PORTLAND, Ore. — The Portland City Council voted Oct. 30 to initiate two disparity studies of city contracting and workforce participation and to direct staff to prepare a separate report on workforce wage and compensation data.

The resolution, as amended, directs the city to commission disparity studies of contracting and workforce participation and adds a final "be it further resolved" requiring the city administrator, with guidance from the Fair Contracting Forum (FCF), to present project-specific wage and compensation data, methods of data collection and an analysis of exemption programs intended to increase contractor and workforce diversity.

Councilor Jo Ann Smith, who brought the resolution, said disparity studies help local governments "identify and understand potential inequities within their procurement processes" and give the city information to develop targeted strategies. "We spend billions of dollars contracting and we need to make sure that all of our vendors and contractors have a fair shot," she said.

Councilor Ryan offered the amendment that added the wage-and-compensation language and asked that staff return with the requested workforce data. Ryan said the amendment was intended to make the study more inclusive and to provide "clarity on the data, demographic data on our workforce" so the city could use contracting leverage to build generational wealth.

Sylvester Donaldson, the city’s chief procurement officer, told the council that adding a comprehensive compensation analysis to the formal disparity study would substantially increase cost: "that would bring the cost back to well over a million dollars," he said. Donaldson recommended using existing internal methods and the Fair Contracting Forum to provide much of the requested information quickly and to limit additional expense.

Labor representatives and contractors who testified during the public comment period supported collecting workforce data. Lauren Bolling of Ironworkers Local 29 said making the data public would help ensure policies produce intended outcomes and argued staff could do much of the work internally. Laurie Wimmer of the Northwest Oregon Labor Council told the council she was concerned about fiscal responsibility and urged an open procurement process for any external contract; she said the University of Oregon Labor Education Research Center had offered a lower-cost option, citing roughly $100,000. Randall Friesen of the Columbia Pacific Building Trades Council urged an RFP process to clarify cost estimates. Maurice Ramming, president of O'Neil Construction Group, said wage and prevailing-wage records can be reviewed through procurement records and prevailing-wage documentation.

Several councilors raised procedural questions about whether the amendment required reopening public testimony. City staff (Lindley) advised that if an amendment is responsive to testimony already taken, reopening testimony is not required. Councilors also asked for legal and implementation clarifications; staff confirmed the mayor’s executive order on diversity did not present a conflict and suggested clarifying language could be added but was not required to achieve the desired outcome.

To address concerns about cost and scope, councilors agreed to move Ryan’s workforce-specific language out of the disparity-study clause and into a separate "be it further resolved" directing a separate report from the city administrator with input from the FCF. That revised amendment was seconded and approved by roll call, 10 ayes and 2 absent.

After further brief discussion the council adopted the underlying resolution as amended by roll call vote, 10 ayes and 2 absent.

Action and next steps: the council authorized initiation of two disparity studies and directed the city administrator, with recommendations from the Fair Contracting Forum, to deliver a separate report that will include project-level wage and compensation data, collection methods and an analysis of exemption programs. The resolution does not set a date for the separate report; the timeline for contracting, selection of any external vendor and the final disparity-study deliverables were not specified in the meeting record.

Votes at a glance: the council approved the amendment to move the workforce data language into a separate report by roll call, 10 ayes and 2 absent; later the council approved the underlying resolution as amended by roll call, 10 ayes and 2 absent.

Funding and cost: procurement staff said adding comprehensive compensation analysis to the formal disparity study could increase the price to "well over a million dollars." Speakers during public comment suggested lower-cost alternatives (the University of Oregon Labor Education Research Center was cited as offering a study for about $100,000). The resolution, as adopted, directs staff to use the Fair Contracting Forum and existing procurement methods in preparing the separate report and to pursue cost-effective approaches.

Reporting and oversight: the separate report will be prepared by the city administrator with guidance and recommendations of the Fair Contracting Forum (comprised of labor, contractors and community members) and presented to council or a relevant committee. Staff said the Fair Contracting Forum already produces reporting required by city code and that procurement can include this information in regular chief procurement officer reporting if council prefers.

(Reporting compiled from council debate, staff statements and public testimony during the Oct. 30, 2025 Portland City Council meeting.)