SALEM, Ore. — The Oregon Government Ethics Commission issued a stern verdict against Salem’s city leadership on Friday, ruling that five city councilors and Mayor Julie Hoy violated state law by conducting a series of private discussions to determine the employment of former City Manager Keith Stahley.
In a unanimous 6-0 vote, with one commissioner abstaining, the state’s independent ethics watchdog found the officials engaged in an illegal “serial meeting,” where a quorum deliberated on public business outside of a legally required public meeting. The decision is the result of a months-long investigation into the events leading up to Stahley’s sudden resignation in February 2025, which was started by formal complaints from two citizens. The commission formally adopted its investigator’s report, which concluded the officials “deliberately coordinated and orchestrated” the communications to avoid a public decision-making process.
The violation centered on a sequence of one-on-one conversations regarding Stahley’s job performance following a poor audit report. By mandating that all discussions by a quorum of a governing body take place in public, Oregon’s Public Meetings Law aims to guarantee government transparency. In order to avoid public scrutiny, the law expressly forbids “serial communications,” in which members of a body come to a collective decision through a series of private discussions.
Stahley resigned in February after a collective decision was reached as a result of these private discussions among council members, according to the commission’s adopted findings. 9. The council then voted unanimously to accept the resignation in a public meeting on Feb. 10, after the pivotal decision had already been reached in private.
The officials found in violation are Council President Linda Nishioka and Councilors Deanna Gwyn, Vanessa Nordyke, Paul Tigan, and Micki Varney, alongside Mayor Julie Hoy. The commission dismissed cases against Councilors Irvin Brown and Shane Matthews, citing insufficient evidence of their participation.
During the public hearing, officials presented conflicting accounts of the events and their roles in the communications. Mayor Julie Hoy placed responsibility on the council president, stating, “The truth is, Councilor Nishioka went ahead of council on this by inserting herself into the matter… I believe it was in the aftermath that she lied to protect herself.”
Conversely, Councilor Vanessa Nordyke argued she was an unwitting participant, stating her single conversation with the mayor was meant to be confidential. “This is proof that I did not agree to the mayor speaking to any other member of council,” Nordyke said. “Mayor Hoy, as we know, she ended up speaking with every member of council, and that was without my knowledge.” Council President Nishioka stated her intent was not to circumvent the law and that she would accept a letter of education.
The officials now face a likely sanction of a “letter of education,” which serves as a formal, public reprimand and creates an official record of the violation. The decision solidifies a breach of public trust that has shadowed Salem’s government for months and places the issues of ethics and transparency at the forefront of the city’s political discourse. The fallout has already had a chilling effect on city governance, with reports that councilors have been advised to stop attending public neighborhood association meetings for fear that their presence could be construed as another improper meeting, limiting public access to their elected officials.
