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Impasse alert at the top of the city's development agency: The fifth seat on the Portland Development Commission has now been vacant for 72 days, not that anyone is counting. Mayor Tom Potter informed City Council weeks ago that the two finalists for the opening are architect Don Stastny and John Mohlis, executive secretary-treasurer of the Columbia-Pacific Building and Construction Trades Council. The position is Potter's to appoint, but the five-person City Council must ratify his choice. Three city commissioners—Sam Adams, Randy Leonard and Erik Sten—support Mohlis. But PDC, battling with union leaders over whether developers who do business with PDC should pay union wages, would prefer anybody but Mohlis. That leaves Potter caught between increasingly independent council mates and the hot-button agency he oversees. Potter aide Austin Raglione says the mayor's decision will come no sooner than the end of next week.

At least two staffers at McCormick and Schmick are feeling left out in the cold about the filming of Into the Wild at the restaurant in Beaverton. The seafood franchise was closed Oct. 3 and 4 when director Sean Penn and his crew came in to film a scene for the movie based on the Jon Krakauer bestseller. But some restaurant staff are unhappy they didn't get compensated with pay for those two days. General manager Mike Davis says several employees were paid as extras, and kitchen staff were also paid to feed the actors and crew. Davis wouldn't say how much McCormick and Schmick received for the shoot, but he did say senior management is still deciding whether to compensate employees who couldn't work during filming.

Two former employees of Portland-based Flossin' Magazine have filed complaints with the state against their ex-employer, claiming they're owed $10,500 in unpaid wages. One of those who complained to the Bureau of Labor and Industries, an ex-employee who goes by the name Buko, worked as a photographer and Web designer at the upscale magazine. The other complainant, Tim Davis, worked as the mag's vice president of marketing. The state labor bureau is investigating the claims and hopes to resolve them by the end of this month against Flossin', which has a mission statement of hoping to "bring to light an existing formula for good living." Officials didn't immediately return calls seeking comment.

While the latest Congressional scandal takes its toll on Republicans and President Bush remains a highly unpopular figure in Oregon, there's a new poll with good news for the state's top Republican, U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith. The poll to be released later this week by Portland pollster Bob Moore shows Smith with a 63 percent "very favorable" rating among Oregonians—23 percentage points higher than Bush's.

Last week's exceptionally rare move by The Oregonian reversing its earlier endorsement of a candidate was blasted by the daily's country cousin, the far more conservative twice-weekly Hillsboro Argus (both are owned by the New York-based Newhouse family). The Hillsboro paper says the O was "hoodwinked—had and played" when it withdrew its support of Democrat David Edwards in House District 30 because Edwards' campaign made an issue of Republican Everett Curry's being a Baptist minister. "You see what you want to see, and you hear what you want to hear," Argus publisher Clark Gallagher wrote of the Big O.

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Project Return is opening two new resource centers in Madison and Jefferson high schools to serve those schools' homeless students. The project sponsored by Portland Public Schools already has offices at Roosevelt and Marshall high schools. But officials hope that opening new centers this month will help district employees identity more students who could benefit from the intensive services Project Return offers for teens who are couch-surfing, doubling up in someone else's home, or living in a car, a shelter or on the streets. Services include everything from help with homework to providing food and clothing.

After five dry years, the casting pond at Westmoreland Park is slowly filling with water again. Since Sept. 29, Portland Parks and Recreation has pumped 100,000 gallons per day into the pond. That will continue over the next month to revive the once-popular sailing pond for toy boats. The pond, which dates to the 1930s when citizens dug it out by hand, had been drained in 2001 due to leaks in the pipes that draw water from nearby Crystal Springs. Rod Wojtanik, project manager for Portland Parks and Rec, says the leaky pipes haven't been fixed but that the pond has gotten the OK to draw water through a different set of pipes further downstream.

10.13.2006 at 11:19 Reply

Richard Ellmyer

City Attorney Can't/Won't Answer City Auditor's Question About Control Over PDC

When an elected official(s) turns over the keys of the public treasury to UNelected citizens the voters and taxpayers of that community have a right to know who the elected official(s) is/are that have statutory oversight responsibility so that THEY can be held accountable for the financial decisions of those UNelected public officials who are spending the people's money.

The journey to authenticate the mayor's power and/or the city council's power to nominate and dismiss appointed commissioners of the Portland Development Commission, which has the power to annually spend $200,000,000 in public funds which affects Portland and Multnomah county, begins at the bottom of this email and works its way up to the finale written by Portland's city attorney. For the moment the story has two possible endings:

1. The Portland city attorney does NOT have sufficient professional legal skills to authenticate the mayor's power and/or the city council's power to nominate and dismiss PDC commissioners - leaving this critical issue of public accountability and authority in legal limbo.

2. The Portland city attorney does not take requests for legal opinions from the Portland City Auditor's office seriously and feels no need to do the hard work required for a professional legal opinion - leaving this critical issue of public accountability and authority in legal limbo.

When I spoke with Portland's City Attorney, Linda Meng, some time ago she told me that she could not find the answer to the question: Where is the statutory authority that gives the mayor and/or the Portland city council the legal foundation to nominate and dismiss PDC commissioners within ORS 457 and Chapter 15 of the city charter? She said the answer to that question was not obvious in those documents and would require serious legal research which she could not commit to without a formal request from a legitimate client of the City Attorney's office. So off I went to get and then got a legitimate client, Portland's elected Auditor, to make the request for a formal legal opinion.

At no time during my conversation with the city attorney did I say that I did not "believe" that ORS 457 and Chapter 15 of the city charter did not contain an answer to my question. The record of evidence clearly shows that I consistently said that I needed help finding the answers not that they weren't there. This is not a faith based issue. It is a matter of law. In fact, it was the city attorney that quite specifically said that she could not easily find the answer in these legal documents, ORS 457 and Chapter 15 of the city charter, and that further research would be required.

All members of the Portland city council were sent copies of the city attorney's email below on October 6th. I made personal phone calls to Portland Auditor Gary Blackmer's office and the office of Portland's mayor, Tom Potter, on October 6th and then again on October 10th to ask them to respond to a legal opinion by the Portland city attorney that leaves an open legal question, at whose pleasure do PDC commissioners serve, and the consequences of that opinion on future actions of both the PDC and the Portland city council.

Apparently neither of these offices think knowing "who's in charge here" with regard to PDC is sufficiently important to warrant an answer. What do you think?

3-6-9 Resolution author and project champion

Writer/Publisher - HAP Watcher commentary - Published on the Internet and distributed to 13,000 readers interested in public housing policy in Multnomah County.

http://www.goodgrowthnw.org

President, MacSolutions Inc. - A Macintosh computer consulting business providing web hosting for artists and very small businesses. Located in Portsmouth, the neighborhood with the second highest concentration of public housing clients, 16% and rising, within HAP's Multnomah county jurisdiction of 117 neighborhoods.

***********************************************************************************************************************

From: lmeng@ci.portland.or.us

Subject: FW: Legal Authority To Nominate And Dismiss PDC Commissioners?

Date: October 6, 2006 11:50:42 AM PDT

To: ellmyer@macsolve.com

Cc: gblackmer@ci.portland.or.us, samadams@ci.portland.or.us, rleonard@ci.portland.or.us, tjp@ci.portland.or.us, dansaltzman@ci.portland.or.us, esten@ci.portland.or.us, Ombudsman@ci.portland.or.us

Mr. Ellmyer,

I am responding to your email below directed to our office manager, Kim Sneath.

You and I spoke on the telephone for some period of time about this issue a while ago. I directed you to the relevant portions of the City Charter and state statutes. You and I discussed them. You indicated you do not believe those provisions answer your question, but they are the only relevant provisions I am aware of. We do not have any additional information to provide to you.

Linda Meng

From: Richard Ellmyer [mailto:ellmyer@macsolve.com]

Sent: Monday, October 02, 2006 10:33 AM

To: Kim Sneath

Cc: Ombudsman@ci.portland.or.us; Gary Blackmer; Sam Adams; Randy Leonard; Tom Potter; Dan Saltzman; Erik Sten; Bertha Ferran; Sal Kadri; Mark Rosenbaum; Charles Wilhoite; Eric Parsons; Ryan Frank; Anna Griffin; Doug Bates; Renee Mitchell; Connie Pickett; Henry Stern

Subject: Legal Authority To Nominate And Dismiss PDC Commissioners?

Hi Kim:

It is almost a month since I sent the request copied below to you. Would you please acknowledge receipt of this request and, more importantly, tell me and the office of the Portland City Auditor a date certain when your office will provide me with an answer so that I may share your opinion with my readers which include elected officials in Portland city government and appointed PDC commissioners who are, at present, without any knowledge of the basis for taking legally supported action with regard to the nomination and dismissal of PDC commissioners.

Thank you.

President, MacSolutions Inc. - A Macintosh computer consulting business providing web hosting for artists and very small businesses. Located in Portsmouth, the neighborhood with the second highest concentration of public housing clients, 15% and rising, within HAP's Multnomah county jurisdiction of 117 neighborhoods.

From: ellmyer@macsolve.com

Subject: Nominating and Dismissing PDC Commissioners

Date: September 7, 2006 11:39:24 AM PDT

To: ksneath@ci.portland.or.us

Cc: Ombudsman@ci.portland.or.us, gblackmer@ci.portland.or.us

Tony Anderson in the Auditor's office asked me to contact you with regard to a question I have about the nominating and dismissing of PDC commissioners.

On July 6th I used the PDC website to direct an inquiry to the PDC legal department to find out the statutory basis for the nomination and dismissal of PDC commissioners. Several emails, phone calls and visits to PDC, the City Auditor's Office and the City Attorney's Office have now, two months later, lead me to you. I sincerely hope this is the end of the trail.

The authority to direct the Portland Development Commission is currently a major news and political story. Revealing the statutes which give authority to the mayor of Portland and/or the Portland City Council to nominate and dismiss PDC commissioners is essential to a public discussion and understanding of this matter. Appointment to the PDC is NOT a lifetime appointment similar to the Supreme Court of the United States. PDC commissioners serve at someone's pleasure, be it the mayor and/or the Portland City Council. It is startling to me that all the evidence I have amassed in the last two months strongly makes the case that NO ONE at PDC nor any employee of the city of Portland - including all the city commissiosners and the mayor, knows, as of this writing, who's in charge here. Quite amazing and a bit disturbing to me to say nothing of the embarrassment factor for those in public office.

I have researched both ORS 457 and Chapter 15 of the City Charter. I cannot find any reference to those sections which authorize the mayor of Portland, and only the mayor, to nominate PDC commissioners nor can I find any specific reference to the process for removing a PDC commissioner similar to that found for the removal of HAP commissioners in ORS 456.110.

Would you please make an official inquiry and point out those sections of the Oregon Revised Statutes and Portland's City Charter which authenticate the mayor's power and/or the city council's power to nominate and dismiss PDC commissioners.

Thanks for your help.

Subject: Re: Request

Date: August 22, 2006 12:18:03 PM PDT

To: cophillips@ci.portland.or.us

Hi Colleen:

The authority to direct the Portland Development Commission is currently a major news and political story. Revealing the statutes which give authority to the mayor of Portland to nominate and dismiss PDC commissioners is essential to a public discussion and understanding of this matter.

I have researched both ORS 457 and Chapter 15 of the City Charter and I cannot find any reference to those sections which authorize the mayor of Portland, and only the mayor, to nominate and dismiss PDC commissioners. Would you please guide me to those sections of the Oregon Revised Statutes and Portland's City Charter which authenticate the mayor's power and the city council's power to nominate and dismiss PDC commissioners. Thank you.

From: cophillips@ci.portland.or.us

Subject: Request

Date: August 18, 2006 9:32:58 AM PDT

We spoke yesterday regarding your request to provide you with information relating to the dismissal of current PDC Commissioners. Could you send that request to me in writing (email is fine). That way we can forward it to the appropriate office to research it.

Thanks.

Colleen Phillips

City Auditor's Office

503.823.4082

Subject: Authority To Nominate And Dismiss PDC Commissioners

Date: July 27, 2006 1:40:40 PM PDT

To: gblackmer@ci.portland.or.us, warnerb@pdc.us

Cc: bferran@windermere.com, sal@valuecad.com, eparsons@standard.com, mark@rosenbaumfinancial.com, hstern@wweek.com, samadams@ci.portland.or.us, rleonard@ci.portland.or.us, tpotter@ci.portland.or.us, dsaltzman@ci.portland.or.us, erik@ci.portland.or.us, jimredden@portlandtribune.com, cawilhoite@willamette.com, dblomgren@batemanseidel.com, wendy@pdxcityclub.org, nickbudnick@portlandtribune.com, rmitch@news.oregonian.com, dougbates@news.oregonian.com, ryanfrank@news.oregonian.com, annagriffin@news.oregonian.com

Hi Folks:

The authority to direct the Portland Development Commission is currently a major news and political story. Below my signature is the fundamental question I have asked of both PDC and the city of Portland's Ombudsman. PDC's response did not answer my question. It merely directed me to make further inquires of the Portland City Attorney's office. The Portland City Attorney's office responds only to city officials not citizens. The Portland Ombudsman has not responded.

Revealing the statutes which give authority to the mayor of Portland to nominate and dismiss PDC commissioners is essential to a public discussion and understanding of this matter. Please guide me to those sections of the Oregon Revised Statutes and Portland's City Charter which authenticate the mayor's power in this arena. Thank you.

Date: July 19, 2006 10:14:57 AM PDT

To: ombudsman@ci.portland.or.us

Hi Office of Portland's Ombudsman:

I asked the following question to PDC:

Does the Portland Development Commission fall under ORS 456.110 because it spends a great deal of its resources on housing or is there another statute which covers the dismissal of PDC commissioners?

It replied:

"ORS 456 does not apply to PDC. PDC is covered by ORS 457 and by Chapter 15 of the City Charter."

From: GertlerE@pdc.us

Subject: RE: Dismissal Statute?

Date: July 18, 2006 11:42:02 AM PDT

To: ellmyer@macsolve.com, RawlsJ@pdc.us, LessnerR@pdc.us

Richard,

After researching your question, this is what I have learned:

ORS 456 does not apply to PDC. PDC is covered by ORS 457 and by Chapter 15 of the City Charter.

For further questions about PDC Commissioners, you should consult the city attorney's office at 503-823-4047.

Elissa Gertler

Public Affairs Manager

Portland Development Commission

222 NW Fifth Ave.

Portland, OR 97209

503-823-3231 tel

503.865.3673 fax

503.823.6388 media pager

gertlere@pdc.us

www.pdc.us

Sent: Monday, July 17, 2006 11:21 AM

To: Julie Rawls; Rochelle Lessner; Elissa Gertler

Subject: Dismissal Statute?

On July 6th I asked a question via PDC's website. To date it remains unanswered. Would you please send me the answer ASAP or forward this request to someone who can and will send me a response. Thank you.

From: "Richard Ellmyer"

Date: July 6, 2006 10:24:45 AM PDT

Subject: Dismissal Statute

You sent this message to the Portland Development Commission:

Hi Frederick Davis-Brown:

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Read this while waiting for Bush's October surprise.

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