Article 1 The Council

The City has power and authority, subject to the provisions, limitations and restrictions contained in this Charter or in statute, to exercise any power or authority granted to the City by statute, general or special, or by this Charter, and may do any other act necessary or appropriate to carry out such authority, or exercise any other power implied by the specific power granted.  

(a)  Among such specific powers, the City has power and authority:

1. 1.  To exercise within the City and City‑owned property, all the powers commonly known as the police power to the same extent as the State of Oregon has or could exercise said power within said areas, and to make and enforce within said areas all necessary or appropriate water, local, police, sanitary and safety laws and regulations.
2. 2.  To secure the protection of persons and property and to provide for the health, cleanliness, ornament, peace, safety and good order of the City.
3. 3.  To provide for entering into contracts by the City for a period not exceeding five (5) years and the extension or renewal thereof by option or otherwise, for not to exceed an additional five (5) years, except as to property contracts which may extend for more than five (5) years, or as otherwise permitted by this Charter or by statute.
4. 4.  To enter into agreements without limitation as to term, as the City finds appropriate, for cooperation, consolidation of services, joint acquisition or ownership and maintenance of facilities or services, with any other public corporation or unit of government.
5. 5.  To establish, construct, maintain, equip and alter buildings and facilities found necessary or appropriate for administration of government or for use by or for the public.
6. 6.  To purchase, or acquire by condemnation or otherwise, or to lease, for such term as the City may find appropriate, which need not be limited to five (5) years, such property, real and personal, as may be needed for public use; in purchasing property, to enter into lease‑purchase agreements or other contracts of purchase which may extend for more than a five (5) year period; to obtain options; and to mortgage for the term of the purchase as security for the purchase price the property being purchased.  In exercising this power and authority, only the payments to be made during the year in which the purchase, condemnation, lease, lease‑purchase, option, or purchase price mortgage is entered into shall be considered for purposes of applying Section 7‑102 thereto.  [Am. Nov. 4, 1980.]
7. 7.  To provide for the purchase of property levied upon under execution in favor of the City.
8. 8.  To purchase, take and hold real or personal property when sold for a delinquent tax or assessment levied or imposed under the authority of the City ofPortland, and to sell and convey the same.  But the sum bid by the City on or for any such property so sold for a delinquent tax or assessment, shall not exceed the amount of all taxes and assessments plus interest and penalties, and the necessary costs and expenses.
9. 9.  To sell by bid or public auction abandoned or impounded and unclaimed property, and property for which storage charges and removal charges, if any, have not been paid.
10. 10.  To provide a seal for the City and seals for the several boards and officers thereof.
11. 11.  To establish and regulate the fees and compensation of all officers of the City, and for all official services not otherwise provided for in this Charter.
12. 12.  To establish the hours during which all offices and departments of the City shall be kept open for business.
13. 13.  To appropriate money to pay the debts, liabilities and expenditures of the City or any part or item thereof.
14. 14.  To appropriate annually to the Mayor two thousand dollars ($2,000) as and for a discretionary Fund and such appropriation shall be made.
15. 15.  To issue City bonds authorized by this Charter or statute or expressly authorized by vote of the City electors, certificates, warrants, checks and other evidences of indebtedness, but otherwise the City shall not have the power to issue its bonds for any indebtedness or for any purpose, or to increase the bonded indebtedness of the City in any amount or for any purpose whatsoever.
16. 16.  To fix fees for establishing street grades, surveying and marking the boundaries of streets, lots or blocks, granting permits for the opening or temporary use of street surfaces, planning of improvements, laying sidewalks, vacating street area, processing of all types of applications, erection and inspection of buildings or facilities, and any special services or functions performed by the City or bureaus thereof.
17. 17.  To grant licenses with the object of raising revenue or of regulation, or both, for any and all lawful acts, things or purposes, and to fix by ordinance the amount to be paid therefor, and to provide for the revoking of the same.  No license shall be granted to continue for a longer period than one year from the date thereof.
18. 18.  To provide for the opening, laying out, establishing, altering, extending, widening, enlarging, vacating and closing, or for establishing and changing the grades, of streets, squares, parks or public places, and to provide for the improving and repairing of streets, squares, parks and public places or of any land over which any right of way has been obtained or granted for any purpose of public travel or use, by means of any kind of work, improvement or repair which the City finds necessary or appropriate.
19. 19.  To provide for lighting the streets, public grounds, buildings and places, and furnishing the City with light, heat and power, by contract or by means of its own plant.
20. 20.  To provide for surveying the blocks and streets of the City and for marking the boundary lines of such blocks and streets; to change by ordinance the number, letter or designation of any lot, block or tract of land within the City which may be conflicting or otherwise unsuitable and to give by ordinance a designation to any tract of land within the City not numbered, lettered or designated.  A certified copy of such ordinance shall be transmitted by the Auditor to the recording officer of the County, who shall record the same in the record of plats of said County and shall make a reference to the record of such ordinance upon the recorded plat on file.  No charge shall be made by the recording officer.
21. 21.  To set apart as a boulevard or boulevards any street or streets, or portion thereof.
22. 22.  To regulate the numbering of houses and lots on the streets, boulevards and avenues and the naming of streets, boulevards and avenues.
23. 23.  To regulate and control for any and every purpose the use of streets, highways, alleys, sidewalks, public thoroughfares, and public places within the City and City parks and properties within or without the City, and to regulate the use of streets, roads, highways and public places for transportation or use of every description, and for installation of any kind.
24. 24.  To provide or require conduits under the streets, lanes, alleys and public places of the City or any part or parts thereof for the use of telephone, telegraph, electric light and other wires, or for other purposes, either by constructing said conduits itself or authorizing or requiring their construction by others upon such terms and conditions as the City may impose, and to regulate and control the use of such conduits, and to prescribe and establish reasonable rentals to be paid by any person or company using any of said conduits by whomsoever the same may be constructed for the use thereof, and to provide for the collection of such rentals, in addition to the ordinary processes, by such summary methods as it may deem proper.  If any such grant be made to any person, firm or corporation, such grantee shall not have power to sublet the same or the use of the same to any person, firm or corporation engaged in selling, hiring, leasing or otherwise receiving any income from the business or purpose for which it desires to use such conduits, without such person, firm or corporation first obtaining, as provided in this Charter, a franchise for such business, purpose or use.
25. 25.  To regulate, restrain and prevent obstructions within the public streets, sidewalks and places and to make all needful regulations to keep and maintain the public streets, sidewalks and places in a clean, open and safe condition for public use; to provide for the removal, impounding and sale or other disposition of such obstructions, and to make the cost of removal a lien upon any property from which such obstruction originated or to which such obstruction was attached, to be placed upon the lien docket and collected as the Council may direct.
26. 26.  To control and limit traffic and classes thereof, and vehicles and classes thereof on the streets, avenues and elsewhere.
27. 27.  To prevent and prohibit planting of trees or shrubbery which may be detrimental to sewers, streets, sidewalks, utilities lines, fire hydrants, or use thereof, or which may interfere with safe travel or vision or may constitute a nuisance, and to cause such trees or shrubbery to be cut down or removed and to make the cost of such cutting or removal a lien upon the property, to be placed upon the lien docket and collected as the Council may direct.
28. 28.  To prescribe rates to be charged for transportation of passengers or property within the City and area outside the City over which City jurisdiction is authorized or recognized by statute, by means of vehicles of every description.
29. 29.  To provide for the establishment of market houses and places, and transportation terminals, and to regulate the location and management thereof.
30. 30.  To provide for the location, construction, repair and maintenance in or outside the City, of any ditch, canal, pipe or other facility for the impoundment, storage or conduct of water, and any drain, sewer or culvert or other facility in or outside the City for conduct, storage or treatment of storm or sanitary drainage or both, as it may deem necessary or convenient; for such purpose to enter upon any land for the purpose of examining, locating and surveying the line or location of such water or sewer facility, doing no unnecessary damage thereby; to appropriate said land or so much thereof as may be necessary for the construction or installation of said facility in any manner permitted by the laws of this State; to appropriate and divert from its natural course or channel temporarily or permanently, any spring or stream of water; and to compel the extension of utility connections from the main line or pipe to the curb line, property line or the sidewalks of all public streets, as the City may determine.
31. 31.  To provide for furnishing the City and its residents with water, and to sell water to or for nonresidents.
32. 32.  To regulate the plumbing, drainage and sewerage of buildings and structures and the installation and use of appliances or facilities for heat, light, cooling and energy; to provide for the registration and qualification of specialists in trades or in installation or use of appliances and facilities; to provide inspection for such installation or use.
33. 33.  To compel all persons erecting or maintaining privies, water closets or other toilets or cesspools, septic tanks or private sanitary sewerage systems within one hundred (100) feet or one‑half block, whichever is greater, of any street in which a public sewer has or may hereafter be constructed, to connect the same therewith; and where a public sewer is not available, to prescribe disposal so as to protect the public, property, health and welfare.
34. 34.  To regulate, restrain and prohibit use of public sewers for any substance which may be harmful or detrimental to the sewers, to sewage disposal and treatment, or hazardous to workers, to property or to the public.
35. 35.  To regulate the construction, care, use and management of buildings and structures in the City for the better protection of the lives and health of persons dwelling in or using the same or of the public, and for the public welfare.
36. 36.  To regulate, restrain and to provide for the exclusion from the City, or any part thereof, of trades, occupations or businesses which may create or constitute a nuisance, and to regulate uses of land and structures within the City.
37. 37.  To prevent the erection or cause the removal, demolition or repair of buildings or structures wherever situated, found to be unsafe or dangerous to the occupants, to passers‑by or to other property, or which are found to obstruct a street, and to make the cost of such removal, tearing down or repair a lien upon the property, which liens may upon the order of the Council be entered into the docket of City liens and thereafter collected in such manner as the Council may direct.
38. 38.  To regulate or prevent the moving of buildings or structures over City streets and limit the locations to which such buildings or structures may be moved.
39. 39.  To define and classify the fire limits and to prohibit the erection or repair of buildings constructed of particular materials within all or any such fire limits.
40. 40.  To regulate or limit the height, construction, size, materials, setbacks, yards, inspection and repair of all private and public buildings, structures, and fences within the City and to provide City inspection thereof.
41. 41.  To require adequate fire escapes, apparatus and appliances for protection against fire, to be provided in buildings and structures, or in connection with specific uses.
42. 42.  To make regulations to prevent the introduction of contagious diseases into the City, and to remove persons afflicted with such diseases to suitable hospitals which the City may designate or provide for that purpose either within or without said City; and to regulate such hospitals.
43. 43.  To provide a standard of weights and measures and to authorize inspection of weights, measures, food, beverages, and fuel; to regulate the commodity, size, weight and ingredients of food or beverage products and fuel, and to prevent the sale of adulterated, unhealthful or unwholesome food and beverages, and to provide for the seizure and forfeiture of food or food products, beverages and fuel offered for sale or sold contrary to said regulations.
44. 44.  To prevent and remove nuisances, to declare what shall constitute the same, to punish persons committing or suffering nuisances, to provide the manner of removal of nuisances, and to make the cost of such removal a lien upon the property where such nuisance existed; and to fill up or drain any lots, blocks or parcels of land subject to flood or where any stagnant water stands, to declare the same a nuisance, and to make the cost of filling up or draining the same a lien upon the property so filled or drained.  Liens for abatement of nuisances may upon the order of the Council be entered in the docket of City liens and thereafter collected in such manner as the Council may direct.
45. 45.  To regulate or prevent the storage, manufacture, sale, use and transportation of dangerous, explosive, radioactive or combustible materials or weapons, and to provide for the inspection of the same, and to prevent by all proper means risks of injury or damage therefrom.
46. 46.  To regulate, prevent and prohibit loud or unnecessary noise.
47. 47.  To prevent trespassing and punish trespassers upon real and personal property.
48. 48.  To restrain and punish intoxication, fighting and quarreling in the City, and any disturbance, riot or riotous assemblage or participation therein, or any unlawful or indecent practice, and to define what shall constitute the same.
49. 49.  To prevent and suppress gaming and gambling houses, lotteries or places where any game in which chance predominates is played for anything of value, and to punish any person who engages in such game, or keeps or frequents such houses or sets up or promotes lotteries or sells lottery tickets; to prevent and suppress bawdy houses or places where fornication is practiced, and to punish any inmate, keeper or frequenter thereof; to prevent and suppress use of narcotics and dangerous drugs and houses and places kept therefor, and to punish any keeper of such house or place, or person who frequents the same.
50. 50.  To prohibit and prevent cruelty to children and animals; to appropriate such sums as may be paid into the treasury from fines collected on conviction of persons charged with cruelty to animals or children, and to authorize the payment of the same or any part thereof to any person or society that shall have officially aided in such conviction.
51. 51.  To provide for the punishment by fine of not less than twenty‑five dollars ($25) nor more than one thousand dollars ($1,000), or by imprisonment not exceeding two (2) years, or both, of any person or persons who may injure, deface, interfere with or destroy any property belonging to the City or in which the City has any interest, right or estate, and to provide that the district court or the circuit court of the State of Oregon for the County of Multnomah shall have jurisdiction to enforce such punishment or punishments.
52. 52.  To establish, change, discontinue, or re‑establish City jails, prisons, police stations, workhouses and houses of detention, punishment, confinement or rehabilitation, within or without the City.
53. 53.  To regulate and restrain the keeping of all pets, birds, fowl, reptiles, and animals of any kind, and to prevent any and all animals from running at large within the City or any part thereof, and to punish persons who allow animals to run at large or to be unlicensed; to provide for impounding, sale and disposition when found at large, or when kept against City regulations or when no license has been obtained or tax paid as provided by the Council.
54. 54.  To regulate, prevent and prohibit the erection, maintenance or display of signboards, billboards, signs, posters and advertisements designed to attract the attention of persons on sidewalks, streets or public places.
55. 55.  To regulate and prohibit the exhibition and hanging of material in or across the street or from houses or other buildings or structures.
56. 56.  To regulate and control water‑borne commerce and recreational uses within the City, and uses of and activities in or upon bodies of water within the City.
57. 57.  To provide for the removal of obstructions, debris and deleterious matter from waters within the City limits and to prohibit putting or negligently or willfully suffering the same to be put therein.
58. 58.  To regulate the building of wharves, and the driving of piles in any body of water or watercourse within the limits of the City and to establish lines beyond which wharves shall not be built nor piles be driven.
59. 59.  To provide for the construction and regulation of public facilities and landings at the foot of the streets terminating at a watercourse or body of water within the City.
60. 60.  To appropriate money for the deepening, widening, docking, covering, walling, altering or changing channels, water, or watercourses within the City, and to provide for the construction and maintenance of canals, slips, public landing places, wharves, docks and levees, and all such other work as may be required for the accommodation of commerce or recreation; to control and regulate the use thereof and to provide for the acquisition by condemnation or otherwise of all such work or works by the City, and for the construction, maintenance and ownership of the same by the City.
61. 61.  To provide for entering into contracts by the City with publicly or privately owned utilities or other governmental agencies for a period not exceeding forty (40) years for the transmission, sale or exchange of the capacity of and electric power generated by hydroelectric power generating facilities owned by the City and for operation and maintenance of the facilities.
62. 62.  To protect, restore, remediate, or alter channels, riparian areas, and floodplains of streams; improve waterfronts; protect, restore, expand, fill, or grade lakes, ponds, wetlands and other waters, natural systems, or constructed equivalents; increase or diminish the flow of waters over or into land, or in natural or artificial channels, and purify those waters; and perform all acts and things found necessary or appropriate therefor. The City may fix and assess charges for all of the foregoing acts and things. The City may assess such charges along with or distinct from sewer, water, and other charges to the extent that they are reasonably related to sewage and storm drainage conveyance, disposal, and purification.