WEBVTT 1 00:09:12.100 --> 00:09:12.615 Good morning. 2 00:09:12.681 --> 00:09:20.035 I'm going to call this, uh, meeting of the Portland City Council Committee of the Whole to order. 3 00:09:20.181 --> 00:09:24.178 It is 9:34 AM on September 10th, 2026. 4 00:09:25.662 --> 00:09:26.934 Rebecca, will you please call the roll? 5 00:09:27.514 --> 00:09:28.207 Good morning. 6 00:09:28.777 --> 00:09:29.405 Koyama Lane? 7 00:09:30.163 --> 00:09:30.437 Here. 8 00:09:31.355 --> 00:09:31.855 Murillo? 9 00:09:32.482 --> 00:09:32.773 Here. 10 00:09:33.224 --> 00:09:33.724 Novick? 11 00:09:34.336 --> 00:09:34.544 Here. 12 00:09:35.785 --> 00:09:36.205 Clark? 13 00:09:37.333 --> 00:09:37.706 Green? 14 00:09:38.307 --> 00:09:38.729 Here. 15 00:09:40.658 --> 00:09:41.014 Zimmerman? 16 00:09:42.831 --> 00:09:43.221 Avalos? 17 00:09:44.371 --> 00:09:45.001 Present virtually. 18 00:09:46.567 --> 00:09:46.904 Dunphy? 19 00:09:47.873 --> 00:09:48.227 Smith? 20 00:09:50.100 --> 00:09:50.648 Pirtle-Guiney? 21 00:09:51.567 --> 00:09:51.681 Here. 22 00:09:52.519 --> 00:09:52.907 Ryan? 23 00:09:53.326 --> 00:09:53.455 Here. 24 00:09:53.890 --> 00:09:54.197 Kanal? 25 00:09:56.289 --> 00:09:56.442 Here. 26 00:09:56.558 --> 00:09:58.375 And Christopher, will you please read the statement of conduct? 27 00:09:59.700 --> 00:10:01.869 Welcome to the meeting of the Finance and Governance Committee of the Whole. 28 00:10:01.981 --> 00:10:12.326 To testify before this committee in person or virtually, you must sign up in advance on the committee agenda at www.portland.gov/council/agenda/committee-whole or by calling 311. 29 00:10:12.375 --> 00:10:14.528 Information on engaging with the committee can be found at this link. 30 00:10:14.769 --> 00:10:17.517 Registration for virtual testimony closes 1 hour prior to the meeting. 31 00:10:17.725 --> 00:10:20.397 In-person testifiers must sign up before the agenda item is heard. 32 00:10:20.706 --> 00:10:25.474 If public testimony will be taken on an item, individuals may testify for 3 minutes unless the Chair states otherwise. 33 00:10:25.778 --> 00:10:27.529 Your microphone will be muted when your time is over. 34 00:10:27.866 --> 00:10:28.686 The Chair preserves order. 35 00:10:28.750 --> 00:10:35.269 Disruptive 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. 36 00:10:35.557 --> 00:10:37.259 If you cause a disruption, a warning will be given. 37 00:10:37.340 --> 00:10:39.475 Further disruption will result in ejection from the meeting. 38 00:10:39.828 --> 00:10:42.461 Anyone who fails to leave once ejected is subject to arrest for trespass. 39 00:10:42.735 --> 00:10:45.384 Additionally, the committee may take a short recess and reconvene virtually. 40 00:10:45.448 --> 00:10:45.576 Thank you. 41 00:10:45.754 --> 00:10:45.947 Thank you. 42 00:10:46.957 --> 00:10:47.871 Thank you. 43 00:10:48.081 --> 00:10:54.292 I'll note that today we have our Council President and Vice President have preplanned absences. 44 00:10:54.340 --> 00:10:55.735 We do have a couple folks online. 45 00:10:55.799 --> 00:11:00.647 So if you're watching at home and seeing this looks pretty empty up here, we do have a couple folks online as well. 46 00:11:01.962 --> 00:11:04.322 Today we're gonna be doing only 2 items on the agenda. 47 00:11:04.385 --> 00:11:05.910 One is a little bit of a 2-parter. 48 00:11:06.006 --> 00:11:11.464 The Chair update will also include a continuation of the City Administrator update. 49 00:11:11.528 --> 00:11:23.056 You may recall that last week at the full Council meeting, there was a, Uh, packed agenda, and, um, the city administrator update was something that we felt could, could kind of be continued here. 50 00:11:23.937 --> 00:11:29.481 Um, so we might— if anyone has any questions on that, feel free to, um, be prepared for that as part of the, the chair update. 51 00:11:29.642 --> 00:11:38.375 And then after that, we have one sort of traditional agenda item, which is a proposed appointment to the Steering and Oversight Committee for the Homelessness Response System for a 1-year term. 52 00:11:39.159 --> 00:11:47.071 Um, as a result, I will maybe unwisely put into, into the world that I hope we can end a little early today. 53 00:11:48.284 --> 00:11:53.010 We do have a work session later today as well, so I'm hoping we can get not too much day's time. 54 00:11:54.889 --> 00:11:59.160 All right, with that, I will ask if Rebecca, could you please read item 1? 55 00:12:02.303 --> 00:12:09.095 Item 1, committee chair updates and continued September 2026 city administrator update, document number 2026-313. 56 00:12:12.167 --> 00:12:12.841 Great, thanks everyone. 57 00:12:12.889 --> 00:12:13.950 I'm getting printed copies. 58 00:12:13.998 --> 00:12:17.241 They are online as well, um, for the chair update. 59 00:12:17.370 --> 00:12:29.510 And, you know, towards the end of this one, we are going to hear from, um, uh, I think actually the date— huh, we're going to actually skip the committee update because it would have been Chair Clark today, I think. 60 00:12:29.735 --> 00:12:31.886 Um, or no, actually it's your turn, isn't it? 61 00:12:32.080 --> 00:12:33.686 My, my apologies, it is City Life Committee. 62 00:12:33.765 --> 00:12:35.870 That's an error in the, uh, in the report. 63 00:12:35.918 --> 00:12:38.322 So we'll hear from, uh, Chair Thank you. 64 00:12:38.437 --> 00:12:40.466 Councilor Pirtle-Guiney, before we get to the city administrator. 65 00:12:42.729 --> 00:12:47.994 All right, so the big things to note here, you'll notice that I'll mention 3 things. 66 00:12:48.058 --> 00:12:53.393 One is we erroneously did not include 3.02 in the unscheduled items last time. 67 00:12:53.472 --> 00:12:57.089 So my apologies for that last week. 68 00:12:57.153 --> 00:12:58.235 So that's been added back. 69 00:12:58.364 --> 00:13:04.458 The second thing which came up yesterday is that foreclosures have been added back to the unscheduled agenda items list. 70 00:13:05.317 --> 00:13:16.826 You may recall that yesterday when we were talking about this, Council President Dunphy noted that although the batch that we were dealing with on the council agenda yesterday had come through the Housing and Permitting Committee, that future ones would come to the Committee of the Whole. 71 00:13:17.807 --> 00:13:23.461 Um, so that is something that, that's been decided there, but I don't have the timeline, so it's in the unscheduled items. 72 00:13:23.926 --> 00:13:30.672 The third thing I wanted to mention is you'll notice that CEI Hub items are no longer reflected on the meeting calendar. 73 00:13:31.298 --> 00:13:38.397 Last week there was a 4-councilor discharge to pull this item to the full council rather than having it routed through the Committee of the Whole. 74 00:13:39.006 --> 00:13:47.264 The plan for the CEI Hub items is now to discuss them at a full council work session on the afternoon of September 17th. 75 00:13:47.504 --> 00:13:52.602 So my guess will— that'll be 2 o'clock, and then the items will proceed to the full council shortly after. 76 00:13:53.371 --> 00:14:00.956 Please feel free to reach out to my office or to the council president's office if you have any questions about how these items will be routed or how they'll be heard. 77 00:14:02.287 --> 00:14:07.384 So those are the, the 3 updates to this first section here, and the second section is sort of related. 78 00:14:07.883 --> 00:14:14.740 I did want to flag that we are putting the future of downtown— we're going to be adding in some folks to that group, work group. 79 00:14:14.788 --> 00:14:19.062 This is on page 3, to join with the vice chairs on planning out that agenda item. 80 00:14:19.125 --> 00:14:28.634 I know we're asking all 3 of the District 4 councilors, and then based on their responses, see how much space we have left, because obviously we can't have a majority of this group do that. 81 00:14:29.551 --> 00:14:35.798 And then I'll be reaching out to Councilors Novick, Murillo, Clark, and Zimmerman about how to start planning for the street renaming code conversation. 82 00:14:36.139 --> 00:14:37.374 And how we do that discussion. 83 00:14:39.000 --> 00:14:41.628 Um, yeah, that's all I have for my part. 84 00:14:41.741 --> 00:14:44.467 So any questions for me before we go on to Chair Pirtle-Guiney? 85 00:14:46.852 --> 00:14:48.371 When is the future of downtown? 86 00:14:49.034 --> 00:14:58.369 It's not currently scheduled, but I think it, uh, there was a, there was a request to have it moved later than what is showing on this, uh, update. 87 00:14:59.000 --> 00:15:04.884 Um, so I'm still discussing, and I want to talk to the vice chairs about it, but I haven't had a chance yet because our schedule hasn't aligned yet. 88 00:15:05.543 --> 00:15:06.249 Okay. 89 00:15:06.553 --> 00:15:09.956 Um, I'm not— I personally don't have a strong opinion either way. 90 00:15:10.004 --> 00:15:11.640 I just want to make sure it works for everybody who's—. 91 00:15:11.849 --> 00:15:16.567 I don't know who brought the title, so I'm not sure what the intention of the agenda is. 92 00:15:17.144 --> 00:15:21.365 Uh, Future Downtown was, uh, you'll see it's actually— my apologies, I was incorrect. 93 00:15:21.413 --> 00:15:23.145 It's on November 12th right now, penciled in. 94 00:15:23.884 --> 00:15:27.606 Um, the— that's my placeholder title. 95 00:15:27.671 --> 00:15:31.282 If, uh, those who are planning the agenda item would like to retitle it, I welcome it. 96 00:15:31.442 --> 00:15:34.634 That's just how it was discussed when we first debated having a Committee of the Whole. 97 00:15:35.052 --> 00:15:39.399 We are moving our planning meeting to a different time than Wednesdays at noon, I understand. 98 00:15:39.480 --> 00:15:44.436 So that's why we have a planning meeting discussion here at this meeting, because we haven't had one in a while. 99 00:15:44.836 --> 00:15:44.917 Yeah. 100 00:15:44.965 --> 00:15:46.937 So I look forward to understanding what that means. 101 00:15:47.067 --> 00:15:57.397 I know that I've been in conversations with Chair Pirtle-Guiney about how we have to get economic development back on the calendar somewhere on this council, since it's one of our biggest issues. 102 00:15:57.734 --> 00:16:00.684 And downtown's such a big part of it, as everyone knows. 103 00:16:00.732 --> 00:16:02.160 That's where a lot of the revenue comes from. 104 00:16:04.422 --> 00:16:07.201 Yeah, I appreciate you, uh, highlighting that, Chair Ryan. 105 00:16:07.379 --> 00:16:12.889 And just for transparency on that, we do have a planning meeting for the, the chair and vice chairs to talk about it. 106 00:16:13.082 --> 00:16:18.346 And as everyone has noticed, I'm sure recently our council meetings have run long and that's eaten up our time. 107 00:16:18.831 --> 00:16:20.335 So, uh, we're, we're rescheduling. 108 00:16:21.129 --> 00:16:27.807 Um, all right, uh, I'll pass it over for our, uh, committee update to Chair Pirtle-Guiney from the City Life Committee. 109 00:16:27.855 --> 00:16:28.469 Thank you, Council President. 110 00:16:29.575 --> 00:16:31.437 Thank you, Chair Kanal. 111 00:16:32.706 --> 00:16:40.543 I really appreciate these opportunities for us to each reflect on our committee and share what we're doing and hear a little bit more about committees we're not sitting on. 112 00:16:41.201 --> 00:16:52.184 I want to start this week by highlighting the work that the City Life Committee did on Tuesday, where we had a committee session focused on climate policy. 113 00:16:52.763 --> 00:17:05.050 This was, I think, a really important opportunity for us to take a step back from individual policies coming forward and think strategically about how we are advancing Portland's climate goals across our portfolio of work. 114 00:17:05.756 --> 00:17:27.171 We heard from multiple panels, all of whose presentations urged us to recommit to our 2030 carbon reduction goals, pair high-level strategy with evidence-based initiatives, build on some strong cross-sector interest in working collaboratively on climate issues that's already underway, And across the board do more. 115 00:17:27.957 --> 00:17:32.565 We heard from our Chief Sustainability Officer. 116 00:17:32.773 --> 00:17:42.053 We heard from a group that is bringing together city bureaus, community activists, and our business industry to create a clean industry partnership. 117 00:17:42.983 --> 00:17:57.788 We heard from a number of members of our Multnomah Youth Commission and from a group called the Climate Optimists who look for win-win situations that pair climate action with other good policy goals. 118 00:17:57.964 --> 00:18:13.809 And they actually brought forward some concrete examples of actions they think we could take to make a big difference on both climate policy and each of them either some environmental justice goals, affordability goals, economic development goals. 119 00:18:14.804 --> 00:18:23.144 I'm hoping that the discussion will help us identify concrete opportunities for the city to move forward because one of the things that we heard loud and clear is that we are behind. 120 00:18:23.585 --> 00:18:25.507 We are not currently on track to meet our goals. 121 00:18:27.039 --> 00:18:36.231 One of the things that I committed to as chair was to make sure that these broader policy conversations had space, but that they were also tied to tangible actions. 122 00:18:36.845 --> 00:18:43.564 And that presentation from the Climate Optimists was an important way to make sure we were really tying into tangible actions that we can take. 123 00:18:45.059 --> 00:19:04.946 Previously, since I last presented, the City Life Committee has also heard a number of pretty big issues that have already advanced we moved forward the resolution that will initiate city action on working with a community partner to develop city-owned land surrounding the Moda Center and Veterans Memorial Coliseum, something this council passed unanimously. 124 00:19:05.605 --> 00:19:15.672 We also spent an entire session and then some on the resolution we passed just yesterday directing the administration to engage in future planning for our city venues. 125 00:19:16.940 --> 00:19:22.896 Looking ahead, you have in front of you a sheet of paper that says City Life Draft Year-End Schedule. 126 00:19:22.961 --> 00:19:23.009 Yes. 127 00:19:23.506 --> 00:19:28.093 And I think we are getting this to the clerk to make sure that it is posted online as well. 128 00:19:28.718 --> 00:19:31.236 And this is a draft subject to change. 129 00:19:31.299 --> 00:19:45.429 Please don't hold us to the specifics here, but this includes everything that has currently been brought forward to the City Life Committee where folks, either councilors or the administration, have asked for things to be scheduled. 130 00:19:46.439 --> 00:20:07.856 Councilor Ryan just mentioned an interest in making sure we're having economic development conversations, and we are beginning the big picture conversation with a presentation on Advance Portland, which is technically our economic development strategy and direction to Prosper Portland, to ground ourselves in that work. 131 00:20:08.337 --> 00:20:13.873 From there, I know, Councilor Ryan, there are a number of other conversations we need to have and actions we need to take. 132 00:20:14.626 --> 00:20:17.915 We will also, in that same meeting— that's 2 meetings from now—. 133 00:20:17.915 --> 00:20:18.221 Yes. 134 00:20:18.541 --> 00:20:29.623 Have a discussion around privatization of publicly owned land and try to take a big picture view on when and how we do that, what the current policies are, and what council's priorities might be. 135 00:20:30.328 --> 00:20:49.892 That will lead into the first ordinance brought before this committee around the privatization of publicly owned land, which happens to be a property in the Menlo Park neighborhood that Habitat for Humanity is interested in developing and has already had significant conversations with the administration around. 136 00:20:50.854 --> 00:21:10.346 Our next meeting— I'm backing up here, going in reverse order— we have 3 items coming from councilors: an ordinance and a resolution that Councilor Zimmerman is bringing forward asking us to consider prohibition on certain types of dynamic pricing and surveillance pricing within our retail establishments. 137 00:21:10.958 --> 00:21:19.457 And a resolution looking at some of the job-related risks that our firefighters face that we currently don't have protections for them on. 138 00:21:20.115 --> 00:21:24.893 And then a resolution from Councilor Novick around immunity for big oil companies. 139 00:21:25.753 --> 00:21:27.167 So those are our next 2 meetings. 140 00:21:28.198 --> 00:21:33.376 You've got the rest of what our year will look like laid out here, and I'm happy to take any questions. 141 00:21:35.970 --> 00:21:36.980 Thank you, Chair Pirtle-Guiney. 142 00:21:37.355 --> 00:21:40.357 I'll just wait to see if anyone would like to get in the queue and ask any questions. 143 00:21:43.553 --> 00:21:45.461 I wanted to ask one. 144 00:21:46.681 --> 00:21:53.805 Do you know if there's information available for— on October 27th, I note the declaring 2 parcels of land as surplus property. 145 00:21:54.542 --> 00:21:59.933 You know if there's information available already on what those are, or if we've just been given the title as we often are? 146 00:22:01.057 --> 00:22:02.259 Let me find out. 147 00:22:02.724 --> 00:22:04.442 I do not remember offhand. 148 00:22:04.506 --> 00:22:16.299 I do think we have it, but I want to look back and make sure that I'm not confusing that with the October 13th that will be our second potential privatization of publicly owned land conversation. 149 00:22:16.589 --> 00:22:18.526 Okay, great. 150 00:22:19.154 --> 00:22:19.929 Any other questions? 151 00:22:21.309 --> 00:22:22.540 All right, thank you, Chair Pirtle-Guiney. 152 00:22:25.243 --> 00:22:31.768 I do see that we've been joined online by City Administrator Lee, and so I did want to just kind of recalibrate here again. 153 00:22:31.832 --> 00:22:46.402 Last week we, um, were just starting to discuss the, um, city administrator update, um, and for the purpose of protecting the rest of the agenda and the rest of that meeting for the items on the City Council agenda, we kind of deferred that to here. 154 00:22:47.028 --> 00:22:56.118 So the item is— the report itself is reposted on this, on the chair update item online, but you can also find it in last week's City Council agenda. 155 00:22:56.520 --> 00:23:00.711 And if there were any questions that anyone wanted to ask, we wanted to give space for that here. 156 00:23:02.060 --> 00:23:04.196 I have some, but I would be happy to defer to anyone else who'd like to go first. 157 00:23:04.246 --> 00:23:04.646 I have a couple. 158 00:23:05.192 --> 00:23:08.373 Okay, I'll get started. 159 00:23:08.790 --> 00:23:11.875 Um, thank you for being here, uh, Administrator Lee. 160 00:23:12.726 --> 00:23:16.758 Um, there's a lot of good news in here, and I wanted to just, uh, start with that. 161 00:23:16.982 --> 00:23:25.335 I did want to, um, ask that if, if you could give a little bit more information on where we're at with the Equity Core realignment. 162 00:23:25.414 --> 00:23:30.426 I noted that in the report it talks about it being part of the fall TAL. 163 00:23:30.652 --> 00:23:38.798 But I'm not 100% sure if you can kind of give the sort of paragraph level of, um, what exactly we're— we should be expecting to hear. 164 00:23:38.942 --> 00:23:47.652 This has been an item where I think several councilors, maybe all, are getting, uh, asked about by city employees and certainly by some of the folks out in the public as well. 165 00:23:48.263 --> 00:23:49.230 So I wanted to start with that one. 166 00:23:52.499 --> 00:24:02.981 Currently right now, there's just internal discussions that are happening with respective bureaus and the equity staff that they have within their respective bureaus. 167 00:24:03.638 --> 00:24:17.441 There's also conversations of what does realignment mean with necessarily pulling some of those staff into a centralized system within our engagement— I'm sorry, equity department. 168 00:24:18.323 --> 00:24:19.894 Those conversations are continuing. 169 00:24:20.086 --> 00:24:22.411 We're still having conversations with bureau directors. 170 00:24:22.459 --> 00:24:22.618 Thank you. 171 00:24:24.176 --> 00:24:41.132 Way before we started having conversations regarding any realignment, we are aware that bureaus were looking at their own alignments and how do they build equity into the just daily work and fabric of who they are as bureaus. 172 00:24:41.277 --> 00:24:48.068 And we're still looking at that and where does it make sense to keep those built into the bureaus themselves. 173 00:24:48.405 --> 00:24:55.855 And where does it make sense to actually pull those out and, and have those a part of our equity team? 174 00:24:56.513 --> 00:25:12.795 I know our equity, uh, Chief Equity Officer Latricia Tillman will be meeting with me in the near future to kind of break, uh, the logistics of what will be coming, what will be staying in the near future before we actually get to the fall town conversation. 175 00:25:13.453 --> 00:25:21.205 And We will also work through kind of the communication strategy as it relates to the organization as a whole. 176 00:25:22.121 --> 00:25:23.387 What are those expectations? 177 00:25:23.644 --> 00:25:39.790 Uh, some of you may not be aware of now our first, uh, work unit, which was communications and who went through the realignment, now is working through those service level agreements as it relates to kind of expected outcomes for services to be rendered. 178 00:25:40.112 --> 00:25:41.105 Yes. 179 00:25:41.282 --> 00:25:51.561 We'll be doing that same thing with our technology arm, our HR arm, and then last to follow up would be that equity arm. 180 00:25:52.042 --> 00:25:58.874 There is no other realignments outside of this that we will be really doing this fiscal year. 181 00:25:59.275 --> 00:26:06.315 We want to assess from lessons learned as it relates to how do we better do realignments moving forward from a communications standpoint. 182 00:26:07.278 --> 00:26:19.378 And implementation standpoint, but we're committed to ensuring that whatever we move forward with is ensuring that our government is operating in the most efficient, effective, and economical manner. 183 00:26:21.263 --> 00:26:22.214 Thanks, Administrator Lee. 184 00:26:22.489 --> 00:26:24.390 I'll pass it over to Councilor Green. 185 00:26:26.720 --> 00:26:28.279 Thank you, City Administrator Lee. 186 00:26:29.501 --> 00:26:30.772 Thanks for joining us today. 187 00:26:31.078 --> 00:26:37.563 I have a question about— there's, there's an update on Koyama Lane 11A, which is utility rate setting. 188 00:26:38.382 --> 00:26:58.595 Um, I, I, I see in there that, um, it says the, uh, public utilities group will be retaining, um, the service area will be retaining a consultant to engage with, um, uh, the, the study work as well as the community engagement. 189 00:26:58.707 --> 00:27:02.286 And I, I, I'd just like to know a little bit about Like, what is that RFP? 190 00:27:02.368 --> 00:27:03.375 What's the scope of that? 191 00:27:05.012 --> 00:27:10.737 And whether or not any local utility analysts are involved in that. 192 00:27:11.624 --> 00:27:20.259 Yeah, I don't know if we have anyone from our DCA office that can speak to that component of it, and I'll allow them to come to the dais to speak. 193 00:27:23.928 --> 00:27:27.634 There's some folks looking at each other here, so I don't know if they're checking who it would be. 194 00:27:28.295 --> 00:27:37.692 And by the way, while anyone may be coming up, I did want to express a lot of appreciation for all the staff who are making time a second time for this, uh, city administrator update, for being here. 195 00:27:37.982 --> 00:27:40.394 I know that your schedules are incredibly busy and appreciate it. 196 00:27:41.138 --> 00:27:43.243 Welcome. 197 00:27:44.054 --> 00:27:44.474 Good morning. 198 00:27:44.605 --> 00:27:44.944 Thank you. 199 00:27:45.188 --> 00:27:48.894 Millicent Williams, uh, interim deputy city administrator for public works. 200 00:27:49.623 --> 00:27:50.804 Um, thank you for the question. 201 00:27:51.078 --> 00:27:53.780 I am sorry that I'm not able to answer that question yet. 202 00:27:53.910 --> 00:27:56.402 I am still getting myself up to speed. 203 00:27:56.692 --> 00:28:00.528 I'll be meeting with the, uh, shared utility director on Monday. 204 00:28:01.082 --> 00:28:14.432 Running through all of the key areas of concern and will be happy to report back to this body about what I am able to glean from that conversation and to support the ongoing conversation that needs to happen here. 205 00:28:15.380 --> 00:28:15.701 Thank you. 206 00:28:15.749 --> 00:28:17.722 And I recognize you just stepping into this role. 207 00:28:18.252 --> 00:28:20.371 Day 3, 4, yes. 208 00:28:20.901 --> 00:28:23.372 And you haven't stepped out of your other role, so you're—. 209 00:28:23.451 --> 00:28:25.699 I have not, but looking forward to digging in. 210 00:28:25.778 --> 00:28:26.548 I know this is important. 211 00:28:26.596 --> 00:28:36.664 There are several key priorities even as we initiated the work, the city administrator shared with me the things that he knew that I would need to prioritize. 212 00:28:37.097 --> 00:28:37.787 This is but one. 213 00:28:37.898 --> 00:28:50.770 There are several other key areas of concern, all of which I know this body would be interested in knowing that I am intentional around supporting the conversation and getting to some solutions. 214 00:28:51.667 --> 00:28:51.941 Thank you. 215 00:28:52.229 --> 00:29:16.317 I'll just share a little bit what I shared with DCA Donna Paul on, you know, on this topic, is we do have a pretty robust local bench of expertise on rate-making and sort of— it's just because Bonneville Power Administration is here and there's a whole cottage industry of people who engage in our very public rate-making process. 216 00:29:16.396 --> 00:29:21.710 And so I would want us to not lose that local level, even though that's electric utility work. 217 00:29:21.773 --> 00:29:21.902 Sure. 218 00:29:21.950 --> 00:29:25.914 It's still a lot of those municipal utilities also do water and sewer. 219 00:29:26.589 --> 00:29:26.911 Yeah. 220 00:29:27.215 --> 00:29:31.519 And so making sure our RFP looks locally as well, I think, will be important. 221 00:29:31.567 --> 00:29:36.367 And then I'm glad to see that PUB is mentioned there as an engagement partner. 222 00:29:36.930 --> 00:29:45.038 I would also think about reaching out to Citizens Utility Board, which is routinely engaged with Oregon Public Utilities Commission. 223 00:29:46.500 --> 00:29:49.020 They might have an interest in this as well, and it might strengthen the process. 224 00:29:49.148 --> 00:29:51.554 so those are my suggestions. 225 00:29:51.731 --> 00:29:52.685 Thanks for the recommendations. 226 00:29:52.782 --> 00:30:02.065 We will certainly note those, and you will likely see an update in the information that's shared to ensure that we are including that wider range of stakeholders. 227 00:30:02.421 --> 00:30:02.759 Thank you. 228 00:30:04.912 --> 00:30:05.673 Thanks, Councilor Green. 229 00:30:05.721 --> 00:30:06.919 We'll go to Councilor Ryan next. 230 00:30:08.092 --> 00:30:09.157 Thank you, Chair. 231 00:30:09.288 --> 00:30:11.080 Raymond Lee, CA Lee, good to see you. 232 00:30:11.178 --> 00:30:14.038 I think it's the first time I've seen you without a suit on. 233 00:30:15.789 --> 00:30:16.961 Anyway, you're always so dapper. 234 00:30:17.643 --> 00:30:19.454 My question is more of a curiosity. 235 00:30:19.807 --> 00:30:25.917 I was listening to your statements about core realignment and then about the equity system. 236 00:30:26.125 --> 00:30:28.035 That's been a conversation about 4 years. 237 00:30:29.173 --> 00:30:31.162 You know, do you integrate it centrally? 238 00:30:31.578 --> 00:30:33.295 How is it integrated within the bureaus? 239 00:30:33.358 --> 00:30:41.747 So I'm really pleased that you're going to get to the bottom of that, because I know back in 2023, that was a confusion point. 240 00:30:42.163 --> 00:30:43.655 And I appreciate that. 241 00:30:44.410 --> 00:30:51.358 Did I also hear that that's the only core realignment system that you're looking at this fiscal year, or is it just that's the only one you're looking at right now? 242 00:30:52.595 --> 00:30:55.050 Only one that I'm looking at this year, in this current year. 243 00:30:55.500 --> 00:31:08.788 What I told everyone from an organizational standpoint, I wanted to ensure that the realignments that we went through this previous year, that all those have been implemented appropriately. 244 00:31:09.286 --> 00:31:15.093 But also have kind of an after-action after we've gone through all this to kind of get lessons learned. 245 00:31:15.156 --> 00:31:19.984 How can we better do these type of realignments in the future? 246 00:31:21.076 --> 00:31:32.769 How can we apply that so we are better at how we engage with employees, how we are engaging with the outcomes that we're trying to deliver upon with these realignments? 247 00:31:33.426 --> 00:31:36.218 Engagement and also equity. 248 00:31:36.715 --> 00:31:45.501 Uh, was some of the things that we were doing, just at the tail end of the engagement work outside of HR, procurement, and IT. 249 00:31:46.048 --> 00:31:48.730 But those are things that are still being worked through today. 250 00:31:49.741 --> 00:32:12.011 And we'll be having a work session around engagement work in the near future before we finalize anything as it relates to the outcomes that we're trying to obtain through engagement alignment, I want to make sure there's clear direction from the City Council of what those deliverables are that you want to see us deliver on as administration. 251 00:32:12.926 --> 00:32:14.997 Okay, and when, when is that work session? 252 00:32:15.895 --> 00:32:17.211 I'd have to look. 253 00:32:17.355 --> 00:32:19.281 council president may know if he's in the room. 254 00:32:19.586 --> 00:32:23.182 I know we've been working with his office to actually have a separate work session. 255 00:32:23.278 --> 00:32:24.513 I believe it's this month though. 256 00:32:25.766 --> 00:32:26.922 And I'm happy to hear that. 257 00:32:26.970 --> 00:32:33.925 I think getting on top of that In the first quarter, second quarter is a lot better than doing it in June. 258 00:32:34.920 --> 00:32:35.079 Yeah. 259 00:32:35.545 --> 00:32:45.782 And so I hear translation then is that a lot happened last year and there's a lot of lessons to learn from and there'll be adjustments. 260 00:32:45.959 --> 00:32:51.838 So it's not like core realignment's on a pause, it's more that it's in a continuous improvement state. 261 00:32:53.249 --> 00:32:53.585 Always. 262 00:32:53.665 --> 00:33:16.673 And I think as an organization, we're approaching everything from a continuous improvement I think as we go through this and you think about all the transition that staff has gone through, through this transition and transformational period of this organization, it's just trying to— pace and timing is going to be key in how we move forward with realignment work moving forward. 263 00:33:17.010 --> 00:33:31.717 And I just want to make sure the organization is equipped from a cultural standpoint and a resource standpoint to be able to make sure that realignments are done in a way that is efficient for the organization and also beneficial to the employees. 264 00:33:31.862 --> 00:33:38.851 And employees feel like they were engaged in this process and it just wasn't happening to them but happening with them. 265 00:33:38.994 --> 00:33:42.353 And I, I think all of us respect what you just said. 266 00:33:42.787 --> 00:33:43.140 Uh, thank you. 267 00:33:43.189 --> 00:33:50.032 We look forward to that work session so we can, um, do the tough work and learn, um, from what did work and what didn't work. 268 00:33:50.258 --> 00:33:50.611 Thanks. 269 00:33:52.088 --> 00:34:09.630 And just clarification, Councilor Ryan, that work session is really around the future of civic life and engagement work that we do and ensuring that we have council's outcomes that they would love to see us be able to accomplish, that we have a clear understanding of that. 270 00:34:09.983 --> 00:34:19.536 That will help shape some of the work around civic life and engagement and how we move forward in that work and the resources that are needed to ensure that work is done successfully. 271 00:34:20.226 --> 00:34:27.461 Yeah, I think I've done this work in terms of doing continuous improvement work to do core realignment, to do system change work. 272 00:34:27.621 --> 00:34:46.005 And it's really the secret sauce is how you engage those on the ground and get their wisdom during the process so that we have our partners at the unions involved at the front end in those difficult conversations so there's not surprises or there's—. 273 00:34:46.005 --> 00:34:46.085 Yeah. 274 00:34:47.125 --> 00:34:58.188 Not the authentic dialogue that you need, the tough, um, necessary authentic dialogue that's necessary, that doesn't really provide a space for that when you're in the last minute of doing a budget. 275 00:34:59.469 --> 00:35:00.034 Most definitely. 276 00:35:00.246 --> 00:35:00.554 Thanks. 277 00:35:03.346 --> 00:35:04.574 Thank you, Councilor Ryan. 278 00:35:04.719 --> 00:35:15.436 I, I did want to note, to, uh, add to, uh, Administrator Lee's comment, um, Council President is absent today, um, but we'll check with his team if we can get, uh, information on the date for that work session. 279 00:35:16.657 --> 00:35:21.599 I'm next in the queue, so I wanted to just kind of continue a little bit here. 280 00:35:21.807 --> 00:35:29.492 First, I did want to highlight that once again, Portland remained in the top 10 cities in the United States for its gun violence reduction efforts. 281 00:35:29.668 --> 00:35:30.518 I think we're number 7. 282 00:35:30.952 --> 00:35:44.829 57% Year-to-date reduction in gun violence is a pretty notable thing, and I wanted to commend you, Administrator Lee, in your role as administrator and in your role as interim DCA for Public Safety, as well as the whole service area for that. 283 00:35:44.942 --> 00:35:45.327 Thank you. 284 00:35:45.456 --> 00:35:47.204 I know the work has been significant. 285 00:35:47.253 --> 00:35:54.476 Relatedly, I am grateful for the PBOT PPB collaboration with relation to the messaging around motorcycle safety. 286 00:35:54.925 --> 00:35:59.018 I hope that that leads to even more down the line and appreciate it. 287 00:35:59.420 --> 00:36:10.960 For those who have been tracking the Vision Zero updates, we have an increase in traffic deaths this year and it is primarily driven by motorcycle, by deaths of people who are on motorcycles. 288 00:36:11.811 --> 00:36:15.056 So I think anything we can do there Is a good place to focus. 289 00:36:16.679 --> 00:36:19.153 I did want to ask 2 questions. 290 00:36:19.811 --> 00:36:25.554 One, and I'm not sure if this is something that's part of it, but I wanted to ask how we're going to be part of the decision-making process. 291 00:36:25.682 --> 00:36:28.775 But I would like to ask about how we are messaging around it. 292 00:36:29.322 --> 00:36:36.269 I noticed that there is a 3rd contractor which is joining the PMO sidewalk cleaning program in October. 293 00:36:36.945 --> 00:36:48.369 And generally speaking, the people who are doing the sidewalk cleaning are interacting with folks are houseless and are going to be involved in sometimes their stuff. 294 00:36:48.672 --> 00:37:29.306 Uh, and the, the name of the contractor is Junk It Junk, and I'm curious about how that is going to play, um, out in the community, uh, with folks who are often separated from their items and how we can get to a place where we're not conveying a sense of heartlessness And I, I imagine that can't be— that's not part of our, um, procurement standards directly, but I am concerned that that, uh, although maybe in their other work makes a lot of sense, in the context of this particular line of work might be something that we would need to, um, accommodate for and mitigate the harm of. 295 00:37:29.947 --> 00:37:33.731 I just wanted to kind of put that on the record and ask if you had any thoughts on that, CA Lee. 296 00:37:35.110 --> 00:37:36.088 No thoughts on that. 297 00:37:36.137 --> 00:37:48.690 I'd have to look at that individual but what I will share with you, Councilor Kanal, is anytime we're doing this type of work throughout the city, we want to make sure we're doing it in a respectable manner. 298 00:37:50.023 --> 00:37:54.728 We know that the belongings that people have, this is their life belongings. 299 00:37:54.903 --> 00:37:57.280 They are carrying these things with them every day. 300 00:37:57.827 --> 00:38:01.422 It's not trash, it's not junk, it's nothing like that. 301 00:38:01.487 --> 00:38:05.963 It's their personal belongings, and we want to make sure We're treating them with dignity and respect. 302 00:38:06.460 --> 00:38:21.153 And anytime we're trying to clean a public right-of-way to ensure that that is safe and secure and clean as well, but respect the people that we are encountering and that we're dealing with to make sure that work is performed at a high level. 303 00:38:21.842 --> 00:38:24.806 But I will take a look at that individual contract. 304 00:38:24.967 --> 00:38:30.190 I'll have my team make a note of that to get some more details as it relates to the actual work. 305 00:38:30.735 --> 00:38:33.925 Uh, that will be performed and how that work will be performed long term. 306 00:38:35.143 --> 00:38:35.559 Thanks. 307 00:38:36.199 --> 00:38:49.132 The other question I had, and I appreciate you responding to this one, um, is maybe something that I, I would ask, um, if DCA Warren might be the best person to answer it, or someone from the mayor's office. 308 00:38:50.525 --> 00:39:01.458 There were— there was a report about 6 different, um, uh, investigations into PPB From 2020, of which 2 of them related to former chiefs of police. 309 00:39:02.215 --> 00:39:10.565 And there were reports about them being different recommendations coming from independent police review or internal affairs. 310 00:39:11.115 --> 00:39:15.708 And I had 2 questions about the specifically the 2 related to the former chiefs of police. 311 00:39:16.387 --> 00:39:32.400 One is, as someone who's worked in the system for a while, I can't recall a previous time where the decision on whether or not to accept the discipline recommendations was made by the DCA as opposed to the chief and the mayor. 312 00:39:33.552 --> 00:39:46.643 And I wanted to, to understand sort of the, the rationale for that as well as the legal authority for that, um, and just understand why that position was involved in it at all. 313 00:39:46.916 --> 00:39:47.684 That's the first question. 314 00:39:47.733 --> 00:39:49.960 I'll get to the second one, which is about the decision itself. 315 00:39:50.601 --> 00:39:52.699 Um, so I'm not sure if you wanted to start. 316 00:39:52.764 --> 00:39:53.661 DCA Warren is here. 317 00:39:55.088 --> 00:39:56.789 Yes, I'll give it to DCA Warren to start out. 318 00:39:57.206 --> 00:39:58.152 Okay, thanks. 319 00:39:58.697 --> 00:39:59.724 Thank you, Councilor Kanal. 320 00:39:59.773 --> 00:40:01.489 For the record, DCA Warren. 321 00:40:02.228 --> 00:40:09.719 Um, you know, the investigation presented some unique circumstances through the 2020 protest. 322 00:40:10.248 --> 00:40:38.672 Um, you know, one of the, uh, persons who were subject to investigation was a residing chief during the time the city does have a past practice of asking for a neutral party to review outside of the Portland Police Bureau so that folks who are at the same rank are not reviewing. 323 00:40:38.735 --> 00:40:45.233 So a current chief of police is not reviewing a previously residing chief of police. 324 00:40:45.280 --> 00:40:45.925 I think that's a good idea. 325 00:40:46.706 --> 00:40:49.400 Activities and making decisions related to that. 326 00:40:50.170 --> 00:41:04.539 So we did work— the mayor's office did work in consultation with the city attorney's office in prior instances to ensure integrity of the investigation, avoid any conflict of interest. 327 00:41:05.228 --> 00:41:12.333 The Bureau of Human Resources has provided that recommendation to the mayor, and the mayor has made the decision. 328 00:41:12.927 --> 00:41:29.201 At the time that this decision was made, I was the Human Resources Director, and it was determined that by the mayor that it was appropriate for me to review the cases and provide him with a recommendation that he would then ultimately make a decision based on. 329 00:41:29.875 --> 00:41:41.429 Okay, so just to clarify on that, that means that although at the time of the reporting you're in the role you're in now, the involvement in this was in the that's correct. 330 00:41:41.492 --> 00:41:44.637 It originally was assigned to me as the Human Resources Director. 331 00:41:45.023 --> 00:41:52.306 When I transitioned into the interim role, we had a follow-up conversation and decided we should just keep the consistency and I would finish it out. 332 00:41:53.364 --> 00:42:04.898 Would you describe it— is it more accurate to state that you were a second recommender in that role, along with independent police review, to the mayor who ultimately made the decision? 333 00:42:05.335 --> 00:42:12.228 Or is it more accurate to say Independent Police Review made a recommendation to you and the mayor, who were the deciders, quote unquote? 334 00:42:13.744 --> 00:42:16.005 It would be the first. 335 00:42:16.166 --> 00:42:18.313 So IPR did their investigation. 336 00:42:19.414 --> 00:42:20.936 They completed reports. 337 00:42:21.501 --> 00:42:24.934 They then handed that off to me for review. 338 00:42:25.144 --> 00:42:32.447 I then reviewed all of their recommendations and reports, and then I provided a follow-up recommendation to the mayor. 339 00:42:33.177 --> 00:42:36.117 Um, we reviewed that information and then he made a decision. 340 00:42:37.063 --> 00:42:48.277 Okay, I, I think it's appropriate to ask this from a, a process question because I'm not familiar with it happening this way before. 341 00:42:48.356 --> 00:42:53.400 Can you— are there any previous times where the HR director was involved in this process? 342 00:42:53.771 --> 00:43:04.235 I understand this is not out, you know, these are not, uh, unionized positions, the chief of police, so I understand it's not in the normal structure that's but if you could, are you aware of previous conversations around this? 343 00:43:04.572 --> 00:43:09.507 Um, I have been told by the City Attorney's Office that there is precedence for this and it has happened before. 344 00:43:10.101 --> 00:43:14.266 Um, it has not happened while I have been the sitting Human Resources Director. 345 00:43:14.539 --> 00:43:17.376 Okay, so this is the only occasion that I've been involved in. 346 00:43:18.273 --> 00:43:20.420 Okay, and this is maybe the, the broader question. 347 00:43:21.318 --> 00:43:25.628 You know, Independent Police Review had a different recommendation than yours. 348 00:43:26.286 --> 00:43:36.257 Um, the memo that you wrote on in June was recommended not, um, imposing any, uh, discipline or response. 349 00:43:36.418 --> 00:44:02.682 And I wanted to ask about, you know, as we move forward, this is, um, particularly relevant in the context of current conversations around similar uses of force around chemical weapons that are happening today and the need to, to sort of you know, rid our city of the environmental scourge of that, but also from the perspective of public trust as we're setting up the new system that obviously you're very aware of and heavily involved in. 350 00:44:04.016 --> 00:44:14.005 And I wanted to ask about that and just sort of, to the degree that you're able to, because I understand there's some things you won't be able to say, to just kind of talk through the thought process as it relates. 351 00:44:14.552 --> 00:44:24.902 I understand that there are some that IPR made a different IPR didn't recommend for everybody, and so I'm just talking about the ones where they recommended a finding, a sustained finding, and you recommended not. 352 00:44:25.675 --> 00:44:29.369 Um, so for those, can you give a little bit more as to the thought process on that? 353 00:44:31.344 --> 00:44:31.976 Um, I can. 354 00:44:32.186 --> 00:44:42.954 So, um, you know, there, uh, were 5, um, cases, um, and, and for the record, 2 were sustained, 3 were not sustained. 355 00:44:43.896 --> 00:44:51.248 And there were, I believe, one or two that were different from the IPR's recommendation. 356 00:44:51.295 --> 00:44:53.269 And I'd have to refresh myself with all the pieces. 357 00:44:54.168 --> 00:45:15.380 And, you know, when I'm reviewing it, I'm looking at it from a perspective of did this individual do everything that they could in that moment to mitigate the, the potential charge that is being investigated. 358 00:45:16.914 --> 00:45:27.679 So in my documentation and the findings memo that I provided, I kind of outlined the why, right? 359 00:45:27.809 --> 00:45:34.347 Which is in different instances, there was corrective action being taken place. 360 00:45:35.329 --> 00:45:42.318 Um, during the moment, and in other situations, there did not appear to be corrective action that was taking place. 361 00:45:44.155 --> 00:45:47.635 So that's the, the big, big picture basics on it. 362 00:45:50.481 --> 00:45:52.768 I want to just understand that last piece. 363 00:45:55.059 --> 00:46:09.510 When you say in different instances there was corrective action taking place during the moment and in other situations there weren't, Is that talking about the precedent, uh, for people in this type of role before, or are you saying that they actually imposed it on their— the people that reported to them? 364 00:46:09.958 --> 00:46:14.469 So let me be clear, when I'm talking about corrective action, I'm not talking about discipline, right? 365 00:46:14.998 --> 00:46:25.271 Um, I'm talking about they took steps to work the process and create the, uh, and correct the outcomes that they were receiving on the other side of that, right? 366 00:46:25.382 --> 00:46:37.197 So they were taking steps internally to look at policy, add additional personnel, really working hard to meet the policy standard. 367 00:46:38.311 --> 00:46:42.637 But based on the circumstances, they were not able to fully achieve that. 368 00:46:44.630 --> 00:46:44.954 Okay. 369 00:46:46.070 --> 00:46:49.965 I would ask, I guess, 2 final things on this, and that's— this is my last topic. 370 00:46:52.806 --> 00:47:18.483 One is, I note that multiple times in the reporting on this, in the background documents, and even referenced in your memo, it talks about members of the rapid response team asserting that they were not provided with sufficient training and support to underline the levels of uses of force that were used in 2020, including in August when, you know, the colloquial term Tear Gas Tuesday in August 2020. 371 00:47:18.579 --> 00:47:19.478 I think that's a fair statement. 372 00:47:21.628 --> 00:47:38.820 How is it, is it fair to say that the idea that that does not require any sort of corrective action to the people that were supervising and were responsible for that means that those assertions by RRT members were untrue? 373 00:47:39.525 --> 00:47:44.418 Or how is it possible that those could be true and yet nothing be done about it? 374 00:47:46.248 --> 00:47:48.936 I can't speak to that specific. 375 00:47:50.733 --> 00:47:56.083 So I mean, I would need to go back and review that specific piece. 376 00:47:58.108 --> 00:47:58.414 Okay. 377 00:47:58.737 --> 00:47:59.028 I may—. 378 00:47:59.222 --> 00:47:59.918 I can't speak to that. 379 00:48:00.597 --> 00:48:02.019 Follow up with that as well. 380 00:48:02.391 --> 00:48:02.844 Absolutely. 381 00:48:03.103 --> 00:48:04.235 Happy to have a follow-up. 382 00:48:05.090 --> 00:48:08.451 The last thing I wanted to say, and this is— I want to give you a chance to respond. 383 00:48:08.501 --> 00:48:09.123 It is more of a comment. 384 00:48:11.711 --> 00:48:13.934 This is on page 3 of the memos. 385 00:48:14.273 --> 00:48:17.557 You have, you know, sort of one file with all the different memos about the different cases. 386 00:48:18.139 --> 00:48:34.596 There's a line in here that says, compared to the Bureau— sorry, quote, compared to the Bureau's usual operation of around a dozen uses of forces a week, the Bureau was faced with dozens of uses of force an evening for a sustained period, end quote. 387 00:48:34.918 --> 00:48:44.713 The the use of passive voice there obscures the responsibility of the people who are using the force. 388 00:48:45.918 --> 00:48:53.103 Was faced— if I was faced with banging the gavel, that obscures the fact that I'm the one who banged the gavel to start this meeting. 389 00:48:54.099 --> 00:49:12.059 And I am concerned about, especially as we have conversations around force usage, the implication that the force that was used by Portland Police was something that was imposed upon them when it was choices that were made. 390 00:49:12.396 --> 00:49:16.942 Perhaps not by the individual officers, perhaps by their command staff, and I think there's a lot to talk about there. 391 00:49:17.472 --> 00:49:22.467 And whether or not that's misconduct or not is a separate question, let alone whether there should be corrective action or not. 392 00:49:22.532 --> 00:49:23.800 I recognize all of that. 393 00:49:24.139 --> 00:49:37.106 But in terms of the basic idea of who did the thing, and so I wanted to just kind of talk about the language that we use here because it sort of obfuscates what actually occurred and who did the thing that we're talking about. 394 00:49:37.923 --> 00:49:40.039 And I want to give you a chance, if you'd like, to respond to that. 395 00:49:40.086 --> 00:49:43.708 I don't want to just talk at you and cut the mic, but I did want to get that on the record. 396 00:49:44.414 --> 00:49:45.311 Thank you, Councilor. 397 00:49:45.391 --> 00:49:46.672 I appreciate the feedback. 398 00:49:47.313 --> 00:49:55.983 You know, I can speak to the intent was not to minimize the impacts of individuals who experienced use of force during that activity and time period, right? 399 00:49:56.913 --> 00:50:08.454 The intent was to speak about the process itself around increase in numbers and the capability of folks to be able to keep up with the review process. 400 00:50:08.679 --> 00:50:14.106 So my focus was really limited and not on the intent or the impact to the individual. 401 00:50:14.972 --> 00:50:16.563