Portland, Oregon City Council: Difference between revisions

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

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

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

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

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

Current members[edit]

Districts[edit]

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

Past councils[edit]

Dan Saltzman was Portland’s longest serving City Commissioner.

1971-present[edit]

History[edit]

The Portland Charter was the subject of much debate circa 1911–1912. Rival charters were drafted by four different groups. One of these proposed charters was unusual in that it would have used Bucklin voting to elect the mayor and implemented interactive representation of the people through the commissioner system; each commissioner’s vote would have been weighted according to the number of votes he received in the election. eventually, the city council submitted an entirely different charter to the people, which was accepted.^[7] The city commission government form then came into use in 1913, with H. Russell Albee being the first…