Proposals

Ideas considered but not taken up by the commission.

These ideas were researched and discussed, but due to time or decisions made on smaller committees, the following proposals never came forward for a vote by the full commission.

Public Advocate/Ombudsperson (Joint with Governance)

A number of commissioner brought forward the idea of a Public Advocate or Ombudsperson to handle constituent services, communications, and increasing government transparency and accessibility. Elements of these ideas made it into other voted on proposals, including the Ethics Commission (passed) and Office of Information (failed).

• Relevant Meetings:

  • January 31: Joint Dept & Gov Interviews with Experts

    • Commission Sheikh Yousef’s governance model proposes an elected Public Advocate.

  • December 20, 2021: Department Committee Interviews with experts

• Experts Consulted: 

  • Monique Y. Glaude', Director of Community Engagement & Ombudsman, City of Topeka, KS

  • Jennifer Prado, Director, Mayor's Office of Constituent Services, City of Wilmington, DE

  • Jessica Grondin, City of Portland, Director of Communications & Digital Services

  • Michael J. Pastor, Adjunct Professor of Law and Senior Fellow, New York Law School

  • Mary Hull-Caballero: Auditor, City of Portland, Oregon

  • Kim Cook, Former Member of City Council

  • Anna Kellar, Chairperson of Fair Elections Portland

  • Patrick Dowd, Vice President of the Board of Directors of the U.S. Ombudsman’s Association

Citizen Initiatives

The Procedures Committee considered ideas about clarifying and strengthening the citizen initiative process to allow more collaboration and streamlined implementation for public and elected officials. No official proposal was made.

• Relevant Meetings:

  • October 12: Interviews with experts: Jack O’Brien (local activist and political statistics professor), Eamonn Dundon (Chamber of Commerce), Kim Cook (former city councilor)

Elections Commission

The Elections Committee considered a proposal by Commissioner Marpheen Chann to establish a volunteer commission tasked with voter engagement and education, including advising the Clerk on clean elections funding, poll worker training, and other voter education and turnout activities. The proposal was not passed to the full commission due to concerns about time and the number of proposals already under consideration. Read a draft of the proposal here.