Portland councilors debate draft civilian police review board ordinance, disagree over union negotiations and eligibility rules

Portland councilors held a public workshop on a draft ordinance to implement a November 2022 city charter amendment creating a Civilian Police Review Board, discussing governance, member eligibility and whether the council must negotiate with police unions over aspects of the ordinance.

Attorney Rachel Millette, associate corporation counsel, told the council the charter amendment approved by voters in November 2022 requires the council to draft an ordinance to create the civilian board and said the current draft reflects prior council direction and negotiation with police unions. "In November 2022, the Portland city voters voted to approve an amendment to the city charter, which adds an article, codifying a civilian police review board in the city's charter," Millette said.

The workshop focused on three recurring issues: (1) whether the city should draft and vote on the ordinance without prior agreement from police unions, (2) eligibility rules that would bar city- or school-system employees from serving for a waiting period after employment ends, and (3) the board's composition, intake process and training.

Councilor Kate Sykes (District 5) pushed for an open legislative process and said the council should not allow union negotiation to determine the ordinance's terms. "We're writing a law that is about civilian oversight of police, and it is absolutely inappropriate for us to negotiate the terms of that law with the police before writing the law," Sykes said. Several other councilors — including April Fournier (at-large), Anna Bullitt (District 4) and Regina Phillips (District 3) — expressed frustration with the timeline and the amount of prior executive-session negotiation, and urged broader public engagement before finalizing the ordinance.

Millette and other counsel explained a legal limit: because the city is the collective-bargaining entity for municipal employees, changes that affect "wages, hours, or working conditions" of union employees generally require negotiation with the unions. Millette said the office tends to "air on the side of negotiation" where it is unclear whether a provision would alter working conditions. "We have to negotiate with the unions," she said, describing the conflict when ordinances intersect with collective bargaining.

Councilors pressed several specific policy points. One contested provision in the draft would require a five-year waiting period after termination of employment before a current or former city or school employee could serve on the review board; several councilors asked that be reduced to one year. Millette confirmed the draft's current language: "Currently, any city employee, city or school employee would have to wait 5 years after the termination of their employment to join" the board.

Other substantive suggestions from councilors and the currently constituted Police Citizen Review Subcommittee (PCRS) included broader community-led recruitment for board seats, a neutral intake process for complaints (for example, an intake office outside the police department), clearer appeals processes, and formal training drawn from national civilian-oversight resources. Councilor Sykes urged community organizations be involved in recruiting to improve representativeness; Sykes also advocated moving the process into the formal council agenda so amendments and votes can be taken.

The police chief (unnamed in the workshop transcript) described operational context and data he said the department uses for investigations: "we have over 150,000 individual videos between body cameras and cruiser cameras that are stored," he said, and referenced two outside reviews he said found no evidence of systemic bias. The chief and other councilors also noted the PCRS meeting recordings average roughly 16 views per month and that the department averages about one complaint per month over the last 23 years — points raised in discussion about public engagement with the current system.

Several councilors recommended moving the ordinance to the Health and Human Services (HHS) committee for more public discussion, including panel-style conversation with PCRS members, police representatives and community witnesses. Councilor Anna Bullitt offered to schedule the item in HHS; the mayor asked staff (Greg Jordan) and Bullitt to coordinate a committee date.

There was no final vote on the ordinance at the workshop. The only formal motion recorded was to adjourn the workshop. Councilor Kate Sykes moved to adjourn; Councilor Ali seconded; the council voted to adjourn by raised hands and the motion carried unanimously.

The council directed corporation counsel to prepare amendments if a majority of councilors identified specific changes they wanted incorporated, and counsel offered to prepare a memo identifying which draft provisions are most likely to implicate mandatory subjects of collective bargaining.

The workshop is the latest step in a multi-year process: Millette said council workshops began in June 2023, a second public workshop occurred in September 2023, negotiations with police unions began in October 2023 and included executive sessions, most recently in March 2025. The draft ordinance and the PCRS's most recent letter remain available in workshop materials; some councilors reported trouble locating the backup materials on the agenda portal during the meeting.

Looking ahead, the council appears to favor additional committee-level public engagement before a final vote; corporation counsel said staff can update the draft ordinance to reflect majority guidance and return with revised materials for further review.