Portland Charter Review Update
Take action on Thursday, March 10th at 6:00 pm
The Portland Charter Commission is making crucial decisions this month about proposals for the future of Portland’s form of government and how we elect our City Council. These next few weeks are an important time to make sure your voices are heard!
Where are we in the process?
For the past few months, the Charter Commission has listened to Portlanders about the problems they experience with our city government and voting system. Using community input, they have researched potential solutions. The Charter Commission is meeting on March 31, 2022 to vote on the city government and voting system proposals they would like to adopt. If these recommendations move forward, they will end up on the November 2022 ballot.
How can you take action?
On Thursday, March 10 at 6:00 PM, the Charter Commission is hosting a virtual meeting with the opportunity for community members to share verbal public comment. The slots to provide testimony are unlimited! You can talk about your experiences receiving services from the city government, interacting with city bureaus and officials, and your participation in voting. What barriers do you face? What changes would you like to see for your community? What are your thoughts on the potential changes to the current systems?
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What changes are being considered?
The Charter Commission has come to the following areas of agreement:
To increase the size of Portland City Council
To end oversight of City bureaus from City Commissioners and shift the management authority elsewhere
To clearly redefine the responsibilities of the Mayor and City Council
To shift to a form of voting that allows results in one election and captures people’s preferences
Using these guiding points, the Charter Commission is considering the following:
Shifting to a mayor-council government or a council-manager government structure
Eliminating the primary election and only having the general election
Shifting to an alternative voting method so voters can rank or score more than one candidate
Creating geographic districts wherein voters will be represented by more than one elected leader
We need you to make your voice heard in the coming weeks!
For more information, check out our Charter Review webpage or contact Sol Mora, our Civic Engagement Manager, at sol@coalitioncommunitiescolor.org.