City Council · morning

6:59Good morning.

7:00It is 9:32 on Wednesday, January 7th.

7:04Welcome to the first City Council meeting of 2026.

7:07I am calling this meeting to order.

7:09Keelan, could you please call the roll?

7:11Good morning.

7:11Avalos?

7:12Present.

7:13Dunphy?

7:13Here.

7:14Smith?

7:15Here.

7:16Here.

7:16Here.

7:17Here.

7:18Here.

7:19Marihueta?

7:21Here.

7:22Here.

7:30Thank you.

7:31Welcome to the Portland City Council.

7:33To testify before council in person or virtually, you must sign up in advance on the council agenda at www.portland.gov/council.

7:44Information on engaging with council can be found at the council clerk's webpage.

7:50Individuals may testify for 3 minutes unless the presiding officer states otherwise.

7:55Your microphone will be muted when your time is over.

7:58The presiding officer preserves order.

8:01Disruptive conduct such as shouting, refusing to conclude your testimony when your time is up, or interrupting others' testimony or council deliberations will not be allowed.

8:10Councilor Smith.

8:11If you cause a disruption, a warning will be given.

8:15Further disruption will result in ejection from the meeting.

8:18Anyone who fails to leave once ejected is subject to arrest for trespass.

8:23Additionally, council may take a short recess and reconvene virtually.

8:28Your testimony should address the matter being considered.

8:31When testifying, please state your name for the record.

8:34Your address is not necessary.

8:36If you are a lobbyist, please identify the organization you represent.

8:41Virtual testifiers should please unmute themselves when the council clerk calls your name.

8:46Thank you.

8:48Thank you, Robert.

8:49Colleagues, the first thing on the agenda is agenda approval.

8:52I will note that as we were walking in, one of our colleagues asked if we could put public comment, which is item number 3 on the agenda, ahead of item number 2, the council president and vice president election.

9:03In order to hear from members of the public before we go into that internal work.

9:07If there is a motion to make that change, we could vote to do so.

9:11So moved.

9:13Are there any objections?

9:15Second.

9:19To receive public communication before we enter the council president and vice president election.

9:23It's customary to have that election first, but if we think that might take a while, we might ask to hear from members of the public first in public communication.

9:31Is there any objection to moving agenda item number 3 To the second place of swapping agenda items number 2 and 3.

9:39Okay, seeing none, are there any objections to the newly ordered agenda?

9:46Okay, I think we can adopt by unanimous consent with that one change.

9:52And Keelan, that moves us to the second item on the agenda, which is now public communication.

9:57Can we see if our guests are here?

10:00First up, we have Injured and Pissed Off.

10:18My name's Injured and Pissed Off, and this is a fuel tank that was Taken a picture of at the courthouse 2 blocks away, and it was taken at 1:12, I think is what the time was.

10:36It's a dumb idea to park a fuel truck out in front of the new courthouse.

10:42The scandal that I'd been talking about, that's one of them.

10:47And the second scandal—.

10:51Councilor Smith.

10:53You didn't read the scandal, White Wifey Whopper.

11:02If they look up the words wifey white whopper on Google, it'll come up as a search, and you gotta go to video at the top, the tab, and it's a—.

11:17Oh, okay.

11:19Movie, an adult movie that they filmed somewhere.

11:24It explains why they closed the Oregon heart transplant program at OHSU.

11:32I would call that a scandal.

11:35And also Willamette Week, Uninvited Guest.

11:41If you look it up on Google or Bing, It has a date of August 8th, 2006.

11:55That'll be almost 20 years ago that they wrote the article.

11:58And my service animal wasn't a guide dog.

12:02He had been attacked 4 times at the time of the publication of the article, which was derogative, saying that I'm an uninvited guest.

12:12Well, they ought to see me now.

12:14Thank you.

12:16As injured and pissed off.

12:19And they're trying to put me in care facility because of my grievous and bodily injuries that I received.

12:27I broke my left hip and fractured 2 of my vertebrae and my spinal cord.

12:32And the hospital ignored the spinal cord injuries and did the hip surgery and turned my spine some 12 degrees, supposedly.

12:43And they've taken more MRIs.

12:45Councilor Smith.

12:47And I went to an eye doctor and I had 2 cataracts, apparently, or Cadillacs.

12:54Thank you.

12:55I'll turn this in for somebody.

13:00Thank you.

13:04Thank you so much.

13:05We appreciate hearing from you.

13:10Next up, we have Addie Smith.

13:21Welcome.

13:21Thank you for being here this morning.

13:23It's going to take me a minute.

13:24I did ask Keelan to kind of give me a heads up, but I guess 2 seconds heads up is a heads up still.

13:30I'm going to need a second to set myself up here.

13:37If you want to allow someone to go and then I'll go.

13:40So I can get ready, that's fine.

13:43Absolutely.

13:43Keelan, would you like to call up the next guest?

13:45Uh, Karen Washington.

13:52Karen Washington.

13:59Jim McNeese.

14:11Welcome.

14:11Thank you for being here with us as well this morning.

14:22Go right ahead as you're ready.

14:24Thank you, uh, President Elena Pirtle-Guiney and fellow councilors, for hearing public input To state I'm more nervous than, uh, use the analogy, I'm more nervous than a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs wouldn't give complete justice to this experience I'm having.

14:51I think I-84 is a mess.

14:55We have a world Renown now airport.

14:59When dignitaries come into Portland, how do they get to downtown Portland?

15:03They take transportation down here, possibly TriMet.

15:08The corridor is a mess.

15:12It's not sending a good impression nationally.

15:15There's a—.

15:18Stuff has been said about Portland.

15:20Councilor It's a complex situation with Metro, the city, and the rail—.

15:33The trains running on the northern edge of the MAX stop.

15:38I've spent— for the past 4 years, I've contemplated this as an issue.

15:43I brought it up to some councilor aides, I think in November, middle of November last year, we spoke on a little bit some things that happened.

15:56It's of course happening in a slow speed.

16:01It's politics, red tape, however you want to phrase it.

16:13I'm—.

16:13I try to take this on myself.

16:18Too big for me.

16:26I don't know where to go.

16:27With your help and with your input, you might be able to make the necessary accommodations to fix at least the surface of things so that we're not viewed upon in this state as being What's been announced, I don't need any more time.

16:52Thank you if you all care.

16:54Thank you.

16:55Thank you.

16:56I know others share your concerns as well.

16:58We appreciate you being here.

17:01Smith, are you ready?

17:02I am ready.

17:03Okay, please go right ahead.

17:06Thank you.

17:07Good morning, everyone.

17:08My name is Addie Smith.

17:10Today is June 7th, 2026.

17:14I'm speaking before the Portland City Council.

17:18I'm speaking before you today regarding the mediation companies like JAMS Alternative Dispute Resolution and AAA, which is the— what is it— American Alternative Association for Dispute Resolution, something to that effect, where when for specifically employees and employers sign an agreement to say, before we take a matter to trial, we'll take it before this alternative dispute resolution organization or company.

17:56And most employees are taken advantage of when they sign them.

18:01I'm coming before you guys first.

18:04However, I have sent emails to speak before Oregon's state legislature.

18:10I've reached out to several of the representatives Representatives and senators so that I can come to Salem and speak about what has been allowed to happen to employees who sign these agreements.

18:24I'm going to play a little bit of a hearing from one of those resolutions, and you hear a judge.

18:34She is retired, which is what most of these judges are.

18:38They are retired.

18:39Thank you.

18:39Judges that become arbitrators.

18:42They are supposed to be neutral.

18:44However, these judges are violating the law.

18:47These judges are signing pro hac vice applications that allow out-of-state attorneys to practice law in this state without going through the Oregon State Bar and submitting that application.

19:02Even in arbitration matters, they still have to sign an arbitration They still have to go through Oregon State Bar.

19:10So let me play that and, um, come back to you.

19:14Hopefully you'll allow me to.

19:17Also state for the record, Your Honor, that, um, Mr. Briggs and Miss Davis are not licensed to practice, uh, in the state of Oregon, and you did sign that pro hac vice, uh, application.

19:30And it is my understanding after contacting the Oregon State Bar That a retired judge cannot sign a pro hac vice application for even in arbitration matters.

19:42So I do want to indicate that I live in Oregon.

19:46I worked in Oregon.

19:48I was employed by their— by the claimant in Oregon.

19:55And all of the laws that I followed and continue to follow, including this arbitration.

20:03Thank you.

20:03Uh, in Oregon, but Mr. Briggs is not licensed to practice in Oregon, and neither, uh, is Ms. Davis.

20:12Okay, well, I am authorized, uh, to sign a pro hac fecies for lawyers to practice in California, and I have done that.

20:22They aren't practicing in California.

20:24I live in Oregon.

20:25We do have a time limit, unfortunately.

20:28I want to make sure we hear your last sentence or two, and then I'd welcome you to reach out to my office and any other offices.

20:34Well, I'm going to reach out to your offices, but I don't know how much you guys as city council members can do in, in terms of banning the, the law that allows arbitration agreements.

20:44They are biased and they do not support the employee.

20:48What I'm showing you is a lot of times these hearings are not recorded, okay?

20:54When you go into an arbitration meeting, they are not recorded.

20:58And I recorded this meeting because I need people to hear Yes.

21:02What is happening.

21:03This isn't just happening to me.

21:05It is happening to people all across this country.

21:07This is a retired judge from California that signed a pro hac vice application for attorneys to practice in Oregon without going through the Oregon State Bar.

21:18So if you— I want you guys to hear me, please.

21:21Just one last quick sentence.

21:24When people like me, we voters, when we come to you all to say, hey, These things matter to us because we aren't wealthy people.

21:32You need to do something about it.

21:34And I'm speaking to you guys now, but I'm also speaking to the senators, and I'm also speaking to the people down in Washington.

21:41When we tell you about these things, it hinges on our vote.

21:45This hinges on my vote in 2028.

21:49I'm letting you know now, if my rights continue to be violated, number one, as a Black woman in this country, and number two, as an employee, because I haven't won the lottery yet, I play my dollar.

22:01I am going to remember that.

22:02We do need you to wrap up.

22:05Thank you.

22:05Thank you, and I would welcome you sharing the rest of that video with our offices.

22:09Thank you, I will.

22:13Uh, next up we have Jason Wilder.

22:27Welcome, Mr. Wilder.

22:32Good morning.

22:34Um, my name is Jason Wilder.

22:37I wanted to come in and speak with the council regarding stolen SNAP benefits.

22:42Um, 2 months in a row my SNAP benefits have been stolen.

22:46Um, I went to Walmart last month and spent $180, and the next day there was a purchase on my SNAP card that drained it completely.

22:58Um, so that would have been November and December.

23:06Come here, you.

23:08So it was December 6th, there was a purchase for $255 that I did not make, which also drained my SNAP benefits.

23:15So that's 2 months in a row that my SNAP benefits have been drained completely, and I'm not sure how that's happening, whether it is at the register, whether it is— I believe it's a federal benefit.

23:25So if you look at the way that government works, you have city, county, state government, or federal.

23:33I'm not quite sure how or where these SNAP benefits are going.

23:39However, I'm a man with AIDS.

23:41I have no income.

23:42I receive no disability.

23:44I live on food stamps and in Section 8.

23:48That means thank you for housing.

23:50I appreciate the roof.

23:51Thank you to the federal government for putting a little bit of food in my mouth.

23:55But to have it stolen from me with as many resources as there are in Portland, it is unnecessary and pointed to have SNAP benefits stolen 2 months in a row from And for what?

24:11I mean, I realize people are hungry and there's a lot of people needing work or needing opportunity in this city.

24:17I'm certainly one of them.

24:19However, um, you know, I realized those who— Clark went through a lot to get here.

24:27I realized that, um, the people of Oregon went through a lot and were the first people to arrive on the beaches of Normandy as volunteers, as That's great people.

24:37However, what the hell's going on?

24:41I just don't appreciate being treated, stolen from every time I turn around.

24:48Uh, the amount of work, jobs, opportunities, insurance, 401s, bicycles, um, Promises from mayors that will get back to you that never do.

25:06I'm just really disappointed.

25:07This was my dream, was to move to Oregon and build a great life.

25:13I'm still trying.

25:15Thank you for hearing me.

25:17Thank you for being here.

25:18Thank you for speaking with me.

25:20Please do feel free to follow up if you'd like one of our offices to help you look into that.

25:25I'd like to have faith in that.

25:27Could you specifically follow up with my office, sir?

25:30Absolutely.

25:30I did SNAP policy before, so I'd like to help resolve that for you.

25:33Thanks.

25:37Keelan, I believe we had one person who wasn't here before.

25:39Can we see if they're present now?

25:40Yeah, Karen Washington.

25:45And then because Karen wasn't here, may I call the alternate if they're here?

25:49Daniel Myrick.

25:57Welcome.

25:57Thank you for joining us this morning.

26:30I'm Daniel Myrick.

26:32After the pandemic of 2020, Mexican nationals and Middle American Latinos organized themselves into a force that stormed, then crossed our borders, demanding America's social system to accomplish justice that their country's owners could not.

26:47Congress held special session to reallocate border protection funds to be turned into homeless immigrant services.

26:54Congress assigned 2 federal agencies, HUD Housing and Health Services and DHS's Shelter and Services Program, the task of housing millions of homeless immigrants, and they did so relatively quickly and effectively.

27:07According to the Center for Immigrant Studies, 53 million non-naturalized immigrants reside in the U.S. And of that, 21,200,000 are unemployed and living on subsidies.

27:19In 2024, 2.8 million immigrants who arrived homeless were housed by these federal agencies, HUD and DHS.

27:27In 2024, 771,480 homeless Americans were counted nationwide by HUD's Point-in-Time Census.

27:372026 Is a banner year.

27:40It is the year homeless Americans' rights will begin and the year that the poverty industry will end.

27:46With HUD's abilities made clear for all Americans to see, the conspiracy between HUD and our municipal government to create and sustain a privately owned and federally funded industry that has led to the premature deaths of tens of thousands of Americans kept intentionally homeless over some 60 years and more for monetary gain and corporate entity by corporate entities has been laid bare for all to see.

28:12Just as Hitler created death camps with his population's apathetic approval, America has likewise accomplished with its poverty industry.

28:20The municipality of Portland and those of our nation have distributed funding intended for housing homeless Americans that were received from HUD and given them over for decades to entities that have shown themselves ineffective at housing our citizens.

28:35Starting now, in order to redeem and correct its social discriminatory practice and social liability, which has led to the unnecessary deaths of countless homeless Oregonians, our City Council must defund and destroy its poverty industry.

28:51It must cease to accept and distribute block grant funding received from federal sources and join our citizens in directing Congress to assign HUD and DHS the sole entities who will henceforth be responsible to house homeless Americans, for they alone are able to.

29:09From now on, the criteria for obtaining standardized housing will be that you are an American who is homeless.

29:15From now on, federal agents, HUD, and DHS will accomplish this task.

29:20Not—.

29:20Municipalities will not be involved.

29:23Discriminatory practice and the intentional sustainment of social injustice is Obvious and cannot be denied.

29:30HUD's endorsement of municipal frauds stops now.

29:34A socialist democracy for foreign nationals and a capitalistic death cult for Americans born is ended.

29:41Contact Janelle Bynum, have her deliver our dictum to Congress, and save our citizens.

29:47Thank you so much.

29:48We appreciate you bringing that forward.

29:51That completes communications.

29:56Colleagues, the next item on our agenda is the election of the Council President and Council Vice President.

30:02We haven't done this for a little while, but as you remember, the first meeting of the year is where we hold those elections.

30:12First, we will elect a Council President using nominations from the floor and a roll call vote.

30:19Once a Council President is elected, we will proceed to elect a Council Vice President using the same procedure of nominations From the floor and a roll call vote.

30:29Under city code, the vice president must be from a different district than the president unless no councilor from another district wishes to serve.

30:38To begin the process for electing a president, I will ask for nominations from the floor for council president.

30:45Any councilor may nominate themselves or another councilor for the position of council president, and a second is not Required.

30:53If you would like to be recognized to make a nomination, you can raise your hand, and I will call on councilors in the order that hands are raised.

31:01I'll note that we will receive all nominations first, and once all nominations are made, each nominee will have an opportunity to make brief remarks.

31:12I will call on nominees in the order that they were nominated in so that they can make remarks.

31:17Councilmember Herbold.

31:18And we will then vote on nominees by roll call.

31:27If you are nominating somebody, please indicate the name of the nominee.

31:31When your name is called, please indicate the name of the nominee you are voting for for council president.

31:36Each councilor may vote for one nominee.

31:39Charter and code require a majority vote of councilors in attendance to elect the council president.

31:43Councilor Smith.

31:44After the roll call is complete, the clerk will announce the tally of the roll call vote.

31:48If a nominee receives a majority vote of those present, they will be declared elected as council president.

31:54If no nominee receives a majority vote of those present, council may discuss the nominations.

32:00Council members may nominate additional individuals who were not previously nominated.

32:05Individuals may withdraw from consideration but are not required to do so, and the voting procedure will be repeated until there is a majority vote for a single nominee.

32:13Thank you, Council Clerk.

32:14If additional discussions of nominations are necessary, councilors will be called upon in the order that their hands are raised in.

32:22Once a council president is elected, the president will assume presiding office duties.

32:27This means the president will preside over the same procedure to nominate and elect a council vice president.

32:33I will now ask for a motion and a second on this resolution.

32:39Procedure, the procedure which has been recommended to us from our attorneys and which we used last year.

32:46Is it so moved?

32:47So moved.

32:48Thank you, Councilor Kanal.

32:49Is there a second?

32:50Second.

32:51Okay, Councilor Kanal moved, Councilor Clark seconded.

32:56Keelan, can you call the roll to approve this procedure?

33:00Avalos.

33:01Aye.

33:02Dunphy.

33:03Aye.

33:03Smith.

33:04Aye.

33:06Aye.

33:07Aye.

33:08Aye.

33:08Aye.

33:09Aye.

33:10Aye.

33:11Aye.

33:12Aye.

33:15Aye.

33:18The motion carries with 12 yes votes.

33:20Okay, I will now call for nominations for the council president.

33:23Please raise your hand if you wish to make nominations.

33:26Point of order.

33:28Councilor Avalos.

33:29Since, um, council president, you are Also a nominee, uh, I would expect that the Council Vice President would facilitate this discussion, not you, since you are one of the candidates.

33:40Uh, I have not yet been nominated, um, and I read through our rules in both, uh, charter and code, and it is clear that the Council President runs the meeting, and when the Council President is not So under our procedures, it is directive that I should run the meeting despite the fact that I am nominated.

34:07I'm aware of the rule, but this is more about the culture of if you are going to be in the process of asking for reelection, I think it would be fair that the vice president lead the discussion so that it's not you having to bear that burden.

34:21I do understand that.

34:22I think that I have been able throughout the year to separate my own interests and my own opinions from the and comments from the work that needs to be done to run the meeting.

34:32I hope that I have gained your trust throughout the year that I can do that fairly.

34:37I have certainly attempted to do so at every step of the process, and I intend to do so again today.

34:43I think this is different, but clearly you have another opinion, so I have stated my point on the record.

34:48Thanks.

34:49Thank you, Councilor.

34:51Councilor Smith, you are in the queue.

34:54Thank you, Madam President.

34:56I would like to elect a candidate to, um, Council President.

35:04You'd like to make a nomination?

35:05Yes.

35:05Please go right ahead.

35:07Thank you.

35:08Dear members of the council, my name is Loretta Smith.

35:11I am a councilor from District 1, and today I sit here before you to nominate Elana Pirtle-Guiney for the position of Council President.

35:22And I do so with the utmost confidence in her ability to lead our council with integrity, vision, and dedication.

35:32Alana's commitment to our community is unwavering.

35:36She has consistently demonstrated an ability to listen to the needs of our constituents and advocate for solutions that foster growth and inclusivity.

35:48Her approach is collaborative, bringing people together to address challenges and capitalize on opportunities.

35:56As a council member, Alana has displayed exceptional leadership skills, guiding initiatives that have brought tangible benefits to our neighborhoods, from enhancing local infrastructure to promoting community engagement.

36:12Her passion for public service is outstanding, and she inspires those around her, including myself.

36:21Moreover, Elana embodies the qualities of empathy and resilience that are essential for her effective leadership.

36:29She navigates complex issues with grace and clarity, ensuring that all voices are heard and respected.

36:39Under her leadership, I believe our council will not only survive, but we will thrive.

36:46And she also has set a standard for transparency and collaboration that others should follow.

36:53Elana Pirtle-Guiney is an effective and experienced candidate for council president, and I am so proud to nominate her for this prestigious position.

37:04I urge my fellow council members to support her nomination, as I am confident Thank you, Councilor.

37:20Councilor Danphy.

37:21Thank you.

37:25Um, point of order first before I ask, do you need to accept the nomination first, or do I—.

37:32I believe in the process that we laid out, we get all of the nominations, then the nominees all make Apologies.

37:43Thank you.

37:43Appreciate the clarification.

37:45Thank you.

37:45So colleagues, I'm rising to nominate Councilor Sameer Kanal for Council President.

37:51I want to start by just acknowledging and thanking Council President Pirtle-Guiney for her service for this past year.

37:57In our first year as a new body, we needed stability, structure, and someone willing to take hold of the reins.

38:02And President Pirtle-Guiney stepped up and helped us find a path through this first year.

38:06My vote today is not a critique of her performance, but a statement about process, norms, and the kind of institution that we are trying to build together.

38:14We're still a new council, and we are actively defining our culture, our practice, and our expectations of leadership.

38:20And the early decisions and norms that we make will shape our institutional DNA for decades to come.

38:27For that reason, I believe it's in the best interest of this young body to elect a new city council president To lead us through our second year.

38:34I think— I believe that by rotating leadership, it helps ensure that no single style of governance becomes the default or entrenched.

38:40We're building a shared institutional framework that will serve the council body for years and decades to come.

38:47That's why I'm supporting Sameer Kanal for council president.

38:51I believe he brings a collaborative leadership style, a strong instinct for systems building, and a clear commitment to making this council more accessible He consistently works with a respect for differing views, a focus on process and the health of this body, and a desire to bring voices to the table.

39:08And as such, I would like to formally nominate Sameer Kanal for Council President.

39:11Thank you, Councilor.

39:13Councilor Murillo.

39:16Thank you, Council President.

39:18I would like to nominate Eric Zimmerman.

39:21I'm just kidding.

39:22Sorry.

39:22I just wanted to see everyone's blood pressure.

39:25I just think today is going to be a stressful day.

39:27Are you in the queue to make a nomination?

39:31I'll second.

39:32No, but I have— so we're taking nominations.

39:37If I have a point of order, I do think what Councilor Avalos brought up earlier about how we facilitate the meeting is critical at this time.

39:45I have the utmost confidence in your ability to navigate very complex and difficult meetings as you have done throughout the year, but I think it's less of a legal question, more of a cultural practice.

39:55So I would say that's just something I wanted to point out, if that's still something we can discuss.

40:00At this point, we are taking nominations.

40:03Okay.

40:04Well, sorry.

40:06I will raise my hand again and bring it up after.

40:09Councilor Koyama Lane, do you have a nomination to make?

40:11No.

40:12Okay.

40:14So under the process that we used last year and adopted to use again this year, we now move into remarks from councilors who were nominated.

40:22We'll then move to a vote, and if there is no majority, then we will move to discussion on the nominees or anybody else who councilors wish to nominate.

40:33Councilor Kanal, I was nominated first, which means that under the rules I would speak first.

40:38Are you okay with that?

40:40Absolutely.

40:41Okay.

40:44Colleagues, I want to start by saying that I am So thankful to all of you for the opportunity to lead the city and our council this past year as our council president.

40:56It has truly been an honor, and we have accomplished so much together.

41:02I know it hasn't always been easy.

41:04There have been tense moments.

41:06I'm sure there will be more today.

41:08There have been close votes, and I certainly haven't always led perfectly.

41:12There were a lot of challenges that were thrown at us this year, Even beyond those that we expected.

41:18But I am truly proud of the work that we have done together.

41:22We built a government from the ground up, and we did so while fending off unwarranted and unprecedented attacks from a federal administration hell-bent on making an example out of Portland.

41:33The example that we set, bringing each of our experiences to the table, helping to guide our city's government's response while our fellow Portlanders showed the world what Portland is really about.

41:43I saw our frog Brigade here earlier showed the best of what this new representative system truly can do.

41:53The Vice President and I set a new culture with the administration, ensuring that councilors received briefings and were brought into decision-making over and over again.

42:02Those hundreds of emails and briefings over the course of the last year that you received may not have come from us directly, but they came through our adamance that council be partners.

42:12In leading this city, and I want to thank you, Council Vice President, for your partnership in that work.

42:18We set up committee chairs to be the go-to councilors on topics that fall within your committee policy areas, and we set norms that the Council Vice President pulled together in a handbook that we'll consider later this month.

42:30Thank you.

42:32It was undoubtedly a year of growing pains and learning curves, but we also made strides.

42:38For working people in our community, small businesses, our parks and open spaces, for housing development, and we found paths to unanimous votes on all of these topics.

42:48I believe when we make space for each of our experiences and for the connections that we each have into different parts of our community, we can form policy that is great for all Portlanders.

42:58And I am confident that we can use our momentum to continue to accomplish important advances for the city in 2026.

43:05Thank you, Councilor Smith.

43:06Set a vision for Portland's future, and refine how we operate as a council, because there is refinement that's needed.

43:14There's a lot more to do in all of those areas, and colleagues, if you feel that continuity will help us do that, I would be honored to continue doing this work for one more year.

43:24I understand that some of you may think leadership change for the sake of bringing new voices to this position is important too, and I agree that we need many voices at the table, which is why I will continue to lead by empowering committee chairs, Bringing in councilors whose experiences must be heard, and ensuring that we all are receiving information as quickly as possible at every chance I get.

43:48I want you to know that my facilitation of this council, should I be reelected, will continue to be guided by my deep respect for each one of you and for each of our perspectives and experiences.

43:59In doing this job, I have come to know all of you as deeply committed leaders.

44:02Thank you.

44:04Even when there are differences among us, and I believe those differences make us stronger.

44:08I have lots of ideas of how to continue improving this role.

44:12And moving forward, I want you to know that I will do the work of continuous improvement, but my values will remain unchanged.

44:21I will continue to emphasize the importance of responsive, effective, good governance, which I have tried to lean into this year.

44:28I will continue bringing folks together to identify problems and find solutions that are grounded in good policy, to ask us to fight to make Portland the best city to raise a family in, one where everyone can find opportunity, a good job, affordable housing, everyone in every corner of our city.

44:46I think it's important to acknowledge today that democracy can be messy, that this process is messy, and it's supposed to be.

44:55The push and pull of different opinions on how to achieve the common good is the heart of good government.

45:02But my pledge to you, if you decide to reelect me to this position, is to try my best to continue to help us find common ground, and when we can't, to help us remind each other that we share a love for our city and a commitment across our differences in approach to make it better.

45:19Councilor If I am elected to leadership for a second year, my goals are to clarify how council and the city administration work together, to improve oversight and accountability, to increase transparency, to build a culture of mutual respect.

45:38We have immense opportunity before us to score big wins for our city and to rally around a unified vision for Portland's future.

45:45If you believe I believe that consistency will help us do that.

45:50I stand ready and would be honored to do this work for another year.

45:54But no matter what the outcome is here today, I am excited to dig into the work with all of you.

45:59Thank you, Councilor Smith, for the nomination, and thank you, colleagues, for the consideration.

46:05Councilor Kanal.

46:07Thank you, and thank you to Councilor Dunphy for the nomination.

46:11I will accept the nomination because I believe this council should have the opportunity to to decide between multiple options for our vision for the future.

46:19I wanna start by thanking the current president and vice president, Councilors Pirtle-Guiney and Koyama Lane, for your service to the body over the course of 2025.

46:26I'll probably say more about the vice president later on as relevant, but I wanna start by saying to the council president, I'm very grateful that someone wanted to step up and do this job in the first year.

46:34It's obviously a difficult and often thankless job.

46:37There are many things that you've done very well.

46:40I particularly wanna note that I appreciate the way the council president engages with testifiers coming to give public comment and the presence in council meetings where there are topics of high public interest and disagreements to ensure that people are respected and that the business of the body can continue.

46:54Colleagues, this election is about our future, with a new city administrator joining us at his first meeting— welcome, sir— and an ongoing transition from the old to a new form of government.

47:02That transition has been underway for just over 3 years now.

47:05I think it's important that this year we show we can deliver for Portlanders, both in terms of democracy and outcomes.

47:10It's why I'm laying out a vision for the future of the council and its processes, which includes more communication for all councilors about upcoming schedules, agendas, and relevant items, empowering council as an institution and the council vice president specifically so that we have shared leadership in the way a legislative body should.

47:27This is a commitment to power that is dispersed and is grown rather than diluted by being shared.

47:33Shared strategic planning, as the resolution we passed last month starts us on, to air in public the things that drive us to be here, To tell the truth and to show what we commit to in our work, and streamlining the processes of legislation and of public involvement so that everyone gets their time at the relevant moments during the process where it will matter most.

47:52I care deeply about legislation.

47:53I've dug very deeply into just about every piece of legislation that's come forward here and worked on amendments to them.

47:58I've been very successful at finding compromises up here live on the dais, as the record shows, and I chose to do so as a place to invest my time and efforts in 2025.

48:07But I'm aware that the role of council president takes much more work.

48:10One of my colleagues up here said that a council president can't care about 40 different things; they can only care about three to five, and they're right.

48:17If this council elects another president, I'd be very comfortable continuing to get into the details of just about every issue.

48:22But if chosen to be president for 2026, I want to be clear that I'd be taking back taking a step back from most of my legislative priorities and handing many off to my co-sponsors to focus on setting up a foundation for a.

48:33Successful city council, because while I care about legislation, I care about good governance more.

48:38That foundation looks like a successful strategic planning session later this month with the partnership of interested councilors and the city administrator in the planning and execution, using that process to help inform the committee structure and scheduling for the year, more use of the time-certain agenda beyond just land use items so that things that aren't on the immediate next agenda in 5 days can still have certainty and time for everyone to circulate information and develop amendments and for the public to sign up and testify.

49:05Information shared in advance with little or no delay between when the council president finds out about something and the rest of the council does.

49:12Developing the oversight system used by the council in a way that works for everyone here and guarantees the public certainty that someone is looking into it when money is missing or money is found or a program isn't achieving its goals.

49:24The council does have oversight powers, both soft and hard oversight, and there are proposals for how to use it.

49:29We should discuss those.

49:31And finally, prioritizing councilor-filed items in terms of what meeting agenda they get on and when in the agenda they are.

49:36We need to understand both that the mayor's items are the business of the city and so are councilor-filed items.

49:43I had the opportunity to pick the brain of the council president in Minneapolis, one of the cities that's often compared to us in terms of structure, back in October, having read the GTAC report.

49:51That's one of the cities there, and I intend to reach out to other council presidents Thank you.

49:54I would encourage you to look at the budgets too of those similar cities and learn about how they each handled some of the questions we'll be facing this year.

50:00We don't have to replicate what they do, but we should learn from them.

50:03Finally, I want to talk about the relationships we have.

50:05We need to be partners with the mayor, the administration, the auditor, and our jurisdictional partners.

50:10And we also need to not be afraid to ask tough questions, demand accountability and transparency, and advocate for Portlanders.

50:16I have good relationships with many of these folks, as I do with many of my colleagues here.

50:19And even in places when we're not close, I've been happy to collaborate on issues If the conversation progresses, I'd be happy to go into details of any part of what we're talking about here if anyone has questions they'd like to explore.

50:30As you've all seen over the course of last year, I'm always willing to have an open conversation, and that will continue as long as I'm a candidate for council president, as well as afterwards, regardless of the outcome.

50:39Thank you.

50:40Thank you, Councilor Keelan.

50:43I believe that moves us to our first vote.

50:55Are we discussing or are we voting?

51:00Under the rules that we used last year, which is what I presented this year for us to vote on, we take nominations, councilors make remarks, we move to a vote, and if there is not a majority, we move to discussion.

51:16Further nominations, um, and further votes.

51:22Noting Dunphy voted for Kanal.

51:25Smith?

51:26Alana Pirtle-Guiney.

51:29Kanal?

51:30Kanal.

51:31Ryan?

51:32Alana Pirtle-Guiney.

51:33Koyama Lane?

51:34Sameer Kanal.

51:36Murillo?

51:36Kanal.

51:38Novick?

51:38Alana Pirtle-Guiney.

51:40Clark?

51:40Alana Pirtle-Guiney.

51:42Green.

51:43Kanal.

51:44Zimmerman.

51:45Pirtle-Guiney.

51:46Pirtle-Guiney.

51:47Pirtle-Guiney.

51:50Councilor Pirtle-Guiney receives 6 votes.

51:53Councilor Kanal receives 6 votes.

51:56Okay, colleagues, that does move us into discussion.

52:01Uh, Councilor Smith, are you in the queue for discussion?

52:04Okay.

52:04Councilor Koyama Lane, are you in the queue for discussion?

52:07Yes.

52:07Thank you.

52:08I'd like to share what I'm looking for in a council president in this upcoming year.

52:13I'm looking for a council president who is focused on strengthening, strengthening our collective work.

52:18I—.

52:19No one will be surprised that I do believe that leadership isn't about one person steering the ship alone.

52:24It's about empowering others, building shared understanding, making sure that different members of the body can contribute fully.

52:31So I am looking for someone who values collaboration.

52:33Thank you.

52:34Is transparent about process and helps the council function smoothly so we can deliver for our community.

52:40And I am heartened by a phone conversation that I had this morning with, uh, PPA President Aaron Schmaltz, who reminded me— I think he's reminded many of you also— that today is a day.

52:53It's one day, and we'll have more, and we're going to get through this election, and one of the colleagues will win this, but no one is going to lose.

53:00Because we all are here to be serving our constituents.

53:04And really, what isn't the most important thing, which we agree in terms of labor, a union, is I— it's not the people that are necessarily in these leadership roles, but it is more how we're as a group of 12 trying to do some work together for this city.

53:20So I, I would like to see a council president that is focused on making this city, this body stronger.

53:27That wants to see— that wants to make this, through this leadership position, make this our body more resilient, representative, accountable.

53:39And so I am interested in hearing from each council president nominee.

53:43Clerk, I don't know if I'm allowed to do that, but I would love to know how each of you would work to ensure that this role belongs to the body, not any single individual and how you will model shared responsibility, elevate all voices, and help us work together effectively.

54:02Council Clerk and Attorney, what is our process on direct questions like that?

54:06Would you like us to— is it more appropriate for us to write those down and candidates can put themselves in the queue to respond at any point, or to have a back and forth?

54:18Do we have anything in the rules that should guide us?

54:21The rules just provide for a discussion.

54:24The question and answer would be appropriate for discussion, or you can handle the discussion in another way.

54:30Okay.

54:31The way we would normally do this would be to have people get in the queue to answer.

54:35So what I might suggest, Council Vice President, is that we allow others to get in the queue to make their remarks.

54:40And if either Councilor Kanal or I would like to get in the queue to respond, we could do that.

54:44That works for me.

54:45I see no one's in the queue right now.

54:47But if you'd like to wait, that's fine.

54:50Colleagues, this is an opportunity for discussion before a future vote.

54:53Is there anybody else who would like to get in the queue for discussion?

54:55Councilor Novick?

54:58Yeah, and I'm going to try to say everything I have to say upfront and try to hold me to that.

55:05I might realize I've forgotten something later on, so bear with me.

55:12First of all, I wanna say that I view this job not as a policy leadership job, but as a trains running on time job.

55:20I think that anybody who tried to make this a policy leadership job would run into the fact that this is not a group of people that will be led on policy.

55:28And I hope that the council president recognized that when she presented a president's budget proposal last year and had her head handed to her.

55:35So I'd strongly advise anybody who gets this job, than I have a president's budget proposal.

55:40From my perspective, Councilor Pirtle-Guiney has made the trains run on time.

55:46She does a whole lot of, you know, detailed work on budgets and procedures and so on and so forth that I wouldn't want to do.

55:55And I'm grateful that the train hasn't completely run off the tracks.

55:58I also think that she's demonstrated that she will put her personal policy priorities On hold to some extent and pull back from them in order to focus on the job of council president.

56:12I think that there's— we have not heard from her on her policy priorities as much as we have from many of the rest of us.

56:20I have heard complaints about the president's leadership, which I hope that she will address today.

56:27I've heard the complaint that she prioritizes The mayor's agenda items over council agenda items, and I'd like her to address that.

56:38I've heard the complaint that she does not involve the vice president as much in leadership as she should.

56:45I'd like to hear her address that.

56:47Also, beyond that, I think that whoever is president should, every couple of months— I think that we as a body should have, for those of you who remember your Seinfeld, an airing of grievances.

56:58Yes.

56:59Where we— so we talk about these kind of complaints and air them so that we don't just have people like muttering them to each other before the council president's election.

57:08So I would want to hear both candidates agree that they will schedule an airing of grievances every 2 months.

57:17Okay.

57:20I also need to say that I'm deeply uncomfortable with the idea of electing a member of the Peacock Group to the presidency.

57:30And that's not a matter of individuals, and it's not a matter of ideology.

57:36There are a few members, at least a few members of the Peacock Group who, if they weren't part of the Peacock Group, I think would be quite interesting candidates for president.

57:45One of those is Sameer Kanal, who has a command of procedure.

57:50Yes.

57:51And an attention to detail which is phenomenal, and who I've enjoyed working with very much as co-chair of Public Safety.

58:04So it's not a matter of personalities.

58:06It's also not a matter of ideology.

58:08I have no problem with people calling themselves progressives or socialists.

58:12Hell, for most of my life, my ambition was to be the next-to-last president of the United States before the world socialist revolution.

58:18And if it weren't for Chuck Schumer, I might have succeeded.

58:23It's a matter of, I'm worried that the— a member, I know somebody who's a member until the last minute of a close-knit group will certainly be subject to the perception of unfairness, that they'll always be favoring the members of the group, if not the reality.

58:45I say that partly because I, from— this is my observation— I don't see PCOC just as an ideological group.

58:53I think of it as a private club because I think I've seen the members of PCOC band together to vote on things which are not ideological.

59:02I also am virtually certain that there's times when members of PCOC have, against their better judgment, cast a vote because they didn't want to get in trouble with their fellow PCOC members.

59:11Thank you.

59:13And then there's that August 6th meeting that's under investigation by the Ethics Commission.

59:20Now, very few people are going to believe that public policy wasn't discussed at that meeting.

59:25I am one of those very few people.

59:26I'm a trusting soul.

59:28I believe you when you say that that was a meeting intended to repair and, you know, strengthen personal relationships.

59:36But to me, in terms of voting for somebody to lead the body, I think that's a very different question.

59:40That's actually worse than if you were discussing policy because it suggests that you value your personal relationships with each other more than your personal relationships with the rest of the body.

59:50So that worries me.

59:51That worries me that somebody who comes from a self-segregated group will feel peer pressure to act in leadership the way that group wants them to act.

1:00:03That might be an unfair concern.

1:00:04I think it's a fair concern.

1:00:05But it is a concern.

1:00:08I would love it, frankly, I realize I can't, maybe I shouldn't be asking to do this.

1:00:12I would love it if PCAC were disbanded and that would open up for me in another year or even another 6 months if we decide to hold a snap presidential election, more candidates.

1:00:24But right now I have this, I have a deep concern about electing anybody from a close-knit group to be council president.

1:00:31Council President.

1:00:33I also have to say that I think that the idea that we might be locked into an endless 6-6 vote is ridiculous and reflects either a flaw in the charter itself or the interpretation of the charter.

1:00:47And frankly, I agree with Councilor Smith that the charter says the mayor breaks ties in matters before the council.

1:00:54To me, matters before the council means anything.

1:00:57I agree.

1:00:57But if we're stuck with that interpretation, I personally think that we should send something to the ballot having one at-large member so that we have an odd number so we don't get locked into 6-6 ties.

1:01:07So I just wanted to make that grouse for the moment.

1:01:12So that is, I think, everything I have to say.

1:01:15I apologize if I remember later on that I forgot something.

1:01:19Thank you, Councilor.

1:01:21We do allow everybody to speak.

1:01:23Twice to an item, so you do have another chance, and I suspect that we may have other opportunities later in the day as well.

1:01:32Councilor Morillo.

1:01:34Thank you, Council President.

1:01:37First, I just want to start off by saying that I really appreciate the courage of all the folks who ran the first time around and you for leading us during this first year, because it is not an easy job to be the person to have to say no to people sometimes.

1:01:51And I do appreciate your courage and stepping up and leading this first time.

1:01:57I do, I am of the belief that rotating leadership is really valuable and that it gives us a variety of perspectives as we set precedent.

1:02:04And I think that part of what I'm looking for in a new council president is someone who is going to be able to establish structures so that we can pass on the baton, so to speak, and so that there is infrastructure set up for whoever I think that we should essentially create a council president role where any of the representatives from any of the districts could step in and lead and be an effective leader who could guide the council.

1:02:32I think that Councilor Kanal, you know, I've had the pleasure of sitting on the Public Safety Committee, and I have seen him lead with a lot of grace on very difficult issues that we're all very passionate about.

1:02:44I have seen him have difficult conversations with people who are nothing like him or who have completely different politics, and I think that that's what we need.

1:02:50Councilor Smith.

1:02:51And to be able to hold those nuances and to do it with a lot of care.

1:02:57So I have just really appreciated seeing you operate as a leader, leading substantive discussions in the Public Safety Committee, and just really having us get to the heart of a lot of issues.

1:03:10I also know that you meet with people that you disagree with constantly, and I've seen you also advocate for our colleagues in spaces that maybe they would be critical of it because you have caring relationships with everybody.

1:03:25And so I just wanted to say that about Councilor Kanal's character and what I have seen behind the scenes and also in how he has chosen to lead.

1:03:35I would also like to address the fact that the Progressive Caucus, it is not lost on me that the Progressive Caucus is primarily made of people of color.

1:03:46It's primarily made of people who have never had access to local government or politics before, who are not the people whose parents or grandparents or family members were in public service.

1:04:00My mom actually never stepped foot inside of City Hall because she was too busy being a single immigrant mother trying to raise us, and I didn't even know how to come and testify at City Council until I started working here doing constituent service.

1:04:13And so when we have a space to talk as young emerging leaders about what it means to govern, that is not to ostracize others, but it is to give each other support because this is very difficult and these spaces were not created to protect or uplift people like us.

1:04:32And so I really need my colleagues to understand why we need to uplift one another in those ways.

1:04:39Councilor Smith.

1:04:40And I think that our ability to be values-aligned and effectively organized should not be punished.

1:04:48That is the role of a politician.

1:04:50That is the role of people who are bringing policy agendas forward.

1:04:54We are supposed to be champions for the things that we ran on for our districts and for our constituents.

1:05:00And Councilor Kanal, I think, already stated in his opening speech that he is willing to take a step back.

1:05:07If that is what is needed, and I fully trust that he would do that.

1:05:11I will also say, part of me has a little bit of, like, I fear for if Councilor Kanal gets elected, how he will be treated as a man of color in the position.

1:05:23I think the scrutiny will be a lot higher.

1:05:25I think that his— he will not be able to have any moments of missteps.

1:05:31Councilor Smith.

1:05:31In the way that our white colleagues can.

1:05:34And I saw that play out firsthand when I worked for the first Black city councilwoman.

1:05:38I see that play out in the media and how we are treated very disparately here.

1:05:44And so I think the standard and what he is up against is going to be a lot higher.

1:05:49And I also know that he can do it.

1:05:52So I'm very grateful for all the work that was done to lay this out.

1:05:57And I just want to say that I really think that Councilor Kanal would be an excellent president.

1:06:01I think he really cares about governance and procedure.

1:06:03Thank you.

1:06:03I think he's absolutely a make-the-trains-keep-running type of person.

1:06:08And I just think that for the new year, we need to have a council president who is going to set up an infrastructure so that anyone can step in and lead at this time moving forward.

1:06:20And yeah, a lot of gratitude to everyone for having this kind of intense public discussion today.

1:06:25Thank you.

1:06:27Thank you, Councilor.

1:06:28Councilor Green.

1:06:31Thank you, Madam President.

1:06:32I'll just start by suggesting, Councilor Novos, you suggested that we have an airing of grievances.

1:06:40Would you— does that imply we should make Festivus a council holiday?

1:06:47Well, Festivus is specifically a December holiday.

1:06:49I think that should happen 6 times a year.

1:06:51So we could call it Festivus, but that would do some violence to the original definition.

1:06:56Appreciate that clarity.

1:06:57Thank you.

1:07:01I just needed that moment of levity.

1:07:02Thank you.

1:07:04You know, I've been thinking about this a lot over the last few weeks, and the framework that I'm entering this decision in is from the standpoint of this question of stability and continuity.

1:07:18I think it's wrong to think of changing leadership as inherently destabilizing.

1:07:22We're undermining stability.

1:07:23I think stability is built through institution building.

1:07:26Our work of building the institutional strength of this body is not done.

1:07:30And you do that by building the bench and offering opportunities for other people to step up.

1:07:36You know, if you read any leadership book, if you've ever spent any time in other careers where you've had to mentor and build the strength of your organization, you know that if you concentrate that into personalities instead of institutions, You leave your institution vulnerable to crisis.

1:07:55I think that Sameer, I think that Councilor Kanal has the intelligence and expertise to contribute to this institution building.

1:08:01I think you've done a great job getting us started on this.

1:08:04And I'm immensely grateful for your leadership over this first year.

1:08:09I do believe that you've worked hard to start the work of building this institution.

1:08:12And we haven't always agreed on what that looks like.

1:08:14I think the oversight question is a I think that's an area where we've had some really rich and warm discussion.

1:08:19But I do believe that you're trying to build an institution.

1:08:22And I think a lot of the work that you've done happens behind the scenes and is not visible.

1:08:26And I do want to acknowledge that.

1:08:29But I think Sameer also brings a lot of those same qualities.

1:08:31And I think that if we're building this institution, for me, it's about— when we set up the charter to separate council from the executive, there's a certain amount of trust there that when council Council passes policies, then we just step back and let the executive execute on that.

1:08:47But we're not then done.

1:08:48We have to engage in oversight.

1:08:50We have to engage in this iterative process of making sure that the laws we pass are executed to the full faith and spirit and letter of those laws.

1:09:01And you can't do that without institutional power and counsel.

1:09:03And so I'm really very— I'm worried that we're missing an opportunity to invest in building that.

1:09:11Councilor I think that we've— it's really hard to do this work from the gate, and I can't acknowledge that enough.

1:09:17But we also know that we're not productive as a body.

1:09:22I think Terry Harris has analyzed it such— Terry's probably watching somewhere either in the building or online, but has noted that we're like half as productive as the City Council was in 2023 and 2024.

1:09:35And that's not necessarily an indictment of any It's certainly not an indictment of the council president, but it does mean that we've got a lot of work to do on this council to make sure we don't get mired and ground down.

1:09:44And that requires some deep governance questions, and that requires that we build this bench.

1:09:50I have a lot of confidence in Councilor Kanal's ability to do that.

1:09:54I was reading the news this morning that Councilor Kanal put in the record that if he was elected to council president, he would step back from Progressive Caucus.

1:10:02Thank you.

1:10:03And that's a statement right there.

1:10:05Right.

1:10:06And I take him at his word there.

1:10:10So I do think that, you know, there's an opportunity to aid in the continuity of this body by stepping aside and letting someone else lead and then supporting that person to build upon the work that you've already done.

1:10:24So I don't see this as necessarily a trade-off in that regard.

1:10:27And just, you know, I have to speak to the Councilor Novick, you said it may be unfair, but that is your concern.

1:10:37It does feel unfair, and that's okay.

1:10:39I hear your concern.

1:10:40I will say that just this idea that because we have named an informal caucus of councilors doesn't mean it's a private club.

1:10:47We've done very public— we've very publicly announced who we are and what we do and why we're together in values.

1:10:53I think that's a very fair point.

1:10:56We don't vote in lockstep.

1:10:57And in fact, very dramatically, I brought forward a budget amendment with Councilor Dunphy to redirect funds from Prosper Portland in the last budget amendments and put it back in the general fund so we didn't have to make such deep cuts.

1:11:10And I did not have the support of everyone on Peacock for that.

1:11:13And it failed because of that.

1:11:16Most recently, there was a District 4, there was a, I'm a PSR committee member who is from my district who was gonna represent District 4, and Councilor Dunphy did not vote the same way I voted.

1:11:30And we're fine, it's good, but we don't vote in lockstep.

1:11:33And I think that's okay.

1:11:36I think historically the business of this city and the governance of this city has been a private club.

1:11:40It's just, it's the MAC Club, right?

1:11:42So that's what we're trying to change here.

1:11:45And I think that Sameer is willing to, to govern with, with grace and compromise and integrity, and that's why I'm going to support him.

1:11:54Thank you.

1:11:57Thank you, Councilor.

1:11:58Councilor Smith.

1:12:00Thank you, Council President.

1:12:02I'd just like to say that Council President is not a personality and she's not performative.

1:12:09Throughout her time on the council, President Pirtle-Guiney has exemplified what it means to be a servant leader.

1:12:17She brings a thoughtful approach to every discussion, ensuring that decisions are made with comprehensive input from the community and other stakeholders.

1:12:30Her ability to analyze complex issues and synthesize diverse issues is unmatched, and I think that's why we need to support current President Pirtle-Guiney Thank you, Councilor.

1:12:48Councilor Avalos.

1:12:51Thank you.

1:12:53I want to ground my comments today in governance because governance is what determines whether this council functions with integrity, with equity, and with the public's trust.

1:13:05And for me, it is not abstract.

1:13:07Governance is my area of expertise.

1:13:09It's what I've studied.

1:13:10It's what I've practiced.

1:13:11It's what I'm committed to and the work that I came here ready to do.

1:13:14And you're right, Councilor Smith, governance is not about personality.

1:13:18I don't— I agree that it's not.

1:13:20And it's not even about politics.

1:13:21It's actually about systems.

1:13:23And what that looks like is clear rules, consistent processes, shared expectations that apply equally to everybody.

1:13:33Governance is the infrastructure of democracy.

1:13:35And when that infrastructure is strong, disagreement can be productive.

1:13:39But when it's weak, Even small conflicts become destabilizing, and that is what I believe we've witnessed this year.

1:13:45Good governance requires predictability.

1:13:48Councilors should know how decisions are made, how agendas are set, how authority flows.

1:13:53It requires transparency so that access to leadership, to information, and process is not dependent on informal relationships or proximity, but is available equitably across this body.

1:14:06Oversight is a core feature of good governance, and it's not an obstacle to leadership.

1:14:09It's a responsibility of leadership.

1:14:12Oversight strengthens institutions.

1:14:15It protects the public interest.

1:14:17It ensures accountability.

1:14:18And councils function best when questioning, scrutiny, and dissent are treated as healthy and necessary parts of the work.

1:14:26Equitable governments also mean shared power, and power in this body is not only exercised through votes It flows through access, through agenda setting and process.

1:14:35And a strong council president facilitates collaboration, distributes authority, and ensures that no councilor has to navigate informal channels simply to participate fully in governance.

1:14:47Another essential component to me is psychological safety.

1:14:51Councilors must be able to raise concerns, disagree openly, and ask difficult questions without fear.

1:14:57Institutions are strongest when people feel safe engaging in Honestly and constructively, and that environment does not happen by accident.

1:15:04It is shaped by leadership choices.

1:15:07Governance decisions also shape how the public experiences this council.

1:15:11That is something that when I ran for council president last year was the epitome of what I believe the council president should be doing.

1:15:18Process determines whose voices are heard, when testimony occurs, how accessible decision-making feels to residents, to the people that we serve.

1:15:25Council President, I think you're going to have to And if we want meaningful public participation, our systems need to be designed intentionally to welcome it.

1:15:34I want to be clear about my own expectations.

1:15:36I believe that governance is a skilled labor.

1:15:38It requires system design, process clarity, and institutional thinking.

1:15:43And it requires patience and a willingness to do work that is often invisible but essential.

1:15:49I have tried throughout this year to contribute in that way, to offer structure, process, long-term thinking, Because I believe that this council needs strong systems to succeed.

1:15:58And this year was a foundational year under our new form of government.

1:16:01It was an opportunity to build durable, transparent systems that future councils could step into with confidence.

1:16:07And when systems are unclear or overly personalized, it creates challenges not just now but down the line.

1:16:14Institutions need to be resilient, not fragile.

1:16:17And when governance systems fall short, people adapt.

1:16:20Informal structures emerge to fill gaps.

1:16:23That is not a failure of individuals.

1:16:25It is a signal that the institution needs stronger process, and the solution is not to blame.

1:16:30The solution is better governance.

1:16:33As we consider leadership moving forward, I'm focused on what this moment calls for, and I'm looking for a council president who treats governance as a discipline, who is committed to shared power, strong oversight, institutional clarity, and building systems that are going to serve the entire body.

1:16:49Councilmember That's the lens that I'm using today, and it is why I am proud to support Councilor Knoll for president.

1:16:55Thank you.

1:16:56Thank you, Councilor.

1:17:03Colleagues, seeing no one else in the queue, we can move to an additional vote unless anybody else would like to enter the queue.

1:17:10Councilor Knoll.

1:17:12Thank you.

1:17:14I want to take the opportunity to, to address the question that Councilor Koyama Lane asked And I want to think that this might be might not cover everything, so let me know if it doesn't.

1:17:25But it's about empowering council as an institution, which I know some of my colleagues have mentioned in a variety of ways.

1:17:30Part of what makes this form of government, the new charter, so great is a representative city council at the center of decision making for the city government.

1:17:38I think we've achieved a lot in terms of representation.

1:17:41I think each and every person up here represents a real.

1:17:44Constituency in their district, and this council is more diverse of thought and background than ever before.

1:17:50What I'm looking to see out of the outcome of this election, it— for both president and vice president, is empowering the council as an institution, as the voters directed us to.

1:17:59And what that means is building trust with the public that council is where your voice is heard and is part of the conversation, even if council votes differently than you'd like.

1:18:06I want Portlanders to know that they influence the conversation, and we will see that And it'll be successful when we have an increase in the number of unique Portlanders watching or testifying at our meetings.

1:18:16It looks like ensuring information is shared across the whole council so that each of us has what we need to do our jobs effectively and deliver for our constituents.

1:18:24It looks like helping councilors get what they need from the other parts of our government so that we can effectively exercise our budget authority, legislative authority, and oversight authority.

1:18:31It looks like having a strong council operations team that's allowed to work for all 12 of us equally.

1:18:37Helping solve the biggest issues facing Portland today, which includes like things like homelessness and public safety downtown, our budget crisis, and affordability proactively instead of reactively.

1:18:48And that might look like a discussion on downtown that incorporates our business climate, homelessness, public safety, affordability, and more in one place because Portlanders aren't experiencing these things separately but all at once.

1:18:59And it'll look like finding opportunities for everyone to play a leadership role in the areas they care about most deeply and think are more— most important.

1:19:06I would like our council to be a choir with multiple soloists, not a band with a lead singer.

1:19:12And that looks like making each— making sure every councilor feels heard, even if a vote doesn't go their way.

1:19:17As we cast our second vote, I'd ask for your consideration.

1:19:19Thank you.

1:19:23Thank you, Councilor.

1:19:25Colleagues, I put myself in the queue because I'd like to reflect on Councilor Koyama Lane's question.

1:19:31And there were a number of things raised that I'd like to respond to in various ways, but I don't think that it's appropriate to do so one by one and take that time away from the rest of the discussion that I'm sure we'll need to have.

1:19:47But you asked a direct question.

1:19:48You asked how the role of council president belongs to the body.

1:19:53Mm-hmm.

1:19:54And Councilor Green used an important phrase.

1:19:57You talked about building the bench.

1:19:59And one of the things that I think is incredibly important in ensuring that leadership of the council belongs to the entire body or to many in the body is to make sure that we are operating in a structure that empowers people in the roles in which they serve.

1:20:19And this past year, one of the things that has been a top priority for me that would continue next year if I am reelected Yes.

1:20:27Is ensuring that our committee chairs are truly the leads within our body on the issue areas that they are working on.

1:20:35And one of the things that I said most this year, I think to the point that some folks on the administrative side may have gotten sick of hearing it from me, when issues were brought forward, was, have you talked to the committee chair?

1:20:51Can you get this to the committee chair?

1:20:53What is your plan on working with the committee chair?

1:20:55And it is incredibly important to me moving forward that we continue to build our bench by ensuring that everybody have leadership positions, making sure that that extends beyond just this body to the work of intergovernmental committees and opportunities, something that I think everybody had a piece of this year.

1:21:22There are many ways to make sure that we all are in positions of leadership for the community and building the bench, and I think that's incredibly important.

1:21:30So I appreciate you asking that question, Council Vice President.

1:21:33I also think ensuring that the role belongs to everybody comes, as Councilor Avalos talked about, through our governance and through how we are operating as a body.

1:21:44Thank you.

1:21:45And through those plans to ensure that the next person, as others have brought up, can be successful.

1:21:51Much of the work that I've done over the past year isn't visible because I, I am not always good at sharing the day-to-day of what that looks like, which is why I mentioned earlier that those hundreds of briefings and emails and updates that Thank you.

1:22:10You all received started, most of them, with conversations that the Vice President and I had with the administration.

1:22:17There's also a list started of regular practices and procedures that I have been working on with our Council Operations leadership to make sure that our next leadership team, whether that's new people elected today or a year from now, Have that institutional knowledge written down, and that it's clear what those those operations and regular work is.

1:22:47I think that's incredibly important, and I think that having the the systems written down is incredibly important.

1:22:58I think consistency is important because part of clear governance is consistency.

1:23:02Thank you.

1:23:04And one of the commitments that I am happy to make to all of you, because it's something that I worked very hard to operate under this last year, was being as consistent as possible in how things move through our systems and being clear when there were aberrations to that consistency as to why I was making the decision to, to make those differences and those changes.

1:23:30And talking to as many councillors as possible beforehand about why those changes were coming.

1:23:38Leadership belongs to all of us.

1:23:42We were all elected by Portlanders, and I think as important as the question of how the role of council president or leadership in other roles in our body can belong to.

1:23:54All of us is the question about how leadership and decision-making can belong to Portlanders.

1:24:00And one of the things that I did not get to finish this year that I'm in the process of working on is ensuring that Portlanders can see the work that we are doing earlier, the details, not just here's this thing coming, the committee referral list Yes.

1:24:20So the agenda list was the first step in that.

1:24:22Ensuring that the items on that list are actually viewable in full content is the next step.

1:24:30Then working on the culture to make sure that we are posting things earlier, that the administration is posting things earlier, so that Portlanders know what's coming 1 month, 2 months out.

1:24:42Maybe not what committee they'll be— what committee date they'll be heard on, but what What committee they're in and what the content is, is incredibly important because that's the only way to ensure that Portlanders have more opportunity to weigh in, even if they are not watching our deliberations day to day.

1:25:01And at the end of the day, this needs to be a body that is not just accessible to Portlanders who know to watch, who are involved in organizations that are paying attention.

1:25:13Thank you.

1:25:14Who are in positions in their lives where they have the time to pay attention, or even who are on our lists.

1:25:21But we need to have things visible early enough that there are even more networks dispersing information so that we hear from even more people.

1:25:30And that is a huge part of making sure not just that leadership on this body belongs to all of us, but that leadership in our city can truly belong to all Portlanders.

1:25:39Thank you.

1:25:40That I hope to continue working on over the next year.

1:25:45And I wanted to make sure to respond to your question and bring up that piece of it as well.

1:25:52I look forward to our continued conversations.

1:25:56Councilor Novick, you're in the queue.

1:26:00I have a direct question to both of the candidates followed by a comment.

1:26:03My direct question is, I'm deadly serious about every 2 months having an airing of grievances.

1:26:08Is each of you willing to put on the agenda every 2 months an airing of grievances?

1:26:16Thank you for that question, uh, Councilor Novick.

1:26:19Um, I don't know that I'd use that term.

1:26:21Uh, I think it's a little, um, it's, it might be a little bit perceived more adversarial, although I do have the occasional, um, am I in trouble conversation, uh, in my team to, to have that, that opportunity.

1:26:33And I think that That still is, I think, a really good thing to do.

1:26:38I think work sessions where we're talking about our own processes and are evolving are really healthy.

1:26:43And that doesn't have to be perceived as a grievance by the council president, right?

1:26:48That can be an area for improvement.

1:26:50Mm-hmm.

1:26:51And so I'm very comfortable, and you've seen this in the sort of after-action conversations we have at the CAPS committee of how did that go?

1:27:01What can we learn from that?

1:27:02When there's been a moment that maybe wasn't ideal.

1:27:05And not that it was necessarily anyone's fault, but that it was something which we can improve upon for the next time.

1:27:12So that's my answer.

1:27:13So it's a yes.

1:27:14I can't pledge for the exact title of the item of the work session.

1:27:20I also just wanted to say explicitly, because Councilor Green said it, but I don't know if I had yet other than in the media, that yes, I absolutely would take a step back from the PCOC caucus, the Progressive Caucus, if elected, because I care about good governance more than I care about the other issues that may come up.

1:27:35And I just want to make sure that that's clear from me.

1:27:37Thanks.

1:27:40Thank you, Councilor.

1:27:43Councilor Novick, I'll also take the opportunity to respond directly.

1:27:49And I'd like to take this a step further, that the easy answer is yes, of course.

1:27:54But I'd like to take it a step further.

1:27:56I have said a number of times that one of the things that I think we do in council that is fantastic, that I hope our committees start to adopt, is the public communication period to hear directly from the public their concerns that might fall within particular policy areas.

1:28:16One of the things that I think committees do very well That I think we need to pull up to the full council is the general open discussion.

1:28:25The does anybody have issues to put on the table?

1:28:27So I am happy to have a regular airing of grievances, but I'd actually like to expand the opportunity and have a regular airing of issues and concerns and discussion points that councilors would like to put on the agenda for all of their colleagues, even more broadly than grievances.

1:28:45Thank you.

1:28:47And create that opportunity for us on the record where we can all speak to each other without public communication concerns at a regular cadence.

1:28:56So I welcome that suggestion and would ask that perhaps we air grievances and bring forward other thoughts to those opportunities as well.

1:29:09Okay, but I'm more focused on our internal discussions and the opportunity to Bring up our internal issues.

1:29:17And that brings me to my comment, which is that I've heard— I mean, an election with an incumbent is always largely a referendum on the incumbent.

1:29:32And I have heard these complaints about the council president that I've heard like vaguely in the air for a while and heard more specifically recently.

1:29:40Yeah.

1:29:41And I do not want this discussion to end without a more pointed discussion of those complaints and a more pointed response to those complaints from the council president.

1:29:53There's been the complaint that the council president prioritizes the administration's items more than councilors' items.

1:30:01I would like to see somebody in public explain why they think that, and I would like to I would like to see the council president respond to what they have to say, either by explaining why they think that it's wrong or why she thinks that it's wrong, or how she will address the complaints in the future.

1:30:17I've heard complaints about the vice president not being in all the meetings and not playing a big enough role.

1:30:22I would like to hear people spell out those complaints, and I would like to hear the council president respond to them.

1:30:27I think that, I mean, we have to have these discussions in public.

1:30:31I think that it's important to take the gloves off and people not to be polite.

1:30:36I think when people have— if people have complaints about the council president, they should raise them so the president has a chance to respond to them.

1:30:41And I think the president should respond to them.

1:30:43So I hope that that will be a chunk of the discussion.

1:30:46Obviously not all the discussion, but I think that should be part of the discussion for the rest of the day.

1:30:53Thank you, Councilor.

1:31:02Councilor, I'm trying to decide if I respond to those indirectly without a question or not.

1:31:08Um, and I—.

1:31:10Are you asking?

1:31:10I don't—.

1:31:12What, what I would actually like— what I'm actually asking is, will people who've made these complaints state them openly, and will the council president respond to them?

1:31:24The complaint that the council president prioritizes items from the administration Is something I want to hear some detail on, and that I'd like to hear some detail on the response.

1:31:33So my request really is first to people who I know have these criticisms to raise them, and then to the council president to respond to them.

1:31:40Okay.

1:31:43Councilor Murillo, you're in the queue.

1:31:48I guess I just think that's kind of a strange— my case for Councilor Kanal is an affirmative one.

1:31:54I think that Councilor Kanal has proven his leadership through and through on this council, and so I would rather spend my time talking about how I think Councilor Kanal's leadership could usher us into a really important time.

1:32:08I think particularly there have been times where we have big questions about the executive branch and the legislative branch and how we do accountability metrics.

1:32:19We haven't really done that as a body.

1:32:21We haven't used our investigative powers to figure out things that we need answers to as a legislative body, namely, you know, recent scandals around $21 million going missing and trying to get more information on that.

1:32:37I think that Councilor Kanal has proven that he's interested in good governance and process.

1:32:43And I think that Councilor— Council President Pirtle-Guiney has had a lot of things to address, but I think that she's done a good job.

1:32:49Thank you.

1:32:49We've also had a lot of issues moving policy through council.

1:32:53It's taken a long time.

1:32:55The previous council, I think, passed double the amount of policies that our current council does.

1:32:59I think that as a legislative body, we're not operating as efficiently as we should, and I think those are things that need to be addressed.

1:33:06But I guess I would say that I wanna focus on the affirmative case for the candidate that I care about.

1:33:13Thank you.

1:33:15Thank you, Councilor.

1:33:15Councilor Zimmerman.

1:33:18Thank you.

1:33:20And I put my hand in here before you put yours up there, Vice President.

1:33:25So I don't— I meant this as a quick thing.

1:33:28I just wanna do a point of order.

1:33:29I would like a break.

1:33:32It's almost 11 o'clock.

1:33:34If we could take a 10-minute break, I think this is gonna be a long day.

1:33:37I would appreciate that.

1:33:38I would consider it grace.

1:33:42Thank you, Councilor.

1:33:45Colleagues—.

1:33:45I say that also because I think the question is going to require a little bit of brain time for both of you.

1:33:49I think it's a reasonable piece, but a good time for a break.

1:33:52We do have one additional person in the queue, so I'd like to give them an opportunity to speak, and then we can move to a recess.

1:33:59Councilor Koyama Lane.

1:34:01Yeah, I do want to share that when I talk about shared power, I want to be clear that I'm not talking about the absence of leadership.

1:34:10I'm talking about a very specific understanding of a leadership style that I learned directly from organizer and scholar Marshall Ganz, who defines leadership as enabling others to achieve purpose in the face of uncertainty together.

1:34:26So shared power means designing our leadership structures so they do exactly that.

1:34:30As I said before, no single person Holds the authority, all the relationships, all the answers, all the meetings.

1:34:37In a new system like ours, I truly believe shared leadership isn't a weakness, and I believe it's quite the opposite.

1:34:43It's how we build resilience, accountability, and trust amongst all of us, and it's how we ensure that leadership here empowers the whole council to do its best work.

1:34:53Also, Councilor Novick, as a labor leader, I understand the idea of trying not to You know, air internal dirty laundry as much as possible unless truly, truly necessary.

1:35:04But I can note one concrete example of what I'm talking about when I'm talking about shared leadership, since it's actually been demonstrated in front of you all this morning already.

1:35:14As Vice President, I've had a shockingly— I've had shockingly very limited opportunities to preside over anything with our council.

1:35:25It's honestly been a number of minutes over the past 12 months.

1:35:30I've been handed the gavel, yeah, very rarely, maybe twice, I don't know.

1:35:36This is not just a symbolic issue because effective governance requires preparation, trust, partnership, I believe, between the president and vice president, and those opportunities matter.

1:35:50In my role as chair of governance, I've intentionally shared the gavel with Vice Chair Ryan because trusting each other has really led to building confidence, strengthening our relationship, our committee, and ultimately, I believe, has improved our work together.

1:36:09And, you know, I will briefly reference for you, Councilor Novick, the conversation I had with Councilor Pirtle-Guiney yesterday.

1:36:16Oh, good.

1:36:17And with her staff and my staff present, knowing that She fully intended to be a candidate today.

1:36:22I raised the possibility that it might be appropriate for someone else to preside.

1:36:28And I know that as vice president, that means I'd likely have to preside.

1:36:33And so I asked for information about that because I'd like to prepare accordingly.

1:36:37And what followed was what I have seen a lot this year, significant hesitation, delay, being asked to wait 30 minutes.

1:36:44Okay, now I'm waiting well into the evening.

1:36:46Councilor Smith.

1:36:47Trying to let my team know if they're going to need to prep anything for me.

1:36:51And what— before being ultimately told that it was important that she needed to retain the gavel.

1:36:56And I do find that level of control concerning.

1:37:01And the emphasis placed on presiding, it's been disproportionate.

1:37:06And for me, it reflects a pattern I've experienced throughout this year about power sharing and trust in this role.

1:37:12And so when leadership is reluctant to share even these Visible responsibilities.

1:37:16I assure you it reflects deeper challenges around collaboration, and those challenges have real impacts on all of us, not just who holds the vice president role, because it directly impacts how well this council functions as a collective.

1:37:31Thank you.

1:37:35Councilor Novick.

1:37:36I reiterate my point of order earlier that I think I gave polite grace to.

1:37:45Thank you, Councilor.

1:37:49Thank you.

1:37:49Colleagues, we are going to take a 20-minute recess.

1:37:55Um, I see that there are folks still in the queue.

1:37:57When we get back, we will return to the order of the queue and move toward another vote.

1:38:03It is 11:03.

1:38:04We will return at 11:23.

1:58:05I'm bringing us back to order.

1:58:14Colleagues, welcome back.

1:58:17I believe Councilor Koyama Lane's hand was in the queue from the previous session.

1:58:21So we do not have anybody else in the queue.

1:58:24Uh, Keelan, could you please call a vote?

1:58:29Avalos.

1:58:30Kanal.

1:58:31Dunphy.

1:58:32Kanal.

1:58:33Smith.

1:58:35President Pirtle-Guiney.

1:58:37Kanal.

1:58:38Kanal.

1:58:39Ryan.

1:58:40Pirtle-Guiney.

1:58:42Koyama Lane.

1:58:43Sameer Kanal.

1:58:44Morillo.

1:58:45Sameer Kanal.

1:58:46Novick.

1:58:47Pirtle-Guiney.

1:58:48Clark.

1:58:49Green.

1:58:51Kanal.

1:58:52Zimmerman.

1:58:53Pirtle-Guiney.

1:58:54Pirtle-Guiney.

1:58:56Pirtle-Guiney.

1:58:57Councilor Pirtle-Guiney receives 6 votes.

1:59:01Councilor Kanal receives 6 votes.

1:59:04Okay, colleagues, that moves us back into discussion.

1:59:08This is the point at which more nominations can be made, more people can make comments.

1:59:13And then we vote again.

1:59:16Councilor Ryan.

1:59:18Thank you, President Pirtle-Guiney.

1:59:20First of all, happy New Year, everyone.

1:59:22I'm grateful to each and every one of you, and I can say something positive about each and every one of you as well.

1:59:30I strongly believe in bringing everyone to the table, and I'm very concerned about the tendency in current politics to alienate and exclude different schools of thought.

1:59:40So this translates directly to my thinking of council leadership.

1:59:44We should be intentional that our council president and vice president represent the diversity of districts, political ideologies, constituent groups, and backgrounds.

1:59:54Diversity and inclusivity creates richness and overall better decision-making that will serve our whole community much better, and it certainly defines the city that we all love.

2:00:04Today's selection of council leadership is unlike that of last January.

2:00:08Thank goodness.

2:00:09For 12 months, we have gone through decisions together.

2:00:14We have shown us what our fellow councilors are made of, the history of each other's voting, our character and moral fibers.

2:00:23This is helpful in knowing who we want to represent and lead us in the next 12 months.

2:00:29Because we were all new back then in January, I'm a part of that as well.

2:00:32I'm a part of that as well.

2:00:34We made some leaps of faith in selecting Council President and Vice President last time, and in my opinion, it worked out.

2:00:42Council President Pirtle-Guiney and Vice President Koyama Lane have led through challenging times without a blueprint.

2:00:50And I think sometimes we're not very forgiving of ourselves when it comes to that statement.

2:00:54We didn't have a blueprint and brought us to a place where we understand our playing field so much better than we did a year ago.

2:01:00Thank you.

2:01:03So we owe them a debt of gratitude for both their work, their patience, and at times their willingness to be unliked and unpopular to make the right decisions for the city of Portland.

2:01:15I know it has felt— it has often felt thankless, and it is a sacrifice.

2:01:20So again, I really want to thank you both for humanity, for your kindness.

2:01:25I look to you, Vice President, when I think of those 2 words, and I appreciate your comments earlier, we did a really good job this past year as co-leaders.

2:01:35It felt like co-leadership, and you did demonstrate that, and I appreciate it.

2:01:39And for you, Councilor Pirtle-Guiney, for maintaining the helm in very choppy waters.

2:01:44I don't think anyone up here envied your role.

2:01:50I look around the dais and I see 11 of You who could all do this presidency job, but you would all do it very differently.

2:01:58I can sincerely— and that includes you, Councilor Novick.

2:02:02We had a delightful conversation recently about would we want to do this.

2:02:07I can sincerely state a positive trait about each and every one of you.

2:02:11That's easy to do.

2:02:12And my highest priority is that we have a council president who can bear the burden of the job, represent the best—.

2:02:18Thank you.

2:02:19Of this council to the outside, maintain decorum in respectful engagement with all of our offices, and has the ability to move us forward as a body.

2:02:30That requires selflessness, patience, restraint, and grace.

2:02:35And again, being okay with not making everyone happy.

2:02:39Sorry, I should look over this way too.

2:02:41It was because I was talking about the two of them.

2:02:44Councilor Kanal, you're a very gifted strategist.

2:02:48Boy, do I know that.

2:02:49Your work ethic is stellar.

2:02:53I want you to get more hobbies.

2:02:59Plan your wedding already.

2:03:01You talk with me when we are on the opposite sides of an issue, and most important, we align regularly, and I do mean that regularly, to advocate for the needs of the constituents of District 2.

2:03:13I often shock my constituents that are— I think everyone's my constituent, but some of the people who believe in me, when I actually explain that I have a positive working relationship with you, I don't think they believe me at first.

2:03:24I have to say it multiple times.

2:03:27And after my University of Oregon cousins, you are one of this duck's favorite dog.

2:03:33No matter what happens today, He went to UDub.

2:03:38I am positive about our ability to work together for the good of our city.

2:03:42Though you don't want me to sing as a soloist— was that you that said that?

2:03:48Yes, I do want you to sing as a soloist.

2:03:49No, you don't want that.

2:03:50I think we need to embrace all the different instruments that together make beautiful music, and I think that's been our struggle sometimes.

2:03:57That said, the person on this dais who has proven the ability to be the version of council president I described, and you did it in a very choppy first year, is Councilor Pirtle-Guiney.

2:04:08That is why I'll be voting for her again.

2:04:12I expect that in her second term, Councilor Pirtle-Guiney will carry out key shared goals such as figuring out a workable committee structure and how we can operationalize the annual priority process.

2:04:28I also sense a willingness of Councilor Pirtle-Guiney to meet this moment and be bolder for her city in 2026.

2:04:36I want more moments when you come into my office and we have a problem-solving discussion together.

2:04:44You shine in those moments as a leader and a colleague, and I appreciate those authentic moments.

2:04:51In general, it's red alert time for our city.

2:04:54Confidence in this council's leadership and decision-making is critical for the public to trust us.

2:05:00Economic certainty must come from this body.

2:05:03We must stop adding additional uncertainty.

2:05:08My hope today is that we can wrap this up and move on to priority conversations, resetting a more efficient committee system, and truly partner with the other branches of our city to focus Thank you, Councilor.

2:05:25Councilor Dunphy.

2:05:26Thank you.

2:05:29You know, colleagues, we've had multiple rounds of voting now and same result.

2:05:33I think that this really, I hope to the public, doesn't demonstrate that we are divided, but that there is in fact a real tension between a genuine real respect for our current leadership and a desire for the body to have a new different direction.

2:05:47We are in the earliest years of a brand new form of government, and the decisions we're about to make, and then we are making now and have made, are not just about this year.

2:05:57We're about setting precedent for the future and the culture that we are creating.

2:06:03I do not have specific grievances that I would in any way air about Councilor— about President Pirtle-Guiney's leadership.

2:06:11Maybe we've had disagreements.

2:06:12But I'm— that is not why I am choosing to not support her nomination this year.

2:06:18This is a deeply held philosophical belief on my part that in the interest of this body, rotating this president year to year is the best option for how we share power, how we build systems that are adaptable and responsive to the community, and that we don't default to certain types of norms.

2:06:40The previous system of government was so forcefully kicked out because of the norms that were established that meant that people didn't feel that they were reflected.

2:06:50And I think that if we continue— that we start the process now of entrenching leadership, I think that that is a bad precedent for the future.

2:07:00I also think that the needs of year 1 are going to be different than the needs of year The first year was always going to be messy, and it was, but we still did a lot of really good things.

2:07:10And we required structure for whether it was known, and we needed steady hands with a confident voice at the front demonstrating to the public who the city council was.

2:07:20And Councilor Pirtle-Guiney, you've done a phenomenal job in that capacity.

2:07:22Thank you.

2:07:23I think this next year is about building systems, about being intentional about distributing leadership and increasing accessibility both for the councilors And for our constituents.

2:07:33And I hope that this job of council president gets less hard over time, not harder.

2:07:39It is the hardest job in public service.

2:07:41It is the worst job in politics.

2:07:44And I am thankful that anybody wants to do this.

2:07:47And I'm thankful for the grace with which you've carried this last year, Councilor Pirtle-Guiney.

2:07:55I'm going to use this now to pivot.

2:07:58And as I said, I'm not— I'm choosing not I'm not here to air grievances, but I will note I think that things are not running as well as they could.

2:08:04I think that our committee structure does not work well.

2:08:07I think that we have too many committees.

2:08:09And in fact, back in April of this year, I introduced a policy, a proposal to reform our committees.

2:08:15And a number of months after it was introduced, we did have a work session and we had a good conversation.

2:08:20The vote—.

2:08:20The bill ultimately never came to a vote.

2:08:23And I worked with Councilor Pirtle-Guiney on that because clearly there was not consensus on this body around what that looks like.

2:08:30And what I also heard from my colleagues was this is a decision of leadership.

2:08:33This is a decision for the council president.

2:08:35This is a decision to have— I think Councilor Zimmerman said specifically, let's wait until January.

2:08:39So my question is to the nominees, what is your vision for improving the existing committee structure?

2:08:47What does success look like in a new committee structure for this body?

2:08:51And how do you plan to move forward with a new structure that's— now that we've learned what does and does not work, how do you envision the committees being reformed?

2:09:04Thank you, Councilor.

2:09:06Councilor Knoll, would you like to speak to that or should we return to the queue?

2:09:10Feel free to go first.

2:09:11Okay.

2:09:16Councilor Dunphy, because there is no one else in the queue, I'll take the opportunity to just briefly speak to that.

2:09:21And hopefully none of this is a surprise to you.

2:09:24You and I have had some of these conversations, actually.

2:09:26Hopefully it's not a surprise to most people up here because I think during those conversations when, when we discussed the item that you brought forward, I hope I was, uh, clear in my thoughts there.

2:09:41I agree with you that the committee structure isn't working.

2:09:43At the start of the year I thought that it was important to ensure everybody who wanted a gavel had an opportunity to hold a gavel.

2:09:52I also thought it was important to ensure that we were expansive in hearing from our colleagues about what committees we might need to have and putting together a broad suite of spaces to hold important conversations.

2:10:09Councilor Herbold.

2:10:11We had a work session to discuss what that might look like.

2:10:15I had hoped to have fewer committees, but again heard from our colleagues that we needed all of these spaces and, and brought that proposal forward.

2:10:23My intent, which I think I've been transparent about, is that if I am reelected council president, I plan to change our committee structure.

2:10:34I don't intend to do so until after we have our priority setting conversation.

2:10:39This body passed a resolution calling for a priority setting conversation or a strategic planning conversation.

2:10:46I'm not sure how formal we're going to be with it.

2:10:49Thank you, Councilor Ryan, for bringing that forward.

2:10:52And I think it is critical to have that conversation before laying out new committees, just in case something pops there that we wouldn't have otherwise Thank you.

2:11:06I also think it's important to work with the Vice President on the formation of those committees and make sure that they have a voice in what that leadership looks like as well.

2:11:17I will tell you that if I were bringing a proposal forward today, I would probably be looking at somewhere between 4 and 6 committees.

2:11:28Again, subject to change from those other 2 pieces of information inputs that I think are really important.

2:11:35I think that our committees need to reflect the daily work that this council needs to get done.

2:11:42I know that there have been some views aired that the committees should be the, the most important key priority areas, and I actually disagree with that to an extent because I think that there is a regular cadence of work to keep the city running that we need to also make sure our Thank you.

2:11:59I think that's a good point.

2:11:59I think that's a really important point.

2:11:59We have to be careful about what we ask our committees to take on, but some of the details of the committees should be influenced by those key priorities as well.

2:12:07And as we think about the workload, where the workload will fall will be based on what the key priorities are, and how we group different topics together should be influenced by that as well.

2:12:18I don't want to discount that there are other ways we can do important work.

2:12:23We have— I've had conversations with a few colleagues about the idea of workgroups.

2:12:27Yes.

2:12:28Workgroups to take on high-priority projects that are maybe more defined than a committee's work that could bring a proposal to a committee.

2:12:35There are groups of councilors who'd get together to do that in an informal way.

2:12:40But as it relates to the committees specifically, I want that to be something that takes into account the priorities that we'll set in our planning session, that takes into account the interests that the vice president brings forward and their perspective on each of our strengths But that also limits the number of committees for two reasons: so that we can have three reasons, so that we can group more issues together to have more holistic conversations, so that we can have committee meetings that last a little longer to hear from all Portlanders and then really get into the meat of the debate, which is what I hope committees do, and so that we can have committee leadership meet.

2:13:21Together and talk about some of the ways that the committees might be able to help us move forward our work, both on policy but also as it relates to the governance of our body more.

2:13:33And I think those are all 3 reasons to have fewer committees.

2:13:36A note on committees' role, I will just say, um, I hope that as we mature as a body, the way we use committees can mature, because I think that committees are a really important place to have that, that more informal oversight.

2:13:53We've heard a lot about oversight today.

2:13:56And to do the follow-up work.

2:13:58We passed this policy.

2:14:00Is it being implemented the way that we intended?

2:14:03To allow Portlanders to come in and weigh in on whether a policy is being implemented the way they thought it should be.

2:14:09I think that's a really important role for committees that we just weren't far enough along in our process of building to get to this year, but that I hope that committee chairs start to take on next year.

2:14:23My greatest hesitancy in deciding whether or not to run for council president again was actually that I wanted that opportunity to serve as a committee chair next year to do some of that work.

2:14:34I decided that the work that I had started as council president was still great enough that there were things I wanted to finish in this role.

2:14:43Thank you.

2:14:45But I think that there is a lot that our committee chairs can do next year, and I hope that we are able to use our committees in a really meaningful way and that having fewer committees makes it easier for us to do that.

2:15:00Councilor Kanal.

2:15:02Thank you.

2:15:04And I appreciate the question.

2:15:07Your question was, how do you envision the committees being reformed?

2:15:09I'm gonna give a specific answer and then broaden this out a little bit.

2:15:12Because you, you mentioned, uh, some other things that are really valuable.

2:15:15Um, I think to look at how I would engage with the committee conversation, the best example I can give is how I engaged with that conversation when it was held in August or September.

2:15:25Um, I didn't personally put forward a proposal to come up with, um, a new set of committees.

2:15:304 Colleagues did.

2:15:32And, um, what I did at the time was I looked at what the commonalities were between those 4 proposals.

2:15:39I listed those out.

2:15:41These were not necessarily my ideas, but those 4 proposals reflected 4 councilors, not necessarily majorities' views on what committees should look like.

2:15:49And they happened to share some things in common.

2:15:51They all had a community and public safety committee.

2:15:53They all had a housing and homelessness committee.

2:15:55I think one of them added land use to that.

2:15:57They all had some more coordination on the issues related to labor and economics and arts together.

2:16:04And all but one of them combined finance and governance together as a committee of the whole, and the other one combined them together but not as a committee of the whole.

2:16:12And so my work in that, and I think this is really appropriate for council president, is not necessarily to come up with the answer, but to come up with the questions and to ask what the other 11 folks up here think about that.

2:16:25I still haven't put up a proposal for committees and, and And that's because I think there was enough there to build off of.

2:16:33And that was tabled with the promise that it would come back and it wouldn't be gone forever.

2:16:39Unfortunately, it hasn't come back yet since September.

2:16:42But I think that there are a lot that we can look at from that conversation.

2:16:47And I agree that the strategic planning conversation should be informing that too.

2:16:51I'm using the September conversation sort of illustratively, not as the— I agree.

2:16:55The particular outcome.

2:16:57The other pieces that I like to talk about are the scheduling and the number of committees.

2:17:02We've approached committees as they must all meet the same amount of time by standard schedule, and then a subjective decision-making process on if they have more time.

2:17:13And I can speak to the Community and Public Safety Committee part.

2:17:17I think it needs more time.

2:17:18I think I've said that up in this.

2:17:21We've asked many times.

2:17:22We've been able to reschedule 2 of our meetings, and also we've added one over the course of the year that I can recall.

2:17:30And so there— but if the Public Safety Service Area tells us they need to present to council, I think we should try to make that happen.

2:17:37And I also know that that's not the case in some of the other committees which have canceled.

2:17:41So I think one of the things we can explore is, in addition to talking about the number of them, do they all have to meet the same amount of time?

2:17:46Councilor By standard amounts of time in terms of what they're scheduled for.

2:17:50I'd love to give you your Mondays back.

2:17:52I want to be super clear about that.

2:17:54We have Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday committees right now.

2:17:56I think as we shrink those down, whatever outcome that comes to, 4, 5, 6, I'd love to give people their Mondays back for briefings to go into their districts.

2:18:05We're supposed to be in our districts too, and I'm in there as often as I can be, and I'm lucky I don't have— my committees aren't on Monday, but I think that's a really important conversation.

2:18:12Thank you.

2:18:14So those are all things that I think shape how it would work.

2:18:18And I think that I've been suggesting for the, I don't know, 9 months now of public communications at committee.

2:18:25So I'm grateful to hear that be brought up as well.

2:18:29Because I do think it's important for someone to be able to come and say, I'm at the housing committee, I wanna talk about housing, and initiate an idea that maybe hasn't come up in the committee conversation.

2:18:38Thank you.

2:18:38Conversations yet.

2:18:40So that's the direct answer.

2:18:42Um, what I'll add, um, and this is my personal opinion on the committees, the one piece I'll add here is that other councils around the country have a Committee of the Whole that often talks about federal issues.

2:18:56Um, and that's really important because it affects all of us.

2:18:59It's also really important because it prevents the federal response from taking up time in the Community and Public Safety Committee so that we have Time to talk about the need for fire stations to be expanded in District 1, the need to do all the different work we need to do to make CHAD a permanent program, the need to continue our work on Portland Street Response.

2:19:17All that stuff gets diminished in the amount of time it gets because of the way that those are structured.

2:19:22So that's the one thing I would put into the piece in terms of my suggestion.

2:19:27More broadly, I think it's your point about filing in April.

2:19:31Yeah.

2:19:32And it coming to the council a few months later, I want to speak to the power of council presidencies over agenda setting and how this can be a tool to empower councilors and encourage public engagement.

2:19:45We have a tool available to us; it's called the time certain agenda, which allows for individual items to be scheduled out farther than a week.

2:19:52We have underutilized it.

2:19:53It will have additional benefits, numerous ones: increase awareness in advance.

2:19:57Of items for councilors, the public, and the media.

2:20:00More time for councilors to prepare and to draft amendments, including by asking questions of relevant partners in the administration.

2:20:06More time for the public to participate, to prepare testimony, to move your schedule around, to arrange for childcare.

2:20:12It also gives more information and predictability to item sponsors and to our staff who need to prepare reports.

2:20:17We've—.

2:20:18This year we've used this item for land use, which we're obligated to do, but we can use it for other items too and have done so, which with much more frequency in the past so that people know more than 5 days in advance what's coming to the council.

2:20:29The example I circulated is an archive from February 2024, and you can see some items, not the full agenda, are scheduled all the way out into May.

2:20:38And that gives predictability not only of the date, but when in the meeting it's going to come.

2:20:42We've done this before, and we should go back to doing it.

2:20:46We should also ensure that councilor-filed items are prioritized in agenda setting Since they often have high public interest and a high level of public input.

2:20:53As we know, last year the agenda significantly prioritized executive filed items.

2:20:57It took significantly longer for councilor filed items to get onto a council agenda than executive filed ones.

2:21:02And we should prioritize those earlier in the agenda too, because if people are coming to testify, we shouldn't have them wait until 9 PM or maybe 8:30 or maybe 9:30, depending on how long other things take to get to testify.

2:21:14What I'm trying to say is our knowledge that executive filed items are the business of the city, and that Councilor Items R2 needs to be reflected in agenda setting.

2:21:23Thank you.

2:21:24Thank you, Councilor.

2:21:26Colleagues, seeing no one else in the queue—.

2:21:28Point of order.

2:21:29I would like to ask our city attorney to walk us through the voting threshold required for, uh, election into this role.

2:21:37I think this will ensure that we're all operating from the same understanding before we move forward.

2:21:43Um, I think that needs to be addressed I, you know, want to note for the record that this process is differing from last year's election.

2:21:51It's supposed to.

2:21:52But I've seen some reporting stating that 7 votes are needed.

2:21:56And I have heard from you that is not necessarily the case if we have less than 12 councilors present.

2:22:01And I believe that's important to clarify first.

2:22:04Mr. Taylor.

2:22:05Thank you.

2:22:06The charter and the code provide that the council president and vice president are elected by a majority vote.

2:22:13Majority of councilors present.

2:22:17So you determine a majority based on the number of councilors who are present at the meeting.

2:22:24So for example, if there were 11 people present and 1 member absent, then a majority of those 11 members would be 6.

2:22:36So a— if 11 members are present, 6.

2:22:40A 6-5 vote would elect the president.

2:22:45That, of course, a quorum is still required for the council to meet, so you'd need at least 7 members present to meet.

2:22:54Thank you, Mr. Taylor.

2:22:57Thank you, Council Vice President.

2:22:59Colleagues, seeing no one else in the queue, that moves us to a vote.

2:23:04Aye.

2:23:05Kanal.

2:23:06Murphy.

2:23:08Kanal.

2:23:08Smith.

2:23:10President Pirtle-Guiney.

2:23:11Kanal.

2:23:12Kanal.

2:23:13Ryan.

2:23:14Pirtle-Guiney.

2:23:15Koyama Lane.

2:23:16Sameer Kanal.

2:23:17Murillo.

2:23:18Kanal.

2:23:19Novick.

2:23:21Pirtle-Guiney.

2:23:22Clark.

2:23:22Pirtle-Guiney.

2:23:24Green.

2:23:25Kanal.

2:23:26Zimmerman.

2:23:27Pirtle-Guiney.

2:23:28Pirtle-Guiney.

2:23:29Pirtle-Guiney.

2:23:30Councilor Pirtle-Guiney receives 6 votes.

2:23:33Councilor Kanal receives 6 votes.

2:23:36Thank you, Keelan.

2:23:39Colleagues, that moves us to a 3rd round of discussion, at which point new names can be added to the nominations, or we can discuss those who have been nominated.

2:23:50Councilor Koyama Lane.

2:23:58Colleagues seen?

2:23:59Okay, Councilor Zimmerman.

2:24:01Thank you, Madam President.

2:24:04Um, I've been listening intently and taking notes from, you know, what's been shared, and some of the thoughts that have first come to my mind, uh, you know, I think about my role as the Chair of Finance, and in that role I've had to work with the City Administrator The, you know, the DCAs, certainly with our CFO and our budget office in a broad sense, maybe more than just being in a certain policy area or in a certain service area.

2:24:36And it has been more rewarding in these last 10, 11 months than maybe those first couple of weeks were.

2:24:45I wasn't exactly sure what to expect from that relationship.

2:24:48Yeah.

2:24:48And also where it would go.

2:24:49But a lot of that, when I reflect on it, comes down to the empowerment that I think President Pirtle-Guiney has given me as a chair of a committee.

2:24:59And if I reflect on this last year, Elana Pirtle-Guiney is at her core an empowering leader.

2:25:09And then that is a way in which I think you have filled this seat.

2:25:12Thank you.

2:25:13And that matters to me, um, given my background, where I come from.

2:25:19You know, I think I hold very, very clearly that empowerment is a key skill and it's a key value of good leaders.

2:25:25Um, and I think I've watched a variety of other councilors thrive in their respective roles because of that empowerment.

2:25:36Uh, you know, when you're given that opportunity for empowerment I think it's really important to run with it.

2:25:42Where I come from, we have a saying, when in charge, be in charge.

2:25:45And I think that's an important value.

2:25:48I think that when in charge, be in charge means step up, step up to the plate.

2:25:54And if there's a void, step in.

2:25:58We had a void last January.

2:26:00There are voids in different topics, but for a lot of the areas where some leadership has been needed, I think that Council President.

2:26:07Council President.

2:26:07Council President.

2:26:07Council President Elana Pirtle-Guiney's empowerment of committee chairs and of other members in various topic areas has worked well.

2:26:16But another aspect of empowerment, it also— it doesn't mean that you run alone, right?

2:26:23Empowerment, it means that you've got somebody there who will also cross-check you.

2:26:30It could be considered a safety net.

2:26:32It could be considered a guideline.

2:26:35What it means is just because you're empowered, you're not the king of whatever hill you think you own.

2:26:42You are allowed to lead within a range of responsibilities.

2:26:46And if there is a hierarchy, and since this government does have a hierarchy by having a president and vice president, you know, I've looked to, and I think many of us have at times been course-corrected or brought into the fold by the president, given her Her role as the president of this council.

2:27:04But in large part, that's been a de minimis amount of my experience over the last year, and the majority of my experience has been empowerment.

2:27:11And empowerment matters 'cause it's a word that I think encompasses a lot of the values I've seen shared across the dais today.

2:27:18Things like shared leadership, enabling, those are words that have been used, and I could categorize those as versions of empowerment.

2:27:26Thank you.

2:27:29You know, I— committee chairs have all performed differently, and the president has allowed us to set our agendas, has allowed us occasionally to request more time or less time.

2:27:44I, I know that there has been a time when the president told me as a committee chair maybe I couldn't do something, but it was such a non-issue I don't remember what that was.

2:27:52Councilor Meaning the majority of the time as a leader of the Finance Committee, when I asked to be able to do something or schedule something or bring something with my committee, she did that.

2:28:00That was also precedent-setting, and it was something that— why I voted for Alana Pirtle-Guiney last year.

2:28:07And I'll remind you that, you know, Alana was our compromise candidate last year, that she wasn't a nominee in the initial voting, but she— she encompasses those values that I thought were so important.

2:28:20And I've seen that throughout the course of the year.

2:28:26And we've had as many agreements as we've had disagreements.

2:28:30And I think that the way in which you disagree, President Pirtle-Guiney, has been helpful for me, and I think it's been fair to my colleagues and myself.

2:28:40And so I— Some of the folks who were voting Councilor Smith.

2:28:45I think the words that you're using for Councilor Kanal are using some of the words that I guess I want to make sure that everybody understands.

2:28:50I'm applying those also to Council President Pirtle-Guiney because I think she has been enabling, empowering, and I think she has shared.

2:28:57I think that too, you know, I've seen her, um, I think about our response as a council where we were dealing with the the federal overreach in our community.

2:29:12And I watched that the council vice president, uh, was a conduit for our council to work with not just stakeholders outside the city but with our leadership within the city.

2:29:23I've seen how different committee chairs have been given the first pitch, if you will, on any given topic that maybe that touches their committee.

2:29:31All those combined with the little course corrections, I think, point to a leadership style that is still maturing, for a council that is still getting its legs, that is still debated whether or not, you know, it's working yet.

2:29:44Um, but I, I actually believe in, in, uh, continuing with Elana Pirtle-Guiney's leadership because I think those are all aspects of empowerment.

2:29:54Because the role of president for me doesn't exist just to be a label about who calls on who next.

2:30:01It talks about how and what you're going to do the work And I think that's why we put so much emphasis on this role.

2:30:08And so I am glad that you have stepped up to serve another year.

2:30:13I will continue to vote for your presidency, and I expect if I am in any facet of leadership, whether it be finance or any other in the year forward, that you'll empower me, but you'll also course correct me if you have values where you think I've stepped out or I'm not leading in a way that's good for this organization.

2:30:33Thank you.

2:30:33So thank you, Pirtle-Guiney.

2:30:36Councilor Pirtle-Guiney, you continue to have my support.

2:30:39Thank you, Councilor.

2:30:41Councilor Novick.

2:30:44A couple things.

2:30:45One, just following up on the discussion of committees, I think that the original allocation of committees and leadership that the president made was fantastic.

2:30:56I think that she made sure that we gave every important issue its do in committees.

2:31:02Um, I think that she made sure that people were on the committees that they cared about, and I think that the innovation of having co-chairs from some committees, um, was terrific.

2:31:12And I really enjoyed serving as co-chairs with Councilor Kanal and Councilor Morillo.

2:31:17Um, I think that in terms of maturing committees, I don't think that it's anything that the council president needs to do.

2:31:26I think that's all of us need to do.

2:31:27I mean, for one, I think the, the role of committee should be to Hear and refine policy proposals, and leading hopefully to the rest of the council generally being prepared to defer to what the committees came up with, although that won't always be the case.

2:31:41There's been a few problems with that.

2:31:43One is that we haven't actually had all that many policy issues come through council, so, um, because we're not all Councilor Brio.

2:31:53And, uh, so I think that as we go along, we'll have more practice in the committee's refining policy proposals.

2:31:59Second, I think that, and this is actually something that Councilor Zimmerman observed to me in Public Safety Committee the other week, I think it's a good practice for us as committee chairs to decide we are not going to try to push something through in the first meeting, that we will sort of, the default will be we present something in the first meeting, we chew over it, let people think, and then come back again.

2:32:21And the third thing is that One of my New Year's resolutions is to pay more attention to what's going on in other committees so I'm not faced with something in council that I haven't thought of before.

2:32:32And that's on me, and I think that's on all of us, to know enough about what happened in the committees that we are not coming at something from nothing.

2:32:39So that's me, that's my view on committees.

2:32:43And again, I don't think it's— I think that the council president did her job, which is to have the right committees and the right people on them.

2:32:48Thank you.

2:32:48And I think the rest of it is on us.

2:32:51Second, I wanted to say that I really appreciate the Vice President stating a specific concern.

2:32:58I really appreciate Councilor Kanal specifically saying that he thinks that too much priority has been given to administration items rather than council items.

2:33:08Because although I know most people are saying this is not about criticizing the incumbent, this is about new leadership, There have been criticisms of the incumbent, and I think they should be aired, and the incumbent should respond.

2:33:19So I will say that I do think it would be good, whoever the president and the vice president are, for them to have an agreement that in some way the vice president gets to hold the gavel periodically, so the vice president is used to holding the gavel and has that expertise.

2:33:34And I would like to hear a discussion of how we go about— the president will go about Balancing administration and council requests and how that's happened so far and how it might— why what's happened so far is good or how it might change in the future.

2:33:55So again, I really appreciate people being willing to state specific concerns.

2:34:00So I think this is the time to hear them and to hear responses to them.

2:34:05Thank you.

2:34:07Thank you, Councilor.

2:34:12Colleagues, seeing no one else in the queue, we will move.

2:34:14I thought you had an— I thought you were asking them.

2:34:18Would you like us to address out of the queue to give you that space?

2:34:22Uh, were you asking for a response?

2:34:24I think what I said implicitly asked for a response, but I did not— was not doing it directly.

2:34:31Councilor Koyama Lane, were you in the queue?

2:34:33I'll go back.

2:34:34Councilor Smith.

2:34:36Thank you, Madam President.

2:34:38I just want to say, you know, shared leadership, it can take any form or many forms.

2:34:42It doesn't always involve with literal sharing of the gavel between the president and others.

2:34:49Its necessity typically depends on the unique dynamics and objectives of the group.

2:34:55In our committee meetings, our advisory boards, we embrace the principle of shared leadership.

2:35:01Despite holding fewer council meetings, we have, we have maintained our effectiveness, and just like previous councils.

2:35:09And this was actually demonstrated when my amendment passed in August allowing us to increase the number of days from 2 meetings to 4 meetings as a full council.

2:35:21So of course, if you didn't have as many meetings, you wouldn't have— I don't consider that not being effective.

2:35:26Councilor Loretta Smith.

2:35:27What we need to do is we need to get a leader who is confident, who is secure, who is experienced, and who has demonstrated her ability to lead.

2:35:37That's why I'm still supporting, uh, President Elana Pirtle-Guiney for president for this year.

2:35:44And I wish we would call the question and take the vote.

2:35:49Thank you, Councilor.

2:35:52I guess I just have a process question.

2:35:56I mean, I think I'm really uncomfortable by the rigidity of the queue when this is an election, and if you're getting asked questions by councilors, this is the time to talk about them.

2:36:07So I guess I'm not, I'm not understanding why it's like you're kind of going with this, like it has to be, you got to be in the queue.

2:36:12I find that very frustrating because that kind of rigidity is actually a perfect example of So I feel like if you are getting questions from folks, and I'm happy to do that, I've been holding back, but I think this is very emblematic of my frustration, and I just want to name that.

2:36:32And I think that if you're getting asked questions, you don't need to get in the queue.

2:36:35I think you should— both of you should respond.

2:36:41Thank you, Councilor.

2:36:42There have been a number of Small questions and big direct questions asked.

2:36:47And I will say for myself, not as council president, but as a candidate, I'm choosing to respond to things a few at a time and try to hear from all of you and put myself in the queue when I feel like there are a group of things that I should respond to.

2:37:09And I've looked to Councilor Kanal when he wasn't in the queue and there was no one else there Councilor Kanal, if you need me to address you differently from the council president role, please let me know.

2:37:24Okay, Councilor Kanal, you are next in the queue.

2:37:27Thank you.

2:37:28I want to answer Councilor Novick's questions.

2:37:32There are 2 questions here.

2:37:33One is about balancing administration and council requests, and the other is about the role of the vice president.

2:37:39Thank you, Council President.

2:37:40So I'll start by talking about the balancing administration and council requests part.

2:37:44I think I spoke to that on the agenda setting side of things, but I think it's very difficult to give a very definitive answer to that.

2:37:51But I'll give you what I can.

2:37:52And the reason it's difficult to give a definitive answer is because we have a new city administrator.

2:37:56And I wanna make sure that we are talking through how his organization of the administration yields a flow That can be managed.

2:38:06And I don't think it would be fair for me to say I'm going to just impose something on someone that we just hired 12/0 and without even having the conversation.

2:38:16So that's the first thing I would say.

2:38:18But what I do know is that we can't make the assumption that because it comes from the administration, it is inherently more important to be on an earlier agenda and be earlier within that agenda.

2:38:31I think that's a fair point.

2:38:32We have to move towards some other system.

2:38:35There are ideas for criteria to use.

2:38:37I think within councilor items, it's nice to know it came out of committee.

2:38:40It's nice to know it had been discussed, vetted, perhaps even voted through with a unanimous opinion.

2:38:47It's nice to know if it has a lot of co-sponsors.

2:38:49That signifies things as well.

2:38:52The amount of time something takes.

2:38:54You know, some items are 20 minutes.

2:38:55You might be able to fit that in a meeting more You know, earlier meeting than a 40-minute item, for example.

2:39:01So those are things that I would talk about there.

2:39:03I can be much more specific about the vice president, and so I'll switch to that side of things.

2:39:09There's an episode of The West Wing where they're talking about whether or not to retain the vice president going into the second election, and the president writes a reason down on a paper, and when they flip it over later on, it says, because I could die.

2:39:22Right.

2:39:24And, you know, I don't mean to be negative, but I could walk out and get hit by a bus any day.

2:39:30I want to make sure that the Vice President is ready to go and is in a position to do that.

2:39:37I also think I want to acknowledge and show appreciation for all the work that's been done formally and informally by our current Vice President, including serving as a lead on federal issues, a formal role which I think provides a model.

2:39:48I've said from the beginning, I think that a Council President should share power and information broadly, it has to start with empowering the Vice President position.

2:39:55Everyone up here deserves to have two people you can go to for information or support, and we also need to have more clarity in what the role does.

2:40:04In code, there's not very much clarity at all.

2:40:07A couple ideas for how to do this: including the Vice President in the regularly scheduled meetings that are held with other branches—the mayor, the administration, the clerks.

2:40:15Office.

2:40:16Um, formalizing more responsibilities for the vice president.

2:40:19One specific idea is, is project development with Councilor Ryan and myself on the strategic planning session for later this month, or working with specific mediation or labor issues that need a short-term project leader, and chairing meetings when the president is a co-sponsor of legislation.

2:40:35Um, I think that's really important if you're a party to the conversation in a direct way, and that's something that Councilor Novick, you and I have done and modeled in the CAPS committee.

2:40:45If the council votes to have a committee of the whole, I would also suggest that the vice president either chair or co-chair it.

2:40:50I think we can have a council that is strong because all 12 of us are strong, and that starts from going from 1 to 2 with formalized authority on the way to 12.

2:40:59I'll also add that if chosen to be president, I would want someone with different politics from mine to be chosen as the council vice president.

2:41:06I think that was a good model in 2025.

2:41:09I think we should continue it in 2026.

2:41:12And the fact of, and the goal of empowering that person, even if they do have different politics from mine, is the good governance this council and Portlanders deserve.

2:41:21Thank you.

2:41:26I'd like to call the question.

2:41:30I'd like to call the question.

2:41:32We do have somebody else in the queue.

2:41:35Mr. Taylor, do we need to take a vote to call the question if somebody else is in the queue, or can we just call the question?

2:41:41A motion to call the question made by Councilor Smith.

2:41:44Is there a second?

2:41:46Second.

2:41:48Okay, colleagues, I don't believe this is a debatable motion.

2:41:53I think we move to a vote on whether to call the question.

2:41:59A vote to call the question?

2:42:00I thought it was automatic.

2:42:02No, no, no, it's not.

2:42:04And it's only me.

2:42:05I'm with you.

2:42:06Oh, sorry about that, Vice President.

2:42:09Keelan, go right ahead.

2:42:10No.

2:42:12No.

2:42:15Yes.

2:42:16I want to hear from the Vice President.

2:42:18No.

2:42:20Yes.

2:42:24No.

2:42:25No.

2:42:25No.

2:42:29No.

2:42:30No.

2:42:34No.

2:42:36The motion fails with 4 yes votes and 8 no votes.

2:42:40Council Vice President, go right ahead.

2:42:42Yeah, I'm happy to go next, but Council President, if you would like to respond to Councilor Novick's questions, I'm happy to defer to you.

2:42:49I do intend to, though I suspect you may have other questions.

2:42:52So I will wait and let you go right ahead.

2:42:55So I do want to emphasize that the council presidency was never designed to be specifically held by one person year after year, especially at the very beginning of this brand new form of government.

2:43:08I do think that what we do now doesn't just decide this year in this moment.

2:43:12It does set expectations for how power operates under this system.

2:43:18I do believe concentrating leadership at the outset risks recreating actually the very dynamics that our voters overwhelmingly agreed that we needed to move away from.

2:43:29I also think that 2 consecutive terms should raise the bar.

2:43:34I think if a council president were to serve a second consecutive year, that decision should require overwhelming support.

2:43:40Otherwise, then I think it is showing that the role belongs to a person rather than the whole body.

2:43:46Councilor Smith.

2:43:47And I believe that if a leader has genuine commitment to building the bench, I believe that sometimes that building the bench looks like knowing when to step aside, when to lean into a different type of role, possibly one that's more supportive, where knowledge and experience can be shared, and give a chance for other colleagues to step up.

2:44:07I also want to highlight that the colleague that I intend to continue supporting, Councilor Kanal, Is clearly capable.

2:44:15He is these things that Councilor Smith just said— confident, secure, experienced.

2:44:21He has a partner that he's worked with all year, a committee co-chair who speaks highly of him.

2:44:28And I wrote this down, correct me if I quote you wrong, said, I enjoyed working with him very much as co-chair of Public Safety.

2:44:36That is something that I like to hear.

2:44:38Thank you.

2:44:39I don't think necessarily that there's one right way to lead.

2:44:44I think someone else was saying this, maybe it was Councilor Ryan.

2:44:48Every councilor is going to have different strengths and different growth areas.

2:44:54That's a feature.

2:44:56I do believe that our body benefits from experiencing multiple leadership styles, multiple approaches to collaboration, different ways to move forward, to keep things moving forward.

2:45:08And there are, there are some styles that are— it's not the only way.

2:45:14They're a little bit more political.

2:45:16I think what we, we have seen in other bodies where it's, it's about the agenda control and making negotiations behind the scenes and, and transactional deal-making.

2:45:26And, and that is one way to do things, but it's not the only way.

2:45:30And I do think right now we need to be modeling transparency, Collaborative leadership that brings people along working collaboratively.

2:45:38That includes working with the vice president that is elected into this role.

2:45:42And that can look like a lot of different ways.

2:45:44I know I've been asked for specifics.

2:45:45It can look like passing the gavel from time to time.

2:45:48It could also be as simple as including that colleague into meetings, such as the weekly meeting with the clerk that I have tried for a year to get into but have not been included in.

2:45:59Councilor And the refusal and the gatekeeping around that, it does make me nervous.

2:46:05And I will say, for my experience, public trust is, is really high, is growing.

2:46:12Um, I will have constituents on the side that stop me on the street and they just go, oh my gosh, I'm watching these, these, uh, meetings and I never have before.

2:46:20I've had some teenagers say that they stayed up late watching these meetings, and it's amazing.

2:46:26And also That trust is fragile.

2:46:29The public is feeling genuinely represented right now.

2:46:32We need to reinforce that trust by modeling democratic practices internally, and we have a chance to do that right now.

2:46:39Thank you.

2:46:39Thank you, Councilor.

2:46:46Colleagues, I put myself in the queue to address a few of the things that have been raised.

2:46:55And I want to address one specifically, which is the role of the vice president.

2:47:01When we started out a year ago, I actually had pitched myself to all of you as a potential candidate for vice president.

2:47:08And I said, I think this is a role where somebody can take on special projects.

2:47:12And in this first year, I think this is a role where somebody can help to provide the structure structure for our governance while the president has to do the job of running the day-to-day and some very administrative tasks.

2:47:27And that is in fact exactly the role that I asked Vice President Koyama Lane to step into.

2:47:33I think that shared leadership can look a lot of different ways, and I think it is critical.

2:47:40It doesn't always look like doing the exact same thing and being in every room because it It should look like expanding capacity between the two.

2:47:50And Council Vice President, I have wanted you to be in a leadership position, and that's why I asked at a time when our city faced the most incredible threat by the Trump administration if you would be in charge of our federal response.

2:48:05And you expanded our stakeholder engagement, our work with the administration, our work across the city with grassroots organizations, and truly set up our city to effectively prevent a federal invasion.

2:48:23And I am incredibly grateful to you for taking that on.

2:48:27In our first year, facing a real need for governance structures, I asked you to take that on in the governance Councilor Smith.

2:48:37Thank you, Mayor.

2:48:38Thank you, Councilor Herbold, for the opportunity to speak to this committee.

2:48:40Our governance structures was a piece of what I ran on, actually, in my campaign.

2:48:44It's something I care very much about.

2:48:46It's something that I have had the opportunity to see work and not work in other structures, and that I had a lot of thoughts and ideas about.

2:48:56But I wanted to have somebody else lead on that because I knew that I wouldn't have the time as council president to do it in the way that I hoped Councilor Smith.

2:49:06Thank you, Mayor.

2:49:06I think that this is a very important ordinance.

2:49:06It's something that I hoped it would be done, and I knew that you, with your background as an educator and an organizer, bringing people together, seeing different ideas and thinking about how we might work together, would make you incredibly strong in helping to lead that work.

2:49:25And I value the work that we did together where you gave me an opportunity to bring things forward in governance And also the work that you did without me, where you brought things forward there to help give us the foundation that we have today.

2:49:40Councilor Novick, you asked specifically about the gavel, and I am absolutely open in, in any role as a council president or any other leadership role in sharing a gavel and giving other people an opportunity to hold a gavel.

2:49:58I never worried that if I had to miss a meeting, we would be in, in a bad situation because I knew that the Council Vice President would be able to jump in.

2:50:11I also knew that when I said a few times that I might have to miss a meeting, we had conversations about what that would look like.

2:50:20And frankly, Council Vice President, I Never heard from you that you wanted to hold the gavel more until today.

2:50:28So I hope that whoever the next leadership team is can have those frank discussions.

2:50:36Colleagues, there were a few other questions that were asked around agendas and agenda setting, and I just want to be clear that almost every Thursday our chiefs sit down together.

2:50:49To talk about what's coming.

2:50:51And your chiefs receive a spreadsheet with information about requests from the administration and from the executive about what they'd like on agendas.

2:51:04And most of the time, by the time those things get to that spreadsheet, DCAs have already had conversations with those of you Who are running relevant committees about the timing for those items moving through committee and then hopefully to the council agenda.

2:51:26Where I have had information about agenda items that councilors are bringing forward as early as I get that information from the administration and from the executive, I have tried to ensure that I pencil those things in for time on agendas as well.

2:51:44But sometimes I don't know about things coming from councilors as early as I hear about things coming from the administration.

2:51:51That information from the administration, though, is available to all of us.

2:51:56I see it just a few days before you do, and then I make sure it gets to all of your chiefs.

2:52:03I asked that we put things on there from councilors, and I flag in meetings where I see that information things coming from councilors and have numerous times told the administration and the executive that they in fact could not have as many things on an agenda as they were asking for because I knew there were big items coming from councilors that would need to be on those agendas and we would need to make time for them.

2:52:27I can only operate with the information I receive from the administration, from the executive, and from my colleagues here in order to plan ahead, but I've tried to do that.

2:52:37I know a lot of people have said what matters more, what gets seen first.

2:52:41And Councilor Kanal, I appreciate that in your response you talked about the amount of time something would take, because when I build an agenda, the number one thing that I am looking at is not who brought an issue forward.

2:52:54It is how much time will this take and how much time do we have on the agenda.

2:52:59What has to come because there is a deadline, be it budgetary, something put forward by the state that the administration is trying to respond to, or a deadline to get something moving that a councilor brings forward because if it's not enacted by a certain date, we won't be able to achieve the goal.

2:53:17Where are there deadlines?

2:53:19What's going to take a long time?

2:53:23And what else has been requested that we can fill in in that meeting?

2:53:28We generally in a meeting have time for one meaty item, one item that is controversial or asks a bigger policy question or might draw a lot of public comment.

2:53:41All of those things can lead something to be not a 20 or a 30-minute item, but a 60 or a 90-minute item.

2:53:46We generally have time for one of those a meeting.

2:53:49And it is more often that those meaty items come from councilors.

2:53:56Not exclusively.

2:53:57There have been items from the administration that are meaty.

2:54:00There have been items from councilors that are not.

2:54:03But it is more, more often by percent that those meaty items come from councilors.

2:54:09We can only fit one of those on an agenda, which means that there are times where a few of those come out of committees in a week and some have to wait.

2:54:18And I think that's a good thing.

2:54:19So that we have enough time to hear from the public and dive into the policy questions and take on things that are meaty.

2:54:26And I will tell you that more than who something comes from or whether or not I think it should move forward, the things that are driving my decisions have been, is there a deadline?

2:54:40What's the meaty item that we're going to take on in this agenda?

2:54:44And what else can we fit in around that?

2:54:47And then in the what else can we fit in around that, when was it requested?

2:54:51How long have we known about this?

2:54:53Is this something where folks have already asked for a date, whether that comes from the administration, the executive, or all of you?

2:54:59And I just want to clarify that because I don't know that I've always been clear about what that process is and what that thinking is.

2:55:04And I think I've taken for granted sometimes this year the benefit of the doubt.

2:55:10Yeah.

2:55:11That I might have from all of you, or perhaps don't have.

2:55:17But that's the process that I have used.

2:55:21I have also tried to push us to plan ahead more with the goal of having that information, as I said, available to the public earlier.

2:55:33Having the, The time certain agenda.

2:55:38It's a really great idea, and I will wholly admit that it's not one that I thought of.

2:55:45I have been pushing hard to have things posted earlier so people could see them, but haven't used the time certain.

2:55:53It's certainly something that if I am reelected, I will endeavor to do.

2:55:59I think it's an incredibly good idea, and I appreciate your insights and your experience Having served on the staff side for our city and having seen that, I think it's an important part of how we can move forward.

2:56:15I also want to address this issue of leadership transition because while I don't know what will happen over the next year and who else will be interested in running for council president, I can tell you that.

2:56:31If I don't make a commitment here today that I won't run again, my wife is going to be very disappointed because the job of council president takes a lot of time.

2:56:42And I have said clearly that I am honored that some of our colleagues asked me to do this again.

2:56:49I would be honored to serve all of us again in order to continue the work that I started this year.

2:56:57In order to continue helping us move in the direction of setting up our council.

2:57:02But I have absolutely no intention of running for a 3rd term.

2:57:07I have absolutely no intention of making this role about me or my personality or how I would choose to do things.

2:57:16And I have every intention after this year of asking whoever is the next council president Councilor Smith.

2:57:23Thank you, Mayor.

2:57:23I'm looking forward to being able to serve on some of the committees that I've been serving on for some great policy committees that I'd like to serve on, something I haven't gotten to do this year, and spending the final 2 years of my term focusing on some of that other work.

2:57:37So I just want to make that clear so that you all know how I'm looking at this next year.

2:57:44With that, I would again be honored to have your Thank you, Council President.

2:57:56I guess I want to say that, you know, I think that to express the elephant in the room is that I think that we actually genuinely care about each other and maintaining relationships.

2:58:08And so I think people have had hard discussions with one another behind— not behind closed doors, but with relationship building and as individuals, and I don't think that's always a negative thing.

2:58:22So I fully trust that Councilor Koyama Lane, who I have found to be very forthright, that she had some of those hard discussions with you.

2:58:30And I think that I would like clarity from you as to why she was kept out of certain administrative meetings, because I do think that in her role as Vice President, Councilor Koyama Lane has done an extensive amount of invisible labor to keep this council going, to keep relationships going, to protect us at the federal level from ICE and other issues that are encroaching upon my community specifically.

2:58:58So I think I want more explanation as to why she was kept out of certain meetings or what the rationale was behind that decision-making, because I think that she has asked for that.

2:59:08Publicly, or, you know, with you many times.

2:59:12I would also say that when we are doing agenda setting, something that I've come up against as a councilor is that you are essentially punished on the agenda if you do have a meaty substantive policy.

2:59:22Of course, if you have a resolution that just says, hey, bureau, have you considered looking for funding during a funding crisis?

2:59:29We are directing you to do that.