New report says Portland city government needs to change

(FEBRUARY 10, 2019) The city of Portland has a special form of government. It was created in 1913. It is different than any other major city in the United States. A new report from the City Club of Portland says it doesn't work well. It says the city should change its form of government.

Portland has a "commission" form of government. The commission includes four commissioners and a mayor. In Portland, these positions are both legislative and administrative. In other words, they both create policies and implement policies.

The mayor makes assignments. He or she decides each commissioner a different part of the city government. For example, the mayor might choose one commissioner to manage the police department and another commissioner to manage the fire department. The mayor can tell another commissioner to manage the parks department, and so on. These assignments frequently change. That makes it difficult for the city to make long-term plans. Some say this also forces commissioners to focus on managing their own parts instead of looking at bigger citywide issues.

The report from the City Club of Portland says this is a problem. The report says that the mayor can make those decisions without regard to the commissioners' expertise. The report says, "The current allocation of responsibility to the mayor and the city council appears to result in poor bureaucratic performance."

The report also says that elections are unfair; they do not really represent diversity. The report says, "Portland’s current form of city government fails to provide equitable representation by nearly every metric, including income, geography, gender, race, and ethnicity. " According to The Oregonian newspaper, almost all commissioners have been well-off white male land owners. ("Well-off" means they have enough money to live well.)

The report suggests a different form of government. It recommends a professional city manager. The commissioners would have only an administrative role. They would set policy instead of manage daily operations.

Currently, all city voters vote for all commissioner positions on the city council. However, the report thinks this might be illegal. It recommends 8 to 12 city councilors. It also recommends that they represent different geographical districts of the city. A councilor would then represent the citizens in a specific part of the city. A survey in December 2018 found that more than 70% of Portland voters support the election of commissioners by district rather than citywide.

“There are areas that don’t get the same access to decision-making,” says former Portland Mayor Tom Potter, who led the last major effort to change the commission system. “Talk to most people of color, and they’ll say they don’t feel represented. You can talk to people living east of 82nd and they’ll say there’s nobody out here who really represents us.”

Even the current mayor, Ted Wheeler, thinks the city needs "a modern form of government."

“The commission-form of government cannot keep pace with a fast-growing, increasingly diverse Portland,” says Mary Hull Caballero, who is the city auditor. "It’s hard to defend a system in which the city is run by committee and elected officials represent city bureaus instead of community members," she says. “Portlanders deserve a more responsive and accountable form of government.”

However, city commissioner Nick Fish has a different opinion. According to The Oregonian newspaper, Fish agrees the city government is imperfect, but he also thinks it encourages innovation. He does not like the idea of a city manager who is not elected by the public. He also thinks elections are not a problem. "For the average person, this is not a big issue," he says.

The city has tried to change its form of government before, but those attempts were unsuccessful.

The full report is available online from the City Club of Portland.