Finance & Governance Committee (Whole)

5:21Yeah, just one to Alderman Good morning, everyone.

5:39Um, before we officially gavel it in, um, remembering not to hit the gavel, uh, before we officially start, I wanted to pass it over.

5:48Welcome to the, the meeting of the Committee of the Whole.

5:50I'm going to pass it over to our Vice Chair, Councilor Ryan, to, uh, welcome some guests in and, and do a pre-gavel.

5:55Well, thank you, Councilor Kanal.

5:57It's a pleasure to, um, have some really special guests here this morning.

6:01Every year we always have the opportunity to meet the Rose Princesses that are representing our city near and far, and it's just a— it's a pure delight for us to get to know you just a little bit.

6:14So I know that you always have a song prepared or some little bit prepared, and we'll get to hear that now.

6:21And I just want to thank all of you in advance for diving into this.

6:26It's— I know you're getting a scholarship at the end of it, but you're also working really hard to represent our city.

6:31Thank you.

6:32In the state and even abroad for whoever becomes the Queen, of course.

6:37And I just wanna thank you all and I really look forward to always hearing about who you are and where you'll be going in life.

6:43So welcome to the Council Chambers.

6:45This is where we have lovely meetings to decide things like our budget and where we pass policy.

6:50So you're welcome here anytime.

6:52I turn it over to the good people at the Rose Festival and it's all yours.

6:56Thanks.

7:02Hello, we are the 2026 Rose Festival Court.

7:06We would like to take a moment to introduce ourselves and let you know what is happening during this year's Rose Festival.

7:13Olivia.

7:14Hi, my name is Olivia Baker.

7:15I'm a senior at St. Mary's Academy.

7:17Throughout high school, I've made it an effort to engage with my community and help to create welcoming environments.

7:23Honoring the courage it takes to step into a leadership position is why the Queen's Coronation is my favorite Rose Festival event.

7:30Join us June 5th under the gazebo at Oregon Square Park.

7:33You don't want to miss this longstanding Rose Festival tradition.

7:37Avery.

7:38Hi, my name is Avery Mullins and I'm a junior at McDaniel High School.

7:41Spending quality time with my family at the City Fair each spring is something that I look forward to all year long.

7:47From carnival rides and hula performances to magicians and interactive exhibits, there's something for everyone.

7:52Also, you can expect to see some exciting new artists performing throughout the early evening.

7:56There will be constant entertainment at this year's City Fair running May 22nd through June 7th.

8:02Maddie!

8:03Hello everyone, my name is Maddie Green and I'm a senior at San Barlow High School, and being out on the water is one of my favorite pastimes.

8:12Joining the water polo team as a freshman taught me determination and leadership.

8:16The Royal Rosarian Milk Carton Race combines these attributes along with teamwork and a sturdy boat to ensure a thrilling race.

8:24Entries are set to make a splash in the casting pond in Westmoreland Park on Sunday, June 28th, and I hope to see you there.

8:32Hello everyone, my name is Gigi Youngsumchiko and I am a junior at Franklin High School.

8:38Leaning into my Tibetan heritage on stage through dance has truly shown me how important cultural representation is.

8:43And the Rose Festival celebrates many different communities and cultural groups, making our city feel bright, alive, and connected.

8:49The annual Rose Festival auction makes it possible for the nonprofit foundation to support and celebrate with these different communities.

8:55So please remember to save the date for this year's Rose Festival auction on October 8th.

9:00Annika!

9:01Hi, my name is Annika Rigby, and I'm a junior at Lincoln High School.

9:05As a garden lover, one of my favorite places in Portland is the International Rose Test Garden.

9:09And did you know the Rose Festival has a store there?

9:12The Rose Garden store sells everything that looks like a rose, smells like a rose, tastes like a rose, has a rose on it, or is about growing roses.

9:19Come visit the garden and the store, open now through September.

9:23Adora.

9:24Hi, my name is Adora Tran, and I'm a junior at Benson Polytechnic High School.

9:28In my free time, I enjoy playing tennis, volleyball, and biking.

9:32I currently play volleyball and tennis for Benson, which brings me a lot of joy.

9:36The Starlight Run is Portland's most spirited 5K run and portrays a community in wacky costumes as they take on this dash throughout downtown.

9:44Signups are open until race day, June 6th.

9:48Sierra.

9:49Hello everyone, my name is Sierra Rowden and I'm a senior at Parkrose High School.

9:54As an experienced student leader, setting an example for my fellow classmates is something I'm very proud of and inspired by.

9:59The Portland Rose Festival is fortunate to lead the way by being one of the few U.S. ports of call Next up, we have the annual Pride of Portland Festival of Boats.

10:11This annual celebration of Portland's maritime history is a celebration of our rich maritime history.

10:12This annual arrival of these ships catches the attention of the entire city.

10:15Please visit the waterfront June 4th through 7th to gaze at these engineering wonders.

10:21Nia.

10:21Hi everyone, my name is Nia Moore and I'm a senior at Central Catholic High School.

10:25Serving my community members and working closely with kids and families has helped me Thank you, Councilor Smith.

10:38Next we have Lydia Yudego.

10:46Hi everyone, my name is Lydia Yudego and I'm a senior at David Douglas High School.

10:52One of my favorite places to visit is the OHSU View area in Southwest Portland.

10:57The stunning view, especially from the aerial tram, is absolutely breathtaking.

11:01This year, the Portland Rose Festival will have 2 stunning views with 2 fireworks displays.

11:06Come celebrate America's 250th birthday with a spectacular fireworks show at City Fair.

11:11This dazzling display will light up the Portland skyline May 30th and be seen all the way from the tram.

11:17We hope to see you there.

11:20Hi, my name is Sophie LaFrance, and I'm a senior senior at Ida B.

11:22Wells High School.

11:24I enjoy spending time admiring the gorgeous architecture and stunning gardens all over Portland.

11:29For the duration of the Rose Festival, the Bloom Tour makes Portland come to life with creations from local florists, artists, and downtown retailers.

11:37Take a stroll from, from May 22nd to June 7th along the curated route, a perfect blend of walking tour and floral show.

11:45Hi, I'm Caitlin Alexander, and I'm a junior at Cleveland High Visiting the Willamette River has always been one of my favorite things to do.

11:54This led me to join dragon boat racing as soon as I could.

11:58Having the opportunity to be my team's flag catcher is a dream that I was able to accomplish.

12:03This year you can see the Rose Festival dragon boat races on June 6th and June 7th at South Hawthorne Waterfront Park.

12:10We hope to see you there to watch an incredible spectacle.

12:14Brianna!

12:16Hi there, my name is Breanna Michaud and I'm a junior at Grant High School.

12:20Running has become a crucial part of my life, a passion I've been deeply committed to during my high school career.

12:26As an avid runner, I'm excited to watch the brand new Rose Festival Street Mile on May 30th.

12:31This fast-paced event showcases athleticism of all types, starting the morning off with the family run and turning up the tempo with elite and competitive runners in timed heats.

12:42This event will take place before the Fred Meyer Jr. Rose Festival Parade in the Hollywood District on Sandy Boulevard.

12:49Thank you for hosting the 2026 Rose Festival Court.

12:53We look forward to seeing you at this year's Rose Festival.

13:03I know you have a really tight schedule and you'll have to leave basically now.

13:07I'm getting an eye from the back, but I just want to acknowledge Caitlin is our flag catcher for our team.

13:14In the dragon boat race, which our big race will be on June 6th at noon.

13:19We'll be going against the mayor's team, which is basically all the bulky security people that work here.

13:26Way to go, mayor.

13:27And against the Kaohsiung City Council.

13:30And so it's gonna be a lot of fun.

13:32And Caitlin, thank you for bearing with us.

13:37It's great to meet all of you.

13:38And thank you, councilors, for allowing us to keep this tradition alive of allowing the princesses to come in and say hello to us.

13:45To kick off Rose Festival.

13:47Thank you.

13:48Thank you.

13:50Thanks, Councilor.

13:51Yeah, welcome.

13:53Thank you, Councilor Ryan.

13:54Thanks everyone for coming in.

13:55And with that, I will formally gavel in today's meeting of the Committee of the Whole.

14:02Uh, could we please call the roll?

14:04Good morning.

14:05Pirtle-Guiney?

14:08Here.

14:10Koyama Lane?

14:11Here.

14:13Morillo?

14:14Here.

14:15Novick?

14:16Here.

14:17Clark?

14:18Here.

14:19Green?

14:20Here.

14:21Zimmerman?

14:21Here.

14:23Avalos?

14:23Present.

14:24Dunphy?

14:26Smith?

14:28Kanal?

14:29Present.

14:32And, uh, Christopher, will you please read the statement of conduct?

14:35Welcome to the meeting of the Finance and Governance Committee of the Whole.

14:38To testify before this committee in person or virtually, you must sign up in advance on the committee agenda at Information on engaging with the committee can be found at this link.

14:52Registration for virtual testimony closes 1 hour prior to the meeting.

14:55In-person testifiers must sign up before the agenda item is heard.

14:57If public testimony will be taken on an item, individuals may testify for 3 minutes unless the chair states otherwise.

15:02Your microphone will be muted when your time is over.

15:04The chair preserves order.

15:05Disruptive conduct such as shouting, refusing to conclude your testimony when your time is up, Or interrupting others' testimony or committee deliberations will not be allowed.

15:12If you cause a disruption, a warning will be given.

15:14Further disruption will result in ejection from the meeting.

15:16Anyone who fails to leave once ejected is subject to arrest for trespass.

15:19Additionally, the committee may take a short recess and reconvene virtually.

15:23Your testimony should address the matter being considered.

15:24When testifying, state your name for the record.

15:26If you're a lobbyist, identify the organization you represent.

15:29Virtual testifiers should unmute themselves when the clerk calls your name.

15:31Thank you.

15:32Thank you, Christopher.

15:34Today's meeting has 3 items on it.

15:36We're doing the Chair's Updates, which we're gonna be doing at the top of every meeting.

15:40Just to give a little insight on what's coming up next and things that may be of interest to the public as well as councilors.

15:46And we have 2 rounds of appointments, one to members of the Urban Forestry Commission and one group of members for the Sustainability and Climate Commission.

15:56Today will likely end a little bit early.

15:59Just wanted to flag that.

16:00And I think nobody's gonna complain too heavily if we get a little time back.

16:03And we will get through both of these and then you'll see what's coming up in the Chair's Update.

16:09So with that, will you please read the first item?

16:12Item Item 1, committee chair updates.

16:14Thank you.

16:14So, um, for the public, this is going to be posted online on the item, um, shortly if not already.

16:20For councilors, it's handed out to you, um, but I wanted to give a brief update of what's coming up next in the Committee of the Whole.

16:27There have been a lot of items which have been speculated about, um, or suggested to come to the committee, and I'm going to use this opportunity to talk a little bit about what is locked in, what's tentatively, uh, penciled in, and what may eventually end up coming as well.

16:43So next week we are canceling the meeting.

16:45I did tell everyone a while ago that we'd cancel either the 4th or the 11th based on the budget calendar and just looking at how the budget notes are going to end up being discussed in a work session instead of here.

16:57This meeting next week will not happen.

16:59Again, I don't think anyone's going to complain about getting a few hours of their Thursday morning back.

17:03And then beyond that, we start to have a few things that are tentatively penciled in, including the auditor's report.

17:09Which is an annual event that occurs right around the time that the list of audit topics are released.

17:14We have PSEF committee appointments coming up the following week, which will be a lighter schedule because the 17th is the afternoon, the Wednesday afternoon meeting leading into the evening council meeting.

17:25My intention is to have as many of the sort of the appointments that are not likely to spark larger, broader conversations beyond the appointments themselves, ideally on those Wednesday afternoon meetings.

17:38So that we are able to end those on time and ensure that the council meeting in the evening is not affected by that.

17:45On the 25th will be a larger scale conversation because this is a different type of appointment.

17:50There are appointments coming for Home Forward and its board.

17:54I also have tentatively scheduled a presentation discussion on housing providers in the city.

18:00And then beyond that, there's a few things that are not yet penciled in, but I did wanna flag that we are doing our regular reporting on Vision Zero on July 23rd.

18:07Yes.

18:10And then sometime in late July and early August, we've been notified by Council President's office and the administration, that is when we first start discussing the term sheet for the Moda Center conversation.

18:23I have no information beyond the 3 words of Moda term sheet on that one yet, but I'm hoping that we can get a better idea of what that's going to exactly entail in future chair updates leading up to that.

18:35I also wanted to flag that there are a few topics for potential council oversight hearings that have been discussed.

18:43These are not scheduled or confirmed yet, but contract accountability, Home Forward, nonprofit housing providers and shelter providers, and resident safety are all things that have been discussed in the last few weeks as potential topics for future oversight hearings.

18:58Again, those are not confirmed, let alone scheduled, but wanted to flag that that was coming up as well.

19:04And then further things that have been suggested.

19:07I have been listening as our conversations, especially over the course of the budget, have included councilors mentioning things like pass-through money accountability as something to look at, fire and police disability and retirement as a topic, assessing manager positions at the city.

19:25You know, this was the conversation around DCAs, directors, deputy directors, managers.

19:30There's the council rules item.

19:32There's also a phase 2 on the appointed boards and commissions project, which is coming out of Civic Life.

19:41There's some ambiguity as to the timing of all of those, so they're not penciled in here, but I did want to mention that those are all things that we're aware of.

19:49There's also a couple budget notes, one related to how we structure the budget, how it's laid out.

19:56There was a budget note that direct— last year that directed the City Budget Office to develop and present to council a set of options for restructuring the fiscal year '26-'27 budget format.

20:06Those obviously are not going to be implemented in time for this year's budget, but we are hopefully going to talk about them in the summer with the hopes of them informing how the fiscal year '27-'28 budget is structured.

20:17And I'm quoting here from the note, these options should explore enhanced line item detail, program-level structuring, and other formats that enable council to more effectively review, amend, and engage with the budget.

20:27In a manner consistent with its legislative responsibilities.

20:31And the goal is to ensure the council has meaningful visibility, and it continues from there.

20:35I just wanted to flag all those things so that you know that they're coming up.

20:39My intention— last time we did this exclusively verbally, I said we'd have a written report.

20:43My intention is that as we go further, these will get a little bit more detailed with things as we have items filed by deputy city administrators and/or but that's what we have on the radar coming up at the Committee of the Whole.

21:00Just wanted to flag for everybody.

21:02And I think with that, I see 2 questions.

21:06So I'm going to go to Councilor Zimmerman, then Councilor Green.

21:10Thanks.

21:14It's unfortunate that the council president's not here, but I would just say I think that it seems a little bit aggressive to have your 11th and 17th there, given that he has scheduled such a small amount of time for the final adoption of the budget.

21:27So I guess I always kind of assumed that that would probably take over this committee's time, and I, I want to just highlight it for you because those are some pretty important appointments.

21:39But, um, I'm not sure why the council president did 3 straight days for the approved budget and has scheduled just 1 short meeting for the adopted.

21:48But the Finance and Governance Committee of the Whole offers another, you know, 2.5 to 3-hour tranche that— I say that because, um, one, I think we should be programming forward, and, and two, that makes it easier if you're not stuck to these appointments happening during that time.

22:08And then secondly, given that we have— I have some questions about Home Forward board appointments.

22:15So who's bringing that forward?

22:15I am.

22:17That's going to require a lot of discussion.

22:19Yeah.

22:19And I want a lot of vetting.

22:21So let me start with the first question.

22:23Yeah.

22:24I agree with you on both, just to not bury the lead here.

22:27My assumption has been that if the adopted budget needs more time, the June 11th meeting is the Thursday morning meeting.

22:35And my assumption has been that the 10th meeting would be extended, which is the Wednesday morning council meeting.

22:41And that would be where additional time for the budget would likely end up first.

22:45But I think you're right that it could also extend into Thursday.

22:48We haven't locked in these times with anybody because of exactly that level of ambiguity.

22:53And if we need more time for the adopted budget, there will be absolutely no pushback from me on ensuring there's time for the adopted budget.

23:00That's appreciated.

23:01Thank you.

23:01Yeah.

23:02And then to the second point, 100%.

23:05I don't know where the Home Forward board appointments are coming from.

23:09For those who don't know, there are 5 that are, well, 4 that are coming from the City of Portland plus a 5th that's traditionally been appointed by the City of Portland of among— as a resident representative to the 9-member Home Forward board.

23:21There are also 2 from the City of Gresham and 2 from Multnomah County.

23:24Historically, the ones from Multnomah County and Gresham have been treated more deferentially by council, whereas we get into the details on the ones that are city ones.

23:34I don't know which ones they're going to be.

23:36I know there are 2 vacancies on the Home Forward board right now.

23:39I also don't know if there's another anticipated vacancy.

23:41I hope it's all of them, whether they're currently serving a full term or not.

23:46I think everyone needs to be reviewed.

23:48So I, I, I say that to put that flag out in the middle of whatever, to say no pass-throughs, right?

23:56Home Forward needs resuscitation, and it's going to happen publicly.

24:00So, um, I hope that as you figure out who it is that's going to bring those forward, um, that you let us know.

24:07So because I'm sure a few of us have at least some nominees.

24:11Some nominees and some interested parties, and I'm looking for a very different flavor of leadership.

24:16So I think that one's going to be time-consuming.

24:20Yeah, I think, uh, 2 things on that.

24:21One is I'm going to, as I get more information, make sure it's in here and build it out a little bit more.

24:27I think you're right to say it's going to take some time.

24:29My intention is that there is nothing else besides the Home Forward discussion on the meeting in which the Home Forward discussion occurs.

24:36Thank you.

24:36And that gives us officially 3 hours to have it.

24:39If there's more needed on that, and I have a feeling that outside of the context of the appointments, there will probably need to be more conversation than 3 hours can provide.

24:48I think that's why it's also on the list of potential oversight topics.

24:51But I imagine that once we start talking about it, we'll be talking about it.

24:54And I want to just, a personal point, if you are able to schedule it later in the, even the following week or more, I would consider it personally helpful.

25:03That'll be a meeting that I'm very unlikely to make and maybe can make virtually, but certainly of high interest.

25:10But if you're— if this is a proposed but loosely scheduled item, I just offer that up as a request.

25:17Thank you.

25:17Appreciate it.

25:18And one last note, July 1st is a council recess, as is July— or I should say July 2nd.

25:24And then so is July— sorry, August 19th and 27th will both be recesses as well.

25:31Councilor Green.

25:33Thank you, Chair Kanal.

25:34Thanks for the written list.

25:36It's really helpful for me to see the visibility coming forward.

25:40Just 2 questions for you.

25:41One, is sort of June 4th canceled because you're just trying to create a little space or lack of a topic, or is it column A or column B?

25:52A little column A, a little column B.

25:54There's a— I think it's largely there are a few things coming from the administration that aren't fully through the process yet.

25:59Filed, things like that.

26:00And then also the intent— we penciled in the entire meeting to discuss budget notes, and, uh, Council President made the June 3rd, uh, meeting for, uh, a work session on budget notes.

26:11Yeah, I thank you.

26:12I, um, I don't know if it's possible, but I, I would, I would urge us to use that, that time slot to have, uh, an initial conversation on, um, Urban Alchemy oversight, just because it's such an Pressing topic.

26:26We failed to pass a budget amendment that would do that oversight.

26:30And so I think it is incumbent upon this committee to do that oversight sooner rather than later.

26:36So just a suggestion there.

26:39The second piece is I recently attended a resiliency fair in Linton, and one of the topics of conversation was the CEI hub.

26:50And there was a desire from folks who are tracking and engaging with that policy development to have some kind of a conversation around it that's less formal than a presentation by the bureau.

27:03And the Committee of the Whole could be a place to have that sort of conversation.

27:07And so I would really urge us to think about maybe programming in some space in the summer to have that conversation.

27:16And the desire was the Committee of the Whole because they want all councilors So just a suggestion.

27:25Heard.

27:26Thanks.

27:27Thank you, Councilor Green.

27:28And just for transparency, when a topic comes up, we make sure that council president and, and other committee chairs are able to say, hey, this is the reason it should be in this other committee instead before locking it in.

27:38That doesn't mean it's like we get whatever's left.

27:40It just means there's a conversation.

27:42But I'm definitely going to put that on the list of things to bring up.

27:46Thank you.

27:47Seeing no one else in the queue, we're going to move on to the next item.

27:51Uh, Rebecca, will you please call the next item?

27:55Item 2, appoint and reappoint members to the Urban Forestry Commission.

28:01Okay, we're going to welcome up, uh, Director of Portland Parks and Recreation Sonia Schimanski, and I'm not sure who else is coming up, but Priscilla Salina.

28:09Yeah, good morning.

28:11Morning.

28:12I'm Sonya Szymanski.

28:13I'm Interim Director of Portland Parks and Recreation, and we are very happy to be with you today to share our proposed new and continuing appointees to this commission.

28:22I'm also really happy to be here on Rose Festival Day.

28:25We are, uh, at the Parks Bureau, a new sponsor of the Milk Carton Boat Race, and we're proud to be featuring it as part of our summer free-for-all lineup.

28:33So catch that one.

28:36Priscilla, go ahead.

28:39So as I mentioned, here to bring you appointments for 3 new and 3 continuing members for the Urban Forestry Commission volunteer body.

28:47Plays a crucial advisory role managing Portland's trees, informing policies related to the urban forest, budget proposals, and more.

28:57Next slide, Priscilla.

28:59We have a short overview of the commission and the proposed appointees, and then you'll have a chance to hear from most of them.

29:052 Are here in person, 3 are joining virtually due to work schedules, and one of our reappointments is so smart that she's traveling and is unable to join us today.

29:16If you're interested, we have a prerecorded video, and if you're not, we can skip that part.

29:22Priscilla, thank you.

29:25The Urban Forestry Commission, you may know this, is an 11-member volunteer body advising on a variety of topics related to trees.

29:34Per city code, their duties include weighing in on plans, policies, and projects affecting urban forestry matters, advising relevant bureaus, of which there are now at least 2, and executive leadership on budget development, advancing Title 11 updates and heritage tree recommendations to council.

29:53And they have one other duty that I'm going to be a little bit more expansive about.

29:585 Members of the commission sit as the Urban Forestry Appeals Board, which hears and decides non-development permit appeals.

30:06That mostly means tree removals.

30:08Development permit appeals are heard by the Code Hearings Officer.

30:13We have a goal of providing clear, fair, accessible appeals processes for permit customers citywide, including in our bureau, and we are reviewing this aspect of the commission's role through the Title 11 amendment project underway now.

30:29We are looking at peer city practices and at appeal processes for other permit types here at the city, and we'll be seeking feedback from Portlanders who've interacted with the permit system.

30:40As part of that project, we anticipate releasing proposed amendments for public review and feedback next spring and submitting recommended amendments to you next fall.

30:51I reached out in early March, which was the beginning of the very intensive budget stretch for you to offer information and conversation about the code update project.

31:03And now that potentially that most intensive part of budget development is behind you, I want to reiterate that offer to come and speak with you about what you expect or hope or anticipate seeing in that code review process, either as topics for review and consideration or as outcomes.

31:21The more that we can hear from you about what you want us to be looking at and what you're hoping to see come back, the better process So watch for an email from me.

31:31I'm going to be back in touch to re-extend that offer.

31:34Next slide, Priscilla.

31:37The recruitment process for this body looks a lot like it does for other bodies citywide.

31:41It tracks the Office of Community and Civic Life standard procedures, including a uniform application and an optional demographic survey.

31:51This process was also informed by lessons from related advisory bodies like the Planning Commission and the Sustainability Committee.

31:57Sustainability and Climate Commission.

31:58I think we were here with them last year.

32:01They got really good feedback, and so we followed up with them to learn how they had done that process.

32:07This opportunity, you can see, was posted for 3 months starting last September.

32:11We had just over 35 applications, including folks from all 4 districts.

32:17Half of them completed the optional demographic survey, which includes information you may know about racial and ethnic identity, household income, gender identity, and more.

32:28Although that database doesn't link demographic information to applicants, so we get a snapshot of what came in, but we cannot correspond information to individuals.

32:40The application does also include date of birth and home address so that we can verify where people are located.

32:46We promoted this opportunity also through Rose City Connection, through our own newsletters, through LinkedIn, and through a lot of direct outreach to partner and community organizations including folks who contract with the city.

33:02That's a perspective we think is really valuable.

33:05We did direct outreach to neighborhood associations in areas of low canopy or low income.

33:11Those are priority areas for this work through the Portland Parks Board at monthly meetings and in other places.

33:17I'm going to call out a few organizations.

33:20This is not comprehensive, but I want to share specifically some places we reached out to in District 1, where we always are looking for greater representation and perspective.

33:30We reached out to Green Lens, to the African Community Development Center, to Rosewood Initiative, which actually led to a proposed appointee, the Somali Oregon Service Center, Thrive East PDX, and neighborhood associations in Parkrose, Argay, Parkrose Heights, Hazelwood, and Mill Park.

33:52Staff selected 6 candidates to interview.

33:56And they met with a panel that included our folks as well as Bureau of Planning and Sustainability staff.

34:02In reviewing and selecting membership for this commission, we're led by— guided by 2 primary parameters.

34:08One is from code directly, so I'm going to read it to you.

34:12Women and multicultural groups must be represented.

34:17At least 3 members must have experience and expertise in arboriculture.

34:22That means trees.

34:23Landscape architecture or urban forestry.

34:26One member must be on the board of a nonprofit organization that has demonstrated direct interest in the urban forest who is not a city employee.

34:34The remaining 7 members, insofar as possible, must represent diverse geographic areas, interests, and expertise in the community.

34:43Additionally, representation from priority service areas and now across districts.

34:48Is important to us.

34:49And in this recruitment, we look to amplify voices from District 1, which is a priority service area, broadly speaking, and District 4, which has lowest membership.

35:00Next slide.

35:03So today we bring you, uh, 6 proposed new or continuing members.

35:09Um, under city code, this is true, I think, across the city.

35:14Advisory body appointments are formally submitted by the mayor and they are approved by you.

35:19Members of the Urban Forestry Commission are appointed to 4-year terms and can be reappointed to serve a single second consecutive term.

35:29Candidates today bring, we think, valuable expertise, background, and perspective.

35:36And I think importantly, if all of these folks are appointed, we will have a fully rostered commission.

35:42We'll be filling up some vacancies.

35:43Thank you.

35:44Next slide.

35:46So we have, uh, 3 more slides here, and then we'll get to our guests and to questions.

35:55So we recommend as new appointees Paula Byrd, Jeff Donovan, and Quadri Taiwo.

36:04Paula works for nonprofit Rosewood Initiative in District 1, supporting community in East Portland.

36:10Has served on nonprofit boards for Youth Organized and United to Help, which you might know by the acronym YOUth, and Decoding Dyslexia of Oregon.

36:19And Paula is co-founder of Books Not Bars Oregon.

36:23Paula was on the advisory committee for the urban forest plan that you adopted last fall and sees this role as an opportunity to continue actively engaging in this conversation.

36:35Jeff, a resident of District 3, is a natural resource economist who's dedicated his career to quantifying and communicating the many benefits we receive from urban trees.

36:45Jeff has more than 2 decades as a researcher with the U.S. Forest Service based in Portland, and last year transitioned to a private consulting practice translating scientific evidence into policy-relevant research and practical recommendations for organizations, local governments, and advocates striving to make cities healthier and more resilient.

37:05Similarly, Jeff used this role as an opportunity to help our city use good science to manage our urban forest.

37:14And finally, among our new proposed new appointments, Taiwo, a resident of District 4, is an International Society of Arboriculture certified arborist and leads stakeholder analysis and relations for the Oregon Department of Forestry statewide urban and community forestry program.

37:32Taiwo's recent master's education in Portland included a community participatory project that was immersive in issues related to urban ecology and social justice in 13 historically underserved neighborhoods in East Portland.

37:46Next slide.

37:50Additionally, we recommend reappointing Adrian Feldstein, Leah Plack, and Melinda McMillan to the commission for a second term.

37:59Adrian, who is not with us today, is a resident of District 2, has, uh, 3 and a half decades of experience as a public environmental and environmental health physician, and has served on this commission since May 2021, including service as co-chair for the last few years.

38:18Adrian is also on the Portland Parks Board.

38:21Leah, a resident of District 3, is a career educator specializing in science education and teacher professional development who has also served on this commission since May 2021 and is co-chair since June '24.

38:34She's program director at the Portland Metro STEM Partnership.

38:39And finally, Melinda, a resident of District 4, is an urban design and planning professional licensed as both an architect and landscape architect who has served on the commission since April 2022.

38:52Recently, Melinda was directly involved in shaping the Portland Urban Forest Plan, Also on the Community Advisory Committee.

39:01Next slide.

39:01Last slide.

39:04If appointed, Paula, Jeff, and Taiwo would serve 4-year terms ending May 2030, at which time, as I've said, they'd be eligible to be reappointed for a second term.

39:16As previously mentioned, these appointments will fill our 3 vacancies.

39:20If reappointed, Adrian and Leah would serve through April 2029, and Melinda would serve through April 2030.

39:27We do not anticipate being back to you with appointments this year, but we do plan to have one new appointment to propose to you next year.

39:36With these new appointments, we will have representation across council districts, including 2 from District 1, 2 members from District 1, 2 from District 2, 4 from District 3, where we have a lot of trees and a lot of engagement.

39:52And 2 from District 4.

39:55I'll mention again, we have Jeff and Melinda here with us.

39:58We have Paula Taiwo and Leah online, and we have an optional video from Adrian if we're interested.

40:03So happy to take questions.

40:05I think Jeff and Melinda have short comments if you'd like to hear those.

40:09We can proceed how you like.

40:11Yeah, I'd love to hear from the members, and then we can do the video after that and then open it up for councilor questions and discussion.

40:16Okay, great.

40:17Melinda.

40:17Thank you.

40:19Um, Melinda McMillan, and I am honored to be up for reappointment.

40:25In this first term, I've watched both the Urban Forestry Commission and the phenomenal Urban Forestry Department employees and leadership in action.

40:33I've watched the tree code be updated and the urban forest plan adopted after extensive, impressive community outreach.

40:41I'm passionate in my advocacy for equitable, thriving urban tree canopy.

40:46I will also push for intelligent budgeting, Short and sweet.

40:56Go ahead, Jeff.

41:01Thank you.

41:02My name is Dr. Jeffrey Donovan, and I greatly appreciate the opportunity to speak to you today.

41:08Just to briefly summarize my career, I received a doctorate in forest economics from Colorado State University in 2001.

41:16And after graduating, I worked in the research branch of the U.S. Forest Service briefly in Alaska and mostly here in Portland.

41:23And my research focused and indeed continues to focus on quantifying the benefits of urban trees.

41:29There's an old adage in natural resource economics, which is if you can't count it, then it doesn't count.

41:34So we're trying to do the counting and count those benefits from intuitive ones such as reduced summertime cooling costs to less obvious benefits such as lower crime and in particular improved public health.

41:47So last year I took early retirement from the U.S. Forest Service, started my own consulting company called Ashenell Consulting, and there I help clients make the business case for urban trees.

41:58And I'd like to join the Urban Forestry Commission because I hope it will give me an opportunity to apply some of my research and to help the city use the best available science to inform their decision-making.

42:09And in closing, I will just say to the council, there is no more cost-effective policy lever available to you than planting and retaining trees.

42:19Thank you very much for your time.

42:24Video, please.

42:39Hello, my name is Adrienne Feldstein.

42:43I'm a public health physician, and I'm an avid outdoors person.

42:48I've been on the Urban Forestry Commission for one term, and I've spent the last few years as co-chair.

42:55It's been an absolute pleasure working with the staff and being involved in the lucky program development that we've been able to do.

43:05My background is in public health program development, and I feel that I can continue to contribute and would love to continue in the role on the Urban Forestry Commission.

43:18I'd be happy to answer any questions if needed.

43:23Thank you.

43:27Presumably as follow-up, she would answer questions.

43:30I see also Paula on the screen, and I presume that we have, um, Taiwo and Leah online as well.

43:35So however you'd like to go forward, continue hearing from folks.

43:42Okay, I think, um, Paula, we'll take you first.

43:45Welcome, thanks for being here.

43:46If you could give us a minute about your background and your interest, and then Leah, we'll move to you.

43:51Of course.

43:51Good morning, everyone.

43:53My name is Paula Byrd.

43:54I am the interim executive director at the Rosewood Initiative.

43:57I also serve as the tax increment finance community liaison for East 205.

44:02I'm excited to be here.

44:04I'm excited to talk to you all.

44:05I'm excited for this opportunity.

44:07I served on the Urban Forestry Advisory Committee in 2024, and that experience was great for me.

44:13It allowed me to hear more from community, but also to help shape the vision and the goals for the Portland Urban Forestry Plan.

44:21I lead in community.

44:23I love community.

44:24I love people.

44:25I've lived, worked, and played in East Portland for the last 7 years, and I look at this opportunity as a co-creation, not just with the other commissioners on this team, but also with my community.

44:38I feel like our community can't make equitable decisions for themselves if they don't have access to the information.

44:46So I'm excited to learn more, learn from my peers, and be able to share that information with, with the constituents and with the community out in East Portland.

44:56Thank you.

45:00Thank you, Paula.

45:00Go ahead, Leah.

45:04Hello to the committee, and I apologize, I'm not in a private space, so I hope you all can hear me okay.

45:09Thank you for having us on your busy agenda, and thank you for the difficult, important work you do to support our city.

45:15I'm excited to be here to hopefully be reappointed for a second 4-year term on the Urban Forestry Commission.

45:21Um, I am an educator and program director working for the Portland Metro STEM Partnership, focused on increasing access to STEM educational and pathway opportunities for the youth in our region.

45:31And I've served on the Urban Forestry Commission since 2021 and stepped into the co-chair role in 2024.

45:39I've always been fascinated by trees and the myriad ways they improve the quality of life for the people and other living things in Portland.

45:46Like many of us, I've— I have experienced a deep sense of connection with the elder trees in my neighborhood and watched with heartbreak as some of those trees were removed to make way for development.

45:55It made me wonder what this loss of mature trees would mean for Portland's future, knowing that a tree of that size would never grow in that space again.

46:03I began to learn more about the urban heat island effect and the role that trees play to mitigate hotter summers, which led me to become more interested in how our city manages trees.

46:12Who has access to mature trees and why, and how to meet the need for denser and more affordable housing while simultaneously creating the green spaces that are necessary for our local ecosystems and our own health and wellness.

46:26Since joining the Urban Forestry Commission, I've learned so much, both in how the city functions— and that is changing, of course, over time— and also how policy decisions can impact what happens to the urban forest.

46:37I have also had the privilege to participate I'm excited to build on the progress that has been made in rolling out the PSF-funded programs for city maintenance of street trees and strategic tree planting in low-canopy neighborhoods, and I look forward to participating in the process to update Title 11 to reflect the evolving needs of Portlanders and our urban forests in the coming years.

46:59I hope that my background in STEM education and working in partnership with diverse community-based organizations can continue to be useful in supporting the work of the city.

47:06Thank you.

47:06To the Urban Forestry Commission and to our city as we continue to plan for the climate-resilient future Portland that we all hope to live in.

47:13Thank you, and happy to answer any questions.

47:16Okay, thank you, Leah.

47:17And Taiwo, you're going to bring us home.

47:19Go ahead.

47:19Hey, everyone.

47:23My name is Taiwo Kodre.

47:26A little bit about my background, my commitment to Portland's urban forest.

47:31Is rooted in academic research and passion for hands-on community engagement.

47:36So as a researcher, I completed a 50-year assessment of green space distribution in Portland, examining the historical planning processes that have shaped today's canopy inequalities.

47:50This academic foundation is complemented by my active involvement with Portland Parks and Recreation, including graduation from the Neighborhood Tree Stewardship Program, and ongoing volunteerism, as well as my role as Science Communication Fellow at HOMZI, where I develop public exhibits connecting urban forestry to environmental justice.

48:14Through my appointment to the Urban Forestry Commission, I aim to serve as a collaborative partner who bridges research, policy, and community voices to help advance a more equitable urban forest for all, with particular focus on the East Portlanders.

48:32Thank you very much.

48:37Thank you.

48:38Does that conclude the presentation?

48:40And that concludes our presentation.

48:41Thank you.

48:42Thank you so much, and thank you to all 6 folks for being willing to be considered.

48:46I am going to open it up for any questions for either the staff or the applicants.

48:50Questions to councilors at this time?

48:52Councilor Ryan.

48:54Sure.

48:55First of all, good morning, and, um, thank you all for your willingness to serve, and thank you for those that are continuing on with your service.

49:02I appreciate you so much.

49:04Um, I referred— I reviewed your bios, and I can see that you're all very— I'm impressed with your experience, and you come from a pretty solid knowledge base, and advocacy makes sense.

49:15Um, you get You get the product that you're focused on here, which are urban forestry trees.

49:22And I have to tell you, I love— who doesn't love the abundance of trees?

49:25I always think back to when I was living in New York in my 20s.

49:28And when you live in New York, no one understands why you move.

49:30Like, it's the center of the universe.

49:32Why are you moving?

49:33I go, well, I'm from Portland.

49:34I miss nephews and nieces and mountains and trees.

49:37So it's in your blood when you're from here.

49:39It's a natural thing.

49:41I am curious about some things today, especially with the record low snowpack where the mountains look like July in May.

49:49I picked raspberries this last weekend and I'm from here and you're not supposed to pick raspberries till July.

49:53So everything's off-kilter a bit in the ecosystem right now.

49:57And this usually does spell a lot of trouble.

50:00It's our infrastructure of our water is impacted by the snowpack throughout the entire state.

50:07And obviously it's a big issue for our urban wildfires as well.

50:12And with that caution of knowing that we are up against in 2026, the summer of 2026, do any of the commissioners have any background in wildfire background management?

50:24Has anyone fought forest fires when they were younger?

50:28I'm just curious if that's part of your dialogue at this time.

50:33I have some research experience.

50:35My PhD was on wildfire economics and Several.

50:39Early on in my career, I did quite a lot of research on wildfire and I've done research on wildfire smoke and health.

50:47Okay.

50:48I just encourage you to have those conversations.

50:51Yeah.

50:51I think we can get really micro, almost aggressive about our micro government policies when we need to look at the bigger picture.

50:58So I hope that's part of your dialogue at this time.

51:01I also know in my time on council that the tension between residents and businesses with urban forestry and the code is real.

51:10There's no way to get around it.

51:12The rule of the code and the reality of the space that they're seeing often are in conflict.

51:18And I do think it's so important to go meet with them, have dialogue with the people that are in that place of tension, which I think has been a mistake in terms of our engagement at times.

51:28We make decisions based on what we see perhaps on a screen as opposed to going out and seeing the space and talking to the people.

51:36And so that tension's never gonna go away and we have to keep just accepting that's part of the job.

51:43That said, I always feel like there— I always think the composite of this group should have people on it that have an understanding of what it's like to do development of land.

51:53'Cause we shouldn't shame people that that's the career that they chose.

51:58And that lack of perspective at the table, I experience it when it gets to this level.

52:04And so I just wanna know, do you have dialogue about having some empathy?

52:11It's not a bad word.

52:11Understanding of where they're coming from.

52:14I've met many and they're not evil in terms of the ecosystem and they really would like it.

52:19They just might be really confused why this one tree is so precious that it's blocking everything, even if they're willing to plant more.

52:28And I know—.

52:28Yeah.

52:29That there's nothing like a tree that's mature.

52:32And so that's the kind of tension that you experience when you're in this seat is they bubble up into that type of dialogue.

52:39What is the conversation like about that?

52:41And have you ever considered including people on the commission that have some background in development of land?

52:49Yeah, you take the first part.

52:50I actually do.

52:51And I'll take the second part.

52:52Yeah, thank you.

52:54I have a background in architecture.

52:57I've worked on both restoration projects.

53:01And I've worked for developers who have kind of wrung their hands about, I can't save this tree if I'm going to make this pencil out for any, you know, for the development we want.

53:15I've also been the architect on the other side of the planning desk wondering why all of these requirements are hindering our development.

53:27Some of our internal conversations, especially about how many urban forest employees and city employees are doing permitting?

53:40So that is, is kind of a balance between, you know, we're promoting this, we want it in code, we want these things as part of development.

53:51We've got to marry the two.

53:52We know that.

53:53We want a better urban forest, but we also want a vibrant, evolving architecture and urban design.

54:04Both let our communities thrive.

54:08So those are very recent conversations that are going on.

54:11Well, Melinda, reading your bio is one reason I wanted to ask the question, because I thought we could have some authentic dialogue about this.

54:17I just encourage you to keep leaning into that conversation.

54:20I think it's not about being right or wrong.

54:22It's about looking at the nuance of sometimes each plan and sometimes again the purity of the code and the reality of that space need to have further dialogue.

54:34And so I'm glad that you're— I appreciate your background and that you're at the table, and I hope you consider getting more people on the commission that have such a background.

54:41And by the way, great resumes, and I'm fully supportive and will be supporting all of your appointments.

54:46Thank you for your time.

54:49Thank you, Councilor Ryan.

54:50Councilor Green, followed by Councilor Koyama Lane.

54:53Thank you so much, uh, Director Szymanski, for bringing forward these, uh, appointments and reappointments.

54:59I'm impressed by everyone, um, who is up, uh, and I just— I thank you for your service, um, and your willingness to serve.

55:09Uh, I guess I have a specific set of questions for, uh, Dr. Donovan.

55:14Um, I first of all, I just want to say thank you for your service for the federal government.

55:19Yes.

55:19I know what it's like to be an economist and then go into work for the federal government.

55:23It can be frustrating at times throughout the career, but then you do get to do extremely meaningful work.

55:29And I'm impressed by your research agenda and also the work that you've done.

55:35And so my question is, this body considers policy that often affects or interacts with our urban forest.

55:45And our legislative style guide requires the production of impact statements, financial impact statements, economic impact statements.

55:56And I think with your unique experience, and feel free to also weigh in, Director Szymanski, what role do you see for the commission in helping advise on the economics of those impact statements when we are— because what 'Cause what I'm worried about is we don't do a very good job of that when we think about setting policy.

56:18We've sort of outsourced the economic analysis to Prosper Portland, which often doesn't have the capability or the bandwidth to do the work.

56:25They don't have forestry economists, for instance, on their staff.

56:30And so I'm curious how the commission can help the upstream development of this policy and help us really understand what our long-run— Yeah.

56:44Well, I can answer maybe more practically, and I'm interested in your perspective, that it is interesting to think about how we might hook this expertise into that workflow, getting things ready through that legislative pipeline to come to council.

56:59And maybe there is a place to kind of sync up the cadences of the commission and that legislative development process so you get that particular slice of impact and consideration.

57:10Because you're right, you don't have it now.

57:12And there are definitely places where it would be relevant and additive.

57:16So I think I'm going to probably follow up on that one maybe with DCA and council operations team.

57:22Yeah.

57:23And I see that Vivian Satterfield is in the audience as well.

57:26I think that there's the potential for some collaboration there with the Sustainability Commission as well.

57:32Because these are the same sorts of questions that we need to ask.

57:35Particularly with Revolve, with respect to the Portland Clean Energy Fund and all of these things.

57:39And so I think maturing our ability to do, as you put it exactly, if you don't have— if you can't put a price on a natural resource, it's worth nothing.

57:48Yep.

57:49Right?

57:49And so we really need to have that capability.

57:52I'm here to help.

57:53You know, I'm obviously— I don't understand the mechanics of the commission yet, but in terms of my technical abilities, I'm at At the commission's service.

58:03Thank you.

58:04You have my support.

58:08Thank you, Councilor Green.

58:09Councilor Koyama Lane will be next, followed by Councilor Novick.

58:12Thank you.

58:12Thank you everyone for being here.

58:14Thank you for the video.

58:15Looking forward to supporting all of your appointments.

58:18Director Szymanski, you can decide who's the best person to direct this question to, but I'm wondering how and if it could be appropriate for the Urban Forestry Commission to help bureaus, programs in navigating, accessing the PSEF resources that could align when the work directly advances tree canopy, climate resilience goals.

58:41We know that the Portland Permitting and Development, is it a bureau?

58:45Is it a department?

58:46What is it?

58:47The bureau.

58:47Okay, that bureau is newer to working with PSEF positions.

58:50And I want to be clear that I have been hearing that you've been doing a great job of helping make sure that parks and that bureau are are talking a little bit more to make sure that there's some more communication and partnership.

59:01I'm wondering if there's any role that the Commission could play around supporting, pursuing, sustaining, navigating PCF funding as needed.

59:09Yeah, that's an interesting question too.

59:10And maybe Vivian can answer when she's up.

59:14I imagine the Commission could potentially be a waypoint for people who are on their way toward a PCF application to kind of kick the tires on the idea, make sure there's a good understanding from the proposers of interactions with trees.

59:28And yes, we're working working closely with Portland Permitting and Development and more generally are in really deep, constant coordination with the PCEF team as we're building out those programs.

59:37So I think there's a there there, and we can explore what it might look like.

59:43Great, thank you, and thanks for all the commitment and work there.

59:46And then my other question, you can answer it.

59:49We can also have Chief Sustainability Officer Satterfield talk about it too, but I am wondering how these 2 commissions we're talking about today are intended to interact or coordinate with one another in general, if that's been talked about.

1:00:06I don't know that answer.

1:00:07Have you interacted with that commission?

1:00:11I believe we've presented, but no, it's not been a collaboration in the past.

1:00:18We are working toward more cross-pollination and dialogue across our bureau committees.

1:00:24So Parks Board, Forestry Commission, Levy Committee, Parks Foundation.

1:00:27We're trying to get those connected to each other.

1:00:30So yeah, those gears are turning and we can certainly think also about that commission as well.

1:00:35Wonderful.

1:00:36Thanks for all the hard work.

1:00:39Thank you, Councilor Koyama Lane.

1:00:40Councilor Novick will be next, followed by Councilor Avalos.

1:00:44Thank you, Mr.

1:00:44Chair.

1:00:45I also have a question directly to Dr. Donovan, which is you said that there's no policy lever more valuable than planting and maintaining trees.

1:00:56And I think that some people might hear that and say, okay, this guy's a tree zealot.

1:00:59He thinks that planting, maintaining trees is more important than anything else and we should never touch a tree.

1:01:04So I just wanna give you a chance to respond to that.

1:01:08Well, I can be both a tree zealot, but I'm also an empiricist.

1:01:12And so that's driven by my own research findings.

1:01:16For example, there's quite a lot of research, but there's one study I did a few years ago in Portland looking at the impact of Friends of Trees planting on longevity.

1:01:25Mm-hmm.

1:01:26So in neighborhoods where you have more tree planting, people live longer.

1:01:30And when you looked at the benefit-cost ratio of that improved health, what we found is it was $1,727 to 1, right?

1:01:38So every dollar spent on trees, you've got $1,727 of benefit back in terms of improved health.

1:01:48That's what I base it on, on numbers.

1:01:51So there's very little that is as cost-effective as planting and in particular retaining trees.

1:02:00And yeah.

1:02:02Okay, that actually sort of reinforces, I mean, I'm not, you obviously have the technical background and expertise, but do you think there's ever any circumstance where it's appropriate to remove a tree?

1:02:13Absolutely.

1:02:14Okay.

1:02:14Yeah, absolutely.

1:02:15Can you tell me what some of those circumstances might be?

1:02:18Well, obviously if something is, You know, threatening the foundations of a house or something along those times.

1:02:25If a tree was planted that isn't appropriate for the space, then the best thing may be to remove it, either replace it with a tree that does work or take it out completely.

1:02:34But yeah, absolutely, there's times when you should remove a tree, no question.

1:02:38Okay, thank you.

1:02:39Also, with regard to Paula, I just wanted to note that I didn't know what Books Not Bars was, and I looked it up and the bars refer to prison bars.

1:02:45So it's not an antisocial drinking organization that she's with.

1:02:49It is not an anti-organization.

1:02:53It is a literacy organization that promotes books, literacy, over— because we know that the school-to-prison pipeline starts with low literacy rates.

1:03:02So yes, we can talk more about that if you ever like.

1:03:05Thank you.

1:03:08Thank you, Councilor Novick.

1:03:09Councilor Avalos, followed by Councilor Zimmerman.

1:03:11All right, thank you so much.

1:03:13Thanks for stepping up to serve.

1:03:15This is a really critical part of the city's work because we know that urban forestry is not just an environmental issue, it's an infrastructure issue as well.

1:03:24And things like shade access and cooling and air quality, that really affects how people are experiencing their neighborhoods.

1:03:30And obviously representing District 1, that particularly affects us.

1:03:35And I appreciate the work that's been done to make sure that East Portland voices are heard and are getting appointed to this commission.

1:03:42I appreciate that.

1:03:43Of course, there's always work to be done to ensure that East Portlanders are represented on these boards.

1:03:48Um, because the impact that these policies have on East Portland is disproportionate and their voice is disproportionately missing.

1:03:54So, um, I wanted to ask a couple of quick questions.

1:03:58I mean, I think we often talk about planting trees, um, but long-term maintenance is also a major barrier, especially for low-income homeowners and seniors and small property owners.

1:04:08I'll note too, just, uh, in my HOA, we are constantly having, uh, drama with the trees and, um, you know, your insurance starts to threaten you if you don't have good tree maintenance and the costs keep going up.

1:04:21So, um, I just want to make sure that that gets inserted into the dialogue about trees, that it's not just about planting it and letting it go because, um, the cost, um, tends to compound over time.

1:04:32So what conversations is the commission having about sustainable maintenance support and preventing trees from becoming an unfunded burden to Portlanders?

1:04:44I can, I can speak to this as well.

1:04:46Um, one very exciting development this year we've seen— the city Urban Forest Department is taking over street tree care, and this will help some of the disproportionate, um, underforested areas.

1:05:02Because like, you're right, a landlord who doesn't live on site just cut it down because it's high maintenance, and It does affect underserved areas, creating heat islands.

1:05:14And so with this increase in care, in maintenance of planting, and just the expertise that the urban forestry crews have in caring for these trees and in planting specifically for climate change and what will survive long-term, It will release the burden on the tenants, even the landlords.

1:05:40And so we'll retain trees and we'll be able to expand in those areas.

1:05:47Thank you for that answer.

1:05:48I'll just follow up and say— oh, sorry, I was going to say this comes up.

1:05:52We talk about this all the time because it was one of the things we heard.

1:05:56I think a lot— we all hear this anecdotally, but when the city did outreach for the urban forest plan, this also was a major theme.

1:06:05And so this is something we've really been advocating for, and PCF funds have been a huge part of this.

1:06:11Also, there's a program for folks to apply for assistance with tree care, or if it's not a street tree but on their private property.

1:06:19Thank you.

1:06:21And, you know, lastly, speaking of landlords, renters often receive the fewest benefits from urban forestry investments despite experiencing some of the highest impacts.

1:06:30So how is the commission thinking about tree equity for renters and multifamily neighborhoods, not just single-family areas?

1:06:39Julie, the underserved areas, especially those— and very specifically empirically been mapped out as areas with low tree canopy— often coincide with renting populations.

1:06:53And so it's baked into the urban forest plan that was just passed that these these communities are priority.

1:07:01It's not the services and tree planting and targeted areas are not in the ones that have trees.

1:07:08It's in the ones that aren't.

1:07:10And that has been adopted.

1:07:13I can add, I took a tour with the team last year and one of the places we stopped was a large multifamily building out, I think, north, pretty far northeast.

1:07:24And what we looked at was a bunch of recently planted trees that had been kind of arranged and designed in partnership with residents and planted.

1:07:33There was like a kind of barn-raising planting event with community partner organizations.

1:07:38So there's a thread of work that is really specifically focused on adding trees where possible, actually within the footprint of larger developments and working directly with tenants to figure out what kinds of trees and where they should go.

1:07:52And, you know, you get to teach people, they get to participate if they want, and then everybody gets the trees at the back end.

1:07:57So that was cool.

1:08:00Thank you.

1:08:01I appreciate those answers.

1:08:02And I think I'll just end with a comment to say, you know, East Portland, we talk about it having low canopy coverage, but it also has lots of industrial land.

1:08:13It has a lot of large expanses of asphalt, heat-trapping infrastructure.

1:08:17And so I think it's important that the conversation about, you know, tree coverage isn't just about the trees, right?

1:08:24That we're talking about the land, especially in East Portland where we have all of these areas that are also up for discussion about infrastructure upgrades, right?

1:08:36So I think there was a conversation you were having around balancing those infrastructure needs, housing production, needing sidewalk construction with tree preservation, urban canopy, and all that.

1:08:47So again, thank you for your service, and I look forward to continuing to engage with this commission.

1:08:51And I do want to thank you.

1:08:52Thank you.

1:08:54To keep in touch because I want to keep figuring out what is the plan for expediting East Portland's tree canopy coverage.

1:09:01Thank you.

1:09:03Thank you, Councilor Avalos.

1:09:04Councilor Zimmerman, and then I'm last in the queue.

1:09:06Thanks.

1:09:07I've read everybody's bios and inputted, you know, answers to the questions.

1:09:13So I do appreciate how much of a focus there is on expanding the canopy and the values.

1:09:21And I I certainly appreciated Mr. Donovan making the case for urban trees, the business case to commercial folks.

1:09:30I love that.

1:09:31I wrote that down actually.

1:09:32So thank you for that.

1:09:37Director Szymanski, you mentioned that there are 2 appeals boards and that you went quick over that, but some of these members will sit those boards.

1:09:46Can you talk about that again and just what were those 2 roles?

1:09:50A 5-member subset of the commission sits as the— I think it's the Urban Forestry Appeals Board, and they are part of the administrative appeal process for non-development permits.

1:10:03What that means mostly in practice, I mentioned, is tree removal on private property.

1:10:09To me, it's a little bit structurally anomalous that that function lives in that place.

1:10:16Largely in the city, we've got code hearings officers, and they take up administrative appeals related to permits and mostly permit denials.

1:10:25When we are looking at— and that function lives in code.

1:10:28So as we do this code review process this year, that's something we're going to be looking at closely, both to see how other city processes work and how other cities work on this front, so we can make sure going forward that what we do has a policy basis, and the outcome goal of that is to make sure that you and we and appellants have actually a fair and objective, credible appeal pathway, and that they perceive it that way.

1:10:58So that's what we're working toward.

1:11:00I don't know what the outcome will be.

1:11:02Given that all of the code compliance goes through a different hearing, but this one has its own special group, this Title 11 stuff has its own special group, that's basically what we're hearing right now?

1:11:10Yes.

1:11:10Okay.

1:11:11And so since we moved the enforcement to PP&D, and since I would imagine they are the hosts of that other appeal board, that seems like a natural evolution of where the work would go.

1:11:23I think it could be, yeah.

1:11:24Okay.

1:11:26You know, Mr. Donovan, I'll also say, you said it's not always, or you said it's obviously sometimes to his questions that things might be removed.

1:11:35And I would just surmise it's not always obvious, particularly with urban forestry, right?

1:11:39The one area, and I'll just say in everybody's application, that really concerns me is that nobody addressed any desire or need to acknowledge that there are some needs for fixes.

1:11:51And given what we saw previously, to the point where even the commissioner in charge who really shepherded this through, Commissioner Fritz, said, you know, certain parts of Title XI were never intended to be used the way that they're being used now, and that it's in need of some fixes.

1:12:08So I appreciate those applicants who are new.

1:12:15I am supportive.

1:12:19I have pause with those of you who are asking for reappointment.

1:12:23And the reason I have pause for reappointment is I'd like to get an idea for And Ms. McMillan, you said phenomenal leadership when describing working with urban forestry.

1:12:36And I'll just note, I don't see the director here.

1:12:39And I've noticed that as a theme when urban forestry comes before the City Council anymore, that that person no longer seems to be the person delivering the message.

1:12:47So I have concern there.

1:12:49And the— we do great work in the science and the planting side of it.

1:12:55Yes.

1:12:56And I have been laser-focused on making sure that our enforcement side of it doesn't undo the good of the science urban canopy expansion.

1:13:07And frankly, what Councilor Avalos talks about in East Portland is the focus.

1:13:10That's my focus too.

1:13:11I think that that part of our city needs a ton of attention, but I think we were under threat, frankly, of losing the public with a lot of what was going on.

1:13:20So My question broadly to everybody is, how are you going to provide, as an advisory body, there are 2 types of cultures that seem to exist in advisory bodies.

1:13:36There's the type who kind of is rubber stamp and they take whatever the director and staff bring to them.

1:13:41And then there's the type who stand firm in the chair in which they've been appointed.

1:13:45How are you going to provide pushback If you think that something needs pushback, if you feel like that's out of touch with either what you sense in your own neighborhood, what you sense from your professional backgrounds, right or wrong or indifferent is not really the question, but having an advisory board that wrestles with questions instead of rolls over on questions is something I'm trying to get a sense of.

1:14:10So I'd like to start with the 3 who are being reappointed.

1:14:13I know that one is But if we could start with those, and then for the new appointees, I'd appreciate that.

1:14:19And Director Szymanski, I'll let you decide what order.

1:14:22Yeah, Leah, how about we take you first and then Melinda?

1:14:25Go ahead.

1:14:26Sure.

1:14:27Um, I think one of the most important things is having that space for discourse.

1:14:31And with our agendas— and I'm the co-chair, so I help plan— that's an important piece, especially when there's, um, something that may be contentious coming up before us, to really leave space for discussion and discourse and keeping— we've adopted some community agreements to like hopefully make that a better space for folks to really speak their mind and their concerns.

1:14:50Um, the other piece that I'm really interested in is, you know, thinking about all the outreach that's being done when specifically with the code amendment work, because I agree that there are going to be some things that need to be updated and changed.

1:15:03What are we hearing from the community?

1:15:04What are we hearing from the tree care companies who are often the ones who have to interact Um, you know, how— because I think if things are too onerous, there's also issues about like, are people just going to bypass it entirely because it takes too long to get a permit to do the work?

1:15:23That's just one example.

1:15:24So which would be an unintended consequence that would not be a good thing for the urban forest.

1:15:28So for me, I really want to hear from the folks who are really interacting with this code all the time.

1:15:34Thank you.

1:15:34For myself, as a— just as a regular report lender, like, I'm not constantly in contact with the code, but I want to hear from the folks who are to really understand, like, where are there barriers that we could be addressing and fixing.

1:15:46So that's just—.

1:15:47Thank you.

1:15:48From myself, but I'll pass it off to anybody else.

1:15:50And I have a brief comment at the end, but we'll hear from our proposed appointees first.

1:15:56Go ahead.

1:15:58We have a very diverse group, actually, existing commissioners, and I'm excited to see the, the diversity in those coming in.

1:16:08We don't agree with each other, uh, 80% of the time.

1:16:12Um, we're rarely brought things directly from urban forestry.

1:16:17It's usually in collaboration with something coming through council, um, new programs, new, um, things that the Urban Forestry Commission, um, has been brought.

1:16:29We are different enough that we will never just say yes.

1:16:33There are great ideas out there, but we'll want to tweak this thing, to add this thing, because we're representing certain groups, diverse groups as well.

1:16:46Um, I do want to say that I know that we all know the safety issues, and when the issues happened with trees falling, ice storms Things that are emergency situations.

1:17:01We asked for a plan, a presentation of how are we doing?

1:17:09Did we fail?

1:17:10What are the mechanisms internally to determine if a tree— yes, this is a danger.

1:17:17How responsive can we be, obviously, because that's usually kind of a come do this now situation.

1:17:24We heard from the public who were very passionate come in and give statements.

1:17:30And so this is part of our discussion.

1:17:32We're making sure we care about the cost to citizens.

1:17:36We care about the response time to citizens, especially the turnover with permits.

1:17:42And so we can act quickly, act in case of emergency, keep cost low or no.

1:17:50So I would just say that the diversity is really a great positive for exactly what you're saying and your concerns.

1:18:00Maybe to let the new members know.

1:18:02Yes, please.

1:18:03You first, and then Paula will take you, and then we'll take Taiwo to close us out.

1:18:07But Dr. Donovan, go ahead.

1:18:09Well, I'll be new to the commission, so I plan on spending most time initially with my mouth shut, my ears open.

1:18:16While doing that, if I feel that you get to a point where pushback needs to be applied, I'll do it without hesitation and I'll do it vigorously if it needs to be done.

1:18:27I have no fear of that.

1:18:29Thank you.

1:18:31Thank you for that question.

1:18:33And to that point, I don't have any personal stake in this game.

1:18:37I am here as a representative of District 1 and I have to give an answer, give an account You know, to my community.

1:18:44So if I'm in a meeting and, you know, we're pushing for something that the community hasn't told me that they want, need, or if it's something that I need to push back on, then that's what I'm going to do.

1:18:54Because I'm not here for my own personal gain.

1:18:56I am here for the community, and that's how I lead in everything that I do.

1:19:01Thank you.

1:19:06Yeah, thank you very much for the question.

1:19:09And just like what Paula said, I'm here to serve the people of Portland, you know, particularly District 4, and I'll do everything possible to act in their best interest, you know, in order for them to benefit, you know, what the urban forest provides, you know, based on public health.

1:19:31And yeah, I think it's very important for for committee members to meet, you know, consensus and aid them, you know, just to provide, you know, the best solution to a particular problem, which is very key.

1:19:44So in the face of any pushback, I'll try as much as possible to act in the best interest of the people.

1:19:51Yeah.

1:19:52Thank you.

1:19:53Thank you, Tywoe.

1:19:54Can I offer just a brief contextual comment?

1:19:57There is additionally what I consider So this is a larger comment, but not global.

1:20:04Structural incentive for this committee to think broadly and really holistically in one of their key functions, which is forwarding to you Title 11 code updates.

1:20:15We talk mostly about these days programming in urban forestry, but that derives from the plan and the plan anchors in code.

1:20:25And so really the code is where the action is.

1:20:28Yes.

1:20:29This body is a stage gate through which the code updates are going to come to you, and you have your own independent legislative ability to change that code if you choose, if you're not satisfied with what's coming forward from the organization.

1:20:44So over the next year— what is it, year and a half at this point— I hope that we get clear, strong, direct input from you about what you want to see in that process.

1:20:56So that what comes back to you can be successfully deliberated over and adopted at the back end.

1:21:01Yeah, I think that's a great comment.

1:21:03And I just want to leave you all with 2 things.

1:21:07When we're talking, and I'm really not talking about development, I think that's a healthy debate and question.

1:21:12And what I'm really talking about is, Leah, you said those who are constantly in contact with code, I appreciated that.

1:21:20I also think those who've never come in contact with the code but now are having to deal with a thing called the tree And they're like, I just called an arborist because I have this tree leaning toward my house.

1:21:29The never in contact and probably won't ever be in contact again, it also has to make sense for us.

1:21:35And so here's the question I would pose, that when it comes to your deliberations with respect to private, private lots and the safety requirements, we can bring out an expert to anybody's lot and an expert can look at that tree and say, It's never going to fall.

1:21:52It's healthy.

1:21:53It's got 20 years ahead of it.

1:21:55You're good.

1:21:56But when that expert leaves the property, the difference between expertise and accountability is, as the property owner, I still have accountability.

1:22:05And if I determine that the tree is dangerous on my lot, I am king of that lot.

1:22:10And I hope that we can consider that because my insurance, my neighbor, my family members, are the ones who will be affected by whether or not I assert accountability, and expertise doesn't come with that.

1:22:24And so that's a real balance.

1:22:26We may chop down healthy, good trees because of a private citizen's need on a small lot individual, but I also think if we're doing this really well, we've got the ability to work with them and, and look at so that that is the last option and not just a kind of a flippantness.

1:22:45And I say that because the flippantness is in District 4 where we have a great canopy in a lot of places.

1:22:51We've got members of the community who don't talk about a positive relationship with urban forestry.

1:22:56I will say that is changing.

1:22:58They're really talking about a much more positive thing.

1:23:00So I think we're on a good path right now, and I'm hearing that constantly.

1:23:04And the other thing that I would pose, and I hope it goes to your statement, Director, I look so forward to a recommendation or an idea or a laughing about how silly we were in the past about a permit after a tree falls down.

1:23:23There may be nothing that strikes Portlanders as more asinine than the need to get a permit for a tree removal after it already fell down.

1:23:31And I think that those types of things send a common sense question mark into the atmosphere when it comes up.

1:23:39And those are the types of things that We don't have to fix a ton.

1:23:42We have to fix a little bit of stuff that makes this program able to thrive and do its business less interrupted because we've nipped some of those things that like really needed attention.

1:23:53And so I look forward to you all, you know, Paula, I really appreciated the way that you posed your answers and questions as well because I do think there's an aspect of I'm here representing the place that I live, the people that I know and how this goes.

1:24:10And I thank you for that.

1:24:11For the rest of you who are trying to put value proposition to the urban canopy, huge value.

1:24:17And I just request you please keep an ear and an eye to what does everyday Portlander need to just be satisfied, because they're going to interact maybe once every 10 years with the program, if that, and we still need to satisfy them.

1:24:31So thanks, everybody.

1:24:34I appreciate it.

1:24:34Thank you, Chair.

1:24:36Thank you, Councilor Zimmerman.

1:24:37I'm next in the queue.

1:24:39First, let me say I am going to be supportive of everyone's appointments.

1:24:43I wanted to specifically say I'd love to read, Tywoe, your 50-year assessment at some point when, you know, light reading time is hard to come by as a councilor.

1:24:52But please, if I get a chance, I would.

1:24:55It's something I'm very interested in.

1:24:57I also know Adrian Feldstein from when then Commissioner Ryan appointed us both to the Parks Board in 2024, and I'm very excited to To see her continue to work on this commission as well.

1:25:10I had a couple questions for staff about the process, and I wanted to just get some clarification on it.

1:25:17I have 4.

1:25:21One is, 2 of the reappointments' terms were up May 1st of last year, and I'm curious as to why we're only getting them reappointed now and what the process has been.

1:25:32For their involvement for the last year and, and a couple weeks?

1:25:39Your best to answer that.

1:25:40Did you catch the question?

1:25:42Yes, I did.

1:25:42Okay, this is Priscilla.

1:25:44She staffs the commission.

1:25:45Yes.

1:25:46You could introduce yourself and then, um, give an answer.

1:25:48Thank you.

1:25:49Everyone, I'm Priscilla Salino.

1:25:50I am the financial and administrative lead for urban forestry, and I staff the Urban Forestry Commission.

1:25:56And so thank you for the the question.

1:26:00Uh, per Title 11, UFC members can continue to serve in their terms, uh, after their terms have ended until a replacement is made or they are reappointed.

1:26:12And so you may remember last year we had 2 new appointments, and at that time we had intended to bring forward the reappointments for For Adrian and for Leah, uh, but at the time I think it coincided with the budget process and we were not able to get it on council agenda.

1:26:36Okay, I, I think this is something as you review the tree code that should be, uh, solved.

1:26:41I think it makes sense if it's a couple weeks.

1:26:43Um, I— the budget process might make that a couple months.

1:26:46Um, but I, I, I think as a general practice, this has nothing to do with this But we should get to a place where there is an expectation that there's a council touchpoint on this because I do think it's fair for us to say, you know, you're going to be involved in trying to fix some of the concerns that many councilors have raised so far as members once appointed.

1:27:08And so we want to make sure that if there is a need for council adjustment to that direction or to the membership, that that's an opportunity we have.

1:27:16So just wanted to flag that.

1:27:17Thank you.

1:27:17Yeah.

1:27:18For later.

1:27:19Um, Director Szymanski, on slide 4 it says you interviewed 6 of the 36 applicants and then recommended 3 for appointment and 3 for reappointment.

1:27:29Are the 3 for reappointment outside of that, meaning did you pass on half of the people you interviewed and then separately 3 were up for reappointment, or did everybody that got an interview get sent to us?

1:27:40So we interviewed 6 individuals, and of those 6, we recommended 3 for new appointments.

1:27:46And then in parallel, 3 other sites.

1:27:47Yes.

1:27:48Great.

1:27:49And then 3rd question of 4, you said that we did outreach, Director Schwanze, to folks who contract with the city.

1:27:56Can you speak a little bit more to that?

1:27:58Yeah, I look at the list, it's primarily landscapers.

1:28:01So these are folks who've got, I think, planting and maintenance contracts through urban forestry directly.

1:28:08We could broaden that universe in the future.

1:28:10I know there is a larger universe of people who have touchpoints and might be interested.

1:28:15If you want to add anything to that, please do.

1:28:17Yes, and I would also mention that it's partner organizations.

1:28:21For example, Friends of Trees is one that we reached out and shared the opportunity.

1:28:28Okay, thank you.

1:28:29I appreciate that.

1:28:30And then the last question I had, it is for staff, but Melinda spoke to a diversity within the group, including those who are not on this page, meaning the continuing members.

1:28:39And so my ask for everyone generally, and I guess it's more directed to CA Lee for the future, Yes.

1:28:45Can we get the full list of people that would be the list after this appointment goes through, if it goes through?

1:28:53This is something some of the other appointed bodies and commissions do very well, including in mayoral reports.

1:28:58The example I would point to is PSEP.

1:29:02As a— it has who's getting appointed, who's leaving, and it also has what the full membership will be afterwards.

1:29:08That helps give transparency to vacancies.

1:29:10But also, especially for this one where you mentioned the particular subcategories, you know, maybe we have a need for 7 people to do this and you're appointing the other 4, and we wouldn't necessarily know that that other 7 category is full unless we see that list.

1:29:24So just wanted to flag that.

1:29:25I am interested in modernizing the way in which we do this from a process perspective, just to make sure there is that level of transparency.

1:29:34The other thing that it does is when people resign and they're not being replaced immediately, it gives transparency to the existence of the vacancy, which is, I think, really important to do.

1:29:46So thank you for that.

1:29:48I also wanted to thank Vesla and Megan, and I appreciate you noting their service and in appreciation of that as their time on the commission ends.

1:29:58Okay, that's the end of mine.

1:29:59I'll go to Councilor Ryan.

1:30:02Thank you, Chair Kanal.

1:30:04Can you tell that we get a lot of calls about urban— about trees?

1:30:08Yeah.

1:30:08That's why we're having these questions.

1:30:10And we haven't had a chance to really daylight some of these concerns.

1:30:14So this is very macro at times, and I appreciate you all doing the best you can to answer the questions 'cause you've shaped the culture of urban forestry.

1:30:23That's what happens with boards and advisors.

1:30:26They should be helping shape that culture.

1:30:29And so this is probably for staff leadership.

1:30:31But sometimes residents, businesses, builders get confused between the codes and the conversations between urban forestry parks, BES, and BPS.

1:30:43You guys really overlap each other.

1:30:45And so you'll have a resident say, I am so confused with these 3 codes.

1:30:51They don't seem to be compatible.

1:30:53That was the whole reason why we started the permit Permit reforms was to get to the bottom of that because we're just making it so difficult for people to do business with the city.

1:31:05And so has the permit reforms integration helped all of you in that process of getting aligned to talk to the residents, the businesses, the developers, the builders?

1:31:21I just want to know if if you're sensing that it's improving or not.

1:31:26Yeah, I'll take a crack at that.

1:31:27And I will say that we had a lot of need for improvement, so I'm not going to pretend it was pretty because it wasn't.

1:31:32And I know that we have a long ways to go, but I just wanted to get some insights why we're here.

1:31:36Yeah, we do have a ways to go.

1:31:37I think we're on the path.

1:31:40While we were sitting here, I got a couple of emails and a meeting invite related to the code alignment project.

1:31:45So that's in a pretty active phase moving toward a, well, actually launching a shortlist of categorical areas to look into, which includes some tree code stuff.

1:31:55So that's a different place where tree code is being looked at in development situations.

1:32:00You, you saw this very early on, Councilor.

1:32:04There are process and structural and cultural complexities at the city that sometimes are at cross purposes with the outcome we want of clear, predictable, simple, replicable experiences with our code.

1:32:20And I would— I have always thought that actually the biggest problem was in the code itself and the conflicts that live in there.

1:32:29And then they manifest in all of these ways in the processes and cultures.

1:32:33So the Code Alignment Project is fundamental to getting to that future that we wanna be in.

1:32:39And then there's a lot of complementary stuff happening.

1:32:42And just the fact of all these people working together on this project, I think, is helping build connection where we need it and break down barriers So my a little bit removed perspective is things are trending in the right direction and picking up steam, and things are feeling different to me.

1:33:01Okay, thank you.

1:33:02I'll be continuing to ask questions about that since I'm quite attached to it.

1:33:06Yeah.

1:33:06Since I started the process to get those reforms going.

1:33:10Back to my earlier question, I'm just curious how many builders applied to the commission.

1:33:17And I respect architects.

1:33:18You guys are the amazing middle people that do a lot of negotiating between the— trying to get reality between the 2 camps that are sometimes in opposition.

1:33:29And I've seen that many times when I was overseeing DRAC.

1:33:32It's always good to have a couple architects on that commission.

1:33:35So I appreciate your skillset.

1:33:38But it would be good, I think, to have people that are actually experienced in building and understand the importance of building the tree canopy and not turning off so many people from considering spending money here?

1:33:51Correct me if I'm wrong, I'm going to guess the answer was zero.

1:33:56And I'm going to attribute that in part to the fact that this commission, a lot of this commission's business is in kind of bigger picture policy work that may feel less directly germane to the day-to-day of a developer, and that there are other channels to weigh in when the work gets into that territory that may be more kind of surgical and effective.

1:34:17And my perspective on that is it makes it all the more important that when we're doing things like the forest plan, that we're talking to Working Waterfront Coalition, we're talking to other parties who we know aren't in our commission and in other spaces.

1:34:30So we need to go to them, and we will absolutely be doing that with the code update project.

1:34:37Okay.

1:34:38And point taken.

1:34:39You know, that would be welcome perspective from folks who had time and willingness to sit with the commission monthly.

1:34:46I think that we just put a lot on the one architect on the commission.

1:34:49I think that there's times where we have to figure out how to maybe overlap with maybe the DRAC board and when we're in some contentious challenges that maybe your composite doesn't have the life experience to understand.

1:35:03A perspective that's coming at you.

1:35:05And so I don't think the city, we take advantage of the fact that we have another commission that you could collaborate with.

1:35:12And so I think that we have to lean into that.

1:35:14Just like we're having the integration of the permitting, we have to have some better integration of the different commissions and boards so they're not all in these silos.

1:35:23We're trying to break the silos.

1:35:24That's the main reason people voted yes on the charter was to see our city function better, more efficiently, and not be in so many silos.

1:35:30Yeah.

1:35:31So we have to continue to keep challenging ourselves to do just that.

1:35:35Yeah, that's a great suggestion.

1:35:37Thank you.

1:35:39Thank you, Councilor Ryan.

1:35:40I want to make sure there's a chance here for everyone to speak, so I'll come back to Councilor Smith in just a second.

1:35:45I did want to say we will be needing a motion after that to refer this item on to the full council with a recommendation.

1:35:53So I'll ask for that after we go to Councilor Smith.

1:35:59Thank you.

1:36:00Thank you all for your presentation.

1:36:03I had a question.

1:36:04Um, Miss Paula Berg, it is good to see you.

1:36:08Thank you for your service.

1:36:10I appreciate it.

1:36:11Um, you talk a lot about bringing information and being community-centered, and when you're talking to community, um, what platforms are you using?

1:36:23Are you, are you having regular meetings?

1:36:26And the reason why I ask you that is because I would be really interested in participating as you're on your journey and talking with community members, particularly in District 1.

1:36:41So thank you for that question.

1:36:44You know, my mother says that I've talked to the door if the door will talk back to me.

1:36:49So I'm always talking to people, especially about the work.

1:36:51That I do here at the Rosewood Initiative.

1:36:53We are a community center, one, so community members are always walking through the door.

1:36:58Yes.

1:36:59Community members can set an appointment with me.

1:37:01There's a form on the Rosewood Initiative website how they can reach me.

1:37:06My phone number, email address is readily available.

1:37:12Um, I, I'm always in community, and so having a conversation with community and receiving community feedback is almost second nature to me.

1:37:22There are some things that will be happening, and so I know your office very well, and I would definitely make sure that I reach out to all 3 of the councilors in District 1 to invite them.

1:37:33Thank you.

1:37:33Thank you so much.

1:37:34I appreciate that.

1:37:36Thank you.

1:37:37Thank you, Councilor Smith.

1:37:39At this time, are there any motions to refer the report onto the full council with a recommendation to So moved.

1:37:46Second.

1:37:47Moved by Councilor Novick, seconded by Councilor Koyama Lane.

1:37:51Is there any further discussion on this motion?

1:37:55Seeing none, Rebecca, will you please call the roll?

1:38:00Pirtle-Guiney?

1:38:02Absent.

1:38:03Ryan?

1:38:04Aye.

1:38:05Koyama Lane?

1:38:06Thank you for your service.

1:38:07Aye.

1:38:08Murillo?

1:38:09Aye.

1:38:12Novick.

1:38:13Thank you for your willingness to serve and for your engagement with us today.

1:38:17Aye.

1:38:18Clark.

1:38:20Thank you everyone.

1:38:21It's been a great dialogue.

1:38:23Aye.

1:38:24Green.

1:38:25Aye.

1:38:27Zimmerman.

1:38:27Aye.

1:38:29Avalos.

1:38:29Aye.

1:38:31Dunphy's absent.

1:38:33Smith.

1:38:34Aye.

1:38:35Kanal.

1:38:37Thanks for stepping up.

1:38:38Aye.

1:38:39Thank you.

1:38:39And the motion's approved with 10 aye, 2 absent votes.

1:38:44Thank you.

1:38:45And just, uh, our, our understanding with the council president is that items that are, uh, appointment-related that are approved here will be put on the consent agenda at the full council.

1:38:56Um, and unless they're pulled off of it, they'll remain there.

1:38:59And, uh, hopefully that'll happen, uh, in, in the next meeting.

1:39:02Meeting or two.

1:39:03I am— I have said I'm not pulling anything off the consent agenda that got discussed here, uh, and passed on.

1:39:09Um, so, um, Rebecca, will you please, for the sake of tradition, will you, will you, uh, please call the next item?

1:39:19Item 3, appoint members and alternates to the Sustainability and Climate Commission, document number 2026-170.

1:39:27Thank you.

1:39:27We're going to welcome up, uh, Vivian Satterfield, the city's Chief Sustainability Officer, as well as Elaine Viska-Livingstone, the Sustainability and Climate Commission Coordinator.

1:39:47Good morning, Chair, members of the committee.

1:39:49It's great to be here this morning.

1:39:51I'm Vivian Satterfield, use she/her pronouns or my name, and I'm the Chief Sustainability Officer located in the City Administrator's Office.

1:39:59I did appreciate the robust conversation and many of the questions that you all engaged with, with the appointees to the Urban Forestry Commission.

1:40:07I would like to address some of those questions at the end of our presentation.

1:40:10Hopefully, as well as we go through the presentation, some of those points will be illuminated as well.

1:40:15If we don't touch on those though, however, please, I do welcome those questions and a robust discussion at the end.

1:40:22Today I am here alongside Elaine Visca-Livingstone, Climate Commission Coordinator to bring you the mayor's appointments for the next cohort of our youth commissioners, age 16 to 24, for the Sustainability and Climate Commission.

1:40:36Um, for today, there will be one reappointment, 3 new appointments, one youth alternate appointment.

1:40:44Additionally, we're bringing one alternate appointment to the commission at large.

1:40:49And I'd like to introduce you to Elaine Viska Livingstone, our Sustainability and Climate Commission Coordinator, who will walk you through the recruitment process, and then we'll have an opportunity to hear from the incoming commissioners themselves.

1:41:00A number of them are able to join us here today.

1:41:03We do have one prerecorded video, and I believe we also have virtual attendance as well.

1:41:07Elaine?

1:41:09Thank you, Vivian, and thank you, committee chair, vice chairs, and members for this opportunity and your time today.

1:41:17For the record, my name is Elaine Viska Livingstone.

1:41:19I use she/they pronouns, and I'm Sustainability and Climate Commission Coordinator.

1:41:24Next slide, please.

1:41:28Today we'll briefly walk through the commission's overview and scope, our membership structure, the recruitment process for these appointments for the mayor— from the mayor before you today.

1:41:40Next slide, please.

1:41:43As a quick reminder, this commission was codified by this council With an effective date in June 2025 under Portland City Code Chapter 3.136.

1:41:56Its core purpose is to advance climate action across the city with a focus on environmental justice and accountability, and its signature responsibility is to create and evaluate the city's climate action plan.

1:42:09Next slide, please.

1:42:12The commission's scope spans 9 focus areas that this council helped shape, from buildings, energy, transportation, to resiliency and youth.

1:42:22These will continue to be refined as the commission develops the next climate action plan.

1:42:28Next slide, please.

1:42:32The commission advises City Council, the mayor, and the city administrator.

1:42:38It has the powers and duties to hold hearings, create committees, including joint committees with other advisory bodies.

1:42:45It provides a forum for community input and creates accountability for the city's climate commitments.

1:42:53In short, they are your community advisors on climate, grounded in both technical expertise and lived experience.

1:43:01Next slide, please.

1:43:06We have 20 active members, including 4 dedicated UC seats for commissioners ages 16 to 24 representing Portland's diverse communities and socioeconomics, with at least 2 commissioners from every City Council district.

1:43:21Terms are staggered 4 years, and youth terms are 1 year, recognizing their transitions to continued education or careers, and they have the opportunity to be reappointed.

1:43:33Next slide, please.

1:43:36This is our current membership for 2025 to 2026.

1:43:41You can see their full biographies in the link on the slide.

1:43:44Our co-chairs are Jose Gamero-Jordson from District 1 and Issa Taylor from District 4, who is also a youth commissioner.

1:43:53You'll see on this slide the positions that are to be filled today's appointments, which is 3 youth commissioners and 1 youth alternate and an at-large alternate and 1 youth reappointment.

1:44:06I'd be remiss if I didn't say a few words about the first year's youth cohort, who set a solid foundation for every youth cohort to come after them.

1:44:18They created the first iteration of the Youth Framework for Climate Action, and 4 of the 5 are taking next steps near and far, including Oregon State University, Princeton, MIT, and Michigan State.

1:44:33We hope that they choose to return to our city with what they learn, and we're pleased to bring the 5th youth member to you for reappointment today.

1:44:42Next slide, please.

1:44:46This recruitment was for 1 youth reappointment, 3 youth appointments, 1 youth alternate, and 1 at-large alternate.

1:44:54We accepted applications from February to March through the city's standard advisory body process.

1:45:00We conducted outreach through social media, our email list with over 1,000 subscribers, and the citywide newsletter Rose City Connection.

1:45:09We engaged our current commissioners, over 100 city staff, and almost 20 partner community organizations to share via their networks and existing relationships.

1:45:22Application scoring was structured around the commission's core criteria: expertise, or lived experience in sustainability and climate.

1:45:30And interview scoring was structured around the Commission Youth Framework values of environmental justice, collaboration and engagement, and informed and empowered community.

1:45:41We also invited all applicants from District 1 to interview.

1:45:46The Chief Sustainability Officer brought her recommendation for appointments to the mayor, and his approved appointments are before you today to begin terms on June 7th.

1:45:56Next slide, please.

1:46:00As part of the application process, there is a voluntary demographic survey through the Office of Community and Civic Life, with 50% of applicants responding across 12 demographic categories.

1:46:12Next slide, please.

1:46:15Over a quarter of the applicants came from District 4, and we received many applicants from outside of Portland, including east of District 1.

1:46:24We continue making a concerted effort to recruit from District 1, such as conducting outreach through our existing relationships with school districts David Douglas and Parkrose, and through our own District 1 commissioners.

1:46:36However, however, you can see we need to continue improving how to reach our communities in District 1.

1:46:43Our second graph shows that most of our applicants were white.

1:46:47Next slide, please.

1:46:48Thank you.

1:46:50A third of our applicants come from a household that makes over $200,000, and most of the applicants identified as male.

1:46:59Next slide, please, and I'll pass it back to Vivian to introduce the mayor's appointments.

1:47:03Thanks so much, Elaine.

1:47:04Again, for the record, Vivian Satterfield, your Chief Sustainability Officer.

1:47:08Commissioner Celeste Ruiz is our returning Youth Commissioner from District 1, and we are pleased to recommend her for a 1-year reappointment.

1:47:16Celeste has been an active and engaged member of this commission and the Multnomah Youth Commission as well, and brings continuity and institutional knowledge to this cohort.

1:47:25We're going to go ahead and share a prerecorded video from Commissioner Celeste at this time.

1:47:33Hello, good morning everybody.

1:47:35My name is Celeste Ruiz.

1:47:36Thank you for the committee for having me today.

1:47:40I am from Parkrose and I am a resident from District 1.

1:47:44I grew up seeing environmental injustice firsthand in my own community with the Kmart that was on 122nd and Sandy and with Prologis taking over.

1:47:55That experience is what drives me to show up in spaces like this one in the Sustainability and Climate Commission.

1:48:02I spent the last year on this commission learning and leading, including as a facilitator on transportation and climate equity with my own adult and youth commissioners together.

1:48:12I've also served as the co-chair for the Multnomah Youth Commission's Transit Equity and Environmental Advocacy Committee this year, and I've been recognized by Neighbors for Clean Air as a Clean Air Champion back in the fall.

1:48:25I'm seeking reappointment because this work isn't finished, and Portland's next climate action plan needs youth voices at the table helping to shape it.

1:48:34I'm honored for the opportunity to continue serving.

1:48:37Next year.

1:48:38Have a great day.

1:48:42Thank you, Commissioner Celeste.

1:48:49We'll pull up our slides here again in order to talk about our 3 new youth appointments.

1:48:58Thank you.

1:48:59Um, today we have joining us here in person Christian Flores from District 1, Alma Valls from District 4, who was a student in District 3, and Shub Narayan from District 4.

1:49:10Each brings a distinct perspective and a strong commitment to climate action and community.

1:49:15Christian and Shub are here in person.

1:49:17Thank you for joining us today.

1:49:18And we do have a prerecorded video from Alma.

1:49:25Next slide, please.

1:49:30And Giovanni Vaz is appointed— is recommended for appointment as our youth alternate.

1:49:35Giovanni is a student in District 2, and Giovanni has joined us today virtually.

1:49:40Next slide, please.

1:49:44Ben Hodgson from District 2 is recommended for appointment as an alternate for a 3-year term.

1:49:50Ben rounds out this cohort with additional capacity for the commission, as we had an alternate step down for personal reasons.

1:49:55Second.

1:49:57Ben is joining us today virtually.

1:50:00Next slide, please.

1:50:03This renewed slide shows the full commission membership as it will look like beginning June 2026 with this new cohort seated if you do choose to move forward on these appointments.

1:50:16Next slide, please.

1:50:19So our recommendation today is for the committee to confirm the mayor's recommendations for appointments and alternates to the Sustainability and Climate Commission.

1:50:27Again, 1 youth reappointment for a 1-year term, 3 youth appointments for 1-year terms, 1 youth alternate for a 1-year term, and 1 alternate for a 3-year term.

1:50:41These appointments will continue to build on the commission's strong foundation and reflect Portland's commitment to centering youth voices in climate action.

1:50:49I'm really proud of the quality of this cohort.

1:50:51And we look forward to working alongside them to develop the city's next climate action plan.

1:50:57Next slide, please.

1:51:00So that's the conclusion of our presentation.

1:51:03I believe we'll go ahead and run through our invited testimony now, and then we'll welcome questions at the end.

1:51:08Thank you.

1:51:09Good.

1:51:13We're pulling up the video presentation.

1:51:17One moment, please.

1:51:22Hi everyone, thank you to the committee for having me today.

1:51:26My name is Alma Valls, and I'm sorry that I couldn't attend in person, but I'm excited to meet you all at a later date.

1:51:32I'm finishing my junior year at Cleveland High School where I co-lead the Cleveland Climate Club.

1:51:38I have served 2 years on the Portland Public Schools Climate Crisis Response Committee Which oversees the implementation of the district climate policy.

1:51:47I am so grateful to have the opportunity to represent younger generations on the Sustainability and Climate Commission.

1:51:53I'm excited to learn about sustainability on a larger scale and be involved in climate discussions that directly relate to my community.

1:52:01I'm committed to doing quality work in this role and listening to other perspectives.

1:52:06Thank you.

1:52:10Thank you.

1:52:14And then we have one of our prospective commissioners.

1:52:17Christian, would you like to speak?

1:52:19Of course.

1:52:20Good morning.

1:52:20My name is Christian Flores.

1:52:22I am a student at Portland State University.

1:52:25I am currently studying GIS and sustainability.

1:52:29I have also worked as an intern at a solar panel company looking for potential solar panel sites, so I have some professional experience in that area.

1:52:39And I want to thank the commission for letting me have this opportunity, and I want to thank the committee for allowing me to have a time here.

1:52:49I really want to work to make a positive impact on Portland, and I think that the commission is somewhere that I want to be, especially where working for the plan that they have and the mission that they support.

1:53:04Thank you.

1:53:04Thank you so much, Christian.

1:53:08We also have, um, Shubh.

1:53:10Good morning, everybody.

1:53:11I'm Shubh Narayan, and, uh, thank you for the commission for having me today.

1:53:16Um, I grew up around in 5 countries.

1:53:19I was born in China, I lived in India, Indonesia, Singapore, and now I live in the United States.

1:53:27Across all these countries, I've seen a different version of climate change, whether that being flooding, droughts, or wildfires.

1:53:33And one big thing I noticed is that the people who were hit the hardest were ones who were stripped of their voice.

1:53:40And currently, that's my goal, is to give the people who don't have a voice a voice.

1:53:44And yeah, thank you.

1:53:46Thanks so much, Shubh.

1:53:48And I believe we have Ben Hodgson online.

1:53:52Good morning.

1:53:54My name is Ben Hodgson.

1:53:55I want to thank the committee for having me today.

1:53:57I have 3 years of experience working as a data analyst at a wildlife research lab based out of the University of California, Davis, where we study how transportation systems impact animal populations.

1:54:07I hold a bachelor's degree in environmental policy analysis and planning.

1:54:10And as an undergraduate student, I served on a commission that evaluated the sustainability practices of university organizations and conducted student outreach on local environmental issues.

1:54:19Mm-hmm.

1:54:19I know that climate change poses a significant risk to health and well-being of our community, but I also believe that by taking the action necessary to achieve our climate targets, we can create a more resilient and equitable future for our city.

1:54:31Thank you for this opportunity, and if appointed as an alternate, I look forward to working with the committee, city staff, and the other commissioners in the coming years to meet our climate goals.

1:54:38Thanks.

1:54:39Thank you so much, Ben.

1:54:41And Giovanni is also joining us online.

1:54:45Thank you.

1:54:47Good morning, everyone.

1:54:48I would like to say especially good morning to Chair Kanal and the members of the committee.

1:54:53Thank you for having me here this evening.

1:54:55My name is Giovanni Vaz.

1:54:57I'm a student at the University of Portland studying economics and political science.

1:55:02It's also where I serve as speaker of the ASCP Senate.

1:55:06Part of what inspired me to apply to the Sustainability and Climate Commission was a recent class trip I took to New Zealand as part of a climate change and energy course, where I saw firsthand how communities are actively engaging That experience reinforced my belief that climate policy is not just about the environment, but is also about community resilience and economic sustainability and protecting the places that we call home.

1:55:37It made me want to become more involved in addressing climate change back here in Portland, and through my experiences in student government, volunteer service, and campus sustainability initiatives, I've been able to make a positive impact.

1:55:47I hope to bring a collaborative perspective and a strong willingness to learn and serve.

1:55:53I'm grateful for the opportunity to contribute to the city in this role, and I look forward to working alongside the commission and my fellow community members.

1:56:01Thank you.

1:56:04Thank you for all these prospective appointments for joining us today in the spaces that you were able to.

1:56:08That concludes our presentation and invited testimony, and I will welcome any questions.

1:56:14Thank you everyone for the presentation, for being here, uh, and we'll open it up for questions from councilors.

1:56:19We'll start with Councilor Green and then go to Councilor Avalos.

1:56:23Thank you so much.

1:56:24Um, I just really want to tip my hat to particularly all the young people who've stepped up to serve on this board.

1:56:31I'm really excited that you're going to take this work seriously.

1:56:36Special shout out to Celeste.

1:56:38I think it's really challenging to find people from that part of the city to, to then, you know, put their hat in the ring.

1:56:45And the Prologis thing in particular, it's not my district, but it's a thing that I care a lot about.

1:56:50And so hearing that directly means a lot to me.

1:56:52So I'm going to be highly supportive of all these nominees.

1:56:55Thanks.

1:56:57Thank you, Councilor Green.

1:56:58Councilor Avalos.

1:57:01Thank you so much.

1:57:03I really appreciate the city's continued commitment to centering youth voices in climate Thank you.

1:57:09I'm Councilor Tiffany Koyama Lane.

1:57:09I'm really excited to be here today.

1:57:09I'm really excited to be a part of this commission and to be included in sustainability policymaking.

1:57:11Young people are going to live the longest with the consequences of the decisions that we make today, and so it really matters that they're not just consulted occasionally but actually meaningfully included in shaping policy and implementation of the city's climate action plan.

1:57:25I'm also really encouraged to see the broad perspectives and experience working in solar advocacy on Prologis, right?

1:57:34These are all things that are going to enrich this commission, especially coming from youth Thank you.

1:57:40And District 1 thanks you for that.

1:57:42And, you know, ultimately, I think what also I heard in y'all's speeches and just what you are here to do on the commission is that climate policy is not separate from things like affordability and public health and infrastructure.

1:57:57And so I appreciate seeing you all understand those intersections.

1:58:02I have a couple of quick questions as it relates to just kind of the way that the commission will engage with your work.

1:58:09Vivian.

1:58:10And so as the city updates its climate change risk assessment, how is the commission thinking about emerging risks like wildfire smoke, extreme heat, or climate-related emergency preparedness, especially for the vulnerable communities in East Portland that I represent?

1:58:25Yeah, thank you so much for the question, Councilor Avalos.

1:58:28As you rightly know, we are updating on a staff level the city's climate change risk assessment.

1:58:34That assessment, by the way, had not been updated since 2014.

1:58:37So when I entered into this role, I saw it as a key responsibility to update that, get a science-based document.

1:58:44We're really pleased not only to subject matter experts across the city, and we have broad participation from every single service area, including our public safety service area, deeply engaging in in-person workshops with the data to update that.

1:58:58The 3 areas that we are focusing on include extreme heat, include precipitation, knowing how impactful that is to our city, and of course wildfire, as you all know how impactful that can be as well.

1:59:12And so—.

1:59:12Thank you.

1:59:12So the update to that climate change risk assessment, I am looking forward to the full report coming later this October, and the Sustainability and Climate Commission will receive a comprehensive briefing on that.

1:59:23The report itself will also serve as the first chapter of the climate action plan.

1:59:27So many of the actions will be informed by that, but of course the climate action plan will be more holistic than just addressing those scientific-backed risks themselves.

1:59:40And that brings me to, I understand that the climate justice audit raised questions about economic cost-benefit analysis in climate policymaking.

1:59:49And so as the climate action plan update moves forward, what role will the commission play in helping to evaluate economic impacts, trade-offs, and benefits of different climate strategies?

2:00:00Yes, thank you again for that.

2:00:01I'm grateful for the climate justice audit for being clear-eyed and giving us some parameters of how the next climate action plan should be updated and what it needs to include and address.

2:00:09And how we should be prioritizing our actions.

2:00:12Those findings are really key, and we're building that into our work plan.

2:00:16And we also, knowing that we had those recommendations from the climate justice audit, had a keen eye in our recommendations to the mayor and before you today and how we appointed some of the skill sets around the Sustainability and Climate Commission.

2:00:29I anticipate that not only will we be activating the commissioners themselves and their knowledge, but we may also have to bring in some subject matter experts to help inform some of those analyses as well.

2:00:39And I look forward to engaging all of you Great.

2:00:44Well, thank you so much.

2:00:45And I just want to invite all of our hopefully newly appointed youth commissioners that my office is working on a couple of different climate policies.

2:00:53And please do not feel bound by, you know, the boundaries of your commission.

2:00:58I would encourage you to engage with the councilors on policies.

2:01:01I'd love to hear your perspective as we're shaping that and also, you know, get that feedback from the Climate Commission in general.

2:01:08So that we're working together, because I think ultimately what I'm hoping for with this commission, with having Vivian in this position as we continue to implement our new form of government, is that we are seeing the alignment for needing to plan for climate, climate action in the future aligned with all of our infrastructure and basic service delivery at the city.

2:01:27So just want to thank you so much for bringing your perspectives, and I look forward to seeing you in these halls working on climate policy.

2:01:33Thank you.

2:01:34Thank you.

2:01:35Thank you, Councilor Avalos.

2:01:36Councilor Ryan, and then I'm next in the queue.

2:01:38Okay, thank you, Chair.

2:01:40And thank you, Director Satterfield, for being here today.

2:01:43You always present so well, very polished.

2:01:46And Elaine, doing great work.

2:01:47I'm glad you have someone to work with.

2:01:50And thank you to the youth volunteers.

2:01:51It's just great to hear your voice today.

2:01:53It's our second time this morning we've had outstanding youth in the chambers, and it really feels good.

2:01:59We need to always try to find more opportunities for that.

2:02:03My question, first I wanna say thank you for the recruitment demographics.

2:02:07I think that's what was missing, say, in the last presentation.

2:02:10And CA Lee, I think when we bring these to the Council, it's really helpful when the recruitment demographics are included.

2:02:18So then we have a sense of the who and what the denominator was, if you will, of all of those who applied.

2:02:25It was very helpful.

2:02:26I do think I would ask you consider adding like sectors, like work professional sectors they're from, and with the students and maybe what their studies are.

2:02:37That would just give us more information.

2:02:39So anyway, because you did something good, I'm trying to give you a suggestion to make it even better.

2:02:43We can always do better.

2:02:44What's that?

2:02:45We can always do better.

2:02:46Yeah, all of us, absolutely.

2:02:49I'm interested in the economic opportunities with climate action, and I find that too much of our conversations sometimes And I think that my hometown is a leader, one, because we're blessed with such beauty and we know that we want to sustain it.

2:03:07And I think if you grew up here, you were just a natural environmentalist.

2:03:11I did compost gardening as a child.

2:03:14It was just something you did.

2:03:15And then when you would venture into other states and back east where I went to college, you would find out, oh, you're different 'cause you're from Portland.

2:03:22Yeah.

2:03:23And that you already had all this natural behaviors that made you, I think, a better person on the planet, caring about the planet.

2:03:31And so I've always been proud of that.

2:03:33I think sometimes we're missing out on the economic opportunities to be in that center.

2:03:39And I hope that there's conversations about what kind of green industry we attract, what kind of jobs can we attract?

2:03:47'Cause too often the debate that you hear is like, say, from some of our working-class trades jobs that are some of the best jobs to still be able to afford to live in Portland, that they're sometimes going against people in your sector, if you will.

2:04:03And I feel like we miss out on opportunities on how, again, we can have those tension-filled conversations and then get to a place that everyone gives in a little, but we are doing something for the greater good.

2:04:15Can you give some examples of where you're having dialogue about economic opportunities for the city of Portland where we can have high-paying family wage jobs that are in this industry?

2:04:25Absolutely.

2:04:25I appreciate the question, Councilor Ryan.

2:04:27While this work is not particularly germane to the current work plan of the Sustainability and Climate Commission, one area that I am very closely engaged with is on the clean industry work in collaboration with the Bureau of Planning Sustainability, Portland State University, and of course the Portland Metro Chamber and the Clean Industry Hub work.

2:04:45That work is initially capacitated through a grant, and a rather impactful grant, through the Portland Clean Energy Fund.

2:04:52And that's exactly what we're looking at, is looking at some of these— we call them difficult-to-abate sectors, basically really stubborn sources of emissions because, for a variety of reasons, you know, high-heat processes for, for example, smelting steel.

2:05:08Um, those industries exist within the city of Portland.

2:05:11Technology has not quite delivered, um, a technological solution to some of that.

2:05:15And so we're working directly with businesses to discuss how we can continue to keep, um, working-class jobs, economic opportunity, identity of Portland, um, in many of our geographic regions while also demonstrating, um, you know, what a climate benefit can look like.

2:05:31So that's, that's an area of work that I'm deeply engaged on and really grateful for the emergence and also the strong partnerships that have developed after what has been, you know, a rather contentious number of years in seeing a binary between climate action or economic development.

2:05:46We're trying to find ways to actively work on the solutions with the folks who know best.

2:05:52A few governors ago, but I always thought Governor Kitzhaber did a really good job of making that table filled with that inclusion.

2:05:59And so sometimes they might had some contentious conversations about the gorge, if you will, you had all the people at the table to work things out.

2:06:07And I think sometimes we miss out on those opportunities.

2:06:10Who are the bureaus and offices that you most collaborate with?

2:06:14Because you were plopped into this fascinating organizational chart called the City of Portland, which obviously CA Lee knows has to keep being worked on so that we can have that efficiency that voters wanted when we did charter reform.

2:06:28Who are some of the— bureaus and offices that you collaborate with the most in this role?

2:06:33Yes, I appreciate that question, and I know that the city administrator's executive programs are still evolving in this form of government, and I look forward to his continued leadership to define what that looks like.

2:06:42Currently, um, I coordinate across all different service areas.

2:06:47Um, I've identified about 50+ climate practitioners embedded within their bureaus and service areas.

2:06:54Sometimes our projects that we work on, um, as I The aforementioned climate change risk assessment, clearly that brought us into a space in which we had to collaborate very closely with the public safety service area, especially with Portland Fire, for example.

2:07:08But I am able to coordinate across all the different service areas very much deeply in public works as well.

2:07:15So the Bureau of Transportation, with Environmental Services, our Water Bureau has been a longtime leader in thinking about the impacts of climate change and how to secure our water future with that as well.

2:07:27Of course, the Bureau of Planning Sustainability that has housed traditionally a climate policy team as well.

2:07:34I don't want to forget anybody, of course.

2:07:38And of course, I am also in conversation with folks who work at Portland Parks and Recreation, especially those who focus on trees, as nature-based solutions is a key component and focus area of our next climate action plan update as well.

2:07:53We're a big organization and we have a lot I'm on a lot of commissions and a lot of advisory boards.

2:07:57And I'll just share, when I was on the University of Oregon Alumni Board, my favorite weekend of the year— there would be 4 meetings a year, but there was one meeting a year where all of the advisory boards and all the different boards and commissions were on campus.

2:08:12And we'd do some overlap sharing with one another.

2:08:15And it was just so rich.

2:08:16And I wonder if the city could consider like having something like that where all of you could kind of see each other and connect the dots.

2:08:23Dots.

2:08:24And so you start to build relationships with those overlapping commissions and boards that you could collaborate with.

2:08:30And I just hope that we keep moving towards that.

2:08:32Thank you.

2:08:33Thank you.

2:08:34Thank you, Councilor Ryan.

2:08:35I'm next in the queue, and I'm very grateful I am because that is a— that last thing you ended on is something I've been proposing for a couple years as well.

2:08:42I would love to have a day where we get all the advisory bodies together, uh, all the volunteers, and thank them for their service, but also give an opportunity for folks to meet each other.

2:08:54I think it's really empowering to community members, and we're taking people who are obviously engaged, obviously involved, obviously care, and doing that.

2:09:04First, thank you to everybody for stepping up, for being willing to serve, to— or for willing to continue serving in the case of our one reappointment.

2:09:13I am interested in a lot of the different conversations that we could potentially have around all of this.

2:09:19I did, uh, want to, um, ask a couple questions, uh, from— for staff.

2:09:25Um, I just wanted to flag, you mentioned a lot of outreach being done, and I appreciate it.

2:09:30And I specifically note that you and Director Szczepanski as well listened when we talked about making a focused effort on District 1.

2:09:39Um, and I think one of the things that you you'll see is when you start trying to do focused outreach, the first time it doesn't always yield the outcomes you want relative to the effort you put in.

2:09:51And that's why it has to be an iterative process.

2:09:53And I appreciate that that's been something that you've been willing to do.

2:09:57Um, did we— maybe I missed it, uh, did we get an ask at council offices to help you circulate for this, uh, for the outreach for this recruitment?

2:10:07I'm going to ask, uh, Commission Coordinator Elaine Bieska-Livingston No, we did not reach out to you directly.

2:10:14We were in the internal newsletter and the external newsletter.

2:10:19We can add that to our list for next year.

2:10:21Yeah, I think that'd be great.

2:10:22I mean, I think all 12 of us, but particularly my 3 colleagues from District 1, I think they have networks that are overlapping but also different from the networks that you may have.

2:10:34I also had a note on showing the slides with the outcomes.

2:10:39Can you actually put that back up again while we— I just think it's helpful for everyone to know.

2:10:48And I think that this is something where we need to talk, and this again, nothing to do with you guys.

2:10:55I think actually among the best— I don't want to necessarily rule out anyone else that I haven't heard from, but among the best recruitment processes in the country, and I think that we need to has been the Sustainability and Climate Commission, both last time and this time.

2:11:07But I do think we need to have a conversation around the overall recruitment process.

2:11:14I think it's an important time to do that as we discuss our community engagement leadership at the city and the future of those roles, to say that we need to be doing better in a lot of different ways here.

2:11:27In particular, I'll note on the this example, it's the right, uh, graph here, but I think in general— and again, this is among the best of the recruitments we have, um, if not the best.

2:11:38So I wanted to, to just put that on the record.

2:11:40Um, I do want to, uh, I, I could go down the list of each person, and I, I won't because of time, but I did want to say thank you.

2:11:49I, I was really impressed with, uh, the, the bios, um, and in particular for folks who are, uh, as young as you are to Thank you.

2:11:57Thank you, Councilor Smith, for the opportunity to be doing the different types of work that you're doing.

2:12:00I had 2 notes.

2:12:00One is, as someone who studied economics and political science but was only a vice chair of my student senate, I appreciate the work Giovanni's been doing over there and just wanted to shout that out.

2:12:12The other point I wanted to make is maybe semi-related, and it's to CSO Satterfield.

2:12:19As we do, is it possible for us to improve Yes.

2:12:28I know you mentioned that it hasn't been updated since 2014.

2:12:35I can't think of another thing where the risk has evolved as rapidly as that, as climate change.

2:12:43And so in addition to what you're doing now, which is great, and I want to commend you for engaging on that, is there a way to improve upon the cadence so that we're not— I don't know what the normal cadence is, but we're not waiting 10 years to do this again.

2:12:55I appreciate the question, Councilor Kanal.

2:13:12Thank you.

2:13:13And I appreciate also the acknowledgement of the sort of workload it does take to update this.

2:13:19We update our plans, including the climate change risk assessment.

2:13:22I can't speak to, you know, the delay between 2014 and when I reinitiated the process.

2:13:28We do update our plans in accordance and with the timetable that's offered to us in guidance with best global practices.

2:13:35As you all know, we're part of a number of— we're a member of a number of climate-based groups such as C40 Cities, the Urban Sustainability Directors Network, ICLEI, that work internationally.

2:13:46And so all international cities are working together to update our plans on the cadence that's recommended.

2:13:52And of course, this all toggles back to the IPCC and the best climate science as well.

2:13:58So while off the top of my head, I can't recall what the suggested cadence is for a climate change risk assessment, I'm sure it can be grounded in climate science and a recommendation for what makes sense.

2:14:09Thank you.

2:14:09I appreciate that.

2:14:11Um, I am going to, uh, at this time ask if there is a motion to refer this item on to the full council with a recommendation to pass.

2:14:21So moved.

2:14:22Second.

2:14:23Moved by Councilor Avalos, seconded by Councilor Koyama Lane.

2:14:26Is there any further discussion on this item?

2:14:31All right, seeing none, Rebecca, can you please call the roll?

2:14:40Pirtle-Guiney?

2:14:43Absent.

2:14:44Ryan?

2:14:44Aye.

2:14:45Koyama Lane?

2:14:47Aye.

2:14:47Thank you.

2:14:48Murillo?

2:14:49Aye.

2:14:50Novick?

2:14:52Absent.

2:14:58Clark?

2:15:00Councilor Clark?

2:15:02He is online, She's having a frozen moment.

2:15:06Those are the worst.

2:15:13Councilor Clark, you're—.

2:15:14Yes, uh, the video— the, um, internet connection is not good.

2:15:21Could you hear that?

2:15:22I'm an aye.

2:15:23We have you as an aye.

2:15:25Yeah, thank you.

2:15:27Green, absent.

2:15:28Councilor Smith, absent.

2:15:28Councilor Ryan, absent.

2:15:29Councilor Smith, absent.

2:15:29Councilor Ryan, absent.

2:15:29Councilor Smith, absent.

2:15:29Councilor Ryan, absent.

2:15:29Councilor Zimmerman, aye.

2:15:30Avalos, aye.

2:15:32Dunphy, absent.

2:15:35Smith, absent.

2:15:36Kanal, aye.

2:15:39And the motion is approved.

2:15:427 Aye and 5 absent votes.

2:15:46Thank you all for being here.

2:15:48Thanks for stepping up.

2:15:49This item, just like the last, will be placed on the consent agenda at an upcoming council meeting.

2:15:55Thank you.

2:15:57That concludes our agenda.

2:15:58We're about 48 minutes ahead of schedule, which is good.

2:16:02And just wanted to say again, remind that there's no meeting scheduled next week.

2:16:08We'll pick back up on June 11th.

2:16:12And with that, we are now adjourned.

2:16:14Thank you.