January 06, 2005
Mayor Signals Move Towards More Community Discussion
And 'Communique' Receives A Shout Out
One month ago today yesterday, we provided an update on our little pet proposal to add "Conversations with Council" sessions, designed to invite actual discussions with Portland residents in a way that doesn't often occur during the Communications portion that begins regular Council meetings.
(For what it's worth, what had originally prompted us to make the proposal to begin with was Commissioner Leonard's expressed frustration over the fact that there was normally no real discussion or debate either during Communications or during public testimony. Frequently, it was Mayor Katz who seemed to want to avoid taking the extra time.)
In that post, we indicated that the new City Council was open to the possibility, based upon what members of the previous Council had said in response to previous inquiries and what the new members had said in response to new inquiries. Amongst the responses was one indicating that Tom Potter liked the idea and was going to discuss it either the other Council members.
At the close of this morning's City Council session, Mayor Tom Potter provided something of an update of his own on the matter -- somewhat disconcertingly for us.
I would like to note to b!X in the background there for Portland Communique that during the campaign I got his message about wanting to see more Council meetings where there could be more interactions between the Council and citizens. And to that degree I've been working with the people who put our councils together, and the commissioners, to hold community meetings where we can go out and listen to the people and hear what their concerns are. And as we develop a schedule for that I will let you know.
Now, we're at least mildly discomforted posting that, because we're not trying to be somehow self-promotional. But there's no way to report this story and ignore what Potter said. However, we'll skip right on to what the remark indicates.
At this stage, it's unclear precisely what form these meetings will take, but Potter's comment does suggest that the approach will follow through on something many of the Mayoral and Council candidates pitched during last year's campaigns, which was getting the Council out of City Hall and into Portland's neighborhoods. Something, not so incidentally, that also was repeatedly mentioned during the work of the Public Involvement Task Force over the course of last year.
Presumably if the Council meets as a whole anywhere, it must be considered an official session of City Council, of one sort or another, so it may be instructive to look at what the City Code has to say about Council meetings.
To start with, 3.02.010 reads in part: "Any recessed session may, upon motion adopted by the Council, be held at a place other than the Council Chamber, but the place shall be within the City limits." Recessed sessions are those which occur (if necessary) on Wednesdays at 2:00 PM, and/or following Thursday at 2:00 PM, although on the third Wednesday of the month that day's recessed session can be held at 6:00 PM instead.
In addition, according to 3.02.020: "Special meetings of the Council may be held at any time upon a request signed by three members of the Council, and on notice thereof given by publication at least once in the City official newspaper at least 24 hours preceding the meeting."
So, in theory, any of the recessed sessions, or a special session, could be used for these community meetings without having to make any alterations to the City Code provisions governing Council meetings.
We're unsure if any provisions would need to be changed or altered in order to allow for a more open discussion format, but according to 3.02.030, "[m]atters not appearing on the Agenda may be considered by the Council under suspension of rules at any session." In other words, we suppose it's at least theoretically possible that such an open discussion format could be considered "matters not appearing on the Agenda" and instituted through a suspension of the rules.
We'll dig into the question of what specific approach is being considered over the next couple of days. For now, suffice it to say that the request of many people over the past year that Council become more accessible does appear to be on the agenda (if you'll pardon the expression) for 2005.
Comments (6)
The One True b!X on 06 Jan 2005
I want to add a quick comment on what this means in terms of the open question of how different this new Council will or will not be compared to the previous one.
What I at least supposed has been that many of the differences will fall into the categories of a change in tone, and improvements to the infrastructure which governs two-way access between City Hall and Portland residents.
In essence, what I termed in the past an "ethic of accessibility".
Ultimately, when people examine the matter of Potter's vision, I suspect -- if this early signal is a real indication of things to come on many fronts -- that what they will end up finding is that the "involvement infrastructure" is going to be stronger in four years than it has been in recent years.
I don't say that because Potter gave me a shout out, and feel the need to engage in some sort of mutual appreciation society, but because his remark today i think is a signal that the "ethic of accessibility" (whether or not anyone in City Hall uses that term) is on the minds of this Council.
Melissa on 06 Jan 2005
First -- a congrats on being acknowledged (and at being acknowledged for being acknowledged in the comment on your previous post) -- second, including the comment wasn't at all self-promotional, but even if it was...well...there's nothing at all wrong with being self-promotional. Especially when it's deserved. Don't be afraid to toot your own horn once in a while! :-) There's nothing embarassing or arrogant about being proud of good work.
Steve on 06 Jan 2005
First off, I want to make this post (my first) somewhat more optimistic than those recently posted by my roomate regarding her views on the new city council. So, I will simply say that in your talk about "community access" to the new council, I was reminded about Mayor Potter's campaign pledge to add a business liaison to his staff (business being part of the community). When the Mayor announced his staff last week I don't recall seeing any business liaisons among them. I see on the Mayor's homepage that he has a policy manager, a Rochelle Lessner, for economic development -- is that what he means? She appears to be very accomplished as an attorney with Lane Powell and Ater Wynne, and has worked for PGE. But if she is the business liaison, her background would seem to lean heavily towards bigger, more influential businesses and less toward community businesses. Maybe someone can fill me in if there is more info.
myrln on 06 Jan 2005
Clearly, the mayor felt the interaction between council and citizenry was a concept driven strongly by you, so he put the credit (or onus?) where it belonged. Nothing self-promotional about reporting that.
allehseya on 06 Jan 2005
Ultimately, when people examine the matter of Potter's vision, I suspect -- if this early signal is a real indication of things to come on many fronts -- that what they will end up finding is that the "involvement infrastructure" is going to be stronger in four years than it has been in recent years.
I’m sure that was our collective hope when we voted him into office.
b!X quotes the 3.02.010 in part: "Any recessed session may, upon motion adopted by the Council, be held at a place other than the Council Chamber, but the place shall be within the City limits." Recessed sessions are those which occur (if necessary) on Wednesdays at 2:00 PM, and/or following Thursday at 2:00 PM, although on the third Wednesday of the month that day's recessed session can be held at 6:00 PM instead.
He also quotes 3.02.020: "Special meetings of the Council may be held at any time upon a request signed by three members of the Council, and on notice thereof given by publication at least once in the City official newspaper at least 24 hours preceding the meeting."
This is a potential opportunity for the Neighborhood Associations that gave Commissioner Leonard so much grief -- to step up and invite Council Sessions into their communities and pimp the Public Involvement Task Force recommendations.
And I’m sorry – I can’t help myself -- If Steve is right when he states: I was reminded about Mayor Potter's campaign pledge to add a business liaison to his staff (business being part of the community). When the Mayor announced his staff last week I don't recall seeing any business liaisons among them. -- Then I would like to propose:
Hire Nick Fish!
Deb Cowan on 07 Jan 2005
Hire Nick Fish? I suppose it could work. But before the Mayor looks to hire ex-candidates, I'd like to know why none of the people I met during the the Primary campaign are working for him (at least not yet)? My roomate (Steve from the earlier post) reminds me that Potter has hired some of the people from his campaign staff - but I don't recall any of those folks being around during the Primary Campaign. Do they know something we don't? OK, maybe I'm just paranoid. Yeah, what the hell. Hire Nick Fish.