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Sam Stipic
Dr. Evan Farr
Portland 15779
2/18/15
The City of Portlands Commission System and its Efficiency
Governing large cities is executed through a number of different
systems, some systems will work for a particular city but fail to do so
with another. The commission system is looked upon as a government
system capable of addressing no more than one hundred thousand
people. Portland, Oregon is one of the only major cities to still use this
system in order to run its government. Even though this system of
government is looked upon as rare and extinct, the commission system
has proven its worth and a functional attribute toward what Portland is
trying to accomplish, although the system has seemingly started to
become inefficient.
Background & History
This form of government was devised in 1901, the system is ran
by six elected officials; a mayor, four commissioners, and a city
auditor.

Each commissioner is assigned to an aspect of municipal

affairs such as finance, police, public works, taxation, appropriation,

ordinances, and public health (Rice).

The mayor essentially fills the

role of a commissioner but is elected to serve as the face of the system

for meetings and ceremonial events. Commission form of government
is most different due to its officials having administrative, legislative
and quasi-judicial powers. After the commission system was created it

spread throughout the U.S only to fade once cities reached a

significantly larger population of people.
When the island city of Galveston, Texas experienced the largest
and most deadly hurricane it had ever seen (claiming 6,000 lives) in
the year of 1901, the
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rebuilding of the city started immediately. Their first concern was not
how they would go about re-structuring the city, it was designing a
system of government capable of dealing with the systematic problems
and issues that the city was undoubtedly going to have in the near
future when trying to rebuild (Rice).

Thus the Commission form of

government was created as a form of municipal government.

Without the influence, knowledge, and push of a group of
wealthy business men known as the Deep water committee, the
system would not exist, they developed the plan and presented it on
the cities mayor to appoint a commission system to govern during the
rebuilding process of their city (Rice). Shortly after the system was in
play for the city of Galveston, news of the governments success
spread throughout the U.S and the system itself eventually found its
way into other cities such as Houston in 1905 as well Dallas, El Paso,
and Greenville in 1907.
Shortly after the success of the commission form of government
was known, it had reached its way into the discussion for electing it as

Portland, Oregons new system of government.

In 1913 the city of

Portland adopted the new system in hopes to vanquish corruption and

provide a vital government in which the citys citizens could participate
and flourish. They handed the city commissioners that were elected
legislative, and administrative powers. Now, over one hundred years
after Portland adopted the commission form of government it remains
in place today, this is bazar due to the fact that this system has only
been known to work for cities that consist of small amounts of people,
and Portland has grown into one of
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the major cities of our country. Perhaps the question at hand is, how
has this system lasted so long in Portland and why?
How the system has survived
Many wonder how Portlands outdated system of government has
lasted so long.

Brad Schmidt of the Oregonian newspaper explains,

What Portlanders dont

want to give up is putting elected city council members in charge of
city bureaus(Schmidt). Citizens of Portland feel that having individual
commissioners to run and represent the cities important bureaus is the
best way to ensure efficient government action that is reviewed by its
citizens.

After attempts by city developers to reform the system of

government, they have learned that keeping commissioners in charge

of city bureaus is the strongest aspect holding this old form of

government together in Portland.
During

city

council

meeting

consisting

of

late

city

commissioners and auditors, the leaders of the meeting asked its

attendance why they think the system seems to work, as well as what
would they change about the system as a whole. A common response
from the former members of Portlands government system was that
the system works through having the ability to successfully create a
collaborative atmosphere among its elected officials (Theen). Another
reason to why Portlands commission system still stands is because of
the peoples belief that it allows average citizens to engage
themselves in the city government. Amongst the praise were changes
that were proposed to better the system; one change that was voiced
proposed that the system reincorporate publicly funded campaigns
(Theen).
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A crucial component to Portlands commission system and its
success is the office of ombudsmen. This office receives all kinds of
information from the cities citizens, the majority of this information
consists of complaints, comments, and concerns that have to do with
running Portlands government efficiently.

Once knowledge of these

complaints come to light, the office of ombudsmen investigates each

concern of maladministration that citizens believe is occurring,

preceding the investigation, the office takes the citizens complaints

into consideration to be implemented into the ways in which the
government is ran (Mills).

Without this portion of Portlands form of

government it could be said that the system would surely fall,

providing government access and knowledge to its citizens is what this
office does to keep the commission system as effective as possible and
afloat.
In order for a form of government to be efficient it must first
address the matters of its people and listen to their demands, only
then will a system be able to develop a structure based upon the
citizens need for government. By having a simpler organizational
structure (even though it is very different) alone makes the
commission system more fitting for Portland, another important trait
that the commission system provides to its government is the ability to
implement policies swiftly. In a city such as Portland with all of its
active members of society and increasing number of activities and
festivities, it is increasingly important that their government exercises
the use of being able to quickly establish policies regarding any matter
that Portland citizens feel the city needs to address.

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Resilience to corruption led to function

Some governments that show efficiency are only tarnished by

corruption, many systems experience and contain certain amounts of
corruption that ultimately infect a government system. When the
commission form of government was created, it was created on the
very thought that any form of corruption would be absent from this
new type of government system. Individuals and
groups that have tried to alter or change Portlands system of
government in the past have had to face the many concerns of
corruption being a factor in the new system, which is to replace the
present one. By having a collaborative atmosphere
among the city commissioners, it offers more opportunity for
collaborative thinking and less opportunity for corruption in the sense
that everyone is aware of what others are working on, because of this,
other commissioners can provide information and knowledge of their
own to better enhance the work of another commissioner, and the
ability to carry out his duties expected of him by the public. With this
precedent at play it is hard to corrupt a system or even influence
corruption at that matter. This system was formed under the notion
that corruption such as bribery was to be forbidden in this form of
government, and that is carried on to the present day enhancing the
efficiency of Portlands commission system as well as other small cities
and towns that still use the system of government.

Many forms of corruption have taken place within every type of

government that has been established. These forms of corruption
include bribery, (the main aspect of corruption looked to be eliminated
when the commission system was
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devised) extortion, embezzlement, nepotism, and patronage systems.
Lack of corruption and uneasiness to cause it is one of Portlands
government systems greatest attributes. Since the spread of the
commission system and its adoption by many cities, it has provided its
citizens with resilience toward corruption in government, provisions
are intended to give the people an opportunity to know what
ordinances and franchises are desired by public service corporations
and to give the people a chance to refuse to make the grant unless
sufficient consideration is given in return.(Campbell 624). These
provisions were implemented early on to provide a shield against
corruption, which was held by the citizens of the government.
The very reason Portland set out to replace its past system of
government was to relinquish itself from corruption among other
things. A report by the New York Bureau of Research spoke of the past
system as followed; lax, corrupt and inefficient in every
department. (Gregor). Now, and for the past century the new system
has shown to work better toward an absolute minimum of corruption.
The lack of corruption is measured on how the people view their

government and its interests, which is why they have repeatedly

shown interest to have the system be upheld.
Problems with the system
Problems that reside in Portlands system of government to this
present day is what brings up questions of efficiency and whether or
not to change the very system of government this city has used for the
past century. With this subject it is
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hard to truly identify which problem is actually a problem due to
different opinions on who should have responsibility to what and who
should have the say in certain matters, an example of this predicament
is written within an article by The Oregonian Editorial Board of the
Oregonian Newspaper, recognized tendency of commissioners to
protect their bureau turf while allowing their colleagues wide latitude
to manage their bureaus as they see fit. (Oregonian Editorial Board).
This is one of the bigger drawbacks that Portlands system bestows
causing it to draw away from the systems innovative purpose.
These drawbacks are looked upon as threats toward the survival
of Portlands said to be outdated system of government. Ultimately
the people recognize this as a problem in the system, but could further
problems regarding these issues put the system at risk for reform? Just
as the people recognize a problem, they have the ability to recognize
the need for change of such things. When propositions are imposed on

fixing the matter or changing the form of government within Portland it

is the people who must decide.
In 2007 there were efforts and proposals to retire Portlands
commission form of government, these efforts failed by a 3-1 ratio in
votes (The Oregonian Editorial Board). Although, after the vote was
over many questions and concerns
came to light from citizens in Portland, one problem in particular that
citizens have with the functioning of the system is that some city
commissioners actions have become slightly out of place.

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As explained previously, commissioners are assigned to
individual bureaus that carry certain matters on the subject. Within an
article by the Oregonian online Newspaper, the author states, The
commission has taken significant heat since that 2007 vote for the
expenditure of water and sewer funds on projects that arent directly
related to either bureaus core function (The Oregonian Editorial
Board). This is a significant problem because it creates disorganization
and conflicting matters with heads of city bureaus, as well as
corruption. It is probable that these acts led to spending these funds
on projects that dont necessarily benefit the city what so ever, but
that cannot be made certain.
The citizens position

When examining the efficiency of a government and measuring

how well it serves the city that it is put in place for, the most important
aspect to take into
consideration may be the peoples position on the matter. Obviously it
is nearly impossible to get a unanimous decision on the subject, but by
analyzing the outcomes of votes it appears Portlands citizens do
consider their government system to work well enough in order to stay
in place after a number of years.
The last major efforts put forth to reform, alter or completely
retire Portlands form of city government ended in a 3-1-ratio vote by
Portland voters in 2007. Developer Bob Ball led this campaign, and
concerns have risen to suggest that
the efforts were unsuccessful due to Ball leading the proposition in the
first place. But, the real concern is whether or not Portland voters view
has changed since the last poll was taken, regardless of who is leading
the proposition for reform.
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Historically the people of Portland have stood by their form of
government, this does not come as a surprise due to its long-term
existence, the reason for this is because of the relationship the
government has with the citizens. Since there is a representative for
each respected neighborhood and a commissioner for each city
function the people feel to be an important influence to the reps and

commissioners decisions. Unfortunately, over the past decade these

views have changed in a sense that commissioners and leads for
certain projects are not considering the citizens or are not informing
the public well enough of what they are doing and how they are doing
certain projects. This also leads to concerns on where tax revenue is
going.
Interview information
To gather additional information I conducted a telephone
interview with the Communication Director for the Mayor, Dana
Haynes. After explaining my cause I asked Dana a number of question
starting with, what makes the system work? And what are the biggest
differences from other forms of government? Danas response was
that, city council requires average, or amateur people to run it, while
the commission system requires expertise in order to operate
effectively.(Haynes). By having commissioners in charge of separate
city bureaus it requires each commissioner to know their bureau as
well as a bureau director would, explained Haynes. The reason the
system has survived is because we have filled these rolls with the
appropriate people, and they have essentially carried out their tasks
minus some minor hiccups in the system, which occur in any body of
government according to Haynes.
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When I asked about Haynes own thoughts on the government

system he described the system as crazy and a little messy in some
areas, but he went on to say that the mayor believes that the system
works and therefore he stands by that statement. To describe it best,
the system of government has survived through accomplishment and
peoples recognition and support of the system. When asked, Haynes
said he recalled there being 4-5 proposals to retire the commission
system in Portland throughout its history of existence, and each time
the efforts have failed. He goes on to explain that the voters have
denied altering or changing the system, Every time we propose or
ask, we get the same answer(Haynes).
Toward the end of our discussion I asked the Director of
Communications for the Mayor if he personally thinks there should be a
change to the system, and if he foresees a change in the future. His
reply was simply no, the people of Portland do not wish for there to be
a change, if you go against their beliefs the system collapses as any
system would. He dissects his answer by explaining that all the past
attempts to change the form of government have failed significantly,
so he does not see a change in the form of government Portland uses
in the future.
My final question, which had regards toward my thesis and
perhaps the most subjective and broadest question of all was, Overall
do you think the commission form of government in Portland is

efficient. Haynes answered yes, which came as a bit of a surprise to

me due to the fact that he previously stated that he thought the
system was crazy and messy in certain areas. But Haynes went on
to say that his answer comes from being in attendance of hundreds of
school board and city
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council meetings, after attending all of these meeting Haynes said he
thinks governments in Oregon are efficient overall(Haynes).
Although it was obvious that Mr. Haynes showed some bias thoughts in
his answers, it goes to show that he backs the system as a whole.
Through obtaining information on the views of an official within
the system of government, it is clear that the system works well
enough for the city of Portland. With wide acceptance by its people
and by its mayor, it is balanced at each end of the scale, which is why
the system of government is able to uphold through each vote put
forth to change the system of government within Portland.
Unfortunately you cannot decide whether or not the system is efficient
through examining votes on whether or not to change the system or by
accepting the opinion of one individual, even if that individual is a
member of the system, such as Dana Haynes.
Conclusion
For Portlanders the most important thing regarding their
government is to have a system that works, sure they wish it to be

efficient, but efficiency means nothing if the system itself does not
carry out the primary concerns that the citizens have. Right now with
the existence of the commission system in Portlands government
structure, it provides balance and a functional way of running the city
and all of its duties. One aspect that should be reconsidered is the
effort put forward in order to even run this system, by the way that the
Director of Communications for the Mayor explains it, the system
requires expertise and not just amateur people, this must mean that
the system itself is increasingly difficult to run rather than a
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popular form of government as used for other major cities. Because of
this fact, efficiency also comes at a greater cost, being that to even run
the system effectively it requires harder contribution and greater skills.
If I was to somehow obtain the information needed to conduct a
hypothesis test to test whether or not the commission system is
efficient, my predication would be that the P-value would just barely be
low enough to be under the level of significance we would use to test
the claim. Therefore there would be evidence to support the claim, but
just barely. Unfortunately it would be hard to come across the right
data to produce this experiment due to its specification and odd
nature.
Although I predicted a hypothesis test would support the claim
that the commission form of government is efficient, after in depth

research and gathered perspectives from many different sources, I will

conclude that I believe the commission form of government is not
efficient. Even though this system of government is looked upon as
rare and extinct, the commission system has proven its worth and a
functional attribute toward what Portland is trying to accomplish,
although the system has seemingly started to become inefficient. The
system does work well enough, to retire the system would also come
at great cost and no guarantee of increased efficiency, and therefore to
leave the system at play might be in Portlands best interest after all.
But after further research this has become clear, I do not believe that
Portlands commission system is efficient enough to be recognized
within certain standards, including my own.

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Works Cited
Schmidt, Brad. Changing Portlands Political System.
OREGONLIVE. The Oregonian, 31 July 2014. Web. 28 Jan. 2015.
http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2014/07/changing_portla
nds_political_s.html
This article written by Brad Schmidt of the Oregonian
Newspaper discusses how Portlands political system has survived this
long. He also goes on to diagnose why previous attempts to change
the system, such as the one by developer Bob Ball, have failed.

Theen, Andrew. All-Star Cast of Former Portland Politicos

Touts Commission Form of Government. OREGONLIVE. The Oregonian,
22 Oct. 2013. Web. 28 Jan. 2015. <
http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2013/10/allstar_cast_of_former_portla.html>
Within the online article by Andrew Theen, he wrote what he
observed from a city council meeting, which included former mayors,
commissioners, and auditors. Theen describes how the former
members of government gave input on why the system seems to work
and what they would change about the system as a whole. One highly
popular reason to why the system works was described as the ability to
be easily collaborative with one another within the system.
Rice, Bradley R. Commission Form of City Government.
Handbook of Texas Online. 12 June 2010. Texas State Historical
Association. Web. 28 Jan. 2014.

<

http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/moc01>

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In this article Bradley Rice breaks down the commission form of
government and what exactly the system does to perform its role. He
explains how the commission system is made up of one mayor, four
commissioners and an auditor. Their main priorities are to constitute

the legislative body of the city responsible for taxation, appropriations,

ordinances, and other general functions.
Mills, Michael. Municipal Government Ombudsman. United
States Association of Ombudsmen. 23 September 1994. Web. 28 Jan.
2015. http://www.usombudsman.org/municipal-governmentombudsman/
This source produced by Michael Mills, Ombudsman, gives significant
information on a key part of Portlands commission system of government, which
is their Ombudsmen office. This office is appointed to investigate citizens
complaints against maladministration, and public authorities to ultimately take
their concerns into consideration and to provide the citizens with more direct
access to their government.
National League of Cities. Forms of Municipal Government. Web. 29
January 2015. http://www.nlc.org/build-skills-and-networks/resources/cities101/city-structures/forms-of-municipal-government
This source provided by the organization National League of Cities
provides information on what each commissioner is responsible for inside the
system of government that Portland uses. Each commissioner is responsible for
one of the following city subjects; fire, public works, finance, health and police.
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This source also breaks down how rare of a system the commission system is for
cities that exceed 100,000 people.
Angerer, David. Commission Form of Government. Knowledgebase. 22
June 2006. Web. 29 January 2015.
http://www.mtas.tennessee.edu/KnowledgeBase.nsf/0/0D169896531FD2A58525
71D100604416?OpenDocument
This document created by David Angerer, a municipal management
consultant from Tennessee goes over the advantages and disadvantages of the
commission system of government. The advantages that he points out consist of
being able to respond better to emergency situations, having a simpler
organizational structure, and policy systems are directly implemented in a swift
manner. One disadvantage he describes is that there is no distinction between
the legislative and administrative functions of local government.
Sunderman, Sarah. The Commission-Manager Form of Government.
National Association of Counties. Oct. 2009. Web. 29 January 2015.
<http://www.naco.org/newsroom/pubs/Documents/County%20Management
%20and%20Structure/Commission-Manager%20Form%20of
%20Governmnet.pdf>

In this article produced by Sarah Sunderman, research assistant, she

provides information on the history of the commission form of government, such
as the first cities to adopt this system and how many counties in total have used
this system at some point in time. Sunderman also explains why some states
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have this system and why some dont, which is because this form of government
depends on whether a state grants local government home rule authority or not.
Campbell, Robert Argyll. The American Political Science Review (peer
reviewed journal). Commission System of Municipal Government. Vol. 1, No.4
(Aug., 1907), pp. 621-626. American Political Science Association. Web. 29
January 2015. <http://www.jstor.org.proxy.lib.pdx.edu/stable/1945003?
origin=crossref&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents>
This article by Robert Campbell goes into depth of how the commission
system was initially supposed to be implemented and portrayed. He describes
how corruption such as bribery was forbidden in this form of government. Also,
the overview of the system implies that the city look upon itself as a whole and
consider its needs rather than the needs of a particular ward.

Gregor, Josh. You Decide: Portlands Form of Government. Emerging

Local Government Leaders Network. 28 October 2013. Web. 29 January 2015.
<http://elgl.org/2013/10/28/take-portlands-form-government-live-see/>
Special ELGL contributor Josh Gregor discusses in this article how rare
Portlands form of government is, and why they are still operating on this nearly
extinct government today. He guides this article by seeking consultation from
Carl Abbot (a professor at Portland State University). Abbott simply states that

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Portland is still operating on this system because the people havent yet declared
it as broken.
Oregonian Editorial Board. Portlands Weird Government Structure
Helped Fuel Utility Backlash. The Oregonian-OREGONLIVE. 5 April 2014. Web.
29 Jan. 2015.
http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2014/04/portlands_weird_governme
nt_str.html
Within this online newsletter by the Oregonian, analysis of voters
behavior is dissected and projected. Another aspect of this article is how the
commission system creates some drawbacks or has the potential to do so. One

of these drawbacks explained in the article is the tendency of commissioners to

protect their bureau turf, in turn allowing their colleagues wide latitude to manage
their bureaus as they see fit.
The

Oregonian

Editorial

Board.

Readers

say

Portlands

government structure outdated. The Oregonian-OREGONLIVE. 7 April

2014.

Web.

16

February

2015.

<http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2014/04/readers_say_po
rtlands_governme.html>
This article posted by The Oregonian Editorial Board explains
problems with Portlands system of government and how present day
voters feel. It also explains
how concerns of the systems efficiency have risen after efforts to
change the system in 2007.

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Manny, Frank A. The School Review -The Commission Form of
Government and the Public-school System. Vol. 19, No.10. The
University of Chicago Press. December 1911. Web. 16 Feb. 2015 (peer
Reviewed)
<http://www.jstor.org.proxy.lib.pdx.edu/stable/1076221?
Search=yes&resultItemClick=true&&searchUri=%2Faction
%2FdoAdvancedSearch%3Fq4%3D%26amp%3Bf6%3Dall%26amp

%3Bc2%3DAND%26amp%3Bf3%3Dall%26amp%3Bq0%3DCommission
%2Bform%2Bof%2Bgovernment%26amp%3Bc3%3DAND%26amp
%3Bf2%3Dall%26amp%3Bf5%3Dall%26amp%3Bacc%3Don%26amp
%3Bq2%3D%26amp%3Bf1%3Dall%26amp%3Bed%3D%26amp
%3Bq3%3D%26amp%3Bc6%3DAND%26amp%3Bla%3D%26amp
%3Bisbn%3D%26amp%3Bf0%3Dall%26amp%3Bq1%3D%26amp
%3Bwc%3Don%26amp%3Bc5%3DAND%26amp%3Bpt%3D%26amp
%3Bsd%3D%26amp%3Bq5%3D%26amp%3Bc1%3DAND%26amp
%3Bgroup%3Dnone%26amp%3Bf4%3Dall%26amp%3Bq6%3D
%26amp%3Bc4%3DAND&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents>
This Peer reviewed journal by Frank Manny describes the benefits
or the lack of harm that the commission form of government imposes
on public school. Many encourage the implementation of the system
within public schools and proceeds to describe its lack of harm.
Freer, James. Commission Form of City Government. Democrat
Printing Company, State Printer 1911. Web. 15 February 2015. (Peer
Reviewed

Journal).

<

http://search.library.pdx.edu/primo_library/libweb/action/display.do?
tabs=viewOnlineTab&ct=display&fn=search&doc=TN_hathi_trustwu.89
096570726&indx=1&recIds=TN_hathi_trustwu.89096570726&recIdxs=
0&elementId=0&renderMode=poppedOut&displayMode=full&frbrVersi
on=&dscnt=0&onCampus=false&query=any%2Ccontains
%2CCommission+form+of+city+government&scp.scps=scope%3A

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%28NZ%29%2CEbscoLocal_PSU
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6>
This extremely helpful Journal by James Freer displays and
references all of the laws and terms for the commission form of
government.

He goes on to describe the method of voting and all

applicable laws. One such law is described as followed; 7. Full and

accurate returns of votes cast for each candidate shall be made as
provided by law
Haynes, Dana. Telephone interview. 17 February 2015.
Dana Haynes is the Director of Communications for the Mayor in
Portlands government.

I conducted a telephone interview with him

and received various types of information on Portlands commission

form of government. I asked him how it has survived, if he foresees
changes or reform of the system in the future, and whether or not he
thinks this form of government is efficient. He concluded that he did
not believe the people would vote to change the system anytime in the
near future.