Portland leaders are crafting a plan to ensure the fundamental components of a sweeping proposal to change the city’s form of government appear on November’s ballot, should a legal challenge succeed at keeping the measure as written from voters.
Were a judge to uphold that challenge, Mayor Ted Wheeler and city commissioners would have only days to refer an alternative package to voters. Accomplishing that task would be particularly arduous because most members of the City Council are away, which put the council on a scheduled recess for much of August.
A leading proposal, floated to council offices last week by the mayor’s chief of staff, would place three separate measures on the ballot but require all of them to pass to take effect, four City Hall staffers told The Oregonian/OregonLive.