City Council · afternoon

3:12Good evening.

3:13Before we begin our meeting of the Portland City Council, we have a pre-gavel All right, thank you, Council President.

3:30While I'm speaking, I'm gonna invite the Lincoln High School Constitution team up to the, uh, the front table here if you'd like to come.

3:40I know Ian will lead the way.

3:42But colleagues, uh, I'd like to use this time to honor Lincoln High School's 2025 Constitution team who won the state— the championship in Oregon and then the national championship in Washington, DC.

3:56They were the 7th team from Lincoln to win the national championship of this prestigious We the People, the Citizen and Constitution competition, and the 12th team from all of Portland.

4:06Their year was marked by some controversy and some confusion though, uh, with a miscount in scoring demoting them from 1st to 3rd while they were in Washington, DC, with Salem's Sprague High School initially being given first place.

4:20But when Councilor Green and Councilor Clark and I visited them, uh, a few days after the corrections were made and it was announced that they were actually first in the nation, and of course we're quite ecstatic.

4:31Already we're seeing the alumni of the 2025 team making a real difference in our community.

4:36They're running legal research projects, teaching classes to immigrants to pass their citizenship exam, serving on neighborhood association boards, running voter registration drives, founding civic dialogue-minded exchange programs, writing children's books, and being selected for Portland's Rose Queen, and even interning here at City Hall.

4:57Some of you may have seen the man in the center there.

5:00This team was also the last one to head to Washington, D.C. with the late and great Stephen Griffith, who served as a coach on the team since 2001 and dedicated his life to youth civic education and was his and this was his 4th time winning the national championship.

5:16The more than 12 coaches, many of all of whom worked full-time at the city's most prestigious law firms, graciously give their time to help the team's students become highly proficient in civic and legal matters.

5:29Programs like the Constitution Team, which exist in schools across the state and in all 4 of Portland's districts, are vital in advancing the importance of civic engagement and increasing the polarized world.

5:41Thank you.

5:42As you prepare to move on to the next phase of your lives, I have no doubt that this program will be massively influential in how you think and act and vote.

5:52Hopefully some of you will come back and be the next generation of councilors, mayors, and administrators here in Portland.

5:58I want to congratulate the Lincoln High Constitution team, and before our esteemed last-day employee Ian reads the proclamation, I do want to turn it to Council President if any other councilors wanted to make remarks.

6:11Colleagues, if anybody wants to make any remarks, feel Just hugely proud of you guys.

6:20It was so much fun to come to Lincoln and meet you last year.

6:23Really enjoyed it, and congratulations.

6:26Councilor Morillo.

6:29As a fellow Constitution team nerd, I obviously have to say congratulations.

6:32How exciting for all of you.

6:34Very curious if you got to meet anyone cool or exciting when you were in D.C. Did you?

6:42Yeah, we got to meet Suzanne Bonamici, who's our representative.

6:46Very cool.

6:46When I was in D.C., we got to meet Ruth Bader Ginsburg for the last time, and it was very, very exciting for our team.

6:53So I think that there is really nothing more important right now than being able to study the Constitution and our laws, because we're at a time where free speech is being attacked, activism is being attacked, and we have a federal government that is really not supporting people of different viewpoints.

7:09So the fact that we have young people who are studying that, who know how to fight that and are armed with knowledge, I think is really important.

7:14So thank you so much for studying and for doing that.

7:17Can't wait for you guys to lead.

7:18Thank you, Councilor Morillo.

7:19Councilor Green.

7:21Yeah, thank you so much for being great representatives of District 4.

7:26You guys are very smart and you should go challenge all of us for our seats.

7:30Thanks.

7:33All right, with that, I just want to introduce Ian Conner Reyes, who was an intern in my office during the spring and summer.

7:40As Ian's internship has just concluded, we wanted to celebrate him and his teammates with this pre-gavel and this proclamation.

7:47The mayor has also joined in in this celebration by providing the proclamation for Ian and his teammates, and I've invited them to, to read that tonight.

7:54So he's been involved in everything since he started with us.

7:57His hands have been in every project and everything we've done, and it's been a great privilege to have him here, and I look greatly forward to wherever you are next.

8:04Thank you, Ian.

8:05So with that, Ian, why don't you take it away?

8:07It's been a great privilege to be here.

8:09I'll say before I start, whereas the Lincoln High School 2025 Constitution team demonstrated extraordinary dedication to civic education by winning both the Oregon State Championship and the We the People, the Citizen and the Constitution National Championship, and whereas the team became the 7th Lincoln High School team and the 12th team from Portland to win the national championship, reflecting Portland's longstanding commitment to civic education and youth leadership, And whereas the students demonstrated remarkable perseverance through a national competition that included an initial scoring error before the results were corrected and Lincoln was rightfully recognized as national champion.

8:45And whereas the team was the final Lincoln Constitution team coached by the late Stephen Griffith, a dedicated champion of youth civic engagement who coached the team for more than 2 decades and helped guide 4 national championship teams.

8:57And whereas the success of the Constitution team reflects the extraordinary dedication of its students educators, coaches, families, and community supporters who work together to prepare young people to understand and participate meaningfully in our democracy.

9:11And whereas, the accomplishments of the Constitution Team alumni demonstrate the lasting impact of civic education, going on to serve their communities through public service, education, neighborhood leadership, voter engagement, and civic advocacy.

9:23And whereas, Portland recognizes that an informed, engaged, and civically minded young generation is essential to the strength of our democracy and the future of our city.

9:31Second.

9:32Now therefore, I, Keith Wilson, Mayor of the City of Portland, Oregon, the City of Roses, do hereby honor the Lincoln High School 2025 Constitution Team for their outstanding achievement as Oregon state and national champions, celebrate their commitment to civic engagement, and recognize the students, coaches, educators, and community members who made their success possible.

9:52Colleagues, with, with unanimous consent, I'd like to suspend the rules and give our folks a hand— a round of applause.

10:06Congratulations.

10:07Thank you very much.

10:07So much.

10:09Okay, and you can go.

10:15Keelan, could we please call the roll?

10:17Koyama Lane?

10:18Here.

10:19Murillo?

10:20Here.

10:20Novick?

10:21Here.

10:22Clark?

10:22Here.

10:22Greene?

10:23Here.

10:24Zimmerman?

10:24Here.

10:25Avalos?

10:27Present.

10:31Here.

10:32Here.

10:33Here.

10:34Here.

10:34And can we please read the rules of decorum for the chamber?

10:41Good evening.

10:41Welcome to the Portland City Council.

10:44To testify before council in person or virtually, you must sign up in advance on the council agenda at www.portland.gov/council/agenda.

10:53Information on engaging with council can be found on the council clerk's webpage.

10:58Individuals may testify for 3 minutes unless the presiding officer states otherwise.

11:02Your microphone will be muted when your time is over.

11:05The presiding officer preserves order.

11:08Disruptive 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.

11:17If you cause a disruption, a warning will be given.

11:20Further disruption will result in ejection from the meeting.

11:23Anyone who fails to leave once ejected is subject to arrest for trespass.

11:27Additionally, council may take a short recess and reconvene virtually.

11:32Your testimony should address the matter being considered.

11:34When testifying, state your name for the record.

11:36Your address is not necessary.

11:38If you're a lobbyist, identify the organization you represent.

11:41Virtual testifiers should unmute themselves when the council clerk calls your name.

11:45Thank you.

11:46Thank you very much.

11:47Colleagues, our first item, as with every week, is the approval of the agenda.

11:51We have a rather large agenda, and I'm hoping we can get through all of it today.

11:55Are there any— do I have unanimous consent to approve the agenda?

12:02Is there any effort?

12:04All right, great.

12:05The agenda is approved.

12:09Keelan, could we please move to public communications?

12:14First up, we have Karen Hogue.

12:21Good evening, councilors.

12:23My name is Karen Hogue, and I live across the street from 855 Northeast Church Street in District 2.

12:30Last week, this house was given a 3-month foreclosure extension due to advocacy by a D1 councilor.

12:37While a lot of detail was presented about the circumstances of the owner, There was a dire lack of info about the history of this property and its effect on the community.

12:46She has had city liens against the property for 17 years.

12:52She has had chance after chance to take care of her property and has not.

12:56I was stunned that a foreclosure extension was granted to her based on personal matters.

13:01I wonder how many other owners on the list would like that same courtesy.

13:06I appreciate that my councilors, Kanal and Pirtle-Guiney, raised concerns.

13:11But they and the council did not get the full story, including the 4 written neighbor testimonies submitted for the meeting.

13:18Kevin Foster did not present a report from the clearout that happened this summer or go into detail about neighbor complaints.

13:25While Mike Massett was helpful to the neighborhood, he also did not provide you with documentation of the testimony neighbors gave that initiated the ordinance violations.

13:36You were not told about the foreclosure action in 2024 and why it was pulled back.

13:43You were not told that the guy enlisted to fix the house, a supposed contractor, did not repair it.

13:49Instead, he tore off the roof and put plastic on, scraped the wood siding and left it bare, and cooked food on the porch.

13:57You were not informed that this person was removed by the city, not the owner, From the property, along with a dead cat, a dead dog in a tote, and the hoard in the house and yard.

14:10There was and is an animal feces infestation in the yard that attracts rats and flies.

14:17It was also in the house when a police officer went in and rushed out throwing up.

14:24You were also not told what the neighbors have endured or what they encounter now because of this derelict property.

14:30What I saw was an incomplete report of the past situation and no report of what's going on now in our neighborhood.

14:37I am gravely disappointed that my neighbors and I did not have the advocacy that the owner had.

14:43For us, these problems are not on pause for 3 months.

14:47We still live with rats and flies, roof plastic spilling everywhere, ongoing safety and hypervigilance issues because of partying, break-in attempts, and camping on the property by people with serious weapons.

15:02When is it our time to be noticed and respected?

15:05I encourage the councilor to get reports from Kevin and Mike and evaluate the entire foreclosure process so that it's fair to all parties.

15:15Also, drive by this once beautiful turn-of-the-century home that was driven to the ground and is probably not habitable I have loved this house, viewing it from my porch, but sadly it will most likely disappear due to years of neglect by the owner and by the city that refused to take right action.

15:34Thank you so much.

15:36Thank you.

15:37Thank you very much for being here tonight.

15:39Uh, next up we have Rachel Jameson.

15:45Good evening.

15:46Welcome.

15:48Make sure to introduce yourself for the record.

15:50Rachel Jameson.

15:52Good evening, CA Lee and council staff.

15:55My name is Rachel Jamieson.

15:57I'm a lifelong everyday Portlander.

15:59I grew up in District 2, currently live in District 1.

16:02I've spent the last 9 years as a public servant with the Water Bureau and nearly 3 years on the CPPW bargaining team.

16:09I'm here to speak frankly about the stalled contract negotiations affecting our public employees and the potential consequences of these delays.

16:17Right now, employees are being treated as though our contributions are expendable.

16:20Thank you.

16:21We are unseen, unappreciated, and consistently denied the same benefits already offered to other unions across the city.

16:28The city's bargaining team has made little movement, and the inequity is unmistakable.

16:33They are signaling that this workforce, despite being absolutely essential, is somehow less deserving, and that is unacceptable.

16:41If these employees are forced into a strike due to these delayed negotiations, the public will face serious immediate consequences.

16:52Analysts who help manage violence prevention efforts in gun violence hotspots will not be there to coordinate interventions and keep communities safe.

17:01Recreation programs that families rely on, including programs that keep youth engaged and supported, will be suspended.

17:07Bilingual staff who communicate with residents about the safety of their drinking water will be unavailable, leaving many families without crucial, understandable information about public health.

17:16Councilmember Herbold.

17:17Coordinators who monitor, plan, and track the systems that keep wastewater out of our homes and rivers will no longer be preventing those dangerous overflows.

17:26Affordable housing contract staff who are working in the middle of a housing crisis will be unable to move critical projects forward, impacting your constituents who need stable homes right now.

17:37The mapping and planning of roadwork repairs and safety improvements will stall, delaying fixes to hazards residents encounter every single day.

17:43Councilmember Herbold.

17:45Advocates who support victims of violent crimes will be unavailable when community members need them and their assistance the most.

17:52And life-saving training programs that ensure our infrastructure is safe and ensure our sibling union members are protected from workplace hazards will halt.

18:01These programs are not optional.

18:03They prevent injuries, protect workers, and safeguard the public.

18:06A strike would not simply be disruptive.

18:09It would undermine the systems this city relies on for public safety, stability, and basic daily functioning.

18:13Councilmember Herbold.

18:14So City Council, you have a meaningful role to play here.

18:17You can urge the administration to change course, to stop delaying, and to bring these negotiations to a fair and timely close.

18:25These employees deserve parity, respect, and a contract that reflects the vital work we perform for every resident of this city.

18:32Thank you for your time, and I strongly urge you to act.

18:35Thank you very much for being here.

18:37Next up, we have David Sherman.

18:46Welcome.

18:46Feel free to introduce yourself for the record.

18:48You're welcome to share your pronouns, and you have 3 minutes.

18:50Hi, my name is David Sherman.

18:52Good evening, councilors.

18:53I'm here to talk about the property at 855 North Church, which this council voted last week to extend 3 months a decision on foreclosure, um, and I'd like to talk to you about the ramifications of that vote.

19:09I watched the meeting, and what struck me was that there was no consideration and no hearing from the neighbors that wrote in with their concerns.

19:19And instead, the discussion focused on the absent owner and her concerns.

19:23And she's hospitalized, which I have legitimate sympathy for that.

19:27But the problems at the property are not new.

19:30My wife and I moved in 6 and a half years ago, and in that entire time, the property has been either vacant occupied by squatters, and it has been deteriorating continuously the whole time.

19:43The key point I'd like to make is that I think the neighbors deserve to be heard as well.

19:49The things that are going on, which Karen also spoke to, are a concern with safety, where the house is a magnet for people that are squatters that come to drink and to smoke and to engage in activity.

20:05And any neighbor that walks by this house at night or during the day they will feel considerable unease.

20:10It just doesn't feel safe.

20:13The, the, uh, the second problem is one of health, in that there are rats on the property, and the rats spread throughout the neighborhood.

20:23And there are a surprising and impressive number of flies on the property that spread throughout the neighborhood.

20:30And the third problem is one of plastic litter.

20:33When the roof was removed, which you heard earlier, 2 years ago, The, the— A temporary tarp was put down made of woven polyethylene, and polyethylene, that material is made of thousands and thousands of spaghetti-like ribbons.

20:49And the tarp has disintegrated with the lack of the roof not being put on.

20:54It's just, it's a permanent structure there now.

20:57And every day, fistfuls of hundreds of those ribbons spread throughout the neighborhood.

21:03They land in our lawns, they land in our gutters, they land all over the place, and, uh, it's, it's litter.

21:11And so those are the ramifications for us, the neighbors, for 3 more months.

21:16I'm not sure if another vote is possible.

21:18If it is, I would ask you to consider that, and the neighbors that live here that are enduring this house ask you that.

21:26If a vote is not possible, I'd like you to consider that, that 3 months is a date on a calendar for you, but for the neighbors, it's 3 more months of reduced safety, of vermin, of health concerns, and of plastic litter.

21:42Thank you very much.

21:43Thank you very much for being here.

21:48Uh, next up we have Ocean Hassell.

22:02Welcome.

22:03Go right ahead, jump on in.

22:04Councilors, for the record, my name is Ocean Hasso.

22:08I'm a member of the City of Portland Professional Workers Union bargaining team.

22:12Thank you for your time tonight.

22:14My faith as an Episcopalian requires me to strive to respect the dignity of every human being.

22:22This is in my church's baptismal covenant.

22:24And for me, I live out the requirement of my baptism by being on the CPPW bargaining team.

22:31I want to uplift the dignity of my colleagues and for them to earn a dignified living.

22:38And yet it feels like the city doesn't recognize our dignity.

22:42For 9 months, every other week, we've bargained in good faith.

22:46The city, however, consistently shows up empty-handed.

22:49Councilmember Smith.

22:50The city says it's too broke for COLAs to keep pace with inflation and won't move us to the wage step system every other city union already has.

23:01Yet the city can find money to pay executives to disappear, finding $1.3 million for severance packages just in the last year alone.

23:10It even found $120 million for a billionaire basketball team owner who made his fortune selling risky car notes.

23:17Thank you.

23:19We're not asking for much.

23:20All we're asking for is what all other city unions have: clear and consistent wages and the basic respect of a city that shows up prepared to bargain.

23:31Yet the city and BHR drags us out showing up unprepared and offering pennies.

23:37This is disrespectful and wasteful.

23:40Mind you, each day of contract bargaining costs the taxpayer about $12,000.

23:44Thank you.

23:46I don't want to be here tonight.

23:48I'd rather get to work and settle this contract, but it seems to me that the city would prefer labor problems over labor peace.

23:55Well, let me share with you what the Book of Hosea says about problems: for they sow the wind and they shall reap the whirlwind.

24:03Thank you.

24:05Thank you very much.

24:12Next up, we have Rachel Whiteside.

24:19Welcome.

24:20Come on up.

24:25Members of council, thank you for your time tonight.

24:27My name is Rachel Whiteside, and I am here on behalf of the nearly 1,000 Pro-Tech 17 members who keep the city working, performing vital services in nearly every bureau that benefits the Portland community.

24:42Portland works because we do.

24:45We get the development permits issued, keep the water flowing, traffic moving, and the roses blooming.

24:51We support the city's IT, keeping it secure and safe from outside attacks so that every city worker— police, fire, and yourselves— can do your jobs.

25:03We are there in moments of crisis.

25:05Thank you, PSR members.

25:07And times of rejoicing.

25:08Thank you.

25:09Portland works because we do.

25:13As you're aware, we have been in contract negotiations for nearly 18 months.

25:18You might not be aware that this is the first time our Portland chapter has ever failed to get a deal with the city during regular negotiations.

25:29We're talking about a 7-decade bargaining history.

25:34Ask yourself, What is really different in this moment?

25:39PROTECT 17 members are dedicated public servants who just want to be able to afford to live in the city they serve.

25:47Do you know that a food box was placed onto a floor of the Portland Building so that coworkers could donate food for their, for their peers who don't have enough at the end of the pay period?

26:01To quote one of our members who signed our pledge to strike, no city worker should need to rely on food assistance.

26:13The living wage in Multnomah County for one adult with one minor dependent is more than $1,000— sorry, more than $110,000 a year, and a thriving wage is more than $185,000 a year.

26:28Thank you.

26:29Our members don't earn a thriving wage and need our cost of living increases tied to inflation just to maintain their current living standards.

26:39Our members see the ballooning positions created as part of the city's new governance structure, as well as the golden parachutes when these people move on after just a couple of years.

26:51Again, to quote a member, it is unacceptable to ask workers to take pay cuts please, I urge you, bring us a fair proposal in mediation this Friday so we can settle these negotiations and get back to doing what we do best— keep this city working.

27:14We are Pro-Tech 17, and Portland works because we do.

27:18Thank you.

27:19Thank you very much.

27:22That completes communications.

27:23Thank you.

27:24Thank you very much.

27:25Thank you everybody for coming down tonight.

27:27Uh, colleagues, our next item on the agenda, we're going to hear an update from the city administrator on a status of ongoing responses to federal interventions in the city.

27:36City Administrator Lee.

27:37Thank you, Council President.

27:39There are no new updates, uh, on the ICE facility litigation since our last time updating the council, but I do want to briefly flag our proud-to-be-a-sanctuary-city Uh, Pride campaign.

27:52This campaign invites businesses, faith communities, schools, and nonprofits across Portland to display posters affirming that we are proud to be a sanctuary city and that everyone belongs here.

28:07The posters also include information about what to do if someone witnesses an ICE enforcement action.

28:16They're available in 8 languages: English, Spanish, Russian, Ukrainian, Vietnamese, Simplified Chinese, Arabic, and Somali.

28:25Printed posters are available at city community centers, Portland Building, and Welcome Week events while supplies last, and downloadable, uh, print-ready versions are available at portland.gov/sanctuary.

28:41We encourage community partners to participate and help us make that message of belonging visible throughout our city.

28:49Thank you.

28:50Thank you, City Administrator.

28:51Colleagues, any questions for the City Administrator?

28:55Great.

28:56Keelan, can we please call the consent agenda?

29:00Uh, no items were pulled from the consent agenda.

29:02I'll call the roll.

29:04Koyama Lane?

29:07Aye.

29:08Murillo?

29:09Aye.

29:10Novick?

29:11Aye.

29:12Clark?

29:13Aye.

29:13Green?

29:14Aye.

29:16Zimmerman.

29:17Aye.

29:18Avalos.

29:18Aye.

29:20Smith, absent.

29:21Kanal.

29:21Aye.

29:22Pirtle-Guiney.

29:23Aye.

29:24Ryan.

29:25Aye.

29:25Dunphy.

29:26Aye.

29:27The consent agenda is approved with a vote of 11 ayes and 1 absent.

29:31Thank you very much, colleagues.

29:32Next 7 items are second readings.

29:34We're gonna read them or call them individually and hope to get through them with some expedience.

29:40Can we please call item number 6?

29:42Document 2026-306, create a new non-represented classification of Council Public Information Officer and establish a compensation range for this classification.

30:03Seeing no one in the queue, Keelan, would you please call the roll on item number 6?

30:07Councilor Koyama Lane.

30:09Aye.

30:09Morillo.

30:10Aye.

30:11Novick.

30:12Aye.

30:13Clark.

30:14Aye.

30:14Green.

30:15Aye.

30:16Zimmerman.

30:17Aye.

30:18Avalos.

30:18Aye.

30:18Smith.

30:20Oh, sorry, absent.

30:21Kanal.

30:22Aye.

30:23Pirtle-Guiney.

30:24Aye.

30:25Ryan.

30:25Aye.

30:26Dunphy.

30:26Aye.

30:27Ordinance passes with a vote of 11 ayes and 1 absent.

30:30Thank you.

30:31Can we please call item number 7?

30:33Document 2026-247, initiate foreclosure action on 7545 Northeast Sandy Boulevard for the collection of delinquent city liens placed against the property.

30:53Seeing no one in the queue, could we please call the roll?

30:55Koyama Lane.

30:56Aye.

30:57Murillo.

30:58Aye.

30:58Novick.

30:59Aye.

30:59Clark.

31:00Aye.

31:00Green.

31:01Aye.

31:02Zimmerman.

31:03Aye.

31:03Avalos.

31:04Aye.

31:05Kanal.

31:06Aye.

31:07Pirtle-Guiney.

31:08Aye.

31:09Ryan.

31:10Aye.

31:10Dunphy.

31:11Aye.

31:12The ordinance passes with 11 ayes and 1 absent.

31:15Thank you very much.

31:16Can we please move to number— item number 8?

31:20Uh, document 2026-248, initiate foreclosure action on 7545 Uh, within Northeast Sandy Boulevard for the collection of delinquent city liens placed against the property.

31:34I think we just read that one.

31:36Oh, did I?

31:37Uh, 2026-248.

31:41What?

31:42One is within—.

31:43There's 2 of them on the same thing?

31:45Why do I not have that on my agenda?

31:46Okay, I'm wrong.

31:48I don't see them on my thing.

31:48Oh, I see.

31:49I'm—.

31:50My, my script is wrong.

31:51I apologize, colleagues.

31:53Thank you, Keelan.

31:53You are always right.

31:56No, I'm not.

31:56Colleagues, this is the second reading of a non-emergency ordinance.

32:03Seeing none, Keelan, could we please call the roll?

32:06Koyama Lane?

32:07Aye.

32:07Murillo?

32:08Aye.

32:09Novick?

32:09Aye.

32:10Clark?

32:11Aye.

32:11Green?

32:13Aye.

32:13Aye.

32:13Murillo?

32:14Aye.

32:15Kanal?

32:16Aye.

32:20Aye.

32:21Aye.

32:22Aye.

32:23Aye.

32:23The ordinance passes with 11 ayes and 1 absent.

32:27Could we please read the next item?

32:30Item number 9, then?

32:32Yeah.

32:32Yes, item number 9.

32:33Thank you.

32:33Item 9, document 2026-250, initiate foreclosure action on North Columbia Boulevard for the collection of delinquent city liens placed against the property.

32:44This is also the second reading of a non-emergency ordinance.

32:46Is there any further discussion?

32:51Seeing no one in the queue, Keelan, could we please call the roll?

32:54Koyama Lane.

32:56Aye.

32:56Murillo.

32:57Aye.

32:58Aye.

32:58Novick.

33:01Aye.

33:03Aye.

33:06Ryan.

33:08Aye.

33:09Uh, the ordinance passes with 11 ayes and 1 absent.

33:13And can we please read item number 10?

33:16Document 2026-253, initiate foreclosure action on 7101 through 7103 Southeast Division Street for the collection of delinquent city liens placed against the property.

33:30Is there any further discussion of this item?

33:36Aye.

33:36Aye.

33:37Councilor Aye.

33:40Novick.

33:40Aye.

33:41Clark.

33:41Aye.

33:42Green.

33:43Aye.

33:43Zimmerman.

33:45Avalos.

33:46Kanal.

33:47Aye.

33:48Pirtle-Guiney.

33:48Aye.

33:49Ryan.

33:49Aye.

33:50Dunphy.

33:51Aye.

33:51The ordinance passes with 11 ayes and 1 absent vote.

33:54Thank you.

33:55And can we read item number 11?

33:56Document 2026-260, initiate foreclosure action on 5706 Southeast Lambert Street for the collection of delinquent city liens placed against the property.

34:07Guess what?

34:08This is the second reading of a non-emergency ordinance as well.

34:11Any further council discussion?

34:17Aye.

34:17Aye.

34:17Councilor Dan Ryan.

34:19Aye.

34:20Councilor Mitch Green.

34:26Aye.

34:27The ordinance passes with 11 ayes and 1 absent.

34:35Thank you.

34:36And can we— is it item 12 now?

34:41Yeah, item 12.

34:42Thank you.

34:43Document 2026-256, initiate foreclosure action on 2734 through 2730— no, wait, did I just— no, Northeast— 2738 Northeast Alberta Street for the collection of delinquent city liens placed against the property.

34:59Yet again, second reading of a non-emergency ordinance.

35:02Is there any further discussion?

35:07Seeing no one in the queue, can we please call the roll on item number 12?

35:13Aye.

35:14Aye.

35:17Aye.

35:17Aye.

35:17Aye.

35:18Aye.

35:18Aye.

35:19Aye.

35:19Aye.

35:19Aye.

35:20Aye.

35:21Aye.

35:24The ordinance passes with 11 ayes and 1 absent.

35:29I would like to thank everybody at home for what affectionately has been called a pirate party.

35:33Aye.

35:34That was a lot of it.

35:36Please call item number 13.

35:39Document 2026-263, consent to franchise transfer from Zenith Energy Terminals Holdings LLC to ISQ Springer Holdings LLC, amend ordinance 188554.

35:52Okay, colleagues, this is also the second reading of a non-emergency ordinance.

35:56Is there further council discussion?

36:02Councilor Morillo.

36:04Um, thank you, Council President.

36:06I just want to, um, say that I will not be able to support the franchise transfer this evening because we did not approve some of the amendments that I feel would have made the transfer much more palatable to me and to the many advocates who have fought for We were trying to add accountability measures so that if the city fails to hold this oil company accountable, the public has recourse that is very common within environmental law, and we did not get a 7th vote for that.

36:40And so because of that, this is moving forward as is.

36:44And I can't really in good conscience support this.

36:47I think that this was a very common sense measure to make improvements.

36:50Councilor Smith.

36:50And this council was unwilling to make those changes.

36:53So because of that, I'm going to be a no vote, but I just wanted to reiterate why it is I will not be supporting this at this time.

37:00Thank you.

37:01Thank you, Councilor Morillo.

37:02Councilor Green.

37:04Thank you, Council President.

37:06Like Councilor Morillo, I won't be able to support this ordinance at this time.

37:12Council has the right to place conditions on franchise agreements that it deems reasonable.

37:18That's in the language of those franchises.

37:20I think it was always reasonable to have public process, to hear from the community, to gather ideas from the community, and talk about ways to build trust together as a community with, with a fossil fuel company, which has a long history of broken promises in this town.

37:37I think we missed an opportunity there.

37:38So at this time, I can't, I can't sign my name on this.

37:41Thanks.

37:42Thank you, Councilor Green.

37:49Councilor Kanal.

37:50Yeah, um, I first— I just want to say thanks to the staff that have been working on this, um, throughout.

37:56I, I, I, I understand that like when people vote yes or no, often it can feel like a reflection of the work that you've done, and I don't want it to feel that way when I join at least 2 of my colleagues in voting no on this.

38:07Um, but I, I just wanted to, to mention that.

38:10I also I imagine this will pass and hopefully we'll be able to continue the conversation with the new ownership after that takes over and try to help work on that trust going forward.

38:22Because right now, because of the previous owner, it's not there.

38:26And that's not what this vote's about for me.

38:29This vote is about the specific qualifications and how there wasn't a clear sort of criterion and rubric for that, and I didn't find that the information that I'd requested, which I was led to believe existed, actually existed sufficient to meet the criteria that, that, um, would have allowed us to be confident in the technical, legal, and financial qualifications of the, um, I guess the recipient of the, the franchise transfer.

38:58So that's why I'm going to be voting no.

38:59But I, I wanted to, um, sort of express some optimism going forward because even though I am voting no, I, I imagine this will will pass, um, and see that we can, can continue these conversations to try and build that trust going forward and see that there's change in this terminal.

39:16Thank you, Councilor Kanal.

39:22Colleagues, seeing no one else in the queue, Keelan, can we please call the roll?

39:28Calling the roll on 2026-263.

39:31Ayes, 3.

39:33No.

39:34No.

39:35No.

39:36Aye.

39:36Clark.

39:37Aye.

39:39No.

39:40Zimmerman.

39:41Aye.

39:41Avalos.

39:42No.

39:43Kanal.

39:44No.

39:46Pirtle-Guiney.

39:48Aye.

39:49Ryan.

39:50Aye.

39:50Dunphy.

39:55No.

39:55The ordinance fails to pass with a vote of 5 ayes, 6 nays, and 1 absent.

40:01Council President, point of information.

40:03Councilor.

40:04Um, this—.

40:14In a process like this, this was a transfer agreement process.

40:19Does this now go back to staff for additional information and consideration, or does this I am unclear.

40:34We are having some folks confer.

40:42Uh, request for information, Council President.

40:44Would it be possible for us to have that conversation return?

40:49Can, can we check in on that question and, and the update to it later in this meeting?

40:54I think for the purposes of this agenda, yes, we actually can do that.

40:57Okay, just from a, like, a rules and process update.

41:00Okay.

41:01I don't want to—.

41:02So item 13 has not received sufficient votes to pass.

41:06The item fails.

41:06We are going to call item 14.

41:07Document 2026-277, appropriate grant award of $207,411 First Speed Racing Street Takeover.

41:26This is the first reading of a non-emergency ordinance.

41:28Claire Adamsick from Council Operations is here with a committee staff summary report.

41:33Claire, take it away.

41:35Thank you, Council President and councilors.

41:37For the record— sorry, Claire Adamsick— and I'm reading on behalf of Kevin Alvarez, who staffs the Community and Public Safety Committee, and Kevin prepared this committee staff summary but couldn't be here tonight.

41:49The ordinance before you, document number 2026-277, was heard in the Community and Public Safety Committee on August 4th, where it was referred to full council with a recommendation to pass.

42:00The ordinance amends the fiscal year 2026-27 budget and allows the city to appropriate $207,411.35 in grant funds awarded by the State Transportation Safety Office the grant will fund Portland Police Bureau overtime missions to combat planned and ad hoc speed racing and street takeover events.

42:26The full impact statement on this item includes information on financial and budgetary impacts and community impacts and community involvement.

42:33No verbal or written testimony was provided on this item prior to committee action, and that concludes the committee staff summary.

42:39Thank you.

42:39Thank you.

42:40Thank you, Claire.

42:40Councilor Novick, this came out of your committee.

42:42Any committee chair remarks?

42:45Yeah, I just want to reiterate that the committee members were interested in receiving more in-depth information about the plan for grant funds, including data, examples of past work related to these grants, and more granular planning and timeline for the funds.

42:57I think that this is an instance of where the administration is gradually getting used to the idea that we don't rubber stamp things.

43:04We want more information.

43:06And I think they got that message.

43:08Thank you, Councilor.

43:10Colleagues, are there any— uh, first of all, Keelan, is there anyone signed up for public testimony on this item?

43:14We have one person signed up on this item.

43:17Great.

43:18Would you like me to call them up?

43:18Uh, let—.

43:19Yeah, colleagues, I'm going to hold technical or clarifying or, uh, questions for the council discussion, and let's move to public testimony.

43:25Okay.

43:25Uh, Edith Gillis.

43:30Welcome, Edith.

43:31Come on up.

43:32Hello, I'm Edith Gillis, District 3.

43:35I want you to remember that the Portland voters voted overwhelmingly that in any time that you spend any money on police, 5% is to go to the Police Accountability Board.

43:51If you're going to pass this to give more money for police because they haven't planned properly, they're not doing their job right, You need to at least give 5% to the oversight and police accountability.

44:04There are many other ways to prevent street takeovers and dangerous driving.

44:10This is not the way to do that.

44:14Thank you very much.

44:18That completes testimony.

44:19Thank you very much.

44:20Colleagues, we're now in council discussion as well as technical or clarifying questions, and we have some staff available in the room.

44:26Anybody would like to answer?

44:29Councilor Knoll.

44:30Yeah, I mean, I'll ask the question, uh, based on that.

44:33I think, um, the way that it was characterized in committee was that effectively this was allowing an expenditure, um, and I wanted to just understand that would imply that it's effectively the 5% is already handled.

44:49So I just wanted to check with the lawyers on that and, and, uh, make sure that we were either Told correctly or read between the lines correctly, um, when that conversation happened.

45:00Um, so I'll give— I'm pausing for them to hear, but, uh, while they're figuring that out, I'll say that as we went through the— we should generally be considering grants.

45:13It's a fascinating thing that we do here because we vote on the grant, but it doesn't always affect a decision on the policy that we're— that, that Or what it is that we're spending the money to do, right?

45:24So sometimes we're— it's characterized as, do you want free money or not?

45:29Though, yes, if you do, but sometimes it's about what are we spending the money on?

45:34And so while this one makes sense to me, I'm gonna bring up in the other, the second grant that's coming up today, a concern about these sorts of things.

45:41And so I just wanted to flag that as a distinction between the 2 grants as well.

45:45Thank you.

45:46Because we are ultimately deciding not only if we want money, which obviously the city would like to have money appropriated to us, but also what it's being spent on.

45:55And while I generally support this particular grant and what it would be spent on, I am curious about the answer to the question raised in testimony.

46:05I was in the hall working on another issue.

46:09Can you restate the question?

46:11Absolutely.

46:14In committee, it was characterized to us that effectively this vote was about spending money in a specific way.

46:21And maybe I misread between the lines on that, but the, the— in testimony, it was raised that in order to spend this $207,000, we'd have to add, you know, a little over $10,000, the 5%, to the OCPA budget, the Office of Community-Based Police Accountability.

46:36And the question was, did we already handle that?

46:40Oh, that's a great question.

46:44I'm Robert Taylor, uh, City Attorney, for the record.

46:46That might, that might be a question better asked to the budget office.

46:51Okay.

46:54By any chance— I'm not trying to be funny— by any chance, is, is CFO Biery or anyone from the CBO here?

47:04And we don't have to vote on this till next week.

47:06I don't understand, it's a first reading, but that, that That would be a thing that would change my vote is if we didn't follow the 5% rule on something that I would otherwise be voting yes on.

47:15So I'm just trying to understand that and get information, Council President.

47:20Thank you.

47:23We are—.

47:25Do we have staff to be able to respond to this?

47:33Okay, Councilor, I think we will have to come back to your answer and ask for the administration to get some response.

47:38Appreciate it.

47:38Thank you.

47:39Councilor Avalos.

47:40Thank you.

47:43So, um, I've got some questions.

47:45I think that I have— in general, I have concerns anytime we are asked to add funding for police enforcement without clear evidence about what outcomes that additional spending will produce.

47:58Um, obviously street racing and takeovers can create serious safety risks.

48:02We've experienced it a lot in East Portland, and we have a responsibility to address them.

48:08But that doesn't mean that every enforcement strategy is automatically effective or justified.

48:14So before approving additional overtime and surveillance equipment, I want to understand how these funds will be used, how success is measured, and what safeguards are in place.

48:25Council President, are there folks— I guess, are these kinds of questions to police leadership?

48:30Are they in the room?

48:31Or I don't—.

48:32I have in my notes that Sergeant Petrov from PPB is supposed to be here, uh, Sheila Craig from the grant manager's office, and Ben Smoon with the grant analysts.

48:41So I don't know if any of those 3 people are the right to speak.

48:44If, uh, Sergeant Petrov is here, potentially.

48:47Hey, folks, welcome.

48:55I am not Sergeant Petrov.

48:56I am, uh, Lieutenant Greg Moore.

48:58Over this.

48:59So can you—.

49:00The question—.

49:01I haven't asked the question quite yet, so let me ask that.

49:04Thank you for being here.

49:06So a couple of things.

49:07So first, of the $207,000, can you talk to me about what's— how much will specifically go towards overtime versus things like equipment or other expenses?

49:19How are you breaking that down?

49:21So initially when we proposed the grant, it was— I, I can't remember the exact numbers.

49:26That's a grant.

49:27That would be a grants question what the numbers was.

49:29Um, but because of how, uh, long this has taken and the short, uh, till the end of this grant, uh, we're not going to be able to procure that equipment.

49:36So at this point, all of the money will be spent on overtime.

49:41At this point, all of it will be spent on overtime?

49:42Yes.

49:43Okay.

49:44And, um, well, I guess that answers my next couple of questions.

49:48I, I mean, let me just daylight this because this is what I was going to ask, uh, if any of the funding could be used for prevention, traffic engineering, community-based strategies, or other non-enforcement approaches.

50:01So it sounds like the— right now it is to use just on police overtime.

50:06This grant is specifically for high-visibility enforcement.

50:10Say that one more time.

50:10It's specifically for high-visibility enforcement.

50:13High-visibility enforcement.

50:14What, what does that mean?

50:15Does that mean something specific?

50:17So it's from ODOT.

50:18That's one of their requirements for this grant, is that it is a high visibility.

50:22It's not for undercover work.

50:24It's not for prevention.

50:26It's not for investigation.

50:28It's for during the event, disrupting the event, and having an impact on the event.

50:32Got it.

50:33Okay, thank you.

50:35And then I guess, what kind of reporting is council going to receive showing the number of missions or arrests or citations, use of force, demographic information?

50:45Like, how are you going to communicate back to us the outcomes of using this grant?

50:50Yeah, so part of the requirements of the grant is that we have those measurables and that we provide them to ODOT.

50:57So that would be the same to you.

51:00Okay, thank you.

51:03So then do we have people from budget office to talk about the— well, I guess maybe we don't need that because you already told me.

51:09So never mind for that.

51:11Um, that's all the questions I have.

51:15I think—.

51:17I'm not sure how I feel about it.

51:18I'm definitely still a little bit concerned, um, about this, but probably feel more concerned about the next one.

51:25So, um, I think I'll leave it at that and I'll ponder where I land.

51:29Thank you.

51:30Thank you, Councilor Avalos.

51:31Councilor Zimmerman.

51:33Uh, thank you.

51:34I'm all for it.

51:34Get out there, get them, right?

51:36This street racing crap is really destroying a lot of, a lot of areas, and the wrecks that happen when it goes on is incredibly dangerous.

51:41People getting walloped by the back end of a car is incredibly dangerous, right?

51:45So thank you for going after grants, finding other people's money.

51:49Let's get out there and do it.

51:50These missions have to start taking place as much as possible because they're in, they're out, they're gone.

51:56It's really hard to stop.

51:57So I appreciate the work 'cause it's not easy.

52:00So thank you.

52:02Thank you, Councilor Zimmerman.

52:03Councilor Knoll.

52:05Yeah, thanks.

52:06Thanks for being here.

52:07I just wanted to get a clarification.

52:10So when you talk, 'cause one of the things that came up in committee, and I just wanted to get this on the record here since there's a larger audience for it, in the slides it talks through what exactly you're gonna do with it.

52:19It is mission-based, it is doing all that, and that's why I was comfortable voting yes on it and would, pending the budget question on the other thing, support it again here.

52:30Could you clarify what deployable cameras means?

52:32So we were talking about like GoPros or cameras that would make it so that we could record yeah, and so these are, these are cameras that are not in a fixed location, deployable, right?

52:44And but you'd be putting them in a fixed location, um, for that is likely to have an event occur that would help you monitor it, right?

52:52That was one of the thoughts when we applied the grant.

52:54But again, we have no intention of buying any cameras at this point because we don't have time for procurement of them.

53:01Great, uh, thank you for clarifying that again.

53:03I, I know I asked you a very similar question in committee, but I think there were folks who weren't there that are here today.

53:09So I wanted to get that on the record and appreciate it.

53:12Thank you, Councilor Knoll.

53:14Councilor Ryan.

53:15Thank you, Council President.

53:16Good to see all of you, and thank you for your service.

53:19I was proud to be a part of the council that passed the street racing action in 2023.

53:25I've learned how challenging it was to set up the system and the labor force it takes, the amount of officers on patrol.

53:34To manage those street takeovers, which really impact the neighborhoods in North Portland quite a bit since many of them take place on MLK, Columbia Boulevard.

53:44The people on Marine Drive West have told me horror stories where their employees can't get to their shifts of employment, those that work the graveyard shifts.

53:54So it's impacted a lot of the workforce in our city as well.

53:58And one, I just want to hear how many patrol officers does it take to actually That's a hard number to nail down just because it depends on the size of the event and the behavior in the location.

54:17That's okay to start there, but I'd like you to go further because there are numbers involved.

54:21The reason I'm asking this question is because there are nights where there's maybe 13 to 25 officers in the entire city.

54:29And when there's a street takeover, when there's some other unrest, when there's a gun violence shooting, suddenly no one can show up for any of the property crime requests that we get, calls that you get from our storefronts around the city.

54:42So I think it's important for the public to have a better understanding.

54:45Sometimes staffing is better understood when you can tell us stories.

54:48So please take some time to tell us stories on what it's like to actually respond to these situations.

54:54Thank you.

54:56My name is Sergeant Michael Currier.

54:57I'm the operational sergeant for this street takeover activity.

55:03Typically, we like to get approximately 20 officers, but those numbers are also coming from Clackamas County, Multnomah County Transit, the Port.

55:17We also get assistance from the other side of the river during these missions.

55:21We usually have our air support team working.

55:25So when, when I say at least 20 officers, those are coming from multiple different agencies that come to help.

55:32And that took some time to set up those agreements?

55:35It, uh, it, it has taken a long time, a lot of networking to do that.

55:39Yeah.

55:40And so congratulations on getting this award.

55:43Clearly it's needed, and I want to thank our thank you.

55:46Thank you, Councilor Smith, for that.

55:46I appreciate that.

55:46And I appreciate the support from our partners in law enforcement and public safety from Gresham and Vancouver and the surrounding municipalities.

55:53It's good to hear that.

55:55And I just think it's important that when we tell these stories, we allow the public to understand the impact of how many patrol officers it takes to manage that.

56:04And you do that because you want to ensure safety.

56:08And so what I've heard is it takes a higher number to ensure the safety of those surrounding the area?

56:15It, it absolutely does.

56:16Uh, we've had a number of fatal crashes out, especially on Marine Drive, uh, but it is a citywide problem.

56:24Um, locations like, uh, Broadway and Burnside, 102 and Gleason, Airport Way, Marine Drive, MLK.

56:32Um, 20 is almost a minimum that we need to deal with these problems.

56:39Thank you.

56:39Thank you for telling the story.

56:42It helps.

56:42We've, we've had a pretty significant impact in the last few years as well too.

56:45Appreciate it.

56:48Thank you, Councilor Ryan.

56:53Colleagues, seeing no one else in the queue— actually, Councilor Connell, is that a legacy hand?

56:57Okay, seeing no one else in the queue, this is a non— the first reading of a non-emergency ordinance.

57:02Council President, I, I saw that.

57:04Yeah.

57:04Hi.

57:05Sorry, I just wanted to answer the question about the 5%.

57:10It is not part of the budget for this grant, so it would have to be part of the adopted budget, but we are not allocating 5%.

57:18I think it was 5%, was that the percentage that you were asking about earlier?

57:24Yeah, it was, but I— so let me, let me ask you this.

57:27Right now, the police budget and the OCPA budget before this ordinance are in the correct ratio.

57:33There is exactly 5% here, I believe.

57:36I'm gonna verify if there's any extra wiggle room there.

57:40And so in order to increase the police budget by $207,000, my understanding is we'd have to increase the OCPA budget by 5% to meet the charter requirement.

57:48So we are not doing that with this ordinance.

57:51I can't answer that question.

57:52We are only budgeting the grant funds.

57:55Okay.

57:57So I think then we need to hear from CBO and/or CFO Biery to understand if there is wiggle room, meaning if it's already— if doing so would remain within the ratios or if that would mean we were out of compliance with the city charter.

58:16Okay.

58:17And so I appreciate that you're distinguishing what this ordinance does, and I think that's part of the answer we're looking for.

58:23And we'll follow up on that and get you an answer.

58:25And I know that when the budget gets amended, You know, when the mayor's proposed gets amended, they're not always in perfect ratio.

58:30We know that it's at least 5%, but we don't know if it's above it.

58:34So if hypothetically it was already above it by about $10,300 or whatever, then we're fine from a legal perspective.

58:43So I'm just trying to understand that.

58:44Okay.

58:45And I think that's a CFO, CBO question.

58:47I'm seeing CA lead on along.

58:50If it's— If it's not there, we'd have to amend this, and I don't want to delay it next week, is the, is the, is the question.

58:58I—.

58:58Is a concern I have, if we can avoid delaying it, because I do think it's good to get the money to the thing that the grant was, uh, applied for.

59:07So I'm— I just, I don't know how you want to handle that, Council President, but I wanted to indicate that's my goal, is not to slow this down here.

59:13I just want to make sure we're in compliance with the charter.

59:16Okay, thank you very much, Councilor Kanal.

59:18Uh, is this Councilor Smith online with the hand?

59:23Yes, Council President, I just wanted to let you know that I am here.

59:25Thank you.

59:29Thank you very much.

59:31Okay, colleagues, is there further discussion of this item?

59:36Okay, this is a not— the first reading of a non-emergency ordinance.

59:38It now passes to second reading.

59:40Keelan, could we please call item number 15?

59:44Document 2026-278, appropriate grant award of $103, $69 for expanded traffic enforcement.

59:55Colleagues, this is the first reading of a non-emergency ordinance.

59:58Claire Adamsick is here with Council Operations to give us a committee staff summary report.

1:00:02Claire.

1:00:03Thank you again, Council President and councilors.

1:00:05For the record, Claire Adamsick again reading on behalf of Kevin Alvarez, who staffs the Community and Public Safety Committee and prepared this committee staff summary.

1:00:12The ordinance before you, document number 2026-278, Councilmember Herbold.

1:00:16Thank you, Mayor Wilson.

1:00:17This ordinance was heard in the Community and Public Safety Committee on August 4th, where it was referred to full council with a recommendation to pass.

1:00:23The ordinance amends the fiscal year 2026-27 budget to appropriate $103,069 in grant funds awarded by the Oregon Department of Transportation Safety Office to increase the efficiency of traffic crash investigations and to expand patrol-based traffic enforcement.

1:00:40The budget amendment increases the Portland Police Bureau programming expenses and the grants fund for a grant period from July 14th, 2026 through September 30th, 2026.

1:00:50The award requires a local match of $25,768 that the Police Bureau will provide from its general fund resources and is intended to supplement existing city revenues.

1:01:01Grant funds will support officer training time and associated benefits and mobile citation and drone use, mobile citation printers and related supplies, crash investigation drones, The full impact statement on this item includes information on financial and budgetary impacts and community impacts and community involvement.

1:01:20No verbal or written testimony was submitted on this item prior to committee action.

1:01:24And that concludes this committee staff summary.

1:01:26Thank you.

1:01:27Thank you, Claire.

1:01:29Councilor Novick, this came out of your committee.

1:01:30Any committee chair remarks?

1:01:33Yes.

1:01:33As with the previous grant, committee members would like to see more data and detailed information about the plan.

1:01:37Plans for this grant.

1:01:39I'll also note that the debate of the site have included a discussion of disparities in traffic enforcement, which is an important topic which I think we need to have a full discussion of in a future CAPS committee.

1:01:49In the context of this grant discussion, I didn't feel like we had the scope or the personnel there to have such a full discussion, but we will have one later.

1:01:59Thank you, Councilor.

1:02:01Councilors— oh, sorry, is there anyone signed up for public testimony?

1:02:05Edith Gillis signed up.

1:02:07Okay, I'd like to move to public testimony before we get to technical clarifying questions or council discussion.

1:02:13So Edith, welcome.

1:02:16The City of Portland has this wonderful program, or did for many years.

1:02:19Introduce yourself for the record.

1:02:21My name is Edith Gillis, District 3, and that wonderful program was about improving traffic safety.

1:02:29So we do it through education through engineering, as Councilor Avalos mentioned, and through enforcement.

1:02:37And enforcement doesn't just have to be cops or guns or fines.

1:02:44There are far better ways to have safer streets for all users than what we're doing and what you're proposing here.

1:02:54And anytime—.

1:02:55Councilor Avalos.

1:02:56That you take in more money, more staffing, more equipment, more services than anywhere used by the police, then you have to give at least 5% for the oversight and the accountability of those police and those programs.

1:03:17Please be very careful that you do not lose the trust and the respect, the cooperation of Portland voters.

1:03:25We're gonna be facing really horrible times, and if you betray our trust on this, as you have on Zenith and clean energy and so many other things, you're gonna have a much harder time with future decisions.

1:03:40Please be aware there's better ways to have safer streets than this.

1:03:47Thank you.

1:03:50Thank you very much.

1:03:51That completes testimony.

1:03:53Thank you, colleagues.

1:03:54We are now into technical clarifying questions and also council discussion.

1:03:58Councilor Murillo.

1:04:00Yeah, thank you so much.

1:04:01We had a good discussion about this in committee, but I still left with a lot more questions about this, and I'm not sure who in the room should answer them.

1:04:12But the agreement funds 2 drones, but it doesn't say what make or model.

1:04:18And so I don't know who's the best person to answer this question, but I'd like to know what drones we're buying and does any flight or image data sync to a manufacturer's cloud?

1:04:35Thank you.

1:04:40Good evening, councilors.

1:04:41Brian Hughes, Deputy Chief of the Portland Police Bureau, for the record.

1:04:44Councilor Morillo, I don't know the exact brand.

1:04:48I can get back to you on that.

1:04:50We already use drones pretty extensively in the work that we do, and it would just be an expansion of those.

1:04:56I think the ones we use right now are DJI.

1:04:59And as far as I know, we don't upload anything to the cloud.

1:05:02I will confirm both of those questions for you, the brand and if we upload anything to the cloud.

1:05:07Gotcha.

1:05:08I think, Yeah, it's okay that you don't know.

1:05:12I think that to me that points to a broader issue I have, which is that we now have a data privacy office that we are currently hiring a director for.

1:05:21It's in motion.

1:05:22I was very proud to bring that forward with Councilor Novick, and I think it's really critical to the work that we're doing here at the city.

1:05:28So is the data privacy office going to review this purchase before any equipment is bought and how long drone imagery is retained?

1:05:36Who hosts the citation software and the citation database, and whether the clause giving ODOT and federal agencies access to project records could reach stop or citation records with people's personal information.

1:05:50Councilor, I would have no issue with the Data Privacy Office taking a look at this.

1:05:53I applaud your work there.

1:05:55I think it's important as, you know, these issues expand and, you know, see them all over the country, and certainly have no issues there with having the Data Privacy Office take a look at the purchase of these things.

1:06:06As far as the images they collect, these drones are used to collect images on crash, fatal crash investigations so that we can get roads open quicker.

1:06:15And they're saved in our database, our evidence database.

1:06:19Those are evidentiary pictures and they're saved according to whatever the timelines are for that kind of evidence to be kept.

1:06:26I think it's a pretty long time.

1:06:28I just, I don't know how long.

1:06:30Okay.

1:06:32And I know we're hiring for that top position, but is there anyone from the city Data Privacy Office that can, you know, confirm that they're going to be reviewing these tools before they're implemented?

1:06:48Or maybe CA Lee, I'm not sure who— it doesn't— it's not fully formed yet, so maybe you can commit for us, or you can commit for us, anyone on the record.

1:06:56Yes, I can commit.

1:06:57I know we can have our BTS, Bureau of Technology Services, take a look at it since the office is not set up.

1:07:03A lot of these services previously for the city was running through our Bureau of Technology Services.

1:07:08So we would still use their services to really vet this out from a technology standpoint.

1:07:14But I'll let DCA Warren elaborate on that topic even more, but also address kind of where we are in the process of setting up this office officially.

1:07:26Thank you, CA Lee, and thank you, Councilor Murillo, for the question.

1:07:30For the record, Deputy City Administrator Tracy Warren.

1:07:34We currently do privacy impact assessments when we are looking at adopting new technology on behalf of the city.

1:07:44So that is a current practice that will continue.

1:07:47I cannot verify whether or not when this when the drones that were originally purchased, whether or not they went through that process.

1:07:56That is a newer process that is taking place.

1:08:00Yeah, and I really appreciate the work that folks at BTS do, but this would be a pretty big expansion of scope for their work.

1:08:08And with all due respect to folks, as someone who's researched this pretty extensively, BTS is not in any way equipped to do data governance analysis the way— that's the reason we created the Data Privacy Office, because we've never had a group that was capable of doing data governance work, which is very different.

1:08:28So can CA Lee, can you commit that the Data Privacy Office is going to be assessing this before we implement any new technology?

1:08:38Can I—.

1:08:38Because we keep purchasing new technology at the city and it does not go through the proper channels.

1:08:44Can I clarify that the data privacy impact assessment currently takes place outside of BTS?

1:08:51So it is currently taking place through Smart Cities, and then it is reviewed as part of an overall committee of the technology.

1:08:59So we can commit that it will be done outside of BTS.

1:09:05Okay, and those same staff were moved into our data privacy office anyway, so they're doing that same work.

1:09:11Okay, thank you for that clarification.

1:09:14That was some of the core concerns I had about, and I hope that as the Data Privacy Office is established, that we will just move new technology through that, especially with the age of so many cameras, storage of people's information, facial recognition technology, all of that.

1:09:28It's something I really care about, so I'll just keep looking for that again and again.

1:09:32But thank you, I think that answers my questions.

1:09:35Thank you, Councilor Morillo.

1:09:36Councilor Pirtle-Guiney.

1:09:40Thank you, Council President.

1:09:41We've heard twice now testimony with concerns about the 5% set aside for police accountability, and I think we heard on the first one that that would have to be appropriated in the future with no real plan.

1:09:53So I am wondering if there is a plan for that fund and if the 5% could be taken out of the matching funds that are already allocated.

1:10:04Yes.

1:10:04Or if for whatever reason these don't have to have the 5%, in which case we should be transparent about that with the public.

1:10:15Because what I don't want to do is end up in next year's budget needing to meet that piece of the requirement that we hadn't planned for.

1:10:27Thank you, Councilor Pirtle-Guiney.

1:10:29Councilor—.

1:10:29Do we have an answer?

1:10:30That's a question.

1:10:31That's a question, yeah.

1:10:32Councilor, I'll defer that again to probably the CFO for that.

1:10:37Yeah, we would have to follow up with you, Councilor, 'cause I think it's gonna be—.

1:10:40But we're being asked to appropriate the funds today.

1:10:44I understand that, Councilor, but we would have to follow up on that specific question as it relates to does this impact the charter as it relates to the police accountability.

1:10:55All right, but let me ask a specific question.

1:10:58If this does impact that and we need the 5%, can the matching funds that are being used to obtain these grants be used for that 5%, or do the grants require the matching funds to be used for the common program?

1:11:21And as she's walking up, I just want to— Councilor, we are not voting on this today.

1:11:27Okay, can we get those answers by next week?

1:11:29Yes.

1:11:29Okay, thank you.

1:11:33Sheila Craig, Grants Management Division.

1:11:35Um, we would not be able to take funds from the matching funds because that is requirement of the grant, that amount.

1:11:42And it's in, um, I think we're utilizing straight time for that matching requirement.

1:11:48So if we were to reduce the amount of match for what we put in our application, our budget, we would have to reduce spending the grant funds by that amount because it's— we have grant funds and we have matching funds.

1:12:02So we would not be able— we'd have to cover those funds with something else if we were to take from those matching funds.

1:12:08Thank you, Council President.

1:12:09I'd appreciate it if we can get an answer on what the plan is from the administration before we vote on these.

1:12:14Absolutely.

1:12:15Thank you, Councilor Pirtle-Guiney.

1:12:16We'll work with the administration on that.

1:12:19Councilor Avalos.

1:12:21Thank you.

1:12:23So I understand the intent behind improving crash investigations and reducing the amount of time roadways are closed after serious collisions.

1:12:32We know that traffic safety is a real concern.

1:12:35We know that especially well in East Portland.

1:12:37Um, but like I said in the last item, I don't believe that increased enforcement automatically means increased safety, and traffic stops can have a very different impact across our communities, especially when we know that Portlanders of color have been and continue to be disproportionately targeted for traffic stops.

1:12:56In the most recent stops data, Black people made up 20% of total stops while accounting for only 5.7% of Portland's population, and 46.3% of those stops happened in East Precinct.

1:13:08So I again want to be careful anytime council is asked to additional resources that expand police traffic enforcement, especially through surveillance.

1:13:17And I want to better understand the use of the drones included in this grant and what safeguards are in place around the data collection and use.

1:13:23Thank you to Councilor Morillo.

1:13:25She already asked some of my questions around that, so I'll skip those.

1:13:29But let's start here with what specifically does expanded patrol-based traffic enforcement mean in practice?

1:13:36Are officers expected to conduct more traffic stops as a result of this grant?

1:13:44Councilor Avalos, no.

1:13:45This is specifically for equipment and training to use those equipments.

1:13:51Like, for example, the old days, like when I first started, we wrote the thing out by hand and it was in triplicate and you handed the thing.

1:13:58Nowadays they have printers in the cars that I have no idea how to use and would probably end up going through the training so that I could learn myself.

1:14:05Um, but that's what this would be for, is, is training officers on how to mobile print those, those citations, just streamlining the process, making it easier to get them over to the courts, and limiting the stop duration time.

1:14:21Okay, thank you.

1:14:23We started to get a little bit into this, but let me just ask it again, uh, just because my question is just a little different.

1:14:28But what policies govern the use of the crash investigation drones, including when they may be deployed, what data they're collecting, how long the data is retained, and whether it can be used for purposes beyond crash investigations.

1:14:39That last one is kind of the extra part that I didn't hear.

1:14:42Yeah, I will find the SOP on our drones and share that with you offline.

1:14:48What I know of it right now is that we have very strict safeguards in place for how the drones are used.

1:14:53They're used in the patrol world under a very specific set of circumstances.

1:14:57They're used in the traffic world in a very, very limited set of circumstances, and that revolves around traffic reconstruction and taking like grid photos of what a deadly crash scene looks like.

1:15:11And as I said before, the retention of that— of those photos is per criminal court guidelines and how long we keep evidence for.

1:15:19There's rules and laws that say how long we have to keep that evidence for.

1:15:22I can share those with you as well.

1:15:24Thank you, I'd appreciate that.

1:15:26And then, um, For the general fund contribution, I guess, why is it necessary?

1:15:31And also, was that funding already included in PPB's adopted budget, or is this an additional change?

1:15:38It's my understanding that the 20— it's a $25,000 matching out of the general fund that we have to contribute.

1:15:44I don't know the specifics on the thing, on the, uh, if the money was already there.

1:15:49I don't know how that all works, and we'll have to defer that to CFO Biery.

1:15:52Thank you.

1:15:53Yes, sorry you get— keep getting asked all these budget questions that I know you don't have all the answers to, but thanks for entertaining those.

1:16:00Um, so as I spoke about, uh, in my opening statement, um, you know, I, I am concerned about, uh, stop data and the clear disparate racial impacts.

1:16:11And so in that same vein, is— how is PPB, or are you tracking demographic and geographic data associated with the expanded traffic enforcement so that council can evaluate whether this expanded enforcement is being conducted equitably?

1:16:27How will we be able to measure that?

1:16:29Yeah, so this expanded is just on, on, like I said, the equipment, the drones, and the traffic printers in the car.

1:16:35As far as your question and where you were kind of going, I think with the stops and disparate data, that concerns me as well.

1:16:40And we had a pretty robust discussion in CAPS about that on this topic.

1:16:45I think Councilor Kanal had several questions regarding that.

1:16:48And since that time, and based on his line of questioning, I've directed the Bureau to apply for yet another grant to look into the stops data collection.

1:16:56And it's through ODOT.

1:16:58It's a grant that's been around for a while.

1:17:00It's my understanding that no one's applied for it, and it's just for this purpose, is to look into this.

1:17:05And I heard one of the testifiers earlier asking about like the community aspects and involvement.

1:17:12And I've asked that the grant look at that aspect of things as well.

1:17:16We haven't received it yet.

1:17:17Obviously, eventually it will come through here, and maybe we can sit back down and discuss this issue then.

1:17:22But it would be nice to have a look at that and figure out why the data is what it is and why the stops are what they are.

1:17:30And so we've passed the first step in applying for that grant.

1:17:34They've accepted the application, and I'll keep you informed on how that goes.

1:17:37Thank you.

1:17:38Is that a federal grant?

1:17:39It's an ODOT grant.

1:17:40It's an ODOT grant.

1:17:41Okay.

1:17:43Yeah, you know, thanks for clarifying.

1:17:47I guess I have been getting kind of mixed up.

1:17:49I'm trying to understand when we say that we're expanding enforcement, but that the money is for the equipment.

1:17:56I guess I'm just trying to square those 2 things.

1:17:59So do you see how that is a bit confusing?

1:18:02I don't know how to ask a question, but that's what I'm confused about.

1:18:04No, you're right.

1:18:05It says it right in the grant.

1:18:07It says expand patrol-based traffic enforcement.

1:18:10But then when, when you look down through the details there, it's through streamlining the process and issuing citations and being able to print them more efficiently and, and how they do their work and streamlining that aspect of things.

1:18:23So there isn't anything in the grant that is increasing the amount of officers going out and doing the traffic stops.

1:18:28It's the training that they'll use on how to write the tickets, basically.

1:18:33Okay, that's helpful to know.

1:18:40Um, I think that's all for now.

1:18:43Thank you.

1:18:44Thank you, Councilor Avalos.

1:18:45Councilor Knoll.

1:18:46Thank you.

1:18:47Um, so first I want to say that, you know, when I did a ride-along last year— and I appreciate you being here to answer these, these questions— when I did a ride-along last year, um, I saw the front end of the data collection system.

1:19:01And it's incredibly confusing, I think, for the officers who have to put it in.

1:19:07It's confusing for me.

1:19:08I'll just say for myself.

1:19:09I don't want to speak for the officers.

1:19:10Because when are you supposed to— it's supposed to capture what an officer knows at the time that they chose to make a stop.

1:19:21But it's not necessarily— that's not necessarily the time when it's filled out.

1:19:24And it's not necessarily possible to go back and know what you used to— or unknow what you now know after you've done the stop.

1:19:30Right.

1:19:31If that makes sense.

1:19:33Gone and done it.

1:19:34There's issues on the front end, and so I appreciate that there's a desire to look into how that front end gets done as well.

1:19:41And we focus so much on the back end of this because that's after SSD puts together these reports.

1:19:47That's very helpful and it's very easy to do that.

1:19:49But I want to acknowledge that that front end is not necessarily ideal for creating this.

1:19:57Thank you.

1:19:57Having said that, from what we've seen and what's been discussed, and I want to note that before council ever discussed this, the Portland Committee on Community Engaged Policing has discussed this for many, many years and its predecessors before that.

1:20:12And so we've seen that the sort of data analysis shows that it's effectively— that makes it complicated for looking at individual stops, but not necessarily the aggregate stats.

1:20:21And so I just want to get that out of the way.

1:20:22Getting into this, I voted no on this in committee.

1:20:24Okay.

1:20:25And the simple reason why is that we've had disparity racially in traffic stops and that there's no information in the grant evaluation plan that mentions equity or looking at equity impacts.

1:20:41So I will note that it does say— I hear what you're saying, Chief Hughes, about what it's actually trying to do in terms of mobile printers.

1:20:49I have no problem with mobile printers.

1:20:50Thank you.

1:20:51But it does ask in the evaluation plan, to what extent did citation issuance volume or timeliness change following printer deployment?

1:21:00So the idea is to make things more efficient.

1:21:02And I think that will— that's fair to say that that would increase the amount of it happening.

1:21:08There's the drone issue as well.

1:21:10And I know Councilor Ryan in the previous item mentioned the vote on traffic safety and all that.

1:21:16I actually was presenting at that time in my old job.

1:21:19Oh, really?

1:21:19That same day I was sitting in the back of the room when, uh, the conversation happened around drones and how they'd be used.

1:21:26And it was this overhead view.

1:21:28We also know that they've been used to, to find heat maps that showed, uh, someone was doing donuts in, um, an area following a crash.

1:21:37And originally it was kind of portrayed as this is only well after the fact.

1:21:41So I, I've, I had some questions about that then.

1:21:44This was 2023.

1:21:45Yes.

1:21:46It came up and the case was a little after that.

1:21:49So I've had some questions about the drone usage for a while, and I appreciate Councilor Murillo bringing that up too.

1:21:55So as it relates to this particular grant, going back to what I said before, this isn't just about do we want money.

1:22:01Obviously we want money.

1:22:02It's when you accept this money, you're using it to do a specific thing.

1:22:06And so we also have to have the conversation about how do we do the thing?

1:22:10Do we want to do the thing?

1:22:11Thank you.

1:22:11That the money would be used for.

1:22:13So I, my concern was about the equity impacts of that because just to do it, and I'll be more specific, traffic stops, not overall stops, have gone from about 8% of the people stopped were Black in 2012, and that's increased with a little bit of variation all the way up to 15.4% last year of people stopped who—.

1:22:35Yes.

1:22:37In Portland, traffic stops of Black drivers.

1:22:40And the percentage of Portlanders that are Black has remained around just below 6% throughout that based on census data.

1:22:49And part of the concern around that and how it's measured is that PPB in the data report uses a benchmark that is not population-based.

1:22:58It's injury collision benchmark.

1:22:59And there's a lot of information that's been on this.

1:23:02Yeah.

1:23:03But this doesn't explain the size of the disparity nor the trend.

1:23:08And I wanted to just mention that again.

1:23:11So my concern is about— first concern is about the drones.

1:23:16The second concern is about continuing to ramp up this work as it is not yet resolved from the inequities perspective.

1:23:26And then there's the third question which was raised in testimony about whether or not we're following the 5% rule.

1:23:31By the way, the 5% rule, We have to follow it.

1:23:34I don't think it's going to be hard to follow it.

1:23:36I think it's just something we have to get done if we want to do these grants.

1:23:39And again, I want to vote yes on the first one.

1:23:42I don't want to vote yes on this one.

1:23:43I opposed it in committee and I'll probably oppose it again here.

1:23:48And I also want to note that this information may seem separate from the conversation we're having, but I'm going to quote Chief Day in a letter on January 23rd, 2025 to the Portland Committee on Community Engaged Policing.

1:24:03Said that the PPB encourages collaborators to use the annual stops report and state reports to inform discussion, to develop actionable strategies for improving equitable policing practices beyond the scope of data collection and analysis techniques.

1:24:15I think he meant the current ones in effect then.

1:24:17So I appreciate that those are evolving now, and I just want to make sure that that is a process that is resolved before we're increasing this.

1:24:27And I appreciate the things that were brought up by other colleagues as well, but those are sort of my, my 3 things that I've been focusing on.

1:24:32Thank you.

1:24:32On in this particular grant application and consideration.

1:24:36Thanks.

1:24:37Thank you, Councilor.

1:24:38Thank you, Councilor Knoll.

1:24:39Councilor Ryan.

1:24:40Thank you, Council President.

1:24:42It's been mentioned, and I'm not disputing the data about the disparity when it comes to the general population of our area and the amount of arrests.

1:24:52I will need to say this because I've done numerous ride-alongs.

1:24:56I do most of them at night.

1:24:58And I have found myself eating crow 'cause I say all those, that same data.

1:25:06And I can't tell what the person looks like when I'm in my ride-along from behind until after they're pulled over.

1:25:15So I hope that we could maybe, do we have data that says it was daytime or nighttime?

1:25:21Do we have that granular data?

1:25:23Yes.

1:25:24In the reports?

1:25:25Yes, I believe the data can show that.

1:25:27I don't know if the stops data actually shows that or not.

1:25:29I think it's important to crosswalk that 'cause I think that with all data, you've gotta go underneath the— you gotta go deeper to really get the knowledge that's necessary.

1:25:39And so anyway, that's my lived experience.

1:25:42I've done 4 of these at night and every time I do them, I'm humbled by the fact that I cannot tell.

1:25:49But I realized they're pulling someone over just because they, they broke the law.

1:25:53So they're weaving in the road and it looks like they need to have a conversation so, so they're— so no one is hurt.

1:26:00Um, anyway, I always think it's important to tell those real lived experiences.

1:26:04Thank you.

1:26:05I'm surprised to hear that.

1:26:05I thought everybody knew at, like, at night that you can't see really who's driving the car.

1:26:10I mean, I've worked nights for many years and, and that's just— I thought that was common sense.

1:26:15Yeah, I think everyone knows that when they take a pause and they actually are in the conversation.

1:26:19Right.

1:26:20But yeah, the times that I do these at night when it's raining, it's like I can't tell.

1:26:26Thanks.

1:26:27Thank you, Councilor Ryan.

1:26:28Councilor Knoll, back in the queue.

1:26:30Yeah, so there's a concept called the veil of darkness that I think is worth bringing up here.

1:26:36And it has to do with the, if there's a disparity in the rates of stops, by racial category of drivers during the day versus at night.

1:26:45And in fact, the quote that I gave earlier from Chief Day was in his response to a recommendation from PCAP recommending veil of darkness analysis.

1:26:53And he noted in his response that PPB doesn't do it directly, but the state does it for PPB data.

1:27:02So that's important to note.

1:27:03I've also done ride-alongs at night.

1:27:05I want to step back for a second and say racial disparity in the aggregate stops data does not necessarily mean anything about individual police officers, right?

1:27:15There are systemic reasons in terms of where people are deployed that affects who's going to get stopped, right?

1:27:21That doesn't necessarily mean that an individual officer is making a choice based on what they see.

1:27:27But that does also mean that systemic problems— and I would argue that it is a systemic problem— That there is a massive disparity that is about double the rate here, that those systemic problems require systemic solutions, as opposed to looking at this individual stop.

1:27:47What are the big picture things here?

1:27:49And veil of darkness is one option for that, but as the chief, I think, accurately pointed out, the state does it already.

1:27:55And so I think I'm using this less to talk about that concept and more about the idea that this isn't necessarily about individual people making prejudiced decisions.

1:28:07I want to just make sure that that's not an accusation that people are taking away from this or inferring from what I'm saying, but that there is this statistical thing, that this is measured.

1:28:18And I think that when we have the conversation about why and what are we comparing it to, that PPB has for many years now said don't compare it to the population data, meaning the census metrics of what percentage of the population is of the same racial category, but compared instead to the injury collision data.

1:28:40And that basically has a circular impact because we collect more data at places where police are after collisions.

1:28:48That's just how that goes.

1:28:50And there's a lot of other analysis that's been done and reasons why that—.

1:28:54Yeah.

1:28:55May not be the best metric to use.

1:28:58I appreciate, by the way, I don't, I don't want to just, um, pile on here.

1:29:03The non-traffic stops, the FIT stops, had a different, uh, metric that was used.

1:29:09And in 2025 and 2026, PPB changed the benchmark.

1:29:13Um, and I think it was in response to a lot of the, the, the critique and, and feedback that was given for that.

1:29:19And I just wanted to, to note that, commend that, and say effectively, the ask is the same for this category, and I— and we need to pursue that as we go forward.

1:29:28I did want to just circle back briefly to the question about the 5%.

1:29:33I appreciate Councilor Pirtle-Guiney's question.

1:29:36I think it's a very good question.

1:29:37I think that we may need to follow up about sources of what is ultimately a fairly negligible amount of money.

1:29:43We're talking up to $15,000 here.

1:29:47My back-of-envelope math—.

1:29:48$15,000.

1:29:49Um, from the budget book says that we're about $4,500 over the bare minimum in OCPA right now.

1:29:59And in order to accept the first grant, we need to accept— we need to increase by about $10,000, meaning the gap's about $5,800.

1:30:07Um, in the event we take the second grant, should that pass, that's another $5,000-something, uh, dollars.

1:30:14I, I $5,000.

1:30:16I don't remember.

1:30:18I have too many tabs open trying to do the math here.

1:30:19But, um, so it's a small amount of money, but that, that we would need to do something.

1:30:24So I just wanted to get that on the record.

1:30:26That's if the budget book is, is correct.

1:30:29I do have a concern about the idea.

1:30:31I, I, I want to not go down a path of figuring out how we don't need to comply with it and instead figure out how to find $5,000 because it doesn't seem like that'll be that hard to do.

1:30:40Um, And not that anyone suggested that, but just because there was kind of between some of the questions, I wanted to get that on the record as well.

1:30:47Thank you, Council President.

1:30:48Thank you, Councilor Knoll.

1:30:50Seeing no one else in the queue, this is the first reading of a non-emergency ordinance and now passes to second reading.

1:30:56Colleagues, the time is now 7:27.

1:30:59We're about halfway done with our agenda and we only have one item left, so we're going to go ahead and take a 10-minute break.

1:31:05So everybody please be back here at— I'm going to give you 12 minutes.

1:31:08I'd like everybody back here at 7:40, please.

1:31:10Yes.

1:48:27This is Councilor Smith.

1:48:28I can't hear the council chambers.

1:49:22Can you hear me, Keelan?

1:49:33Yes.

1:49:59Thank you all for that.

1:50:00I'm calling us back to order.

1:50:04Uh, before we move to item 16, Councilor Smith.

1:50:07Yes, I'd like to see, Council President, because I had an approved absence, if we can reconsider the franchise transfer Point of order.

1:50:17Uh, in Robert's Rules, you can only motion to reconsider after all the other business has been heard.

1:50:23Like, after the, the full agenda has been heard.

1:50:29I didn't know that that's true, but okay.

1:50:31I think that's true.

1:50:32Do we have a—.

1:50:33Can we hear from legal counsel?

1:50:35Yeah.

1:50:38I believe it can be made at any time just before the close of today's session.

1:50:42But I also see City Attorney Robert Taylor here to correct me if I'm wrong.

1:50:48Yeah, thanks.

1:50:49Hey, Robert Taylor, City Attorney.

1:50:50I think I, I'd have to look, but I think the motion to reconsider is in order when other— when there's not other pending business before the body.

1:51:00So typically you would make it— you often— it is made right after the item fails.

1:51:05So pending business is just before It's in that sort of interstitial period?

1:51:10Yeah, while you're not in consideration of another pending item.

1:51:13Okay, thanks for clarifying.

1:51:14Thank you.

1:51:15So Councilor Smith has motioned to reconsider.

1:51:20Councilor Knoll?

1:51:21My understanding is that reconsideration can only be proposed by a member who voted with the prevailing side.

1:51:27My understanding is an absence counts as a no as a prevailing side under our, our code, though.

1:51:31I think that's only for purposes of tie-breaking if there's 6 votes in favor.

1:51:36This is fun.

1:51:37I'll pull up the code.

1:51:43Uh, it is fun.

1:51:44Uh,.

1:51:46That is a new one for sure.

1:51:48Um, I think this would be, uh, issue that the chair could rule on and whether Councilor Smith's motion to reconsider would be in order and whether the presiding officer believes that the—.

1:52:06I'll really quickly just read the piece here.

1:52:10So this is Code 3.02.030, Section J, tiebreaking vote by mayor.

1:52:17And it specifically says, in determining if a vote is a tie, absences, abstentions, and vacancies will be counted as no votes.

1:52:27This would have nothing to do with the mayor.

1:52:29I wanted to vote.

1:52:31I hate to wade into this, but it seems to me, and I don't have it up in front of me, that if that's specifically in the section about the mayor breaking a tie and it calls it out, that doesn't necessarily, without reading the context of the rest of the section, mean that it would not be considered a tie in another instance, or considered a no vote, I guess I would say, in another instance?

1:53:04Have you read the totality of the section to understand how that fits in context?

1:53:08Because I don't think we can take that one unrelated piece.

1:53:12I was reading that you're right that it doesn't necessarily preclude that an absence would be considered a no vote in another or broader context.

1:53:20That's correct.

1:53:21I was responding to Council President's point about Um, about the— in the context of the tiebreak was what we're talking about here.

1:53:30In terms of absence, it doesn't really come up except in the code, except as it relates to the, the absence of the president and the sort of vice president presiding.

1:53:41In that case, that's the only place that the word absence appears other than the tiebreaking, uh, there.

1:53:48But my understanding from reconsideration is that the prevailing side okay, the key, um, in the interest—.

1:53:54Be on the prevailing side because I was with the 6.

1:53:59You weren't here.

1:54:02Councilor Smith, I am going to, uh, uh, rule against your motion.

1:54:07However, I will motion to reconsider the vote myself.

1:54:13Um, any member, any member can second that.

1:54:16Second it.

1:54:17Thank you, colleagues.

1:54:18I, I feel there's still a lot of room On this item to move forward if there's a reasonable effort made to find an enforcement and a disclosure provision as a condition of approval that the parties and the city attorney finds acceptable.

1:54:30It, uh, it— I therefore would move to reconsider this item and postpone it to a future meeting next week or the following so that the appropriate work can be done to amend this transfer agreement, a condition be adopted, and we can move the item swiftly to a vote.

1:54:44So, uh, I have moved.

1:54:47I believe Councilor Smith has seconded.

1:54:50Is this a debatable motion?

1:54:53The motion to reconsider is debatable.

1:54:55Okay, colleagues, the motion to reconsider has been first and seconded.

1:54:59Point of information.

1:55:00Councilor Avalos.

1:55:01So this, you can, in the motion to reconsider, attach the condition which you're adding, which is like that we will do it at a time certain.

1:55:11And so can you help me understand that?

1:55:13Yeah, is my— The motion to reconsider is itself a sole action.

1:55:17I'm saying in context right now for the purposes of the public and my colleagues that I believe that there is a path forward on this if there's additional work on it.

1:55:24And so as council president, if we open this and reconsider this, my next immediate motion will be to postpone the vote on this for a future meeting.

1:55:34Well, so technically it's 2 separate actions.

1:55:36I would ask for a vote before you do all that.

1:55:40So it has to be 2 separate actions?

1:55:41It would be 2 separate actions, yes.

1:55:43So right now the first vote is just to reconsider.

1:55:46And then when it's reconsidered, then what?

1:55:47It just gets placed back on the agenda kind of thing?

1:55:50Yes.

1:55:50Like a month?

1:55:50And then I will— yes.

1:55:51And then after that, you're hoping to make another motion to move it to a time certain?

1:55:55Correct.

1:55:57Okay.

1:55:57Did you say what the time certain was already?

1:55:59I am simply saying to postpone this item to a future meeting date.

1:56:02Okay.

1:56:03So let's do the reconsideration first.

1:56:05Councilor— Councilor, the motion to reconsider is a debatable motion, and Councilor—.

1:56:10Thank you.

1:56:12Okay, thank you, Councilor.

1:56:14All right, colleagues to the queue.

1:56:16Councilor Kanal to the motion.

1:56:20Yeah, um, Council President, I would ask you to consider that should the motion to reconsider pass, at that point the vote could immediately be retaken, go 6-6, and the mayor would break the tie because there is no requirement that you— you can't combine the 2 things as Councilor Avalos just asked.

1:56:41There is no guarantee that should this motion pass, that it will not immediately be voted on and go to the mayor's tiebreak, which we know how that will go.

1:56:51Well, I'm the only one who can call a vote.

1:56:54Okay, uh, I would suggest that it might be better to wait until the condition that you are seeking is proposed before taking the vote to reconsider at all.

1:57:06And that, that's all I'll say on that.

1:57:10I actually— if I— yes, heard.

1:57:15Thank you, Councilor.

1:57:16The, the motion to reconsider needs to be made before the adjournment of the meeting.

1:57:25Point of request for information.

1:57:27Um, you could still rescind it though, right?

1:57:31Even if I— like, reconsider is in the same meeting, but you could make a motion to rescind instead.

1:57:36In a later meeting, right?

1:57:38Uh, you can make a motion to rescind an action.

1:57:42Yeah, you could do that.

1:57:44Okay.

1:57:44But under, under our rules, the motion to reconsider must be made before the adjournment of the meeting.

1:57:51So I think that's what kind of drives that, the urgency of this pending motion to reconsider.

1:57:57But hypothetically, you could reopen— we could reopen the item in a future meeting with a different motion.

1:58:03Is that correct?

1:58:04Uh, no, I don't think you could re— you could reopen it.

1:58:08So if, if the meeting adjourns without adopting the motion to reconsider, then the item is beyond the reach of a motion to reconsider, and it would, uh, it would fail.

1:58:22And, and also, just, just so everybody knows, if the motion to reconsider fails to pass, Then, um, the item is, uh, procedurally, uh, deceased because you can only make the motion to reconsider once.

1:58:39So, so just to— He said that if the motion to reconsider were to fail, then the item is procedurally dead.

1:58:50Um, is there any other motion that a councilor could use in a future meeting after this one has been adjourned to reopen this particular topic?

1:59:02Is there any way to reopen the topic in a week, hypothetically?

1:59:08If this item fails today and there's no motion to reconsider to keep it going, then there would not be a motion that you could make, no.

1:59:21And what if the motion to reconsider was withdrawn without being voted on?

1:59:25Could then a councilor reopen it in a week if the motion to reconsider had never kept?

1:59:32No.

1:59:33Okay, thank you.

1:59:39Is that Councilor Kanal?

1:59:40Yeah, I'm good.

1:59:40Okay, thank you, Councilor Kanal.

1:59:41Councilor Murillo.

1:59:46I think everybody knows what we want today, and we could just get it done today if the amendment goes through.

1:59:53I'd happily vote for this and get us to a 7-5 vote if you wanted.

1:59:58If we could get the amendment through today, we can be done, and then the public can have more recourse and, uh, the franchise transfer can pass.

2:00:07So that is on the table as we continue this discussion.

2:00:12Thank you, Councilor Murillo.

2:00:13Councilor Ryan.

2:00:15Yeah, thank you, Council President.

2:00:16I, I appreciate all the dialogue here, and, um, Councilor Kanal and your, um, Rules, Robert's Rules of Order.

2:00:23Um, in that book, does it say that the, the mayor can break a tie on the vote of reconsideration?

2:00:31No.

2:00:33He cannot?

2:00:34No.

2:00:34Just need 7 for motion to reconsider, but it is not a final motion, and so the mayor can only vote on final motions.

2:00:40People are the 5th arm of the government.

2:00:43We should be breaking the tie.

2:00:45Thank you, Councilor Ryan.

2:00:47Uh, Councilor Green.

2:00:52I'm glad you're still sitting up there, uh, Mr. Taylor.

2:00:55Um, my reading of Robert's Rules of Order says that the motion to reconsider must be made before the meeting is adjourned.

2:01:04So if the meeting was just not adjourned, like if we did our last scheduled piece of business and then continued it, Continue the meeting to next week, then a motion to reconsider could be made at that time.

2:01:20And then that would give everyone some time to figure out what we need to do to get this to pass.

2:01:26Is that, is that consistent with your interpretation, Robert?

2:01:31No.

2:01:32I didn't ask, I didn't ask Councilor Smith.

2:01:34I asked, I asked Robert.

2:01:36Well, I think you could recess the meeting right to a different day, and then we'd still be in the same meeting.

2:01:44And then as long as the motion to reconsider was heard and voted on before you adjourned the meeting, you could do that.

2:01:51Yeah.

2:01:51Okay, that's basically the same idea I think maybe you had in spirit, because you were like, I'll do the thing and then I'll immediately schedule it to, um, uh, a time certain, as it were.

2:02:05Um, but this would then make it so some shenanigans couldn't be pulled real quick and preclude the opportunity to actually have that amendment be considered.

2:02:16So that's what I would consider.

2:02:18We're obviously in consideration of a different proposal, but I'm just laying that on the floor.

2:02:24Okay, colleagues, I'm going to go ahead and withdraw the motion.

2:02:29Mr. President, point of order.

2:02:32I would like to put it— I would like to reconsider it.

2:02:35Can't?

2:02:36You didn't vote yes?

2:02:37We have, we have ruled— the ruling of the chair was that you are unable to make that motion.

2:02:45Okay.

2:02:46Why?

2:02:46Could you explain to me why?

2:02:49Uh, I am unclear under Robert's Rules whether I, I believe the interpretation that, uh, an absent is not necessarily a no vote.

2:02:58And with the—.

2:03:00Robert said it was.

2:03:02I, I have made a motion.

2:03:03I have made a ruling.

2:03:05Okay, can we please call item number 16?

2:03:07Point of order.

2:03:07I need to talk to Robert.

2:03:09Robert needs to make—.

2:03:10Councilor, you've not been recognized.

2:03:11I apologize.

2:03:12Thank you.

2:03:12I'm sorry.

2:03:13Point of order.

2:03:14I'm not recognizing it.

2:03:17Sorry.

2:03:17Thank you.

2:03:17Can we please call item number 16?

2:03:18Point of order again.

2:03:21No, no, ma'am.

2:03:23Robert, legal counsel.

2:03:27Councilor Smith, you're out of order.

2:03:30Sorry, sorry, sorry, Mr. President.

2:03:32I'm trying to get some understanding of what's going on.

2:03:33I understand, and I have made a ruling, and you are— we are moving forward.

2:03:38What was your ruling?

2:03:38My ruling is that you are unable to make that motion.

2:03:40Thank you.

2:03:41I can't make a reconsideration because of what?

2:03:43Then that's why I'm asking, can legal counsel tell me that?

2:03:47I'd, uh, I'd be, I'd be happy to, to explain this.