As voters head to the polls to select a crop of new state legislators and a governor, two familiar names will be on the ballot for some south Salem residents.
Political newcomers Dynee Medlock and Deanna Gwyn are running for Salem City Council’s Ward 4 after finishing just six votes apart in the May primary election. The seat is currently held by Jackie Leung, who ran for the Democratic nomination for House District 19 in the spring before dropping out of the race due to health issues.
The ward covers the south central part of the city, the areas surrounding Southeast Commercial and Sunnyside streets south of Kuebler Boulevard.
The race is nonpartisan, and the position is an unpaid volunteer job. Councilors serve a four-year term.
Ahead of the May primary, Salem Reporter sent each candidate a set of questions about their views on city issues and their experience in city government. That Q&A is available here.
Here’s what both candidates said they’d focus on during recent interviews.
Dynee Medlock
Medlock, 43, is a network specialist and web developer with Mac A to Z. She and her husband have lived in her south Salem home for 14 years. She previously served on the South Gateway Neighborhood Association board in 2009.
She said her long history in the ward and prior civic involvement make her well-qualified for the seat.
“I have connections here, relationships with people, and I’m invested in this community. This is my home. This is where I’m raising my kids,” she said.
Medlock supports the work the city has done to address homelessness, including adding micro shelters which are manufactured by local businesses. She said she’d look for more ways to involve businesses in solutions to homelessness and public-private partnerships to help get people off the streets and stretch limited city resources further.
“Nobody wants to have people suffering and living on the streets. Nobody wants that. And so, if we can have that balance and continue to move forward, and continue on those partnerships, that will be great,” she said.
She said as a councilor, she’d reach out to residents and businesses and find ways to connect people so those who have resources to offer can get involved in programs that need support.
Medlock said it’s crucial to get more officers for the Salem Police Department, which she said is very understaffed.
“I live here, I have two kids, I 100% care about safety and I am very impressed with the officers,” she said.
But Medlock said unlike her opponent, she doesn’t want to promise expansions because of the multiple budget constraints facing the city of Salem — particularly when federal Covid relief money that’s helped support an expansion of homeless services runs out in 2024.
“You can’t just wish for something and make it happen. You have to plan for it. And you have to look at what we have now,” she said.
Medlock said as a councilor, she’d address the gap between what councilors would like to see happen in Salem and funding available by prioritizing services that offer more “bang for our buck.”
She cited a mobile crisis unit as one example, since it would free up police resources to respond to more serious calls by sending mental health providers to help people in crisis.
Medlock spoke at length about the cost of various traffic control devices and lights — something she researched after a neighborhood resident came to her suggesting an intersection in the ward could use a roundabout to slow traffic down. She said she’d take that approach to addressing needs and concerns from residents in the ward, speaking with city employees to understand issues and trying to find answers for constituents.
“I talk to people, I dig in when people have issues and I try to find solutions. If I don’t know the solution, I try to find someone else who does,” she said.
Deanna Gwyn
Gwyn, 59, is a principal broker with Blum Real Estate and treasurer for the Mid-Valley Association of Realtors.
She has lived in Salem for about 40 years in both ward 7 and just outside the city’s south limits before moving into ward 4 in 2021.
“I think we need to think outside the box on some of these things and have some fresh ideas coming to the council,” she said.
Homelessness was a major reason she decided to run for the council. Gwyn said city efforts like a navigation center to help connect homeless people with housing and other resources, are badly needed. The center is currently being renovated.
But she said solutions in government sometimes move too slowly. Gwyn said she feels there’s a rift between what the city is doing and the county when they’re working on similar issues.
“Developing stronger partnerships between county and the city would be awesome, if we were just talking more,” she said. She would seek regular meetings with county commissioners to make that happen.
Gwyn also supports the city starting a mobile crisis unit to take pressure off police. She said the city should see whether a local nonprofit could stand up the effort without city funding to start.
“We need to have some of these nonprofits getting involved and not just nonprofits, but the faith community,” she said.
Gwyn said Salem badly needs more police officers, saying residents don’t feel safe because of shootings and thefts of items like catalytic converters in “broad daylight.” Gwyn said she’d prioritize more officers in city budgeting, though she acknowledged finding funds would be difficult.
“We’re gonna have to make compromises somewhere, and I don’t know where that would be at this point,” she said.
Gwyn said she’d like to see the city do more to promote its neighborhood associations and encourage residents to get involved. She suggested the city could include information about the local association for new homeowners along with information about city utilities and other services.
To help with affordable housing, Gwyn said she’d also like to see more programs to support first-time homebuyers through grants or incentives to help with down payments.
“I have a daughter in her 20s … She has a good job. She’d love to be able to buy a house and there’s no way she’s gonna be able to do that anytime soon,” she said. “I want to see as many people in our community as possible as homeowners. I would love that. That strengthens our economy. It strengthens our viability as a city and people are then invested in our community,” she said.
CAMPAIGN MONEY: Here are totals for each campaign as reported by the state Elections Division as of Oct. 20. To look into individual donations and expenditures, start with this state website: Campaign finance.
MEDLOCK
Contributions: $25,603. Expenditures: $14,344. Cash balance: $11,260
Top five donors: Gerald Medlock, $4,500; Diana Medlock, $3,000; Elect Casey Kopcho (committee for the former planning commissioner and former ward 4 council candidate who dropped out of the race) $2,494; Progressive Salem $2,124 in-kind; George Putnam, $2,000
GWYN
Contributions: $90,369. Expenditures: $88,776. Cash balance: $1,900
Top five donors: Oregon Realtors Political Action Committee, $27,500; Mid-Valley Affordable Housing Coalition (political action committee for the Homebuilders Association of Marion and Polk Counties), $10,167 cash and in-kind; Blum Real Estate, $5,000; Mountain West Investment Corp., $3,000; Marion + Polk First PAC, $2,500
(Disclosure: Larry Tokarski, Mountain West president, is also a co-founder of Salem Reporter.)
Contact reporter Rachel Alexander: [email protected] or 503-575-1241.
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Rachel Alexander is Salem Reporter’s managing editor. She joined Salem Reporter when it was founded in 2018 and covers city news, education, nonprofits and a little bit of everything else. She’s been a journalist in Oregon and Washington for a decade. Outside of work, she’s a skater and board member with Salem’s Cherry City Roller Derby and can often be found with her nose buried in a book.
