Troutdale Citizens Advisory Committee rejects motion to begin participatory budgeting program

Committee member Kevin moved on March 5 that the Citizens Advisory Committee begin work to establish a participatory budgeting program for Troutdale and to “take on” the effort as a committee project. Kevin said the committee should “actually begin to educate ourselves on what is participatory budgeting” and then “formulate a plan for initiating participatory budgeting.”

The motion drew a lengthy discussion about roles, timing and expertise. Staff and committee members said the budget committee and city staff prepare the budget and have technical knowledge about grant matching, capital improvement projects and statutory constraints. Several committee members urged first steps focused on education: reviewing background material, understanding which items are discretionary and identifying how the Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) could collect public input that would feed into the budget process.

After discussion, a motion to add the participatory budgeting effort as a future agenda item (to start with education) was seconded and put to a roll‑call vote. The roll call recorded three votes in favor and six against; the motion did not pass. Roll‑call votes as recorded in the meeting transcript were: Committee member Kester — no; Committee member Minkoff — yes; Vice Chair Barney — no; Committee member Rizzo — no; Committee member Saffinson — no; Committee member Castillo White — no; Committee member Terrell — yes; Committee member Stevenson — yes; Chair Harrington — no. The committee proceeded to place participatory budgeting education on a future agenda informally and agreed to collect educational links and schedule staff Q&A at a later date.

Committee members who opposed the immediate motion said it risked overstepping the CAC’s role and noted the complexity and time required to study the city budget; members favoring it argued participatory budgeting aligns with the CAC’s charge to gather public input. Several speakers suggested a multi‑step approach: (1) committee education (videos, webinars); (2) targeted public outreach; (3) collaboration with the budget committee and staff to identify discretionary capital projects citizens could prioritize.

No binding changes to the city budget occurred at the meeting. Committee members agreed to keep the participatory budgeting topic on their agenda for further education and to invite city staff (including the city budget presenter) to a future meeting after committee members complete preparatory reading and links shared by staff.