# Portland City Council (Oregon)

The Portland City Council (formerly the Portland City Commission) is the legislative body of the City of Portland in Oregon and forms part of the government of the city.
In January 2025, the city of Portland switched to a mayor–council form of government from a commission form of government, with elections held the prior November. The half of the city council began full four-year terms, while the other half of the city council started initial two-year terms to establish a staggered election cycle.
There are no term-limits for city councilors and they are all officially nonpartisan.

## Members

| District | Name | Elected |
| 1 | Candace Avalos | 2024 |
| 1 | Loretta Smith | 2024 |
| 1 | Jamie Dunphy | 2024 |
| 2 | Dan Ryan | 2020 |
| 2 | Elana Pirtle-Guiney | 2024 |
| 2 | Sameer Kanal | 2024 |
| 3 | Steve Novick | 2024 |
| 3 | Tiffany Koyama Lane | 2024 |
| 3 | Angelita Morillo | 2024 |
| 4 | Olivia Clark | 2024 |
| 4 | Mitch Green | 2024 |
| 4 | Eric Zimmerman | 2024 |

## Districts

Since 2024, the council has been districted as follows:
| District | Geography and neighborhoods |
| 1 | The eastern part of the city, primarily everything east of Interstate 205 all the way to the city's eastern border with Gresham, as well as Portland International Airport. Neighborhoods: Argay, Centennial, Glenfair, Hazelwood, Lents, Mill Park, Parkrose, Parkrose Heights, Pleasant Valley, Powellhurst-Gilbert, Russell, Sumner, Wilkes, and Woodland Park. |
| 2 | Most of North and Northeast Portland north of Interstate 84 and west of 82nd Avenue. Neighborhoods: Alameda, Arbor Lodge, Beaumont-Wilshire, Boise, Bridgeton, Cathedral Park, Concordia, Cully, Dignity Village, East Columbia, Eliot, Grant Park, Hayden Island, Hollywood, Humboldt, Irvington, Kenton, King, Lloyd District, Madison South, Overlook, Piedmont, Portsmouth, Sabin, St. Johns, Sullivan's Gulch, Sumner, Sunderland, University Park, Vernon, and Woodlawn. |
| 3 | Most of Southeast Portland south of Interstate 84 and west of Interstate 205, as well as a small sliver of Northeast Portland east of 47th Avenue and south of Prescott Avenue. Neighborhoods: Brentwood-Darlington, Brooklyn, Buckman, Creston-Kenilworth, Foster-Powell, Hosford-Abernethy (includes Ladd's Addition), Kerns, Laurelhurst, Madison South, Montavilla, Mt. Scott-Arleta, Mt. Tabor, North Tabor, Richmond, Rose City Park, Roseway, South Tabor, Sunnyside, and Woodstock. |
| 4 | All of Portland west of the Willamette River (Northwest, Southwest, and South sextants) as well as a small area on the east side including three neighborhoods. Neighborhoods: Arlington Heights, Arnold Creek, Ashcreek, Bridlemile (includes Glencullen), Collins View, Crestwood, Downtown, Eastmoreland, Far Southwest, Forest Park, Goose Hollow, Hayhurst (includes Vermont Hills), Hillsdale, Hillside, Homestead, Linnton, Maplewood, Markham, Marshall Park, Multnomah (includes Multnomah Village), Northwest District (includes Uptown, Nob Hill, Alphabet Historic District), Northwest Heights, Northwest Industrial, Old Town Chinatown, Pearl District, Reed, Sellwood-Moreland, South Burlingame, South Portland (includes Corbett, Fulton, Lair Hill, Terwilliger, and the Johns Landing and South Waterfront developments), Southwest Hills, Sylvan-Highlands, and West Portland Park (includes Capitol Hill). |

## History

The Portland Charter was the subject of much debate circa 1911–1912. Rival charters were drafted by four different groups. One of these proposed charters was unusual in that it would have used Bucklin voting to elect the mayor and implemented interactive representation of the people through the commissioner system; each commissioner's vote would have been weighted according to the number of votes he received in the election. eventually, the city council submitted an entirely different charter to the people, which was accepted. The city commission government form then came into use in 1913, with H. Russell Albee being the first mayor under the new system.
Between 1913 and 2024, Portland ran on this commission form of government, the largest city in the United States to do so. The council was composed of five members, referred to as Commissioners, which included the Mayor, each elected at-large for a term of four years. One of the Commissioners was elected to be the ceremonial President of the Council.
Commissioners were each assigned to run and oversee various city Bureaus (eg. Police, Fire, Environmental Services, Water). These assignments were occasionally switched around with the exception of the Police Bureau of which the Mayor had always been Commissioner of based on tradition.

### 2022 Charter Reform

Ballot Measure 26-228 in the November 2022 election was an amendment to the city charter that moved the city away from a commission system of government. It removes the five-person board that includes the mayor to a twelve-person board plus a separate mayor. The new city councilors will be elected using proportional multi-winner ranked-choice voting, with three members being elected each from four districts, instead of the standard first-past-the-post method. It also removes responsibility for direct management of city bureaus from commissioners to a city manager overseen by the mayor and confirmed by the council. Previous attempts to reform the city charter had been defeated seven times since 1913, including as recently as 2007. Portland is set to become the most-populated city to adopt the single transferable vote to elect city council members.
The first city council elections under the new districts occurred in 2024. In preparation for transitioning management of city bureaus to a city manager, Mayor Ted Wheeler grouped city bureaus into five related service areas.
On January 2, 2025, at the first meeting of the new council, Elana Pirtle-Guiney was elected council president in a 7 to 5 vote after 10 rounds. Tiffany Koyama Lane was elected vice president unanimously.

## Presidents

| No. | Portrait | Officeholder | Tenure start | Tenure end | Vice President | Mayor |
| 1 | | Elana Pirtle-Guiney (2nd–Vernon) | January 2, 2025 | Incumbent | Tiffany Koyama Lane | Keith Wilson |