convened the city's first-ever Immigrant and Refugee Task Force to recommend strategies to address barriers to engagement. Together with wife Karin Hansen and with the help of several hundred young Portlanders, Potter led Portland to become the first major U.S. city to produce a children's bill of rights. Our Bill of Rights: Children and Youth was created by the children and youth of the Portland area to advise community leaders of what support and access they needed to reach their full potential. It was adopted as an advisory document by both the Portland City Council and the Multnomah County Commission. Also during 2006, Potter initiated the development of a new Office of Human Relations, dedicated to combating social issues such as race and sexual identity discrimination, hate crimes and human rights abuses through the establishment of a Human Rights Commission and police Racial Profiling Committee. The new Office officially commenced in January 2008. Early in 2007, Potter proposed four changes to Portland's city charter requiring a vote by the electorate. The changes included language providing for: A regular review of the charter every ten years, increased control of the Portland Development Commission by the City Council, exclusion of some city government job classes from civil service protections, and the most dramatic of the proposed changes, the establishment of a new form of government that provided greatly increased authority for the Mayor relative to the existing system. Of the proposed changes to the charter, the form of government switch was the most debated and was characterized by opponents as a power grab. In May 2007, Portland voters passed three of the proposed changes, but rejected the change to the city's form of government by a decisive 3-to-1 margin. After months of speculation, Potter announced on September 10, 2007, that he would not run for re-election as mayor of Portland in 2008. He cited a desire to spend more time with his family. In May 2008, Sam Adams was elected as the next mayor. Potter's term ended when Adams took the oath of office on January 1, 2009. References External links CityMayors.com profile of Tom Potter 1940 births Living people People from North Bend, Oregon Mayors of Portland, Oregon Chiefs of the Portland Police Bureau Oregon Democrats