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The volunteer committee that’s advising the Portland City Council on the looming government overhaul is asking that the current City Council let its successors, who will take office Jan. 1, 2025, to determine their own permanent regional district offices, but in the meantime provide them with at least temporary office space.
In a Friday letter, the Government Transition Advisory Committee advised the City Council to back off of its plan to establish permanent offices in the four new voting districts for the future 12-member City Council.
“The final decision on permanent in-district offices should be left to the future city council,” the GTAC wrote. But it also recommended that the current City Council at least provide rudimentary “low cost” in-district office space that’s ready for use by Jan. 1.
The committee’s twofold recommendation brings forth an option that hasn’t otherwise been discussed, and one that might be the priciest plan yet: provide temporary offices to the future City Council but also let it decide on where to make a permanent home later on. That means the city could incur costs of setting up two different sets of office spaces.
The committee’s recommendation comes amid concern from the City Council that the cost estimates for setting up district offices—even rudimentary ones—are too high. The city’s Office of Management & Finance last month estimated the cost of setting up district offices at $600,000 to $1.8 million and annual operating costs of $1.7 million. In light of those findings, GTAC recommended that the current City Council establish low-budget office space in each of the four voting districts that costs no more than $150,000 total to set up.
The GTAC recommended in its Friday letter that interim offices include meeting space to accommodate up to eight district staff, close proximity to public transit, and a “reasonably welcoming environment.” No security or technological connectivity to other city systems should be expected, the GTAC wrote, in order to keep costs at a minimum.
But the committee also recommends that more permanent offices—and likely more sophisticated ones that come with a higher price tag—be determined by the future City Council.
For months now, city staff has scoped out available office space in each of the four districts at the request of the City Council, which directed it to move forward in creating offices last fall. Commissioner Dan Ryan, in particular, voiced his support for establishing district offices before the new City Council takes office. But staff last month warned the City Council it was having particular trouble finding suitable office space in District 1, which covers Portland east of Interstate 205. East Portland for decades has received fewer city services and attention than other parts of the city.
The GTAC in its letter urged that the city undergo a “robust community engagement process” for the permanent offices to “ensure any funding that is expended on addressing issues of representation and access is appropriate for the district(s) in which it is targeted, and meets the needs identified.”