Portland City Council PM Session 07/30/26

6:51Good afternoon.

6:52I'm calling back to order this recessed good afternoon.

6:57Rebecca, can you please call the roll?

7:00Good afternoon.

7:02Koyama Lane?

7:03Here.

7:04Murillo?

7:05Here.

7:06Novick?

7:07Clark?

7:08Green?

7:11Zimmerman?

7:13Avalos?

7:15Smith?

7:15Here.

7:16Kanal?

7:17Here.

7:19Pirtle-Guiney?

7:19Here.

7:21Ryan.

7:21Here.

7:21Dunphy.

7:22Here.

7:23And could we please read the rules of decorum for the chamber?

7:26Yes.

7:26Good afternoon.

7:27Welcome to the Portland City Council.

7:29To testify before council in person or virtually, you must sign up in advance on the council agenda at www.portland.gov/council/agenda.

7:37Information on engaging with council can be found on the council clerk's webpage.

7:41Individuals may testify for 3 minutes unless the presiding officer states otherwise.

7:44Your microphone will be muted when your time is over.

7:47The presiding officer preserves order.

7:49Disruptive conduct such as shouting, refusing to conclude your testimony when your time is up, or interrupting others' testimony or council deliberations will not be allowed.

7:57If you cause a disruption, a warning will be given.

7:59Further disruption will result in ejection from the meeting.

8:02Anyone who fails to leave once ejected is subject to arrest for trespass.

8:05Additionally, council may take a short recess and reconvene virtually.

8:09Your testimony should address the matter being considered.

8:11When testifying, state your name for the record.

8:13Your address is not necessary.

8:15If you are a lobbyist, identify the organization you represent.

8:18Virtual testifiers should unmute themselves when the council clerk calls your name.

8:21Thank you.

8:22Thank you very much.

8:24We have 2 items left on our agenda for today, folks.

8:27Relatively light load.

8:28Could we please call item number 7?

8:34Item 7, amend city code and improve land use regulations through the Regulatory Improvement Code Amendment Package 11, amend Code Titles 32 and 33, document number 2026-189.

8:47Thank you, colleagues.

8:48Our initial hearing on Recap 11 was on July 8th.

8:51At that meeting, we passed 2 amendments, the Mechanical Equipment Amendment and my amendment to allow residential unit uses in the campus institution CI-1 zone.

9:01My amendment was adopted with acknowledgement that staff would need to return it with conforming language in order to complete it.

9:08Today we have Dunphy 2, which is pre-filed, which ensures that the changes from Dunphy 1 are made everywhere necessary in the code rather than adding new or unique standards to fill out the housing allowance in CI-1.

9:21And we are pointing to the standards in the RM— of the RM-1 zone.

9:26So I would like to start by formally moving Dunphy 2 to bring conforming.

9:31And I would— is there a second?

9:32Second.

9:33Thank you, Councilor Ryan.

9:35Colleagues, is there any discussion of the conforming amendment?

9:41Not seeing anybody in the queue.

9:44Keelan or Rebecca, sorry, can we please call the roll on Dunphy 2?

9:51Dunphy 2, moved by Dunphy, seconded by Ryan.

9:55Koyama Lane?

9:56Aye.

9:57Murillo?

9:59Aye.

9:59Novick?

10:00Absent.

10:01Clark?

10:02Aye.

10:04Green?

10:04Absent.

10:05Zimmerman?

10:06Aye.

10:08Avalos?

10:09Absent.

10:09Smith?

10:12Aye.

10:13Kanal?

10:19Aye.

10:20Aye.

10:21Dunphy.

10:22Thank you, colleagues.

10:23Additionally, colleagues, on the request of the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability staff— oh, I'm sorry.

10:28Did you— I'm sorry, did you vote?

10:30I didn't, did I?

10:32Aye.

10:33Thank you.

10:33I vote for my own amendment.

10:34Thank you.

10:35Okay, Dunphy, aye.

10:369 Aye votes.

10:37Thank you.

10:38Wow.

10:38Apologies.

10:39I'm ready to go.

10:40I'm going to try that again.

10:42On the request of BPS staff, there is one more action to take, adjusting the effective date of the recap code changes.

10:48As written, this ordinance has an effective date of October 1st.

10:51Staff is requesting a change to November 1st to align with the timeline for changes to the code required by new federal regulations.

10:59Specifically to the changes of the campus institution zone, my team has confirmed that those customers have no concerns with additional delay.

11:06Chief Planner Diffenderfer is here.

11:10Would you be able to speak to this a little bit, if there's anything further that I didn't include?

11:14There's not.

11:15I'm seeing— there we go.

11:22Good afternoon, Council President.

11:24Pardon me, you were talking about the change in the date, the effective date?

11:27Yeah, it's more for administrative reasons.

11:30We have been working on a project to remediate the code to make it more— to meet ADA accessibility requirements.

11:38The RECAP project touches so many sections of the code and it would be very difficult to update that code while we're remediating the code.

11:45So we'd like to make them all available on November 1st.

11:48Thank you.

11:49Thank you.

11:50So I would move to update the effective date of this ordinance to November 1st, 2027.

11:56And this will be Dunphy 3.

11:59Second.

12:00And Councilor Ryan seconds.

12:02Thank you.

12:05Council President, may I interrupt?

12:07So I believe that staff was also intending council to vote on a replacement ordinance.

12:12So I might suggest we vote on the replacement ordinance first that reflects the findings and then amend it to include the date so that this way we're not amending the ordinance and then having to do the amendment.

12:21I had that reversed on my things.

12:22Okay, then we're gonna skip ahead just a step very quickly and we'll pause on that.

12:27I will withdraw my motion.

12:29Motion for now.

12:31Uh, we must adopt the replacement Exhibit A and Exhibit B, which incorporates all past amendments into the ordinance.

12:41So, uh, I move that to replace those exhibits with those that are posted.

12:48So is that right?

12:50Am I doing this wrong?

12:51Yeah, I think the amendment is to replace the ordinance Exhibits A and Exhibit B.

12:55And what that does is it incorporates all of the amendments, prior discussion, updates the findings to reflect the discussion, updates the ordinance.

13:02So it just updates everything that council has already done.

13:05Can I also fold in an updated effective date in that, or do I need to do that as a separate action?

13:09We'll do it as a separate.

13:11Yeah, let's do this a second so that—.

13:13Thank you.

13:14Apologies, colleagues.

13:15We're figuring this out as we go.

13:17So I move to replace the ordinance and exhibits with those that are posted.

13:21And is there a second?

13:24Second.

13:25Thank you, Councilor Ryan.

13:26Colleagues, to the, uh, to the motion.

13:31Councilor Pirtle-Guiney.

13:32So I just want to understand this because the new exhibits don't have track changes and obvious things to follow.

13:39I want to make sure we understand and that others listening in know what this does.

13:43So the new Exhibits A and B incorporate the amendments from Avalos-Dunphy-Koyama Lane 1, from Dunphy 1, and presumably from Dunphy 2.

13:56I'm hoping these were written assuming we were going to adopt those.

14:00Okay, I'm getting nods from staff in the room.

14:03So the changes from Avalos-Dunphy-Koyama Lane 1, Dunphy 1, and Dunphy 2 have been added to or amended in the exhibits.

14:13Nothing else has been changed in those exhibits except what was needed to change based on the language that was adopted at the last meeting and earlier today.

14:24Is that accurate?

14:25Okay, I'm seeing nods from the room.

14:27Thank you.

14:28Thank you, Councilor Pirtle-Guiney, for explaining it better than I did.

14:31Councilor Knoll.

14:34Yeah, I'm also trying to clarify that, uh, just in terms of we're talking about replacing the— it looks like the 6th and 7th link of Exhibit A and B listed on the website with the 2nd and 3rd link?

14:50Is that what we're— the vote we're about to be asked to do is?

14:52Is that correct?

14:53It's the as amended.

14:54So this is standard practice for legislative land use proceedings.

14:57Council has to vote on the actual and has to have before it the actual package.

15:03We can't change it after the fact.

15:04And so that's why we bring back these as amended and it says, and the ordinance will say vote on as amended.

15:10So what you previously saw, what was filed was Exhibit A, Exhibit B.

15:15Those don't reflect the amendments council made, and the findings also don't reflect the discussion council had or the testimony we heard.

15:22And so we update the findings to also support those changes and support and respond to any testimony or evidence that we received.

15:30Those would be the changes in the findings, and then the changes in the code are the amendments that council actually made.

15:34Got it.

15:35And so the— and those are the links entitled Exhibit A as amended?

15:37As amended, exactly.

15:38That's right.

15:39Great, thanks.

15:40Thank you, Councilor.

15:41Councilor Pirtle-Guiney.

15:43Thank you, Council President.

15:44I just want to specify I had voted against one of those amendments.

15:48I just voted for the conforming one.

15:49I will be voting for these exhibits, though I think we made the wrong policy choice.

15:54I would like our books to be clean, and so I will be supportive of these changes that follow from it.

16:00Thank you, Councilor.

16:02Seeing no one else in the queue to discuss, can we please call the roll on the replacement ordinance and exhibits.

16:13Sorry, we just have a question.

16:14So the intent is this is now Dunphy 3, and the intent is to then amend Dunphy 3 to update the start date to November— the effective date to November 1st?

16:23Yes, that sounds right to me.

16:26So you want to amend the amendment?

16:28Point of information, I thought we were voting on the updated exhibits, not on the change.

16:32Yeah, I'm confused about that.

16:33Yeah, so we're going to vote on updating the exhibits and amending and and replacing the ordinance.

16:39There is a new— and staff, can you point me to actually where the replacement ordinance was filed?

16:50Yeah, so the replacement ordinance was filed.

16:51I'm just not seeing it on the list.

16:53Um, by all means, come on up if we need to go through some stuff.

16:58Yeah, this is confusing.

16:59So we have the exhibit, we have the exhibit and attachment list with the as-amended Exhibit A, the changes to the ordinance that I reviewed in whatever that system's called, are those already reflected?

17:14They are.

17:14They're already reflected here on what's on the website.

17:17I'd have to look at what's on the website.

17:19We filed an updated ordinance.

17:21I don't have in front of me what the links say there.

17:27Council President, may I ask a question?

17:29Absolutely.

17:30It has all the amendments.

17:30It sounds like what we're hearing is that the language listed, Section 1, Council finds, now therefore Council directs, on the webpage may have been changed.

17:43And if that's the case, I'd like to make sure that we are clear for folks watching about where they can see the original version versus the new version and how in our system online that's filed.

17:55Also so that councilors can track in that language what the changes are.

18:00Because I'm feeling like we're getting a lot of take it on faith that these changes are what we say they are and that they have been made.

18:07And I'd like to know what I'm voting on.

18:10Oh, the— It's the file, the— when I'm looking at the ordinance that's in HTML on the website, it has the update.

18:21It has the as amended.

18:22And so the concern or the— so this is the as amended?

18:26Yes.

18:26And so I think what Councilor Pirtle-Guiney is asking for is and I don't— this is maybe a question for the council clerk.

18:33What happens to the ordinance before so people can see, just as we see the original Exhibit A, now we have the as-amended A, the original ordinance showing that strikethrough?

18:43And when it used to be in paper format, that was easier.

18:46I don't know where it goes on this website.

18:50Yeah, I—.

18:50Okay, so question for the clerk.

18:51I'm not sure either.

18:52Answer that question.

18:56Okay.

18:57But so I guess we can, we can assure you that the only changes that have happened to the ordinance, which are now in the HTML format and is embedded into the website as opposed to an attachment like the other exhibits, the only thing that changed for that is the name of the document itself because we're replacing the new document, the old document with the as-amended version.

19:19So we, yeah, the update to add the dash as amended.

19:22Yes, that's the only thing that changed.

19:27Okay.

19:27And number 12, council held a hearing, invited testimony, approved 2 amendments to the draft.

19:34Um, that was the addition, so it just reflects what happened.

19:41Okay.

19:42I might also just add that the proposed— the first link on the agenda, the proposed amendment Dunphy 2, that is the track changes of the language that changed in the ordinance for at least for that item.

19:56Just—.

19:57And the same is for the, for the, um, Avalos-Dunphy-Koyama Lane one.

20:01There's— that's where you would see the, the strikeouts, and we incorporated what was in that, in there, into the recommended draft as amended.

20:12Okay, okay, colleagues, is anyone— is that as clear as mud for everybody else?

20:18Yeah, thick mud.

20:19Thank you.

20:20All right, so we now have a motion To replace the exhibits and the ordinance has been moved and seconded.

20:29Can we call the roll?

20:32Moved by Dunphy, seconded by Ryan.

20:34Koyama Lane?

20:36Aye.

20:37Murillo?

20:38Aye.

20:40Clark?

20:41Aye.

20:42Zimmerman?

20:43Aye.

20:45Smith?

20:49Aye.

20:51Aye.

20:52Aye.

20:53Aye.

20:54Aye.

20:55And it's approved.

21:00The amendment's approved with 9 ayes.

21:02Okay, thank you.

21:04This is very prescriptive.

21:05Land use stuff is very intentional and prescriptive, and I'm— we're learning how to do this.

21:11I'm learning how to do this.

21:12So our last— we still need to change the effective correct.

21:15And this— all right, so now going back to what I was previously— I would like to move to update the effective date of this ordinance to be November 1st, 2027.

21:28We're going to call this Dunphy 4 now.

21:31Is that what we're calling it?

21:32Yes.

21:33Okay, for Dunphy 4 to update the effective date.

21:37And is there a second?

21:38Second.

21:39Thank you, Vice President Clark.

21:40Is there discussion?

21:42Please call the roll.

21:44Can we clarify, update the effective date to November 1st, 2026?

21:46November 1st, 2027.

21:482026.

21:49'26 Is what I meant.

21:50Jesus, you know what, this is why we are checking.

21:53Thank you, good details, because 2026.

21:56Thank you.

21:57Can we please call the roll?

21:58Okay, motion to set the effective date to November 1st, 2026, moved by Dunphy, seconded by Clark.

22:06Koyama Lane.

22:07Aye.

22:08Morillo.

22:09Aye.

22:10Clark.

22:11Aye.

22:12Zimmerman.

22:13Aye.

22:13Smith.

22:15Aye.

22:16Hall.

22:16Aye.

22:17Pirtle-Guiney.

22:18Aye.

22:18Ryan.

22:19Aye.

22:20Dunphy.

22:21Aye.

22:21Okay, the amendment is approved with 9 ayes.

22:23Okay, is that everything that we need to do then?

22:27Yes.

22:28So now the item passes to a second reading for a date and time certain of Thursday, August perfect.

22:35Yeah, this item will come back on August 6th, no, no earlier than 2:10.

22:39So this item moves on.

22:40Thank you very much, colleagues.

22:42Thank you for your, uh, patience on that.

22:44And can we please call item number 8?

22:48Item 8, pay settlement of Michael Duffer bodily injury lawsuit in the sum of $287,500 resulting from a collision with a city dump truck involving the Portland Water Bureau.

23:00Document number 2026-267.

23:03This, colleagues, is the— this is an emergency ordinance.

23:09Uh, okay, uh, with us are Senior Deputy Attorney Anne Milligan and Claims Analyst Dave Farrell.

23:15Take it away.

23:17Thank you.

23:18On July 1st, 2024, plaintiff and a water bureau driver were waiting at a red light at Southeast Hawthorne and 34th Avenue.

23:25It was a busy day on Hawthorne for all forms of traffic, including vehicles, peds, and bikes.

23:31When the light turned green, even though the lanes on Hawthorne are single lane in both directions, plaintiff elected to share the lane with the other vehicles and began passing vehicles on the right, eventually reaching and riding alongside the Water Bureau dump truck.

23:45When the dump truck turned right onto 34th Avenue, plaintiff impacted the side of city's 2024 Freightliner truck.

23:52He was not run over by the truck, but he did suffer closed avulsions in his ankles, road rash, and a 5-day hospital stay.

24:00City's driver testified that his right turn signal was engaged.

24:04The cyclist testified that he did not see a turn signal.

24:07The parties have reached a tentative settlement in the amount of $287,500 pending council approval.

24:14The settlement is recommended by the Bureau, Risk Management, and the City Attorney's Office.

24:17Second.

24:17Second.

24:17Second.

24:18Second.

24:20Thank you very much.

24:21Any colleagues, any technical or clarifying questions?

24:28I'm just going to check in a second.

24:29Is there anyone signed up for public testimony?

24:31No one has signed up.

24:32Okay, great.

24:33So technical clarifying questions or just regular council discussion?

24:36Councilor Kanal.

24:37Thank you.

24:39So I just wanted to clarify, we have, I appreciate the information being attached with the overall Water Bureau information in terms of history.

24:54We have seen several vehicle-related incidents around the last couple years, not exclusive to the Water Bureau, but primarily across the city.

25:04Primarily, we have Public Works vehicles, we have Public Safety vehicles.

25:10Under what circumstances would the Bureau remove, terminate, or reassign an employee who is involved in a collision while operating a city vehicle?

25:20I think if, um, the Bureau might be here to speak to that.

25:34Welcome up.

25:35Hi.

25:35Charles Smith, Group Director of Maintenance Construction, Portland Water Bureau.

25:39I understand the question is what type of incidences would we have where we would remove somebody from service?

25:47So we have done this in the past, and typically with the progressive discipline process, we have to do several steps in order to get there, but we have done it in the past, and we take, Precautionary measures and do, um, steps to make sure that they are safe and operating the vehicle safely.

26:09And we'll, we will, um, I'm— I lost the word for it, but, um, sorry, nervous first time.

26:19Um, you're doing great.

26:21Uh, but we do investigations when we have incidents, and we, we make sure that the when it's— if it's a training issue, an employee issue, or a circumstance that's beyond the control of the driver, right?

26:35And so these vehicles are large.

26:38We have implemented new technology like side view mirrors or side view cameras to help prevent this type of stuff.

26:45However, we don't train on that necessarily for CDL purposes because the trainers don't necessarily like relying on that technology for— because not all the trucks have it.

26:54So you have to learn to look for your blind spots when you're in the truck.

26:58So we take into account every piece of the accident when we do this type of discipline and we do the investigation, because it's not all— not all of them require discipline or— in fact, I've been at the bureau for 27 years and I can think of 3 people that we've removed from service because of their driving.

27:20Okay.

27:21Appreciate it.

27:23Yeah, so it sounds like it's not a defined, like, if-then list of criteria, but instead a more holistic—.

27:32Sorry, could you repeat that?

27:33In terms of determining when to remove, terminate, or reassign an employee, it sounds like you're saying there's not a clear, if this happens, then we will, but more of a holistic—.

27:45So there is certain circumstances where we do have a clear path.

27:49Like if they, so like in this instance, we took Rafael in for a required drug test right afterwards because somebody was transported by medical.

28:00And so that requires from the DOT drug analysis.

28:04So if they've tested positive for a narcotic or alcohol, then we would definitely remove them from service.

28:12So there are circumstances where it's immediate and automatic.

28:15Okay.

28:16And there are circumstances where, um, it just— we've had, we've, we've had a fatality, and it was somebody who was texting and driving and went head-on with a dump truck.

28:26And, um, you, you don't— you have to take every case on its own merit and judge accordingly.

28:33But we do, um, follow the, the contract for— and the discipline process for making determinations on whether or not they should be behind the wheel.

28:45And the contract you're referring to, the union contract?

28:48Correct.

28:50Um, had this driver had any previous incidents?

28:55So he did.

28:56I didn't think he had, but I did.

28:58We were digging through the information because we received the crew request this morning, and so we were digging through the information.

29:02We did find where he had clipped a car mirror on a narrow alleyway in like January, 6 months prior to the accident.

29:10Okay.

29:10So, but no moving violations?

29:13No moving violations were cited.

29:16Okay.

29:19Yeah, I appreciate that information.

29:21I think understanding how we get to this place just because of the volume across the— and again, not just the Water Bureau, but the bureaus in general, is helpful.

29:37Um, Anne, can you confirm— I saw in the notes that there are 8 vehicle incidents that have resulted in paid claims from the Water Bureau over the last 2 years that are under the—.

29:48I think Dave Farrow from Risk Management would speak to the claims history.

29:52My apologies.

29:52Yeah.

29:56So in, uh, Dave Farrow, Risk Management, in what period of time?

30:01So the last 2 years, but happy to have a different timeframe if that's more easily accessible to you, just to give a kind of context to this.

30:12For fiscal year '24-'25 and '25-'26, there were a total of 26 collision vehicle— of all vehicles in Water Bureau claims.

30:28Okay.

30:31Okay.

30:32All right, well, I think one thing that might be helpful, and I'm not sure whether it's full council, committee of the whole, public works, but I think it may be helpful for us to have conversations about this in the aggregate instead of exclusive to this particular driver and particular incident, which, you know, we'll be likely resolving with this vote in a moment.

30:51I did have one question that is specific to this.

30:55Was there any finding of fact at all, or city acknowledgment of truth, if it was done at any point throughout this process, about the allegation that the cyclist was dragged a full city block during this incident?

31:13That's an allegation.

31:14Is there any reason for— has that been acknowledged or agreed to as a statement of fact, or is it simply an allegation?

31:20There was security footage from the restaurant across the street that substantiates that allegation.

31:26Okay.

31:28All right, thank you very much.

31:29I've heard enough to support the settlement at this level.

31:32Thank you, Councilor Kanal.

31:34Colleagues, seeing no one else in the queue, this is an emergency ordinance.

31:37It requires 9 votes to pass.

31:40Rebecca, can we please call the roll?

31:42Calling the roll on document 2026-267.

31:46Councilor Koyama Lane?

31:49Aye.

31:49Councilor Elana Pirtle-Guiney?

31:59Aye.

31:59Ryan?

32:00Aye.

32:00Councilor Dan Ryan?

32:03Aye.

32:03Aye.

32:04The ordinance passes with 9 aye votes.

32:06Colleagues, that concludes our agenda for today.

32:09With that, no further business.

32:11I am I'm adjourning this meeting of the Portland City Council.

32:14Thank you all for being here.

32:19Council adjourned.