What's Happening in Portland, OR…

Portland residents have long discussed enacting a more representative form of city government, one where commissioners would be elected from specific parts of the city. The time may now be at hand to make that change.

In early December 20, individuals were appointed by the Portland City Council to sit on a new Charter Review Commission. Those 20 were chosen from a group of 300 applicants. Every decade a commission is convened to make suggestions for a change to the city’s leadership and consider adding the position of city manager to would report to the commissioners and mayor.

Under the current system the position of city commissioner is an at-large one with each one voted on by all residents. For more equitable representation, it is possible that this will be changed to geographically specific offices. A by-product of this might be a more diverse commission as the amount of money needed to run would be reduced.

Brochure printing services can be helpful for outlining advantages or disadvantages to a proposed change in a municipality’s form of government.

Frequently called the Galveston Plan, the current form of government was introduced for the first time in Galveston, Texas in 1901. In Portland, this form of city government was approved in 1913. Today, Portland is the last major city in the country to use this type of government, with even Galveston abandoning it in 1960.