Councilor Green Pushes For Oversight Hearing On Undisclosed $21 Million

December 17, 2025

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media Contact: Maria Sipin, Chief of Staff

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Councilor Green Pushes For Oversight Hearing On Undisclosed $21 Million

PORTLAND, OR - Portland City Councilor Mitch Green today announced he has filed a resolution calling for an investigation into why approximately $21 million in unused housing funds went undisclosed to the Council for months. This lapse occurred even as they grappled with a fall budget shortfall of nearly the same amount, forcing difficult cuts and debates over housing services that could have been avoided.

The episode has ignited serious questions about the flow and control of information from the Mayor's office, bureaus, and the City Administrator to the Council, which is the legislative body vested by Portland's new charter with final decision-making power over the city budget.

Councilor Green attempted to introduce the resolution for consideration on December 17th as a nine-twelfths agenda item, a procedural tool requiring nine of the twelve councilors to consent to immediate action. Eight councilors (Green, Avalos, Morillo, Dunphy, Kanal, Smith, Pirtle-Guiney, and Koyama Lane) gave their approval, falling one short for the Tuesday deadline.

"I'm proud that seven of my colleagues and I recognized the need for oversight here and stood prepared to perform the duty the charter demands," said Councilor Green. "This is an essential function of this body. How we don't have 12 out of 12 on this is beyond me."

Green filed again and requested a new date from Council President Elana Pirtle-Guinea for the resolution in January this time without the nine-twelfths approach, setting the stage for the issue to be among the first the council takes up in the new year.

"I treated this with the urgency Portlanders and most of my colleagues are demanding. It won't be heard this week but the fact is this issue isn't going away," Green stated. "If it takes us a little longer, so be it. But we need answers."

This push for accountability comes just days after the council confirmed Raymond Lee as City Administrator. During his confirmation hearing, multiple councilors expressed frustration with the current information-sharing practices between the administration and the council.

Councilor Candace Avalos pointedly told Lee, "We don't feel that that bridge is strong right now," and urged him to "urgently take the lead on how to strengthen that bridge."

The move by Green has been endorsed by key voices involved in shaping Portland's new government structure. Terry Harris, an attorney, environmental activist, and member of the Government Transition Advisory Committee, applauded the action in a Bluesky post.

"Separation of powers in Portland's new govt [sic] makes oversight particularly important. The Council is essentially prohibited from telling the City Administrator how to do his job. However, the Council may absolutely ask the City Admin'r [sic] to account for the administration's performance," Harris wrote. "I'm rooting for [Councilor Green] and his colleagues on this. Not only because I think this particular oversight is worth doing. But also because this will be a good trial run for a process that really needs to be much more commonplace in Portland."

This resolution, if adopted, marks the first time the council in this new form of government will have formally exercised its oversight powers.

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Resolution text filed December 16, 2025 with a Council Meeting date requested for January 2026

Title: Require City Administrator to release public records in reference to unspent surplus funds and schedule an oversight hearing

WHEREAS, Council was first notified of the potential for a budget deficit to be balanced in the Fall Technical Adjustment Ordinance (TAO) on August 8^th, 2025; and

WHEREAS, following the passage of the Fall TAO, the Deputy City Administrator (DCA) of the Community and Economic Development Service Area (CEDSA) notified Council of previously undiscovered funds available for housing related use on November 20^th, 2025; and

WHEREAS, reporting on the matter of the funds has raised significant public interest in the timeline related to the fund discovery, its relation to TAO development, and why City Council was not notified of these funds prior to Council consideration of the TAO; and

WHEREAS, Council expects that information from bureaus will be readily available upon request in order to aid in effective legislative oversight;

NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, Council exercises its investigatory authority in aid of its legislative function granted by the Charter and directs that the City Administrator shall release all relevant public records subject to disclosure under the Public Records Act, including without limitation communications and other information pertinent to understanding the following questions:

1. What happened to the funds and what led to them not being spent in previous years?
2. Who was aware of the funds, at what point in time was each party made aware, and why was Council not informed in a more timely manner?
3. What dynamics led to this information not being shared with Council, and what was the sequence of events, given that Council has received differing accounts of what occurred?
4. To what degree were decisions made around these funds and when information was or wasn't shared, as it pertains to development of the Fall TAO proposal?

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the City Administrator shall share a complete set of the above-described public records identified by the City Administrator with Council and Council Operations no later than February 6^th, 2026; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, Council Operations shall compile all available information, accounts, records, and communications shared by the City Administrator, Council Offices, journalists, and other relevant parties. Council Operations shall share this compilation with Council no later than February 13^th, 2026, distinguishing the set of public records described above provided by the City Administrator from all other information provided by other sources; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the Council President shall schedule an initial oversight hearing to invite testimony of relevant individuals and consider all findings, no later than February 20^th, 2026, and schedule subsequent oversight hearings to consider additional investigatory action by Council if necessary, in the interest of working toward conclusory findings in aid of Council's legislative function.

Councilor Mitch Green Official Social Media Channels and Website
Instagram @councilormitchgreen
Bluesky @councilorgreen.bsky.social
YouTube @CouncilorGreenComms
Website portland.gov