The government of Portland, Oregon is based on a mayor–council government system. Elected officials include the mayor, a 12-member city council, and a city auditor. The city council is responsible for legislative policy, while the mayor appoints a professional city manager who oversees the various bureaus and day-to-day operations of the city. The mayor is elected at-large, while the council is elected in four geographic districts using single transferable vote, with 3 winning candidates per district. Portland's current form of government was approved by voters in a 2022 ballot measure, with the first elections under the new system held in 2024.[1]
Prior to 2022, Portland used a city commission government system, with the mayor and four city commissioners directly overseeing operations of the city bureaus.[2] Under the previous system, all elected officials were elected at-large and served four-year terms with no term limits. Portland began using a commission form of government in 1913 following a public vote on May 3 of that year.[3]
History
The Portland Charter was the subject of much debate circa 1911–1912. Rival charters were drafted by four different groups, including the "official charter committee," appointed by the mayor; the "people's charter committee," constituted under the auspices of the East Side Business Men's Club; another citizen's committee which drafted the Short Charter; and the "people's committee," led by W.C. Benbow, which drafted the Benbow Charter. The Short Charter 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. The city council appointed a committee to draft a compromise charter. This charter, along with the Short Charter, were defeated in referendums. The following year, the city council submitted another charter to the people, which was accepted.[4] The city commission government form consequently came into use in 1913, with H. Russell Albee being the first mayor under the new system.[3]
2022 Charter Reform
Ballot Measure 26–228 in the November 2022 election was an amendment to the city charter that moved the city away from a commission system of government. It expands the council from four at-large council members to 12 councilors, who are elected via single transferable vote from four geographic districts (with three council members from each district). The mayor is no longer a voting member of the council, except when needed to make a tie-breaking vote. It also transferred responsibility for direct management of city bureaus from commissioners to a city manager overseen by the mayor and confirmed by the council.[5] Previous attempts to reform the city charter had been defeated seven times since 1913,[6] including as recently as 2007.[citation needed]
The first city council elections under the new districts were held in 2024.[7] In preparation for transitioning management of city bureaus to a city manager, then-mayor Ted Wheeler announced he would group city bureaus into five related service areas.[8]
Terms are staggered, with the mayor and councilors for districts 1 and 2 elected in the same years as presidential elections, while the auditor and the councilors for districts 3 and 4 elected in the same years as gubernatorial elections.[9] 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.[9]
Mike Lindberg – member of council for 17 years (1979–1996),[12] a longer tenure than any other commissioner in the 40-year period up to 2009[13] (and until surpassed in 2016)
Dan Saltzman – member of council for 20 years (January 1999 – December 2018), longer than any person since 1969[16]
Elections
City Council seats, the city auditor, and the mayor are non-partisan, elected positions; each carries a four-year term. Beginning with the 2024 election, 12 councilors are elected via the single transferable vote ranked-choice voting method from four geographic districts (with three council members from each district). The Mayor and City Auditor are elected at-large using the instant runoff ranked-choice voting method. From 1913 to 2024 candidates faced off in a primary election (typically in May of even-numbered years); if no candidate won more than 50% of the vote, the top two finishers faced off in a runoff election (typically the following November.) Three Council seats, including the mayor, were up for election in 2008; the other two seats, and the Auditor position, were up for election in 2010.
From 2006 to 2010, Portland used a publicly financed election system, allowing candidates to qualify for public funding of $145,000 if they could gather 1000 five-dollar contributions by a certain date (for Mayoral candidates, 1500 contributions of $5 were required for a $160,000 grant). Two candidates availed themselves of this system in 2006: incumbent Erik Sten, who won the primary election, and Amanda Fritz, who lost out to incumbent Dan Saltzman but won a seat two years later (utilizing publicly financed election money).[17] The November 2010 elections saw Portlanders rescind their support for this publicly financed election system.[18]
Neighborhood government
Portland's neighborhood system, the Office of Community and Civic Life, is made up of 94 recognized neighborhood associations and seven neighborhood district coalition offices located throughout the city. These offices provide support and technical assistance to the volunteer-based neighborhood associations, community groups and individual activists.[19]
City bureaus and services
Emergency services
The Portland Police Bureau is the primary policing agency in the city and currently reports to the mayor, while Portland Fire & Rescue is assigned to a separate commissioner (Rene Gonzalez as of 2023). The city also has an office of emergency management planning for mitigation of natural and manmade disasters.
Utilities and energy infrastructure
Portland Water Bureau manages municipal water services through the city, while the Bureau of Environmental Services (BES) manages sewer and stormwater systems. Waste collection and recycling is managed by the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, which also runs the Portland Clean Energy Community Benefits Fund investing in renewable energy development.
While parking enforcement is typically managed by the police department, it is managed under transportation department (PBOT) in Portland.[22]
Education
Portland Public Schools operates more than 81 schools and is one of the largest pre-kindergarten through high school districts in the state.[23] As of 2022, Portland also provides tax-payer funded universal preschool, after voters approved a city measure in 2020.[24]
Housing, camping and homelessness
The city runs a number of bureaus focused on housing, development, and programs to address homelessness. The Portland Housing Bureau manages programs aimed at increasing affordable housing.[25]
In 2016, former Multnomah County chair Deborah Kafoury and former Portland mayor Ted Wheeler created the Joint Office of Homeless Services, which receives funding from both the county and city governments.[26] In September 2020, frustrated by tents downtown, Mayor Wheeler expressed the intent to withdraw the City of Portland from its partnership with county on JOHS.[27] The intergovernmental agreement between the city and county had an expense of $32.5 million to the Portland City Government in 2020.[28] Partially using federal funds from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, the Joint Office of Homeless Services uses city-owned land to site Safe Rest Villages, which are managed temporary housing that augments the homeless shelter system.[29][30]
Controversy over illegal-camp cleanups
A transient encampment on Peninsula Crossing Trail in North Portland
Multiple news outlet reported on the city auditor's report on the city's handling of illegal campsite clean ups by the Homelessness/Urban Camping Impact Reduction Program.[31][32][33] Since 2015, the City of Portland implemented a streamlined campsite complaint intake. City contractors then removed tents, items and other items and stored them. The database was to prioritize cleanup based on "biohazards, garbage and other factors, such as whether campers are aggressive or openly using drugs". The Oregonian summarized that the auditors found little evidence prioritization was occurring and no clear indication of what criteria were invoked in selecting which camps are to be removed or not removed and auditors documented the city often ignored hundreds of complaints made by residents. The newspaper commented "That non-response doesn’t comport with the crackdown on illegal camping instituted by Mayor Ted Wheeler earlier in his term." The audit conducted in summer and fall of 2018 reported that the city needed to improve communications to illegal campers as well as complainants.[34] The auditor recommends providing complainants with a status update. In 2019, the city announced they intend to do that with a new app that helps people "better record and understand HUCIRP"[35] In January 2023, the city launched a web interface providing some information on reported camps.[36]
^ abMacColl, E. Kimbark (1976). "Chapter 14 – The Fruits of Progressivism, 1913–1915". The Shaping of a City: Business and Politics in Portland, Oregon, 1885 to 1915. Portland, Oregon: The Georgian Press Company. pp. 443–445. ISBN0-89174-043-0.
^McBain, Howard Lee. The Law and the Practice of Municipal Home Rule. pp. 598–599.
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