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The five Multnomah County commissioners spent much of Friday in a conference room at the Kennedy School in Northeast Portland, figuring out shared values, goals and, perhaps most importantly, how to communicate more smoothly with one another.
The five county leaders—Chair Jessica Vega Pederson and Commissioners Julia Brim-Edwards, Lori Stegmann, Susheela Jayapal and Sharon Meieran—had a rocky couple of weeks. They sparred over whether or not to light the Morrison Bridge in support of Israel shortly after the Hamas attack. They sparred over how best to use excess homelessness dollars. They sparred over how much money to give to the Bybee Lakes Hope Center at the former Wapato Jail.
On Friday, though, they shut themselves in a room from 9 am to 2 pm, free from all distractions. The goal: get on the same page about acceptable styles of communication and shared values and goals as they try to fix the many daunting problems facing the county.
No staff was allowed in the room—the only attendees permitted were the chair, the commissioners, the county attorney and a professional facilitator managing the retreat, according to emails obtained by WW. (The county attorney attended to ensure the elected officials didn’t discuss county business outside the public eye, which would violate state law.) The elected officials also made the ultimate sacrifice—no texting, emailing or phone calls during the retreat.
The facilitator was Kathleen Holt, a consultant whose LinkedIn page says she works with clients to “commit to a culture of learning, growth, and accountability.”