City Council

The Durham City Charter sets forth the powers of the City and vests those powers primarily with the City Council. There are 5 city councilors elected at large from the city. Each City Councilor is elected to serve a four year term, with 2-3 members being elected at each general election. At the first meeting of each year, the Council chooses from its membership a chairperson, who shall hold the office of Mayor for one year.

City Council Members

Keith Jehnke was elected mayor of Durham in January 2024. Before joining City Council in 2010, he served 3 years on the Planning Commission. Keith has been a Durham resident since 1996. Keith was a local employer, being a founder and an owner of AKS Engineering & Forestry, LLC, a civil engineering, land surveying, forestry, arborist, natural resources, planning and landscape architecture firm headquartered in Tualatin.  Keith retired from AKS in 2019 but is still active managing a number of residential, light industrial, and commercial properties with his wife, Debi.  Keith is a fiscal conservative who believes in property owner rights with minimal intervention. He is dedicated to increasing safe pedestrian access to all of Durham including children friendly pathway connections between neighborhoods. Keith is a licensed Civil and Environmental Engineer, a licensed Land Surveyor, a Certified Arborist and has degrees in Civil Engineering and Forest Engineering from Oregon State University.

Leslie Gifford has been on the Council since 1997 and has been a resident of the City since 1994. Leslie also served on the Planning Commission prior to her election to the Council. Leslie is an accountant in private practice and has a BS in Business Administration/Accounting from Portland State University. Leslie’s professional background as a CPA has made her the acknowledged detail person on the Council.

Chuck Van Meter was appointed to the Council in late 2007 and elected the following year. Chuck had served on the Planning Commission since 1999 as well as the Design Review Board and had served as a Chair for both boards. He has lived in Heron Grove for about 13 years and has an MBA in Business Administration. He is President and CEO of Interactive Northwest, Inc., a software development company based in Tualatin. Chuck serves as the City representative to the Washington County Coordinating Committee for Transportation and Land Use as well as the Washington County 911 Agency. He invests time in a number of local non-profit service organizations.

Joshua Drake was elected to the City Council in 2022, and served on the Planning Commission for the three years prior.  Josh has lived in Kingsgate since 2016 with his wife and two boys, and is committed to representing the residents of the City to the best of his abilities.  Josh has a degree from Georgia Tech, and is a local commercial banker.  He is highly active in the local community through coaching baseball and soccer and has also volunteered with local non-profit organizations.

Gary Paul has been a resident of Durham for more than twenty years and appreciates the unique character of the community. He has served on the Planning Commission since 2018 and Durham Park Committee, as well. Gary enjoys giving back to the community and volunteering with his church and as a youth soccer coach (when his kids were younger). Professionally, he is a licensed land surveyor with over thirty years’ of experience working on the east coast on a Federal Highway Project and locally consulting with developers on condominium and subdivision developments.

Calendar of Meetings

The City Council meets at 7:30 p.m. on the following dates:

(All meetings can be accessed and attended remotely by requesting a link for the zoom meeting.  Please email [email protected] by the day before each meeting to request this link.)

  • November 19, 2024
  • December 17, 2024

City Council Agendas

Agendas will stay on the site until the minutes for the meeting have been approved.

City Council Minutes