A split Salem city council on Monday accepted a largely anonymous $180,000 donation from the Salem business community to help pay for two more police officers to deal with unmanaged homeless camps downtown and elsewhere in the city. 

The gift from donors was offered to the city by business leaders associated with the Salem Area Chamber of Commerce and the Salem Main Street Association, and is in tune with the city’s working plans to address issues related to safety and cleanliness downtown and in northeast Salem. That plan was approved by the council earlier this month. 

Councilors Paul Tigan, Shane Matthews, Deanna Gwyn, Mai Vang and Vanessa Nordyke joined Salem Mayor Julie Hoy in voting to accept the gift while Council President Linda Nishioka and Councilors Irvin Brown and Micki Varney voted against it. 

Nordyke voted reluctantly in favor and attempted to sway her colleagues to hold off on the vote until the city had a written policy to serve as a guide for accepting private gifts and donations. 

The $180,000 gift will be used to help pay for two new police officers who will join the Salem Police Department’s Homelessness Services Team which focuses on helping manage unauthorized homeless camps throughout the city.

The department is currently hiring for those positions and expects to have officers on the streets in December or January. 

If the expanded team is successful, the business community will offer another $180,000, according to a letter from the chamber and the Main Street Association which said “As business leaders, we will reconvene and evaluate the effectiveness of this investment for the consideration of an additional six (6) months of funding resources.” 

The two new officers will double the size of the team, allowing it to operate seven days a week instead of four.

Part of the team’s job is to help connect homeless people with services and housing, and to work in tandem with city cleaning crews to remove trash and debris once camps are abandoned.

The city’s plan includes expanding the city’s cleaning crews to seven days a week and standing up a crisis response team run by the Salem Fire Department pairing emergency medical workers with a mental health specialist, in addition to adding the two Homelessness Services Team officers. 

The plan is expected to cost the city $650,000 from Jan. 1 to July 2026, but those costs will now be offset by the donation. 

The only donor who was publicly identified was Larry Tokarski, the president of Mountain West Investment Company. City documents don’t indicate what portion of the donation came from him.

Chamber CEO Tom Hoffert and TJ Sullivan, the president of the Main Street Association, did not respond to telephone messages from Salem Reporter requesting a comprehensive list of donors. 

Councilors on Monday, while appreciative of the gift, struggled with accepting money from private donors to fund public functions. 

“This donation is…this generosity, would really help to relieve the financial burden on us, getting through the year,” Varney said leading up to the vote. “It truly, truly would, but then I look at it, and at what cost? Right now we are struggling with trust and transparency.” 

Dozens of community members called out the optics of taking the money from the business community to fund police both in public testimony Monday night and in submitted written testimony. 

“I personally find this $180,000 donation to be disturbing for several reasons…The donors would like to remain anonymous except for Mr. Tokarski so the public does not know who the beneficiaries are of this increased police presence in downtown,” said Salem resident Kathleen Trepa on Monday night. “The donation proposal smells a bit of a quid pro quo relationship. These business leaders will evaluate the effectiveness of their investment before deciding whether to make another donation. For a city experiencing such budget challenges, the motivation to please these anonymous donors might be a bit tempting and as a taxpaying resident I feel it is a bit too much like influence peddling.” 

The original proposal from the business community pitched funding for a six-month pilot program for two bicycle mounted-police officers to patrol exclusively in downtown. 

Salem City Manager Krishna Namburi said at Monday night’s city council meeting that she met with the chamber and the Main Street Association and explained the city’s ongoing plans to increase the homeless team. She told them the team would serve the entire city and not just downtown. 

“(Homeless team) officers were identified as an immediate need, and not bike cops. And so, one thing that I was very clear … for us to consider the donation it has to be about HST officers and not bike cops, and they were supportive of that,” Namburi said. 

Brown said he could not support accepting the gift because he doesn’t believe it is within the police department’s purview to engage with and take care of the city’s homeless. He said that the job is better suited for the faith community. 

“As a policy advisor for the state, I can tell you, we have spent millions and millions of dollars in the past four years, and we are roughly in the same place,” Brown said. 

“I just believe it is a slippery slope when we decide as a council to take outside funds to fix a problem that we know we cannot fix.”

Earlier in the meeting, Salem Police Chief Trevor Womack made it clear that his team is not meant to solve homelessness, but its job is to mitigate some of the issues associated with homelessness and unmanaged homeless camps. 

Nishioka said she felt “anxious” about accepting the donation, especially because of the contingency of more funding six months later. She said the optics did not sit well with her. 

“While I respect and welcome the community’s partnership I am cautious about depending on private donations to fund police positions especially,” Nishioka said. “The optics of this could unintentionally create expectations or perception about influence over where and how those officers are assigned.” 

Nordyke, who is running against Hoy for mayor, urged her colleagues to hold off on the vote until she could introduce a motion next month to draft a council policy concerning accepting donations to the city. 

“A clear donation policy is vital for a city government to ensure financial accountability, prevent corruption, and maintain public trust,” Nordyke said in a draft motion shared with Salem Reporter. “It provides a transparent framework for accepting gifts from individuals, groups, or businesses and protects the city from conflicts of interest.” 

Nordyke said Monday that she was working with the city attorney and city manager on drafting the policy, and said she was impressed by the city manager’s ability to work with the chamber and Main Street Association in refocusing their proposal to better suit the city’s needs. 

Matthews brought up the fact Monday that Mountain West Center for Community Excellence, the nonprofit arm of Mountain West Investment Corporation, donated about $2.7 million to Center 50+ earlier this year. 

“This is all somewhat consistent with history,” Matthews said of the gift before the council Monday. “It would be my opinion then that if we are going to have concern over this $180,000 we should also have concern over the funds that we accepted for Center 50+.”

Tigan made the case that the city should accept the funds because the city needs the money and $180,000 will help offset the costs associated with the city’s plan. 

“Make no mistake. We are $600,000 deeper in a hole after Oct. 13. That is money we didn’t actually have. We have a deficit in our general fund, it’s structural, and every time money appears because of the great work of the city to be efficient, and we spend that money, it’s just we are further in a hole starting July 1 the next year,” Tigan said. “I am ready to accept this donation because I think it also represents the community coming together and saying ‘OK, well we’d love to see what you can do in six months.’” 

Vang said that while the donation gives her pause she still supports a private-public partnership to help deal with the many issues facing the city. 

“I’ve heard public testimony from downtown businesses and even Main Street right here in this forum that they would withhold their property taxes if we didn’t give them what they wanted. And this is property taxes that help fund these services that help fund our law enforcement, our fire department, our other services like our library and Center 50 + and our parks,” Vang said. “This strategic action plan has been years in the making. It didn’t just happen overnight because one person in June said, ‘We need it’.” 

Mayor Hoy did not directly address the plan during the meeting, but previously told Salem Reporter she was “super excited” about the offer.

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

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