Portland City Council Weekly Roundup for February 20–24, 2017

My weekly series on what’s happening with the Portland City Council.

> Tuesday, February 21 @ 5:30pm — Legislative & Nominating Committee

City Hall Room 208 (City Manager’s Office)

• The entire agenda just says, “To Interview applicants for various boards and committees.” I have absolutely no idea what that means.
  UPDATE: I went to the meeting and discovered what it meant: This committee interviews people for various boards and committees, and does so in executive (i.e. private) session. I was not allowed to sit in on the interviews, or find out what boards or committees they were interviewing for. It would be useful if the public were given clearly information about this committee’s purpose and its work, and maybe even what boards it’s trying to fill positions on.

> Wednesday, February 22 @ 5:30pm —City Council Meeting

City Hall — Council Chambers (2nd floor)

Major agenda items:

• Proclamation honoring Police Chief Michael J. Sauschuck
• Proclamation recognizing Black History Month
• Vote on zoning changes to add height restrictions for new developments interfering with the view from Fort Sumner Park on North Street. Public comment will be taken on this item.

Read the full agenda here.

> Thursday, February 23 @ 5:30pm — Finance Committee Meeting

City Hall — Council Chambers (2nd floor)

• The agenda has not been made available to the public yet. I will update this article as soon as I can get it — hopefully before the meeting actually happens.
  UPDATE: Still no agenda, and the meeting is less than two days away. Seriously not cool. I know there have been a lot of disruptions with snow lately, but this is not acceptable. This is one of the most basic functions of democratic government. If they can’t give us at least a week’s notice of what’s happening, they should postpone the meeting. How can they expect anyone to be able to participate without knowing what to participate in?
  UPDATE 2: The Agenda was released on Wednesday, a little over 24 hours before the meeting. The only item was the discussion of the School Bond, followed by a vote on whether to recommend it move up to the full City Council. You can find the agenda and supplementary documents here.