Oregon AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Barbara Byrd has been appointed as the labor voice on the City of Portland’s new blue ribbon commission on utility oversight.
The 12-member panel was set up to look at potential reforms of Portland’s water and sewer bureaus, and report back to Portland City Council in November. Its chair is former U.S. attorney Dwight Holton, who was a candidate for attorney general in 2012.
Byrd says she has no special expertise on utility issues, but she’ll make sure the commission considers the perspective of workers in those bureaus.
Unions, led by AFSCME, were the biggest contributors to the campaign to defeat a May 2014 citywide ballot measure that would have put a new independent board in charge of the City’s water and sewer system. The measure’s backers criticized the City’s current leadership for rate increases, inappropriate expenditures, and lack of accountability and budget transparency. The task of the blue ribbon commission is to come up with reforms that could address those concerns.
All of the commission’s meetings will be open to the public. The first meeting will be July 15 from 4 to 6 p.m. in the Lovejoy Room of Portland City Hall, 1221 SW 4th Ave.
