Portland’s brand-new city council elected its first leader Thursday in a vote that previewed the political dividing lines to come and just how complicated winning a majority might be in this new form of government.

At their inaugural meeting, councilors elected Elana Pirtle-Guiney as president, a new position expected to hold significant power under the new governing structure.

Pirtle-Guiney, who represents most of northeast Portland neighborhoods east of I-205 in District 2, has a long history in government circles, previously leading legislative affairs and policy work under Govs. Kate Brown and John Kitzhaber and spending nearly a decade as a legislative and communications director for the labor union AFL-CIO.

“I have spent a lot of time throughout my career trying to build relationships,” said Pirtle-Guiney. “If my colleagues believe I am the person to bring us together, I humbly accept that.”

The win didn’t come easily. Pirtle-Guiney won by a 7-5 vote after nine rounds of voting. The discussion and negotiations that led to Pirtle-Guiney’s win illuminated where future political alliances may lie in this new legislative body.

The vote for council president began with two candidates: Councilors Candace Avalos, who represents East Portland’s District 1 and is one of the more progressive new councilors, and Olivia Clark, who represents District 4 in west and southeast Portland and is more moderate.

The vote was evenly split in the 12-member body, with the six more progressive members of council steadfast in their support of Avalos, and the more moderate six supporting Clark.

Mayor Keith Wilson is able cast tie-breaking votes on city council matters, but city attorneys said that policy doesn’t apply to a council president vote.

Councilor Loretta Smith then nominated Pirtle-Guiney as an alternative third option, and she collected all of what had been Clark’s votes by the fifth round. After several hours and multiple recesses, the deadlock was eventually split by Councilor Mitch Green, who switched his vote from Avalos to Pirtle-Guiney.

Green, who initially nominated Avalos as president, said that he deeply believed in Avalos’ leadership skills. Then he voted for her opponent.

“The most important thing for me is that we can build a system of government that people trust to be effective,” Green said, nodding to Pirtle-Guiney’s support from labor unions.

The council president is on track to have an important role in the city’s new government. While the position’s powers were vaguely set in recommendations made by city staff following the 2022 vote to overhaul the city’s government, the exact job description wasn’t hammered out until Thursday’s council meeting shortly before councilors elected someone to fill the role.

Under the voted-upon guidelines, the council president will be responsible for setting meeting agendas — meaning they can decide when other councilors’ priorities come up for votes. Under the rules, the president must place a proposed item on the agenda within three months of it being suggested by a councilor or committee. The president will also refer council items to a vote that are proposed by the mayor or city auditor.

The job description represents a compromise between two factions — some councilors lobbied for a more powerful role for the council president while others pushed for a more balanced share of power across all councilors. Councilors Sameer Kanal, District 2, and Eric Zimmerman, District 4, led the effort to draft the proposed responsibilities for this new role.

Before the unanimous council vote, Kanal explained that the agreement acts as a “patch” on the current city language describing the president’s duties.

“It’s designed to be a short-term fix, to get us working well together,” Kanal said. The intent, he explained, is to spend more time in the coming weeks working with councilors and the public on fine-tuning this language and making it permanent through another council vote.

Councilors also unanimously elected Tiffany Koyama Lane, who represents much of southeast Portland in District 3, as its first vice president. She’ll serve as council president whenever Pirtle-Guiney is absent.

Per city rules, Pirtle-Guiney will remain the city council’s president until the end of the year. Councilors will elect a new president and vice president in January 2026.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/01/02/portland-city-council-pirtle-guiney-president/