In a fairly candid conversation about the importance of diversity in regional planning, members of the Metro Policy Advisory Committee grappled with a proposal Wednesday to become more explicitly inclusive.
The conversation was stoked by Portland City Commissioner Amanda Fritz, who said the committee needed to be more inclusive and have representatives from underrepresented communities.
She said she'd like to see more diversity among the three citizen representatives on the committee, membership positions for youth advisory council members, community college districts and specific seats for communities of color and environmental justice.
"I think we could add value by having some different folks at the table in addition to the electeds," she said.
That prompted Metro Councilor Barbara Roberts, one of the council's liaisons to MPAC, to bring up a larger issue.
"Very few of the elected boards or commissions in this region have any racial diversity," she said. "I don't know why we would look at the Metro Council and ask them to do an outreach for diversity if I'm looking at an all-white Portland City Council, for instance."
Roberts said most of the region's governments need more diversity, not just Metro's.
"I don't see any reason for us to do more of an outreach than any of the other non-racially-diversified city councils or county commissions," she said.
Fritz seemed to dial back her proposal at that point, saying she simply wanted the three citizen representatives to MPAC – one appointed from each county – to be more reflective of diversity.
"I've found from serving on the Portland planning commission that that was really good training for wanting to run for office," she said.
She later returned to her proposal to add members from the counties' youth commissions to MPAC, even if they're in non-voting roles.
"I appreciate your interest in that because I know the diversity thing … has traditionally been a problem in the planning realm, because it tends to be extremely white and has been for decades," said Charlotte Lehan, the chair of MPAC and of the Clackamas County Commission. "It's an issue we need to work on and I'm just not exactly sure what the best approach to it is."
Lehan seconded Fritz's request for suggestions from staff on how to incorporate more diversity on the panel.
Still, there was concern about the idea of expanding the 30-member committee beyond its current membership.
"I hear that we want to hear from more citizens, but I think we hear that at the local level. We have citizens come to the City of Tualatin all the time and bring up concerns," said Tualatin City Councilor Chris Barhyte. "I worry if we continue to dilute the elected officials from jurisdictions' voice from this committee, it's not a good thing for the outcome of the decisions that are recommended up to the Metro Council."
Lake Oswego Mayor Jack Hoffman said the complexity of issues might make it hard for a youth representative, who is only on the board for a short time, to appreciate the scope of MPAC's responsibilities. He said MPAC should consist mainly of elected officials.
"Metro is a regional government that interacts with local governments," with a functional plan that tells cities what to do and not do, Hoffman said. "That intersection of local law and regional law and state law is terribly complex, and it takes a lot of time and a lot of energy to understand how it works."
He said it's elected officials, accountable to constituents, who can best understand the issues and represent them to the Metro Council liaisons that listen to MPAC's opinions.
"I respect and I understand that it would be interesting to have the youth voice at the table, I'm not sure how that will help inform my decision in terms of whether I support adding 200 to 300 acres of land north of Dairy Creek or whether we should have a new Title 3 or Title 13," Hoffman said. "It's interesting to have youth and given them an opportunity to be here to learn, but that's really not the purpose of this body. This body is to make sure that the state law that goes through the regional functional plan actually plays out on the ground."
In the end, MPAC voted unanimously to approve proposed changes to its bylaws (see document) with a recommendation to look, in the future, at opportunities for adding diversity to the board.