Julie Hoy jumps right in as she prepares to be mayor, but her plans remain unclear

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Julie Hoy will step up as Salem’s mayor Monday to begin her journey guiding the city toward her priorities of reducing homelessness and addiction while facing a multimillion dollar budget deficit threatening to shutter fire stations, libraries and take police officers off the streets. 

Hoy, a city councilor and the owner of Geppetto’s Italian Restaurant, won election against outgoing Mayor Chris Hoy last May. Her win came after a bitter campaign where she focused on her opposition to new taxes to balance Salem’s budget while also promising to prioritize funding for public safety. 

In the eight months since, she has said little publicly about how she’ll tackle the city’s most pressing challenges. Instead, she has publicly provided vague explanations of her stances during council meetings and focused more on her personal biography in public appearances.

Hoy is eagerly making her rounds, attending local government meetings and business events around Salem, and sitting down one-on-one with many city department leaders.

During a Jan. 9 morning networking event for the Latino Business Alliance, she introduced herself to the room in both English and Spanish, then observed and spoke with some attendees.

Many city officials described conversations with Hoy in recent months as high level, logistical, or largely lacking in detail or specific plans.

Fellow city councilors said they are optimistic about the future and said Hoy is eager to learn and is approaching her expanded role with positivity.  

In December, she declined to sit for an interview with Salem Reporter until after her swearing in, and has provided little context to the news organization about her positions or priorities as a councilor. Since her election, she has often responded to interview requests with written statements, and has declined to speak over the phone. Previous mayors and other city councilors routinely speak to reporters by phone and answer questions in detail at meetings.

Hoy will be sworn in during a ceremony on Monday, Jan. 13, in the Salem City Council Chambers.

She takes the job after two years representing Ward 6, east Salem, on the council. Irvin Brown, Shane Matthews and Paul Tigan will be sworn in as city councilors.

She has indicated publicly previously that her top priorities include balancing the city’s budget, and addressing the city’s homeless, mental health and addiction crises.

She has posted on her Facebook page that she opposes unnecessary taxes and fees, prioritizes public safety funding, government accountability, addressing unsanctioned camping on Salem’s streets, making city government more inclusive for all residents, and coordinating with Marion and Polk counties to provide services for the homeless. 

“Since being elected as your mayor, I’ve been on a journey of learning and growing in this new role. Just as I believe in staying open to new experiences, I’m embracing the opportunity to learn everything I can about leading Oregon’s second-largest city,” Hoy wrote on Facebook on Oct. 16. “There’s a lot to take in –processes, people, plans, and potential –but I’m ready for the challenge.”

Though the council is nonpartisan, races in recent years have been functionally partisan affairs, with Hoy representing a more conservative, business-focused minority on the nine-person council. As mayor, she’ll lead council meetings and can appoint councilors to committees, but still has only one vote.

Liberal and progressive councilors will retain a majority, while Hoy, alongside Councilors Deanna Gwyn and Matthews, will form a more conservative bloc.

Because Hoy is vacating her seat representing Ward 6, that seat will be filled following a special election on May 20. 

Hoy’s voting record 

Hoy ran for mayor on a platform saying the city didn’t need to cut public safety or close its library to balance its budget. She has not identified other specific cuts or other ways to increase city revenue to safeguard those programs. 

Much of her campaign focused on attacking Chris Hoy over his support for an unpopular wage tax that was intended to close the city’s budget gap

Hoy told voters the problem with Salem’s budget is caused by the city’s priorities and spending habits more than anything else. She vowed to shine light on the city’s often opaque budgetary process.

“In terms of the budget, I hear from so many that are unsettled about how the city is spending and how much money there is,” Hoy said during a mayoral debate hosted by Salem Reporter in May. “So, what else is in the book, and what’s being done, and what’s not? The budget needs a real examination and I will figure out how to do that in the best, most efficient and affordable way.”

Her voting record on council has been mixed on budgetary issues. She has at times opposed spending or fees backed by a majority of councilors, while at other times voting with her more liberal counterparts to look into increasing property taxes to pay for services. 

She was part of an 8-1 vote in November directing the city to investigate a potential property tax levy in the spring to pay for parks, the library and Center 50+. That vote came despite councilors being advised of the roughly $300,000 price tag for a levy campaign, and despite polls showing Salem residents were unwilling to pay more in taxes. City Councilor Jose Gonzalez was the sole vote against looking into the levy. 

During that meeting, Hoy said she didn’t want to see the city spend money on a campaign, only to see a levy fail.

“I think the thing that makes this a little bit hopeful to me is knowing the passion of the people who are in these programs. And that they can turn that passion into power and get out there and maybe we can make it happen. So, I feel hopeful that way,” she said during the meeting.

Julie voted along with the vast majority of her colleagues to direct city leaders to prioritize funding Salem’s fire department, police department, library and homeless outreach team while crafting a budget for 2025. 

However Hoy was also the only councilor in November to vote against a routine 4.5% increase in utility rates in 2025 and 2026, and she joined Councilors Deanna Gwyn and Micki Varney in voting against an $18,000 pay increase for City Manager Keith Stahley. 

In response to a November request for clarification on her budget platform, Hoy offered little, telling Salem Reporter only that the budget committee will have to think outside the box and gather community feedback. 

“Financial challenges in any organization or group, business or home require all hands on deck,” Hoy said in a text. “There are a lot of really smart people in Salem. We can solve this problem but we obviously can’t do it the way it’s been done.” 

How Hoy is preparing

Hoy’s official calendar from Oct. 15 to Dec. 15 shows she’s attended a range of briefings and meetings on topics including public health, homelessness, solid waste, and the city’s budget crisis.

The calendar shows she typically has at least one official meeting or function four to five days per week, including touring the city’s water treatment facility at Geren Island and October meetings with high-level city leaders focused on improving permitting and housing production.

In December she flew to Massachusetts to attend a two-day special training for new mayors at Harvard University, something Chris Hoy also attended before being sworn in. 

The conference was sponsored by the Bloomberg Philanthropies, a charity foundation founded by Michael Bloomberg. It also includes virtual sessions through April for the new mayors.

Hoy has since met with some of her colleagues on the council in preparation for becoming mayor.

“I do know that she has been working with the leadership team to get up to speed. Because as a councilor, we certainly learn a lot. But not everything. And so I think she has been getting a lot of support and understanding. More than she had before,” Council President Linda Nishioka said.

Chris Hoy said he’s offered numerous times to meet with the incoming mayor during their time on council, but the two have not had a single one-on-one meeting. 

In response to a fact checking inquiry, Julie Hoy said in the past two years Chris Hoy offered to meet with her once. 

“It was this past September 2024 when I had been asked to speak before legislators at the Capitol. At that time he only wanted to be sure I knew that if I did speak… it would not be on behalf of the city,” Hoy said. “The meeting lasted less than two minutes.” 

The logistics associated with getting Hoy ready for Monday has been assigned to Deputy City Manager Krishna Namburi. Namburi said she along with the city’s Strategic Initiatives Manager Courtney Knox Bush and Executive Assistant Tami Carpenter have been regularly meeting with Hoy over the past few weeks, largely to discuss issues like getting Hoy equipped with supplies like a laptop and getting her new office prepared. 

“There were no specific questions about what her objectives are and what she wants to know. We haven’t talked about that,” Namburi said. “I don’t think it is anything specific. It is mostly to make sure that we have all the pieces ready for her to start on Monday.” 

Chief Financial Advisor Josh Eggleston said he met Hoy at her request for a one-on-one meeting in August for a high-level discussion about the city’s budget.

In October she was the keynote speaker at Salem Area Chamber of Commerce luncheon where she answered questions about her life and leadership, and she largely took the opportunity to share personal anecdotes and express her personality by showcasing her musical talents by singing for the room. 

Last Thursday, she met with Jeremy Gordon, Polk County commissioner and chair of the Mid-Willamette Valley Homeless Alliance, Nicole Utz, the director of the Salem Housing Authority, and Marion County Commissioner Danielle Bethell to discuss supportive housing. 

Gordon said Hoy was actively taking notes during their meeting, and asked some good but general questions about how to deal with homelessness if making arrests isn’t a viable solution. Gordon said she did not expand on what her approach to the housing and homelessness crisis will be once she is mayor. 

“Julie was writing notes and clearly taking it in but I would love to have a sit down for coffee to hear her hopes and priorities,” Gordon said. 

As mayor, Hoy will decide who will represent Salem on the Mid-Willamette Valley Homeless Alliance board, which oversees the agency’s work coordinating homeless services across Marion and Polk counties.

Salem Fire Chief David Gerboth said he doesn’t meet with Hoy often, but that he is maintaining a line of communication with the city’s new mayor. 

“I think she wants what my vision of the department is and she wants to understand the fire department, the different divisions, our mission, and how we are accomplishing that,” Gerboth said. “Pretty high level discussions at this point.” 

Gerboth said Hoy recently participated in a ride along with firefighters as they responded to a homeless camp fire on New Year’s Eve. 

Eggleston said she has also attended other meetings with him, but in larger group settings. 

In addition to serving on the city’s budget committee, Hoy also serves on a team dedicated to reviewing and validating the city’s financial forecasts.

Betsy Shutlz, Hoy’s campaign strategist, said she has an ongoing relationship with Hoy and plans to serve as a resource for the new mayor as she enters the next stage in her leadership career. 

“My role has been as a sounding board to her to talk through various ideas and taking all of the pieces of her priorities that she articulated to voters over the course of the election, and how to translate those into tangible deliverables as she becomes mayor,” Shultz said. 

Development and business

During her campaign, Hoy raised over a quarter of a million dollars in contributions, a lot of it from business owners and developers who would not say why they believed she’s the best fit to lead Salem as mayor. 

Those campaign contributions reached nearly $284,000 leading up to the election, dwarfing Chris Hoy’s $57,000 in campaign contributions.

Campaign finance records show she’s raised little since her election, though Schultz has continued to advise her, recording her service as in-kind donations. 

Schultz said Hoy has been building relationships with the development community.  

“I know she has had conversations with the development community on if there are things that the city can do to potentially reduce barriers to development so that housing that is built here can be afforded by more people,” Schultz said. 

Schultz said she was not privy to what meetings in particular Hoy has attended with members of the development community. 

Salem’s Community Planning and Development Director Kristin Retherford said she and Hoy met briefly before Christmas to orient her.

“We have not had a meeting where we’ve gone into any depth on land use or development or anything else at this point,” Retherford said. “I know she has expressed interest in doing that.”

In October Hoy voted with a majority of the council in favor of a land use appeal involving one of her top campaign donors, Mountain West Investment Corp. Mountain West gave Hoy about $19,000 during her campaign and the company’s president, Larry Tokarski, gave Hoy $20,000. 

Hoy voted to spare a development on land owned by Mountain West from providing a costly sidewalk, despite the city charter advising councilors to abstain from votes where there may be a perceived conflict. The vote resulted in a majority of the council later censuring her over the perceived conflict of interest. 

Hoy argued that she had a duty as an elected official to represent all of her constituents and to vote on the matter despite the potential appearance of impropriety or a conflict of interest.

“Reasonable people understand that they support candidates financially and this does not create bias or conflict. Hundreds of people have supported me, and countless more have supported those sitting around this table,” Hoy said leading up to the vote. “Our system of government cannot function if contributing to a campaign means that you now no longer have representation by your local elected official.”

Collaboration with Marion County 

Hoy maintains a close relationship with Marion County Commissioner Danielle Bethell, who was recently reelected to a second term. 

The two have regularly appeared together at public events, and both are active in local Republican politics.

Hoy and Bethell appeared together during a December town hall session posted on Facebook. The two took questions from callers and discussed homelessness and the city’s budgetary shortfall among others. The video shows Bethell did the majority of the talking while Hoy appeared to take notes. 

Bethell told Salem Reporter that she and Hoy have been meeting frequently to discuss mutual priorities, including improving the homelessness situation in Salem.  

“I believe that Julie’s goal, from all the conversations I’ve shared with her, is to really convene conversations with all the people in that arena and come to a consensus that the community supports,” Bethell said. “I know it is very important for her that she has a pulse on the community expectations for community livability, and how you navigate both that conversation and the expectations of your neighbors is going to be very time consuming and initially very difficult. But once folks learn who she truly is at the core, which is just the servant of somebody who wants to live in a healthy community of folks that can thrive, I think more folks are going to want to show up for those conversations.”

Relationships between city and county leaders have been strained in recent years, and Hoy has listed closer collaboration with Marion County as one approach to addressing homelessness.

Bethell said Hoy attends many county meetings and work sessions on topics she is interested in, primarily those related to public safety, homelessness, and solid waste. Hoy attends the majority of the county’s health and human services updates, Bethell said. 

“The role I think she plays with the commissioners is currently a relationship building role, a learning role. Julie is a very curious person. She is aware that her level of experience comes from being a business owner and a community volunteer and a grassroots person. Not at all a politician or somebody that has ever worked in government,” Bethell said. “She has been very curious with each commissioner to learn how each of us function and perform the duty as commissioner and has tried to gain an understanding of what the important roles of different services of the county are and how our policy priorities are established.”

The two have also begun collaborating on civil commitment matters and discussing ways to address mental illness, Bethell said. Hoy and Bethell recently met with House Majority Leader Ben Bowman on that issue, she said. 

Bethell described Hoy as approachable and available, and “probably the most active mayor we have in any of the jurisdictions in Marion County.”

While Hoy leans more conservative than others on the council, some of her more left-leaning colleagues expressed optimism as Hoy becomes mayor. 

Others on council said more collaboration with the conservative county commission would be better for getting things done. 

Councilor Vanessa Nordyke said she would be thrilled if Hoy could bring the city and the county closer together on the area’s many issues and priorities, saying the two governments don’t communicate much.

“You can just look at our agendas for the last several years and you could probably count on one hand the number of times that we’ve had county commissioners attend our meetings or vice versa… It’s rare,” Nordyke said. 

Council President Linda Nishioka said Hoy is approaching the job with a great attitude and hopes for a collaborative council.

“She is working pretty hard at this, I feel. And she has a very positive perspective, which I hope all of us come in with a positive collaborative spirit and that we can all take off in a very good space. I’m hoping for that, and I think it will happen,” she said.

Disclosure: Larry Tokarski is a founder and an owner of Salem Reporter. He is not involved in news coverage produced by Salem Reporter. Read more on that here.

Contact reporter Joe Siess: [email protected] or 503-335-7790.

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