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Portland Mayor Charlie Hales speaking at a news conference in 2013 announcing the agreement to move forward with the U.S. Department of Justice settlement on the police use of force.
(Thomas Boyd/The Oregonian)
A scheduled City Council vote to decide Portland's involvement with the FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Force has been delayed until Jan. 15.
Portland Mayor Charlie Hales initially scheduled the hearing – titled "Withdrawal from JTTF Involvement" – for Dec. 18.
Hales said he hasn't made up his mind about withdrawing, although he voted against involvement as a city commissioner in 2001 and believes the existing arrangement is "pretty unsatisfactory."
Spokespeople for Hales didn't immediately respond to questions Monday about the reason for the delay. This post will be updated when they respond.
UPDATE: "JTTF was delayed because there are a lot of other things going on, both on the Council calendar and in scheduling community meetings; recently community outreach has been focused on other topics, such as protests. Commissioners want to hear from stakeholders, so the agenda item was delayed to allow more time for them to do so," Sara Hottman, a spokeswoman for Hales, said in an email.
"While commissioners are still working on outreach, Mayor Hales is aware of various community groups' stances. He has also recently heard from the ACLU and Dwight Holton, former federal prosecutor, about their views."
In 2011, City Council assigned police officers to the anti-terrorism task force on an "as-needed" basis under a deal worked out by then-Mayor Sam Adams and Dwight Holton, the U.S. Attorney for Oregon at the time.
Since Hales took over in 2013, some members of the City Council have expressed concern about the arrangement and the skimpy reports delivered to elected leaders on an annual basis.
Hales was scheduled to meet with Holton on Dec. 9.
Federal justice officials haven't made a big deal out of Portland's possible withdrawal.
"The city is not in the JTTF, so there's really nothing to pull out of," Oregon U.S. Attorney Amanda Marshall said earlier this month.
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-- Brad Schmidt