needing sidewalk construction with tree preservation, urban canopy and all that. So again, thank you for your service, and I look forward to continuing to engage with this commission. And I, I do want to keep in touch because I want to keep figuring out what is the plan for expediting east portland's tree canopy coverage. Thank you.
Thank you, councilor Avalos, counselor Zimmerman. And then I'm last in the queue.
Thanks. I've read everybody's bios and inputted, you know, answers to the questions. So I do appreciate how much of a focus there is on expanding the the canopy and the values. And I certainly appreciated mr. Donovan making the case for urban trees, the business case to, you know, to commercial folks. I love that I wrote that down actually. So thank you for that. Director szymanski, you mentioned that there are two appeals boards and you went quick over that, but some of these members will sit those boards. Can you talk about that again? And just what were those two roles?
Sub five member subset of the commission sits as the I think it's the urban forestry appeals board, and they are part of the administrative appeal process for non-development permits. What that means, mostly in practice, I mentioned, is tree removal on private property. To me, it's a little bit structurally anomalous that that function lives in that place largely in the city. We've got code hearings, officers, and they take up administrative appeals related to permits and mostly permit denials when we are looking. And that function lives in code. So as we do this code review process this year, that's something we're going to be looking at closely, both to see how other city processes work and how other cities work on this front, so we can make sure going forward that what we do has a policy basis. And the outcome goal of that is to make sure that you and we and appellants have actually a fair and objective, credible appeal pathway and that they perceive it that way. So that's what we're working toward. I don't know what the outcome will be.
Given, given that all the code compliance goes through a different hearing. But this one has its own special group. This title 11 stuff has its own special group. That's basically what we're hearing right now. Yes. Okay. And so since we moved the enforcement to pnd, and since I would imagine they are the hosts of that other appeal board, that seems like a natural evolution of where the work would go.
I think it could be. Yeah.
Okay. You know, mr. Donovan, I'll say you said it's not always. Or you said it's obviously sometimes to to his questions that things might be removed. And I would just surmise it's not always obvious, particularly with urban forestry. Right. The one area I'll just say in everybody's application that really concerns me is that nobody addressed any desire or need to acknowledge that there are some needs for fixes. And given what we saw previously, to the point where even the commissioner in charge who really shepherded this through commissioner Fritts, said, you know, certain parts of title 11 were never intended to be used the way that they're being used now and that it's in need of some fixes. So. I, I appreciate those those applicants who are new. I am supportive. My, my, I have pause with those of you who are asking for reappointment. And the reason I have pause for reappointment is I'd like to get an idea for. And miss mcmillan, you said phenomenal leadership when describing working with urban forestry and I'll just note, I don't see the director here, and I've noticed that as a theme. When urban forestry comes before the city council anymore, that that person no longer seems to be the person delivering the message. So I have concern there. And the we do great work in the science and the planting side of it. And I have been laser focused on making sure that our enforcement side of it doesn't undo the good of the science. Urban canopy expansion. And frankly, what councilor Avalos talks about in east Portland is the focus. That's my focus, too. I think that that part of our city needs a ton of attention, but I think we were under threat, frankly, of losing the public with a lot of what was going on. So my question broadly to everybody is, how are you going to provide as a as a as an advisory body? There are there are two types of cultures that seem to exist in, in advisory bodies, there's the type who kind of is rubber stamp, and they take whatever the director and staff bring to them. And then there's the type who stand firm in the chair in which they've been appointed. How are you going to provide pushback if you think that something needs pushback, if you feel like that's out of touch with either what you sense in your own neighborhood, what you sense from your professional backgrounds, right or wrong or indifferent is not really the question. But having an advisory board that wrestles with questions instead of rolls over on questions is something I'm trying to get a sense of. So I'd like to start with the three who are being reappointed. I know that one is not available, but if we could start with those and then for the new appointees, I'd appreciate that. And director, I'll let you decide to order.
Yeah. Leah, how about we take you first and then melinda. Go ahead.
Sure.
I think one of the most important things is having that space for discourse and with our agendas. And I'm the co-chair, so I help plan. That's an important piece, especially when there's something that may be contentious coming up before us to really leave space for discussion and discourse and keeping. We've adopted some community agreements to like, hopefully make that a better space for folks to really speak their mind and their concerns. The other piece that I'm really interested in is, you know, thinking about all the outreach that's being done specifically with the code amendment work, because I agree that there are going to be some things that need to be updated and changed. What are we hearing from the community? What are we hearing from the tree care companies, who are often the ones who have to interact with these? The bureaucracy of getting a permit, etc. You know how? Because I think if things are too onerous, there's also issues about like, are people just going to bypass it entirely because it takes too long to get a permit to do the work. That's just one example. So which would be an unintended consequence, that would not be a good thing for the urban forest. So for me, I really want to hear from the folks who are really interacting with this code all the time. For myself as a, just as a regular portlander, like I'm not constantly in contact with the code, but I want to hear from the folks who are to really understand, like, where are there barriers that we could be addressing and fixing? So that's just. Thank you from myself, but I'll pass it off to anybody else.
And I have a brief comment at the end, but we'll hear from our proposed appointees first. Go ahead.
We have a very diverse group, actually, existing commissioners, and I'm excited to see the diversity in those coming in. We don't agree with each other 80% of the time. We're rarely brought things directly from urban forestry. It's usually in collaboration with something coming through council, new programs, new things that the urban forestry commission has been brought. We are different enough that we will never just say, yes, there are great ideas out there, but we'll want to tweak this thing to add this thing because we're representing certain groups, diverse groups as well. I do want to say that I know that we all know the safety issues. And when the issues happened with trees falling, I storms, things that are emergency situations, we asked for a plan, a presentation of how are we doing? Did we fail? What are the mechanisms internally to determine if a tree. Yes, this is this is a danger. How responsive can we be? Obviously, because that's usually kind of a come do this now situation. We heard from the public who were very passionate come in and give statements. And so this is part of our discussion. We're making sure we care about the cost to citizens. We care about the response time citizens, especially the turnover with permits quickly acting in case of emergency, keep costs low or no. So I would just say that that the diversity is really a great positive for exactly what you're saying and your concerns.
Maybe with the new members now.
Yes, please. You first and then paula will take you and then we'll take taiwo to close us out. But doctor donovan, go ahead.
Well, there'll be new to the commission, so I plan on spending most time initially with my mouth shut, my ears open. But while doing that, if I feel that we get to a point where pushback needs to be applied, I'll do it without, you know, without hesitation. And I'll do it vigorously if it needs to be done. I have no no fear of that.
Thank you.
Thank you for that question. And to that point, I don't have any personal stake in this game. I am here as a representative of district one and I have to give an answer, give an account, you know, to my community. So if I'm in a meeting and, you know, we're pushing for something that the community hasn't told me that they want need, or if it's something that I need to push back on, then that's what I'm going to do because I'm not here for my own personal gain. I am here for the community, and that's how I lead in everything that I do.
Thank you.
Yeah. Thank you very much for the question. And just like what paula said, I'm here to serve the people of Portland, you know, particularly district four, and I'll do everything possible to act in their best interest, you know, in order for them to benefit. You know, what the urban forest provide, you know, based on public health. Yeah, I, I think it's very important for, for committee members to meet, you know, consensus at them, you know, just to prefer, you know, the best solution to a particular problem, which is very key. So in the face of any pushback, I'll try as much as possible to act in the best interest of the people. Yeah. Thank you.
Can I offer just a brief contextual comment? There is additionally what I consider. So this is a larger comment but not global structural incentive for this committee to think broadly and really holistically in one of their key functions, which is forwarding to you title 11 code updates. We talk mostly about these days programing in urban forestry, but that derives from the plan. And the plan anchors in code. And so really the code is where the action is. This body is a stage gate through which the code updates are going to come to you, and you have your own independent legislative ability to change that code if you choose, if you're not satisfied with what's coming forward from the organization. So over the next year, what is it, year and a half at this point, I hope that we get clear, strong, direct input from you about what you want to see in that process so that what comes back to you can be successfully deliberated over and adopted at the back end.
Yeah, I think that's a great comment, and I just want to leave you all with two, two things when we're talking. And I'm really not talking about development, I think that's a healthy debate and question. And what I'm really talking about is. Leah, you said those who are constantly in contact with code, I appreciated that. I also think those who've never come in contact with the code, but now are having to deal with a thing called the tree code. And they're like, I just called an arborist because I have this tree leaning toward my house, the never in contact, and probably won't ever be in contact again. It also has to make sense for us. And so here's the question I would pose that when it comes to your deliberations with respect to private private lots and the safety requirements, we can bring out an expert to anybody's lot. And an expert can look at that tree and say, it's never going to fall. It's healthy. It's got 20 years ahead of it. You're good. But when that expert leaves the property, the difference between expertise and accountability is, as the property owner, I still have accountability. And if I determine that the tree is dangerous on my lot, I am king of that lot. And I hope that we can consider that because my insurance, my neighbor, my family members are the ones who will be affected by whether or not I assert accountability and expertise doesn't come with that. And so that's a real balance. We may chop down healthy, good trees because of a private citizens need on a small lot individual. But I also think if we're doing this really well, we've got the ability to work with them and, and look at so that that is the last option and not just a kind of a flippant. And I say that because the flippant ness is in district four, where we have a great canopy in a lot of places, we've got members of the community who don't talk about a positive relationship with urban forestry. I will say that is changing. They're really talking about a much more positive thing. So I think we're on a good path right now, and I'm hearing that constantly. And the other thing that I would I would pose, and I hope it goes to your your statement director. I look so forward to a recommendation or an idea or a laughing about how silly we were in the past about a permit after a tree falls down, there may be nothing that strikes portlanders as more asinine than the need to get a permit for a tree removal after it already fell down. And I think that those types of things send a common sense question mark into the into the atmosphere when it comes up. And those are the types of things that we don't have to fix a ton. We have to fix a little bit of stuff that makes this program able to thrive and do its business less interrupted, because we've nipped some of those things that like really needed attention. And so I look forward to you all. As you know, paula, I really appreciated the way that you, you posed your answers and questions as well, because I do think there's an aspect of I'm here representing the place that I live, the people that I know and how this goes. And I and, and I thank you for that. For the rest of you who are trying to put value proposition to the urban canopy, huge value. And I just request you please keep an ear and an eye to. What does everyday Portland need to just be satisfied because they're going to interact maybe once every ten years with the program, if that. And we still need to satisfy them. So thanks everybody, I appreciate it. Thank you chair.
Thank you, councilor Zimmerman. I'm next in the queue. First, let me say I am going to be supportive of everyone's appointments. I wanted to specifically say I'd love to read your 50 year assessment at some point, when you know light reading time is hard to come by as a councilor. But please, if I get a chance, it's something I'm very interested in. I also know adrian feldstein from when then commissioner Ryan appointed us both to the parks board in 2024. And I'm very excited to to see her continue to work on this commission as well. I had a couple questions for staff about the process, and I wanted to just get some clarification on it. I have a four. One is two of the reappointments terms were up may 1st of last year, and I'm curious as to why we're only getting them reappointed now and what the process has been for their involvement for the last year and a couple of weeks.
You're best to answer that. Did you catch the question?
Yes I did. Okay.
This is priscilla. She staffs the commission.
Yes.
You could introduce yourself and then give an answer.
Thank you everyone. I'm priscilla solano. I am the financial and administrative lead for urban forestry, and I staff the urban forestry commission. And so thank you for the question. Per title 11 ufc members can continue to serve in their terms after their terms have ended, until a replacement is made or they are reappointed. And so you may remember last year we had two new appointments, and at that time we had intended to bring forward the reappointments for for adrian and for leah. But at the time, I think it coincided with the budget process and we were not able to get it on council agenda.
Okay. I think this is something, as you review the tree code that should be solved. I think it makes sense. If it's a couple of weeks, I the budget process might make that a couple months, but I think as a general practice, this has nothing to do with this particular commission. But we should get to a place where there is an expectation that there's a council touch point on this, because I do think it's fair for us to say, you know, you're going to be involved in trying to fix some of the concerns that that many councilors have raised so far as members once appointed. And so we want to make sure that if there is a need for council adjustment to that direction or to the membership, that that's an opportunity we have. So I just wanted to flag that for later. Director szymanski on slide four, it says you interviewed six of the 36 applicants and then recommended three for appointment and three for reappointment. Are the three for reappointment. Outside of that meaning, did you pass on half of the people you interviewed? And then separately, three were up for reappointment, or did everybody that got an interview get sent to us?
So we interviewed six individuals, and of those six, we recommended three for new appointments.
And then in parallel, three others. Yes. Great. And then third question for you said that we did outreach director szymanski to folks who contract with the city. Can you speak a little bit more to that?
Yeah, I look at the list. It's primarily landscapers. So these are folks who've got, I think, planting and maintenance contracts through urban forestry directly. We could broaden that universe in the future. I know there are there is a larger universe of people who have touch points and might be interested. And if you want to add anything to that, please do.
Yes. And I would also mention that its partner organizations, for example, friends of trees, is one that we reached out and shared the opportunity.
Okay. Thank you, I appreciate that. And then the last question I had, it is for staff. But melinda spoke to a diversity within the group, including those who are not on this page, meaning the continuing members. And so my ask for everyone generally, and I guess it's more directed to c a lee for the future is can we get the full list of people. That would be the list after this appointment goes through? If it goes through, this is something some of the other appointed bodies and commissions do very well, including a mayoral reports. The example I would point to is pcep as a as a. It has who's getting appointed, who's leaving? And it also has what the full membership will be afterwards.
That helps give transparency to vacancies, but also especially for this one where you mentioned the particular subcategories. You know, maybe we have a need for seven people to do this and you're appointing the other four. And we wouldn't necessarily know that that other seven category is full unless we see that list. So just wanted to flag that. I am interested in modernizing the way in which we do this from a process perspective, just to make sure there is that level of transparency. The other thing that it does is when people resign and they're not being replaced immediately, it gives transparency to the existence of the vacancy, which is, I think, really important to do. So thank you for that. I also wanted to thank vessela and megan, and I appreciate you noting that their service and in appreciation of that as their time on the commission ends. Okay. That's the end of mine. I'll go to councilor Ryan.
Dan Ryan: Thank you. Chair. Kanal can you tell that we get a lot of calls about urban about trees? Yeah. That's why we're having these questions. And we haven't had a chance to really daylight some of these concerns. So this is very macro at times. And I appreciate you all doing the best you can to answer the questions, because you shaped the culture of urban forestry. That's what happens with boards and advisors. They should be helping shape that culture. And so this is probably for staff leadership. But sometimes residents, businesses, builders get confused between the codes and the conversations between urban forestry parks bes and p s. You guys are really overlap each other. And so you'll have a resident say, I am so confused with these three codes, they don't seem to be compatible. That's the whole reason why we started the permit reforms, was to get to the bottom of that, because we're just making it so difficult for people to do business with the city. And so has the permit reforms. Integration helped all of you in that process of getting aligned to talk to the residents, the the businesses, the developers, the builders? I just want to know if, if you're sensing that it's improving or not.
Yeah, I'll take a.
Crack at that. And I will say we had a lot of need for improvement. So I'm not going to pretend it was pretty because it wasn't. And I know that we have a long ways to go, but I just wanted to get some insights why we're here.
Yeah, we do have a ways to go. I think we're on the path. While we were sitting here, I got a couple of emails in a meeting invite related to the code alignment project. So that's in a pretty active phase, moving toward a well, actually launching a short list of categorical areas to look into, which includes some tree code stuff. So that's a different place where tree code is being looked at and development situations. You, you saw this very early on. Councilor. There are process and structural and cultural complexities at the city that sometimes are at cross-purposes with the outcome we want of clear, predictable, simple, replicable experiences with our code. And I would I have always thought that actually the biggest problem was in the code itself and the conflicts that live in there. And then they manifest in all of these ways in the processes and cultures. So the code alignment project is fundamental to getting to that future that we want to be in. And then there's a lot of complementary stuff happening. And just the fact of all these people working together on this project, I think is helping build connection where we need it and break down barriers where we have them. So my a little bit removed perspective is things are trending in the right direction and picking up steam, and things are feeling different to me.
Thank you. I'll be continuing to ask questions about that since I'm quite attached to it, since I started the process to get those reforms going, I'm back to my earlier question. I'm just curious how many builders applied to the commission, and I respect architects. You guys are the amazing middle people that do a lot of negotiating between trying to get reality between the two camps that are sometimes at opposition. And I've seen that many times when I was overseeing drac. It's always good to have a couple architects on that, that commission. So I appreciate your your skill set, but it would be good, I think, to have people that are actually experienced in building and understand the importance of building the tree camp canopy and not turning off so many people from considering spending money here.
Correct me if I'm wrong, I'm going to guess the answer was zero, and I'm going to attribute that in part to the fact that this commission, a lot of this commission's business, is in kind of bigger picture policy work that may feel less directly germane to the day to day of a developer, and that there are other channels to weigh in when the work gets into that territory that may be more kind of surgical and effective. And my perspective on that is it makes it all the more important that when we're doing things like the forest plan that we're talking to working waterfront coalition, we're talking to other parties who we know aren't in our commission and in other spaces. So we need to go to them, and we will absolutely be doing that with the code update project.
Okay.
And point taken. You know, that that would be welcome perspective from folks who had time and willingness to sit with the commission monthly.
I think that we just put a lot on the one architect on the commission. I think that there's times where we have to figure out how to maybe overlap with maybe the draft board. And when we're in some contentious challenges that maybe your composite doesn't have the life experience to understand a perspective that's coming at you. And so I don't think the city we take advantage of the fact that we have another commission that you could collaborate with. And so I think that we have to lean into that, just like we're having the integration of the permitting. We have to have some better integration of the different commissions and boards. So they're not all in these silos. We're trying to break the silos. That's the main reason people voted yes on the charter, was to see our city function better, more efficiently, and not be in so many silos. So we have to continue to keep challenging ourselves to do just that.
Yeah, that's a great suggestion. Thank you.
Thank you, councilor Ryan. I want to make sure there's a chance here for everyone to speak. So I'll come back to councilor Smith in just a second. I did want to say we will be needing a motion after that to refer this item on to the full council with a recommendation, so I'll ask for that after we go to councilor Smith.
Loretta Smith: Thank you. Thank you all for your presentation. I had a question, miss paula bird, it is good to see you. Thank you for your service. I appreciate it. You talked a lot about bringing information and being community centered. And when you're talking to community, what platforms are you using? Are you are you having regular meetings? And, and the reason why I ask you that is because I would be really interested in, in participating as you're as you're on your journey and talking with community members, particularly in district one.
So thank you for that question. You know, my mother says, I talked to the door if the door will talk back to me. So I'm always talking to people, especially about the work that I do here at the rosewood initiative. We are a community center one, so community members are always walking through the door. Yes, community members can set an appointment with me. There's a forum on the rosewood initiative website how they can reach me. My phone number email address is readily available. I I'm always in community and so having a conversation with community and receiving community feedback is almost second nature to me. There are some things that will be happening. And so I know your office very well, and I will definitely make sure that I reach out to all three of the councilors in district one to invite them.
Thank you. Thank you so much, I appreciate that.
Thank you. Thank you, councilor Smith. At this time, are there any motions to refer the report on to the full council with a recommendation to pass.
So moved.
Second.
Moved by councilor Novick, seconded by councilor Koyama Lane. Is there any further discussion on this motion? Seeing none. Rebecca, will you please call the roll?
Pirtle-guiney absent. Ryan. I Koyama Lane.
Thank you for your service.
I Morillo I Novick.
Thank you for your willingness to serve and for your for your engagement with us today. I.
Clark thank you everyone. It's been a great dialog.
I Green. I Zimmerman. I Avalos. I dunphy's absent Smith. I Kanal.
Thanks for stepping up.
I thank you. And the motion is approved with ten I to absent votes.
Thank you. And just our our understanding with the council president is that items that are appointment related, that are approved here will be put on the consent agenda at the full council. And unless they're pulled off of it, they'll remain there. And hopefully that will happen in in the next meeting or two. I am I have said I'm not pulling anything off the consent agenda that got discussed here and passed on. So. Rebecca, will you please.
For the sake of tradition.
Will you please call the next item?
Item three appoint members and alternates to the sustainability and climate commission document number 2026-170.
Thank you. We're going to welcome up vivian satterfield, the city's chief sustainability officer, as well as elaine visca livingstone, the sustainability and climate commission coordinator.
Good morning, chair, members of the committee. It's great to be here this morning. I'm vivian satterfield, use she her pronouns are my name and I'm the chief sustainability officer located in the city administrator's office. I did appreciate the robust conversation and many of the questions that you all engaged with, with the appointees to the urban forestry commission. I would like to address some of those questions at the at at the end of our presentation, hopefully, as well as we go through the presentation, some of those points will be illuminated as well. If we don't touch on those though. However, please, I do welcome those questions in a robust discussion at the end. Today I am here alongside elaine livingstone, the climate commission coordinator, to bring you the mayor's appointments for the next cohort of our youth commissioners, age 16 to 24, for the sustainability and climate commission. For today, there will be one reappointment, three new appointments, one youth alternate appointment. Additionally, we're bringing one alternate appointment to the commission at large. And I'd like to introduce you to elaine livingstone, our sustainability and climate commission coordinator, who will walk you through the recruitment process, and then we'll have an opportunity to hear from the incoming commissioners themselves. A number of them are able to join us here today. We do have one prerecorded video, and I believe we also have virtual attendance as well. Elaine. Thank you, vivian, and thank you, committee chair.
Vice chairs and members for this opportunity in your time today. For the record, my name is elaine livingstone. I use she they pronouns and I'm the sustainability and climate commission coordinator. Next slide please. Today we'll briefly walk through the commission's overview and scope our membership structure, the recruitment process for these appointments for the mayor. From the mayor before you today. Next slide please. As a quick reminder, this commission was codified by this council with an effective date in June 2025 under Portland city code. Chapter 3.136. Its core purpose is to advance climate action across the city, with a focus on environmental justice and accountability, and its signature responsibility is to create and evaluate the city's climate action plan. Next slide please. The commission's scope spans nine focus areas that this council helped shape from buildings, energy, transportation to resiliency and youth. These will continue to be refined as the commission develops the next climate action plan. Next slide please. The commission advises city council, the mayor and the city administrator. It has the powers and duties to hold hearings, create committees, including joint committees with other advisory bodies. It provides a forum for community input and creates accountability for the city's climate commitments. In short, they are your community advisors on climate, grounded in both technical expertise and lived experience. Next slide please. We have 20 active members, including four dedicated youth seats for commissioners ages 16 to 24, representing portland's diverse communities and socioeconomics, with at least two commissioners from every city council district. Terms are staggered for years, and youth terms are one year. Recognizing their transitions to continued education or careers, and they have the opportunity to be reappointed. Next slide please. This is our current membership for 2025 to 2026. You can see their full biographies in the link on the slide. Our co-chairs are jose guerrero johnson from district one and issa taylor from district four, who is also a youth commissioner. You'll see on this slide the positions that are to be filled. Today's appointments, which is three youth commissioners and one youth alternate and an at large alternate and one youth reappointment. I'd be remiss if I didn't say a few words about the first year's youth cohort, who set a solid foundation for every youth cohort to come after them. They created the first iteration of the youth framework for climate action, and four of the five are taking next steps near and far, including Oregon state university, princeton, mit and michigan state. We hope that they choose to return to our city with what they learn, and we're pleased to bring the fifth youth member to you for reappointment today. Next slide please. This recruitment was for one youth reappointment, three youth appointments, one youth alternate and one at large alternate. We accepted applications from February to March through the city's standard advisory body process. We conducted outreach through social media, our email list with over 1000 subscribers, and the citywide newsletter rose city connection. We engaged our current commissioners, over 100 city staff and almost 20 partner community organizations to share via their networks and existing relationships. Application scoring was structured around the commission's core criteria, expertise, or lived experience and sustainability and climate and interview scoring was structured around the commission youth framework, values of environmental justice, collaboration and engagement, and informed and empowered community. We also invited all applicants from district one to interview. The chief sustainability officer brought her recommendation for appointments to the mayor, and his approved appointments are before you today to begin terms on June 7th. Next slide please. As part of the application process, there is a voluntary demographic survey through the office of community and civic life, with 50% of applicants responding across 12 demographic categories. Next slide please. Over a quarter of the applicants came from district four, and we received many applicants from outside of Portland, including east of district one. We continue making a concerted effort to recruit from district one, such as conducting outreach through our existing relationships with school districts david douglas and parkrose, and through our own district one commissioners. However, however, you can see we need to continue improving how to reach our communities in district one. Our second graph shows that most of our applicants were white. Next slide please. A third of our applicants come from a household that makes over $200,000, and most of the applicants identified as male. Next slide please, and I'll pass it back to vivian to introduce the mayor's appointments.
Thanks so much, elaine. Again, for the record, vivian satterfield, your chief sustainability officer, commissioner Celeste ruiz is our returning youth commissioner from district one, and we are pleased to recommend her for a one year reappointment. Celeste has been an active and engaged member of this commission and the Multnomah youth commission as well, and brings continuity and institutional knowledge to this cohort. We're going to go ahead and share a prerecorded video from commissioner Celeste at this time.
Hello. Good morning everybody. My name is celeste ruiz. Thank you for the committee for having me today. I am from park rose. I am a resident from district one. I grew up seeing environmental injustice firsthand in my own community with the kmart. That was on 1/22 and sandy and with prologis. Taking over that experience is what drives me to show up in spaces like this one. And the sustainability and climate commission. I spent the last year on this commission learning and leading, including as a facilitator on transportation and climate equity with my own adult and youth commissioners. Together, I'm also served as the co-chair for the Multnomah youth commission's transit, equity and environmental advocacy committee this year, and I've been recognized by neighbors for clean air as a clean air champion back in the fall. I'm seeking reappointment because this work isn't finished, and portland's next climate action plan, youth voices at the table helping to shape it. I'm honored for the opportunity to continue serving next year. Have a great day.
Thank you. Commissioner celeste. We'll pull up our slides here again. In order to talk about our three new youth appointments. Thank you. Today we have joining us here in person, christian flores from district one, alma volz from district four, who is a student in district three and from district four. Each brings a distinct perspective and a strong commitment to climate action and community. Christian and schwab are here in person. Thank you for joining us today. And we do have a prerecorded video from alma. Next slide please. And giovanni vaz is appointed is recommended for appointment as our youth alternate. Giovanni is a student in district two and giovanni has joined us today virtually. Next slide please. Ben hodgson from district two is recommended for appointment as an alternate for a three year term. Ben rounds out this cohort with additional capacity for the commission as we had an alternate step down for personal reasons. Ben is joining us today virtually. Next slide please. This renewed slide shows the full commission membership as it will look like beginning June 2026, with this new cohort seated. If you do choose to move forward on these appointments. Next slide please. So our recommendation today is for the committee to confirm the mayor's recommendations for appointments and alternates to the sustainability and climate commission. Again, one youth reappointment for one year term. Three year appointments for one three youth appointments. Pardon me for one year terms, one youth alternate for one year term and one alternate for a three year term. These appointments will continue to build on the commission's strong foundation and reflect portland's commitment to centering youth voices in climate action. I'm really proud of the quality of this cohort, and we look forward to working alongside them to develop the city's next climate action plan. Next slide please. So that's the conclusion of our presentation. I believe we'll go ahead and run through our invited testimony now, and then we'll welcome questions at the end. Thank you.
Good.
We're pulling up a video presentation. One moment please.
Hi everyone. Thank you to the committee for having me today. My name is alma valdez, and I'm sorry that I couldn't attend in person, but I'm excited to meet you all at a later date. I'm finishing my junior year at cleveland high school, where I co-lead the cleveland climate club. I have served two years on the Portland public schools climate crisis response committee, which oversees the implementation of the district climate policy. I am so grateful to have the opportunity to represent younger generations on sustainability and climate commission. I'm excited to learn about sustainability on a larger scale and be involved in climate discussions that directly relate to my community. I'm committed to doing quality work in this role and listening to other perspectives. Thank you.
Thank you. And then we have one of our prospective commissioners, christian, would you like to speak?
Of course. Good morning. My name is christian flores. I am a student at Portland state university. I'm currently studying gis and sustainability. I have also worked as an intern at a solar panel company looking for potential solar panel sites. So I have some professional experience in that area, and I want to thank the commission for letting me have this opportunity. And I want to thank the committee for allowing me to have a time here. I really want to work to make a positive impact on Portland, and I think that the commission is somewhere that I want to be, especially working for the plan that they have and the mission that they support. Thank you.
Thank you so much, christian. We also have shub.
Dan Ryan: Good morning everybody. I'm Ryan, and thank you for the commission for having me today. I grew up around in five countries. I was born in china. I lived in india, indonesia, singapore, and now I live in the united states. Across all these countries. I've seen a different version of climate change, whether that being flooding, droughts or wildfires. And one big thing I noticed is that the people who were hit the hardest were ones who were stripped of their voice. And currently that's my goal, is to give the people who don't have a voice, a voice, and yeah, thank you.
Thank you so much, shub. And I believe we have ben hodgson online.
Good morning. My name is ben hodgson. I want to thank the committee for having me today. I have three years of experience working as a data analyst at a wildlife research lab based out of the university of california, davis, where we study how transportation systems impact animal populations. I hold a bachelor's degree in environmental policy analysis and planning, and as an undergraduate student, I served on a commission that evaluated the sustainability practices of university organizations and conducted student outreach on local environmental issues. I know that climate change poses a significant risk to the health and well-being of our community, but I also believe that by taking the action necessary to achieve our climate targets, we can create a more resilient and equitable future for our city. Thank you for this opportunity, and if appointed as an alternate, I look forward to working with the committee, city staff and the other commissioners in the coming years to meet our climate goals. Thanks.
Thank you so much. Ben and giovanni is also joining us online.
Thank you. Good morning everyone. I would like to say especially good morning to chair Kanal and the members of the committee. Thank you for having me here this evening. My name is giovanni vaz. I'm a student at the university of Portland studying economics and political science. It's also where I serve as speaker of the acp senate. Part of what inspired me to apply to the sustainability and climate commission was a recent class trip I took to new zealand as part of a climate change and energy course, where I saw firsthand how communities are actively engaging with sustainability and environmental stewardship. That experience reinforced my belief that climate policy is not just about the environment, but is also about community resilience and economic sustainability, and protecting the places that we call home. It made me want to become more involved in addressing climate change back here in Portland, and through my experiences in student government, volunteer service and campus sustainability initiatives, I hope to bring a collaborative perspective and a strong willingness to learn and serve. I'm grateful for the opportunity to contribute to the city in this role, and I look forward to working alongside the commission and my fellow community members. Thank you.
Thank you for all these prospective appointments for joining us today in the spaces that you're able to. That concludes our presentation and invited testimony, and I will welcome any questions.
Thank you, everyone, for the presentation for being here, and we'll open it up for questions from councilors. We'll start with councilor Green and then go to councilor Avalos.
Candace Avalos: Thank you so much. I just I really want to tip my hat to, particularly all the young people who've stepped up to serve on this board. I'm really excited that you're going to take this work seriously. Special shout out to celeste. I think it's really challenging to find people from that part of the city to, to then, you know, put their hat in the ring. And the thing in particular is not my district, but it's the thing that I care a lot about. And so hearing that directly means a lot to me. So I'm going to be highly supportive of all these nominees. Thanks.
Thank you, councilor Green, councilor Avalos.
Candace Avalos: Thank you so much. I really appreciate the city's continued commitment to centering youth voices in climate and sustainability policy making. Young people are going to live the longest with the consequences of the decisions that we make today. And so it really matters that they're not just consulted occasionally, but actually meaningfully included in shaping policy and implementation of the city's climate action plan. I'm also really encouraged to see the broad perspectives and experience working in solar advocacy on prologis, right? These are all things that are going to enrich this commission, especially coming from youth voices and district one thanks you for that. And, you know, ultimately, I think what also I heard in y'all's speeches and just what you are here to do on the commission is that climate policy is not separate from things like affordability and public health and infrastructure. And so I appreciate seeing you all understand those intersections. I have a couple of quick questions as it relates to just kind of the the way that the commission will engage with your work. Vivian. And so as the city updates its climate change risk assessment, how is the commission thinking about emerging risks like wildfire smoke, extreme heat, or climate related emergency preparedness, especially for the vulnerable communities in east Portland that I represent?
Yeah. Thank you so much for the question. Councilor Avalos. As you rightly know, we are updating on a staff level the city's climate change risk assessment. That assessment, by the way, had not been updated in 20 since 2014. So I when I entered into this role, I saw it as a key responsibility to update that, get a science based document. We're really pleased not only to subject matter experts across the city, and we have broad participation from every single service area, including our public safety service area, deeply engaging in in-person workshops with the data to update that. The three areas that we are focusing on include extreme heat, include precipitation, knowing how impactful that is to our city, and of course, wildfire, as you all know how impactful that can be as well. And so the update to that climate change risk assessment, I am looking forward to the full report coming later this October. And the sustainability and climate commission will receive a comprehensive briefing on that. The report itself will also serve as the first chapter of the climate action plan. So many of the actions will be informed by that. But of course, the climate action plan will be more holistic than just addressing those scientific backed risks themselves.
And that brings me to I understand that the climate justice audit raised questions about economic cost benefit analysis in climate policy making. And so as the climate action plan update moves forward, what role will the commission play in helping to evaluate economic impacts, trade offs and benefits of different climate strategies?
Yes. Thank you again for that. I'm grateful for the climate justice audit, for being clear eyed and giving us some parameters of how the climate action plan should be updated and what it needs to include and address, and how we should be prioritizing our actions. Those findings are really key, and we're building that into our work plan. And we also knowing that we had those recommendations from the climate justice audit, had a keen eye in our recommendations to the mayor and before you today, and how we appointed some of the skill sets around the sustainability and climate commission. I anticipate that not only will be activating the commissioners themselves and their knowledge, but we may also have to bring in some subject matter experts to help inform some of those analyzes as well. And I look forward to engaging all of you as we work through the plan.
Great. Well, thank you so much. And I just want to invite all of our, hopefully newly appointed youth commissioners that my office is working on a couple of different climate policies. And please do not feel bound by the boundaries of your commission. I would encourage you to engage with the councilors on policies. I'd love to hear your perspective as we're shaping that. And also, you know, get that feedback from the climate commission in general so that we're working together because I think ultimately what I'm hoping for with this commission, with having vivian in this position as we continue to implement our new form of government, is that we are seeing the alignment for needing to plan for climate, climate action in the future aligned with all of our infrastructure and basic service delivery at the city. So just want to thank you so much for bringing your perspectives, and I look forward to seeing you in these halls working on climate policy. Thank you.
Thank you, councilor Avalos, councilor Ryan. And then I'm next in the queue.
Okay. Thank you, chair, and thank you, director satterfield, for being here today. You always present so well, very polished. And elaine, your good work. I'm glad you have someone to work with. And thank you to the youth volunteers. It's just great to hear your voice today. It's our second time this morning. We've had outstanding youth in the chambers and it really feels good. We need to always try to find more opportunities for that. My question first, I want to say thank you for the recruitment demographics. I think that's what was missing in the last presentation. And I think when we bring these to the council, it's really helpful when the recruitment demographics are included. So then we have a sense of the who and what the the denominator was, if you will, of all of those who applied, it was very helpful. I would I do think I'd ask you to consider adding like sectors like work sector, professional sectors are from and with the students and maybe what their studies are, that would be that would just give us more information. So anyway, because you did something good, I'm trying to give you a suggestion to make it even better.
You can always do better. What's that? We can always do better.
Yeah, we. All of us. Absolutely. I'm interested in the economic opportunities with climate action. And I find that too much of our conversation sometimes miss that opportunity. And I think that my hometown is a leader of one, because we're blessed with such beauty and we know that we want to sustain it. And I think you if you grew up here, you were just a natural environmentalist. You know, I did compost gardening as a child. It was just something you did. And then when you would venture into other states and back east, where I went to college, you would find out, oh, you're different because you're from Portland and that you already had all this natural behaviors that made you, I think, a better person on the planet caring about the planet. And so I've always been proud of that. I think sometimes we're missing out on the economic opportunities to be in that center. And I hope that there's conversations about what kind of Green industry we attract, what kind of jobs can we attract? Because too often the debate that you hear is like safes from some of our working class trades jobs that are some of the best jobs to still be able to afford to live in Portland, that there's sometimes going against people in your sector, if you will. And I feel like we miss out on opportunities, on how, again, we can have those tension filled conversations and then get to a place that everyone gives in a little, but we're doing something for the greater good. Can you give some examples of where you're having dialog about economic opportunities for the city of Portland, where we can have high paying family wage jobs that are in this industry?
Absolutely. I appreciate the question, councilor Ryan. While this work is not particularly germane to the current work plan of the sustainability and climate commission, one area that I'm very closely engaged with is on the clean industry work in collaboration with the bureau of planning, sustainability, Portland state university, and of course, the Portland metro chamber and the clean industry hub work. That work is initially capacitated through a grant in a rather impactful grant through the Portland clean energy fund. And that's exactly what we're looking at, is looking at some of these, we call them difficult to abate sectors, basically really stubborn sources of emissions, because for a variety of reasons, you know, high heat processes for, for example, smelting steel, those industries exist within the city of Portland. Technology has not quite delivered a technological solution to some of that. And so we're working directly with businesses to discuss how we can continue to keep on working class jobs, economic opportunity, identity of Portland and many of our geographic regions while also demonstrating, you know, what a climate benefit can look like. So that's, that's an area of work that I'm deeply engaged on and really grateful for the emergence and also the strong partnerships that have developed after what has been a rather contentious number of years in in seeing a binary between climate action or economic development, we're trying to find ways to actively work on the solutions with the folks who who know best.
A few governors ago, but I always thought governor kitzhaber did a really good job of making that table field with that inclusion. And so sometimes they might have had some contentious conversations about the gorge, if you will. You had all the people at the table to work things out. And I think sometimes we miss out on those opportunities. Who are the bureaus and offices that you most collaborate with, because you were plopped into this fascinating organizational chart called the city of Portland, which obviously kelly knows is has to keep being worked on so that we can have that efficiency that voters wanted when we did charter reform. Who are some of the bureaus and offices that you collaborate with the most in this role?
Yes, I appreciate that question, and I know that the city administrators executive programs are still evolving in this form of government, and I look forward to his continued leadership to define what that looks like. Currently, I coordinate across all different service areas. I have identified about 50 plus climate practitioners embedded within their bureaus and service areas. Sometimes our projects that we work on, as I you know, the aforementioned climate change risk assessment, clearly, that brought us into a space in which we had to collaborate very closely with the public safety service area, especially with Portland fire, for example. But I am able to coordinate across all the different service areas very much deeply in public works as well. So the bureau of transportation with environmental services, our water bureau has been a long time leader in thinking about the impacts of climate change and how to secure our water future with that as well. Of course, the bureau of planning sustainability that has housed traditionally a climate policy team as well. I don't want to forget anybody, of course. And of course, I am also in conversation with folks who work at Portland parks and recreation, especially those who, you know, focus on trees as nature based solutions is a key component in focus area of our next climate action plan update as well.
You know, we're a big organization and we have a lot of commissions and a lot of advisory boards. And I'll just share, when I was on the university of Oregon alumni board, my favorite weekend of the year, there would be four meetings a year, but there was one meeting in a year where all of the advisory boards and all the all the different boards and commissions were on campus. And we we do some overlap sharing with one another, and it was just so rich. And I wonder if the city could consider like having some something like that where all of you can kind of see each other and connect the dots. And so you start to build relationships with those overlapping commissions and boards that you could collaborate with. And I just hope that we keep moving towards that. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you, councilor Ryan. I'm next in the queue and I'm very grateful. I am because that is a that last thing you ended on is something I've been proposing for a couple of years as well. I would love to have a day where we get all the advisory bodies together, all the volunteers, and thank them for their service, but also give an opportunity for folks to meet each other. I think it's really empowering to community members, and we're taking people who are obviously engaged, obviously involved, obviously care and doing that. First, thank you to everybody for stepping up, for being willing to serve to or for willing to, to continue serving. In the case of our one reappointment, I am interested in a lot of the different conversations that we could potentially have around all of this. I did want to ask a couple questions from for staff. I just wanted to flag, you mentioned a lot of outreach being done, and I appreciate it. And I specifically note that you and director shemanski as well listened when we talked about making a focused effort on district one. And I think one of the things that you'll see is when you start trying to do focused outreach the first time, it doesn't always yield the outcomes you want relative to the effort you put in. And that's why it has to be an iterative process. And I appreciate that. That's been something that you've been willing to do. Did we maybe I missed it. Did we get an ask at council offices to help you circulate for this, for the outreach, for this recruitment.
I'm going to ask commission coordinator elaine livingstone.
No, we did not reach out to you directly. We were in the internal newsletter and the external newsletter. We can add that to our list for next year.
Yeah.
I think that'd be great. I mean, I think all 12 of us, but I particularly my three colleagues from district one, I think they have networks that are overlapping, but also different from the networks that you may have. I also had a note on showing the slides with the outcomes of the demographic, the demographic survey. Can you actually put that back up again while we. I just think it's helpful for everyone to, to know, and I think that this is something where we need to talk. And this again, nothing to do with you guys. I think, I think actually among the best. I don't want to necessarily rule out anyone else that I haven't heard from, but among the best recruitment processes has been the sustainability and climate commission, both last time and this time. But I do think we need to have a conversation around the the overall recruitment process. I think it's an important time to do that. As we discuss our community engagement, leadership at the city and the future of those roles, to say that we need to be doing better in a lot of different ways. Here in particular, I'll note on this example, it's the right graph here. But I think in general, and again, this is among the best of the recruitments we have, if not the best. So I wanted to to just put that on the record. I do want to, I could go down the list of each person and I won't because of time, but I did want to say thank you. I was really impressed with the bios and in particular, for folks who are as young as you are to, to be doing the different types of work that you're doing. I had two notes. One is as someone who studied economics and political science, but was only a vice chair of my student senate, I appreciate the the work giovanni's been doing over there and just wanted to shout that out. The other point I wanted to make is maybe semi-related, and it's to cso satterfield as we do. Is it possible for us to improve by increasing the cadence of the updates to the the risk assessment? I know you mentioned that it hasn't been updated since 2014. I can't think of another thing where the risk has evolved as rapidly as that as climate change. And so in addition to what you're doing now, which is great, and I want to commend you for, you know, engaging on that, is there a way to improve upon the cadence so that we're not I don't know what the normal cadence is or if there even is one. But what we're doing this, you know, ideally would be annually. But as we give you more and more asks, I know we're also going to need to pair that with more and more resources, but is there a way to improve the cadence to some degree, to both make it consistent and make it faster?
I appreciate the question, councilor Kanal. Thank you. And I appreciate also the acknowledgment of the sort of workload it does take to update this. We we update our plans, including the climate change risk assessment. I can't speak to, you know, the delay between 2014 and when I re-initiated the process, we do update our plans in accordance with the timetable that's offered to us in guidance with best global practices. As you all know, we're a part of a number of we're a member of a number of climate based groups, such as c40 cities, the urban sustainability directors network, iclei that work internationally. And so all international cities are working together to update our plans on the cadence that's recommended. And of course, this all toggles back to the ipcc and the best climate science as well. So while off the top of my head, I can't recall what the suggested cadence is for climate change risk assessment, I'm sure it can be grounded in climate science and a recommendation for what makes sense.
Thank you, I appreciate that I am going to at this time ask if there is a motion to refer this item on to the full council with a recommendation to pass.
So moved.
Second.
Moved by councilor Avalos, seconded by councilor Koyama Lane. Is there any further discussion on this item? All right. Seeing none. Rebecca, can you please call the roll?
Pirtle-guiney. Absent.
Ryan aye, Morillo.
Koyama Lane. I Morillo. I Novick absent. Clark. Councilor Clark.
Olivia Clark: Is online, but.
She's having a frozen moment. Those are the words.
Councilor Clark.
Olivia Clark: Yes. The video of the internet connection is not good. Could you hear that? I'm an I.
We have you as an I.
Yeah.
Thank you.
Green absent Zimmerman. I Avalos. I Dunphy. Absent. Smith absent.
Kanal I.
And the motion is approved seven I and five absent votes.
Thank you all for being here. Thanks for stepping up. This item, just like the last, will be placed on the consent agenda at an upcoming council meeting. That concludes our agenda. We're about 48 minutes ahead of schedule, which is good and just wanted to say again, remind that there's no meeting scheduled next week. We'll pick back up on June 11th. And with that, we are now adjourned. Thank you.