Portland’s City Council voted unanimously Thursday night to put a batch of government reform measures and citizen referendum questions before voters on the Nov. 8 ballot.
Other than warnings from two former Portland mayors about the proposed executive mayor post, there was very little opposition to the eight charter revision measures, with only seven people speaking in person or virtually during a 20-minute public hearing.
City Clerk Ashley Rand said the Nov. 8 ballot will contain five citizen-initiated referendum questions and summaries of eight charter revisions. Rand said the full text of each revision will be made available to voters on the city’s website and at polling places. The citizen-initiated referendum questions will appear at the top of the ballot and will be identified with letters, while the charter revisions will be numbered in the order they were presented. Both sets of questions will be separated on the ballot to prevent confusion.
The revision that generated the most controversy is the charter commission’s recommendation to do away with the current city manager position and create an executive mayor with the authority to nominate and remove a chief administrator.
In addition, the executive mayor could nominate all department heads and exercise veto power over the city budget and city ordinances subject to council override, according to the support material provided to councilors in their meeting package Thursday night.
Two former Portland mayors, who also served as city councilors, warned the council against having an executive mayor.
“An executive mayor would have much more power than the (current) mayor,” warned Tom Allen, a former Portland mayor, city councilor and congressman. Allen said abandoning the city’s existing council/manager form of government would be a mistake. “These revisions would also make the council much weaker.”
Allen said that having such a powerful mayor would divide the city and cause political conflict. “Historically, we’ve always had a much more collaborative form of government,” he said.
Another former Portland mayor and councilor, Pamela Plumb, also expressed concerns over the executive mayor post. Plumb served as chair of the city’s 2010 charter commission.
“It would be a significant mistake to interject an executive mayor into the direct management of the city,” Plumb said, adding that the city manager should be insulated from the mayor and council.
The Portland Charter Commission began meeting a year ago and underwent an extensive process of reviewing the city charter. Commissioners finished their work in July, approving a dozen recommendations that they proposed consolidating into eight ballot questions.
The most significant recommendation would establish the position of a more powerful executive mayor, replace the city manager with a new chief administrator, and increase the size of the City Council from nine members to 12.
Under the revision, the size of the city council would increase the number of districts from five to nine while maintaining the status quo of three at-large councilors. It also would grant the council the power to censure or remove the mayor for cause and to order a recall election of the mayor by a super-majority vote, according to the City Council package.
Other charter commission proposals include the creation of a clean elections system with a mechanism to publicly fund candidates for local office, a new civilian police review board, an ethics commission and a code of ethics. In addition, the city’s school board could adopt a budget without having to get approval from the City Council.
CHARTER COMMISSIONERS DEFEND REVISIONS
Four Charter Commission members spoke at Thursday’s meeting, including Chairman Michael Kebede, Catherine Buxton, Pat Washburn and Zack Barowitz.
Kebede defended the charter revisions, explaining that with all the turmoil happening in political arenas across the nation, it was more important than ever to strengthen Democracy locally. He pointed out that an executive mayor – if there was a perceived abuse of power – could be recalled or censured by the City Council.
“This is a reform, it’s not a revolution,” Kebede said. “Democracy in the United States is under attack and this proposal will make Portland government stronger.”
The five referendums that will appear on the Nov. 8 ballot include two that seek to place greater restrictions and regulations on short-term rentals and three others that seek to increase protections for tenants, raise the minimum wage to $18 per hour by 2025 and place restrictions on cruise ships. Four of the five referendums were brought forward by the Maine chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America’s Livable Portland campaign, while one of the short-term rental proposals comes from a group of homeowners, many of whom operate short-term rentals.
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