Portland’s new elected officials entered City Hall’s council chambers Thursday for their first official gathering as Portland’s legislative body. Launching the city’s new form of government, councilors elected Elana Pirtle-Guiney as council president and Tiffany Koyama Lane as council vice president.
Pirtle-Guiney won the council presidency in the ninth round of voting among her new colleagues. She emerged as a compromise candidate after multiple tie votes between Councilors Candace Avalos and Olivia Clark – offering Portlanders their first window into the city’s new legislative branch of government.
“Thank you to my colleagues Councilors Clark and Avalos,” said Pirtle-Guiney, one of three councilors who represent District 2. “Stepping forward in a role like this is never something someone undertakes lightly. I look forward to working with both of you, you bring invaluable experience to the council.”
The council president and vice president will lead the expanded, 12-member Portland City Council to develop policy, approve budgets and serve their constituents.
District 1: Candace Avalos, Jamie Dunphy, Loretta Smith
District 2: Sameer Kanal, Elana Pirtle-Guiney, Dan Ryan
District 3: Tiffany Koyama Lane, Angelita Morillo, Steve Novick
District 4: Olivia Clark, Mitch Green, Eric Zimmerman
“I want to thank my colleagues for putting their faith in me to serve as council vice president,” said Koyama Lane, who represents District 3. “I view this position as someone that’s able to spend some time organizing this group, and someone who is spending time thinking about the health of us a body of 12. My role is to help us keep remembering why we’re here and how we move forward.”
In the new form of government, the city council will continue to exercise legislative power to make laws and approve the city’s budget. Mayor Keith Wilson is not a member of city council but can introduce legislation and break tie votes on non-emergency ordinances. In partnership with the city administrator, he implements the laws approved by city council and manages city bureaus.
An outlier among cities of similar size, Portland’s previous form of government allowed elected officials to operate in the legislative and administrative orbits at the same time. Four commissioners, as they used to be called, were elected to represent the entire city. They developed and voted on policies as well as used their authority to make decisions relating to the daily administrative operations of bureaus and offices.
Over the years, as Portland grew to a population of over 600,000, broad sections of the city lacked representation at City Hall. Portlanders sought structural changes and greater representation.
The City of Portland convenes an independent charter commission every 10 years to consider improvements to the City Charter, Portland’s guiding document (or constitution).
After more than a year of research, engagement and deliberation, the latest charter commission brought a proposal to voters in November 2022 to change the city charter. Portlanders approved of increasing the number of elected representatives and forming voting districts for those representatives – now called councilors. Voters also approved a new election method, ranked-choice voting.
In November, Portland voters elected 12 new councilors, a mayor and a city auditor using ranked-choice voting and geographic representation by district. Now, Portland’s revamped government is officially underway.
“This is a big day, not just for Portland City Council and our new Council President Elana Pirtle-Guiney and Vice President Tiffany Koyama-Lanebut for all of Portland,” Wilson said, addressing the council on his second official day as mayor. “Together, we’ll face no shortage of decisions in the coming days, and I’m grateful for the people and potential this room represents. I’ve never been more optimistic about Portland’s council leadership, and our ability to repair, restore and revitalize the city we all love.”
Related reading