10 Ways to Fix Portland City Hall

Friday, January 09, 2015

Cornelius Swart, GoLocal PDX Director of Content

Political insiders and community leaders say dysfunction at Portland City Hall has never been higher. GoLocalPDX spoke with over a dozen former city hall players, current insiders and activists in order to hear their ideas on how to get the Mayor and City Council back on track.

Wednesday night’s announcement by Portland Mayor Charlie Hales that he would refer an advisory vote on the Portland Street Fee to voters in May has left many throwing up their hands in frustration.

The new, new plan is to let voters decide how to fund street maintenance and repair through a range of options includng local levies, a gas tax, and more metered parking. The most popular option would then be voted into law by the full City Council, following the May special election. The advisory vote is the fourth city proposal on the issue since May 2014.

Slides Below: 10 Ideas for Fixing Portland City Hall

The details of the proposal are still being fleshed out, according to Dana Haynes, spokesman for the Mayor. A Thursday public hearing at City Hall offered citizens the opportunity to voice their ideas on how to generate roughly $46 million in new revenue, but Hales and Transportation Commissioner Steve Novick offered few details on the plan announced Wednesday.

While many of the night's 27 speakers expressed their distrust of the City Council, Hales repeatedly told speakers the purpose of the session was to hear suggestions for the street fee, not budget commentary.

"You had the money and you squandered it," said speaker Betty Sagala, who called the street fee process thus far a "terrible shame."

Dysfunction impedes progress

“They have ideas that are not fully thought out,” said Sandra McDonough, executive director of the Portland Business Alliance. “We never get the full details on any plan.”

The Alliance and others expressed vexation with the on-again, off-again proposals for new revenue. While voters express their distrust of City Hall and the street fee campaign, inside the building the situation may be just as bad. Critics say that the eight-month long public wrangling over the street fee is a reflection of a more intractable problem at City Hall: no one gets along.

Most attribute the problem to a lack of communication between the Mayor and other commissioners. Portland’s unique commissioner-formed government -- essentially a city council made of five mayors -- is driven by consensus- and relationship-building.

City Hall’s strongest critics say the whole system is dysfunctional, and yearn for a system in which a chief executive has total control over the city bureaucracy.

“You need a strong leader. There’s too many chefs,” said street fee critic, lobbyist Paul Romain. “It's a structure problem that needs fixing. You need a strong mayor.”

Strong Mayor in a Commissioner System

While voters have rejected strong mayor forms of government in the past, many say that what Portland needs is a strong mayor who is also a consensus-builder.

Hales spent the day talking up commissioners in Wednesday’s run-up to his latest street fee proposal. But other than that, many say the Mayor has been remarkably absent from even basic discussions about his agenda.

Gone are the days when mayors used to “work the second floor” (where commissioners' offices are) day in and day out, trying to get one proposal or another through.

More than one expert who spoke to GoLocalPDX Thursday held up the hard-nosed Vera Katz as an example of a mayor who although tough, worked with fellow commissioners to cut deals and get things done.

“Vera Katz at times had that kind of drive,” said political consultant Len Bergstein. “Both Katz and Neil Goldschmidt had a clear and intentional agenda, and they worked with their fellow commissioners. Neil knew how to harness the talents of his commissioners. ”

Today, however, commissioners often feel left out of the loop, sometimes first hearing about proposals from media reports and not their colleagues, sources say. This results in proposals that fall flat at council, leaving the public scratching their heads.

One need look no further than the street fee for an example. Following Thursday's special council session, city staff will work on options to place on the May 19 ballot, which will be discussed at a Jan. 20 hearing.

Where the street fee is concerned, Commissioner Amanda Fritz has already stated she has no intention of voting for something she doesn’t agree with.

“Amanda wouldn’t vote for something just because it has the highest percentage [in a poll],” said Tim Crail, a senior policy advisor to Fritz.

The Mayor has said he doesn’t expect to constrain the council to the result of the poll. But Hales' proposal was met with less than enthusiasm from other commissioners.

“We’re not quite sure what it looks like yet,” said Jim Blackwood, policy advisor to Commissioner Nick Fish.

Novick’s office deferred GoLocalPDX’s questions to the Mayor. Dan Saltzman’s office did not respond in time for publication.

Council chemistry

Others said that the current crop of city commissioners is particularly uncompromising and not prone to making alliances.

“The chemistry of this city council is particularly interesting,” said Bergstein. “The personalities of this council lead to a lack of direction.”

But there were times when a clique of three commissioners could set the agenda at City Hall and carry it out. A decade ago, commissioners Sam Adams, Erik Sten and Randy Leonard banded together and effectively ran the city, even overturning budget decision made by then-Mayor Tom Potter.

The Mayor has worked a strategy of “plus one” during his term so far. He’s worked with single commissioners on single issues. Most notable was his work with Nick Fish on preventing the Water Bureau from spinning off into an independent utility district.

However, that strategy has yet to bear fruit with the pairing of Novick and Hales on the street fee campaign. Ultimately, the voters, not five members of City Council, must be won over on the issue. But when City Hall is acting more like Congress, some say it’s no wonder voters are distrustful.

Bergstein says that ultimately, the problems in City Hall are part of the ebb and flow of the commissioner style of democracy. So, get used to it.

“City council has always been on the verge of dysfunction,” Bergstein said. “It’s set up that way.”

Related Slideshow: Slideshow: 10 Ideas to Help Fix Portland City Hall

GoLocalPDX spoke with over a dozen longtime Portland political experts who have worked inside and outside City Hall, and asked them what could be done to fix politics downtown. Here are some of their ideas.

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Admit There's a Problem

The first step to fixing a problem is admitting that it exists. The Mayor and City Council don't have to publicly say they are off track, but beginning to accept that things could be better if there were more cooperation would be the first step in making improvements.

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Strong Mayor

Short of a major shift in political sentiment, Portland probably isn't going to get a political system in which a mayor or city manager runs the entire administration.

That said, the city still needs to be led by a mayor who is both a strong-willed leader and someone who works consistently to bring others over to the mayor's side of the issue.

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Executive Sessions

Some have said that if City Hall used Oregon's executive session rules more often, relations with the city's press corps might change.

Executive session rules allow reporters to sit in on meetings with public officials but prohibits them from asking questions or directly using the information from the meeting in a story. Some feel if commissioners invited more reporters into executive session meetings, barriers between the press and City Hall might come down.

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Breakfasts, Lunches or Cocktails

Some say there is not enough socializing between members of the Council when they are not on duty. Some commissioners meet with one another for informal breakfast meetings. But there is not much mingling after that.

Because Portland's commissioner system is so heavily based on relationship-building, getting together a little more to socialize as colleagues a might not hurt.

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Play Small Ball

Rebuilding trust is best done in small steps. Commissioners could try finding common cause on smaller issues first.

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Build a Coalition

The reality is if you can get three votes on the Council you can get things done. It's been a long time since there was a governing coalition at City Hall. Building one would be the short path to getting things done in a hurry. An alliance between Novick, Hales and Saltzman might be the most likely option, but even that seems like a longshot at the moment.

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Cut Deals

Put ideology aside for a moment and get back to business. In the end, delivering services to voters is what counts. Make a deal and move on.

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Work Sessions

"Work sessions" are city council sessions in which no public testimony is taken and no votes take place. The council essentially meets and works on issues in public. Work sessions don't happen very often these days. But they might be a useful tool to get commissioners back together in the same room and working alongside each other when major votes and the pressure of public presenations aren't hanging over their heads.

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Work the Second Floor Night and Day

The Mayor, and all the commissioners for that matter, should be campaigning for their ideas at all times. The Mayor and commissioners should be working one another all the time to build support for their own agendas. For City Hall to work, the Mayor and commissioners have to be more engaged with one another, and that often starts with simply walking down the hall.

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An Inspiring Agenda

Portlanders love to love Portland. Mayor Hales has taken up an agenda of refocusing city government on basic services. He's made some admirable progress there. But it's a slate gray agenda to stump for day in and day out. While Hales doesn't need to embrace frivolous ideas, picking up a colorful project that will make Portlanders feel good about their city helps rally the troops when times get tough--which is most of the time.