By Tony Zeli
The Portland Charter Commissioners continued to meet weekly as they pushed to provide a preliminary report to City Council on May 9th. Among the groundbreaking recommendations is a new form of city government with a chief executive mayor and legislative city council.
Along with other transformative proposals like creating more, smaller city council districts, municipal clean elections, and universal residential voting rights, the commission is poised to recommend a new branch of city government: the executive mayor. A compromised model was debated and amended over the course of several public meetings held virtually in April. A slim margin of seven to five votes moved the compromise system forward.
CHARTER COMMISSION UPDATE: MAYORAL DUTIES
Under the proposed system the mayor serves as the chief executive officer of Portland. A city administrator or Chief Operating Officer (currently the City Manager) oversees the day-to-day operations of the city and reports to the mayor.
As the political head of the city, the mayor oversees the implementation of city council policies and would have the power to form task forces or work with existing council committees to propose public policy. Also, the mayor chairs city council meetings, but is not a voting member. The mayor directs the budget process and presents the city budget to the city council.
In addition, the proposed system creates an executive committee made up of the mayor and two city councilors. The executive committee appoints city council committees, city attorney and clerk, the new COO position, and department heads. The city council gets final approval.
CHARTER COMMISSION UPDATE: SCHOOL BUDGET PROCESS
Commissioners also recommend changing the school budget process. Their recommendation removes the role of city council from school budgeting. Instead, a Joint Committee on Budget Guidance, made up of four city councilors and four school board members, takes public comment and presents a non-binding resolution to the city council and school board. The Superintendent still provides the preliminary budget, but only to the school board (not them and city council).
WHAT DIDN’T GO FORWARD…
In other April updates, the charter commissioners voted down the idea of an Office of Information. The office would have handled all communications and constituent services for all city departments.
The Portland Charter Commission’s preliminary report is due on May 9th. Their final report is due July 11th. All recommendations go to Portland voters in November. Learn more from the city’s charter commission website: https://www.portlandmaine.gov/2665/Charter-Commission-2020-2022.
Tony Zeli is publisher and editor. Reach him at thewestendnews@gmail.com.
