Dysfunctional

After I realized late yesterday that the Portland City Council’s agenda this morning included a vote on whether to switch the city’s position from opposing to supporting state legislation (HB 2404 and companion bill SB 400) allowing public safety employees to discuss safe staffing levels with management in contract negotiations, I decided to mosey on down to City Hall this morning. The Tribune reported Commissioner Sam Adams had not yet announced how he planned to vote – with the outcome not a done deal, I figured it might be worth my time to testify.

Some of my time. Not the whole dang morning.

The hearing on this issue started around 10 a.m., and the Council was still mopping up the details when I ran out at 11:15 to get to my next appointment. The outcome? Set it over until next week, to give the Council and workers time to iron out an agreement that every member of the Council might be able to support. This is the third time this issue has been on the Council’s agenda.

I’m all for open, transparent public process. It was very clear there had been no secret backroom deals on this issue. But it was also obvious there had been almost no inter-office staff work or collaboration between bureau managers and the unions, either. Robert King, the Police union’s president, said that nobody had contacted him since last week’s hearing, when the Council was considering moving from opposing to neutral on the state legislation. Both he and Ken Burns, the Fire Fighters’ union president, made good suggestions in constructive tones. Council members talked back and forth, between, at, and over each other, for a long time. As I sat in the third testimony chair between the two union presidents, I couldn’t help but think to myself, “Why didn’t they have a Council worksession yesterday, to work all this out?”.

Council worksessions are public, televised meetings, where the whole Council is present and discusses an issue with staff and invited speakers. They generally happen on Tuesday mornings, but aren’t limited to that time slot. After a worksession, if it’s an item on which the Council must take official action, there is a public hearing on the Council’s Wednesday or Thursday agenda, so citizens who weren’t invited to participate in the worksession can comment on the proposal that resulted from it. When there’s an issue that three or more members of the Council are interested in, they can’t meet together outside of a public meeting. The Council worksession is the right process to use for those discussions, and should have been utilized for this resolution. Should still be used, in fact. I would like to see the discussions prior to next week’s resolution held in an inclusive public meeting, rather than in shuttle diplomacy between Council offices coupled with staff meeting off-camera.

Note that this resolution is a policy question. Under the proposed new Charter, the Council would still have the responsibility to vote on the City’s policy for advocacy in Salem. The debate this morning illustrates how policy votes have practical implications.

Mayor Potter was asked about disability payment rights for firefighters who return to work in limited capacity jobs after an injury, then retire. The Mayor testily replied, “I don’t know, I’m not the Fire Commissioner” – implying that if he were in charge of all the bureaus, he would know the answer. Yet Mayor Potter is the Police Commissioner, and the same question was later raised by the Police union representative. No answer. In contrast, Erik Sten and Randy Leonard showed impressive depth of knowledge about how the policy would affect workers in the bureaus. This is particularly significant for Erik, who hasn’t been a firefighter and has learned how the bureau works from being its commissioner-in-charge. Under the proposed new Charter, Council members would not gain understanding of day-to-day operations and how policies enacted at the legislative level might affect them. If the Mayor now can’t track that the issues affecting disabled fire fighters are congruent to those affecting the police officers under his charge, how will one person be able to consider the implications of all policies in all bureaus, in the future?

Randy Leonard and Tom Potter were fuming at each other the entire hearing this morning. Randy was understandably ticked that other participants did not seem to have read his new resolution; saying so four times didn’t seem to have any greater effect than the first time. Mayor Potter and Commissioner Saltzman debated the language of the two bills in Salem (Senate Bill 400 as well as House Bill 2404 mentioned yesterday), as if Portland has the right to change the word “potential” in the bills by City Council fiat. Sam Adams was relatively quiet until announcing his support for the motion to support the safe staffing legislation. Erik Sten was the well-informed, soft calm voice of reason, eventually mediating the consensus to bring the proposal back again next week.

My overall impression was that there are some serious issues bubbling below the surface of Council meetings these days. And I wish its members wouldn’t keep acting them out in public. Remember when Mayor Vera Katz and Commissioner Gretchen Kafoury took therapy sessions together? Think about it please, guys.