On Jan. 2, Portland’s new city council elected its first president.
After nine rounds of voting, Elana Pirtle-Guiney, who represents District 2, emerged as the winner.
Pirtle-Guiney has a long history in Oregon government, having previously led legislative affairs and policy work under governors Kate Brown and John Kitzhaber. She also spent nearly a decade as a legislative and communications director for the labor union AFL-CIO.
In her new role, Pirtle-Guiney will set meeting agendas, along with other powers that have yet to be defined.
Pirtle-Guiney spoke with “Think Out Loud” about her new role and some of the issues facing the new council. The highlights below have been edited for length and clarity.
Councilor Elana Pirtle-Guiney addresses reporters after being elected council president on Jan. 2, 2025. Pirtle-Guiney represents District 2.
Alex Zielinski / OPB
On the contentious vote for Council President:
“I would say [I was] a hesitant entrant into that space … but I told folks that if it came down to needing somebody who could break a tie, I would be open to that … This is a new thing for Portland to have a city council that is independent from the mayor and the administration of the city. And how we design our council, whether we are focused more on some of the policy work that needs to happen, what our procedures look like, what the way is that we work with our committees … all of those pieces will be developed over the next few weeks to few months. And I think folks were having a lot of conversations about what it meant to lead that process and what they needed in somebody who could work with them to do that.”
What divisions on the city council could look like:
“There are folks who have worked in and around government and folks who are more from the advocacy side - a few of us who have done both. There are people who want our work to be very grassroots driven, and people who see their role as more of a representative. There are a lot of ways that I think we will naturally work together and form coalitions … there are a lot of conversations about splits on the council, but what I see is a council that, on many things, will come together and you’ll see us trying to move forward for Portland and build this new system, this new form of government for Portland in a way that has a lot of agreement.”
How the council might form committees:
“You have to balance the different skill sets that you need on a committee, the different interests that folks bring to a committee, balance the geography of the city, make sure that we have multiple districts represented on a committee, and make sure that we also don’t have quorum concerns … So there’s a lot of pieces to fit together and having the president have the power to bring forward a proposal, I think is very important.”
How she will balance work as Council President with work for her district:
“I will probably be in City Hall a little more than I wanted to and in my district a little less than I wanted to. I think, for folks who are listening in from District 2, I hope that you see the balance here as well. Having somebody from District 2 in that president’s chair means that I can make sure that the concerns we have are getting the airtime that they need, but it does mean that I’m also less available for those individual constituent concerns quite as often as I might otherwise be able to be.”
On the proposal to increase budgets and staffing for city councilors, which would cost an estimated $4.6 million in the current budget year:
“We can’t do the work that Portlanders rightfully would like to see us do with only one staff person … And as we as we try to take on the policy work, the oversight work and the work with Portlanders, we want to be able to do that well … none of us take that lightly, and the work of the budget is going to be really, really difficult. We also need to be responsive to Portlanders who through charter reform charged the council with new policy roles and new oversight roles and new constituent services roles that we have never had in the city before. If we don’t do that well, I don’t know that Portlanders will continue to have faith in our city to operate effectively … We’re certainly not going to add extra to our budgets if we don’t need it.”
On the mayor’s plan to end unsheltered homelessness by standing up dozens of new nighttime shelters:
“We’ve asked the mayor to come into a work session where we can have a public conversation so that Portlanders can also hear the details of his plan. I’m looking forward to that.”
Elana Pirtle-Guiney spoke to “Think Out Loud” host Dave Miller. Click play to listen to the full conversation: