City of Durham, OregonThe 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
Gery Schirado has been on the Council since 1993 and has been selected by members of the Council to serve as mayor for each year since 1997. Gery has been a resident of the City since 1975 and began his service to the community in 1977 as a member of the Planning Commission. He remained on the Commission until 1988 and served as Chairman for many of those years. Gery strives to bring a sense of balance and fairness to meetings over which he presides and his abilities have often gained the respect of both sides of opposing factions. Gery is retired as a medical equipment sales representative / manager and has a BA from the University of Portland.
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.
Keith Jehnke has been a resident of the City since 1996 and served 3 years on the Planning Commission prior to being appointed to the City Council in the spring of 2010. Keith was subsequently elected to the City Council in the next general election. Keith is also serving as the City’s representative on the Tigard Water Advisory Board. 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.
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.
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.)
- September 26, 2023
- October 24, 2023
- November 28, 2023
- December 19, 2023
City Council Agendas
Agendas will stay on the site until the minutes for the meeting have been approved.