A state investigation found that Salem Mayor Julie Hoy and five Salem city councilors “deliberately coordinated and orchestrated” an illegal serial meeting to avoid making a public decision on firing the former city manager.

The investigation by the Oregon Government Ethics Commission, released Monday, concluded that Hoy served as an intermediary by initiating private one-on-one conversations with councilors early this year concerning former city manager Keith Stahley’s employment following a poor performance audit. 

Hoy then relayed that information to Council President Lindia Nishioka, leading Nishioka to believe the majority of the council wanted Stahley gone, the investigation said. 

That prompted her to urge Stahley to resign rather than go through a contentious public process, the investigation said. Stahley tendered his resignation on Feb. 9.

Commission investigator Josh Sullivan concluded Councilors Paul Tigan, Deanna Gwyn, Vanessa Nordyke and Micki Varney participated in the serial communications and deliberated about Stahley’s resignation by speaking to Hoy about the city manager’s performance, Sullivan said. 

Those conversations with the mayor resulted in a decision being made outside of a public meeting, the investigation concluded. 

After the city manager resigned, the council met in an executive session to discuss the matter before voting publicly on Feb. 10 to unanimously accept Stahley’s resignation. 

Two community members then submitted complaints to the commission, prompting the investigation. 

Hoy and Nordyke are running against each other for mayor in the upcoming 2026 election. 

Hoy, Gwyn and Nishioka did not respond to emails from Salem Reporter requesting comment and Tigan and Nordyke declined to comment. 

Varney sent a statement via email saying that councilors were unaware of new public meeting laws and rules that went into place last October. 

“After Keith Staley tendered his resignation on Feb. 9 and subsequently moved out of his office, in my mind, the “decision“ had been made,” Varney said. “I did not realize that the communications I had with other members of council after the submission of the resignation letter would be a violation of public meeting law. I now know that my interpretation was not correct.”

Varney said the process has been a learning experience for her and that she stands behind a prior statement she made in February that councilors were unaware of what was transpiring leading up to Stahley’s departure. 

READ IT: Sullivan’s individual reports on Hoy, Gwyn, Varney, Tigan, Nordyke, and Nishioka. 

Sullivan’s report was based on information obtained from interviews, emails, text messages, and personal statements from those involved. He concluded “that a quorum of the council coordinated communications to acquire the resignation of the city manager and that this coordination occurred outside of a public meeting.” 

“By discussing Keith Stahley’s performance and his possible resignation with multiple city councilors, and by telling multiple city councilors, including Council President Nishioka, that a majority of other city councilors wanted Keith Stahley to resign,” Sullivan wrote. “Julie Hoy acted as an intermediary through whom the city council convened … in violation of the requirements of public meetings law.” 

Sullivan concluded in his report that the “the communications were coordinated and orchestrated to avoid deliberating and deciding in public.” 

The months-long investigation also found city councilors felt “caught off guard” by Stahley’s departure, and were led to believe by Hoy that the majority of the council agreed he should be removed. 

Sullivan’s investigation said Hoy also assured individual councilors that their private conversations would remain confidential, but the mayor relayed that information to Nishioka and others. 

“The mayor admits she spoke to every councilor about the matter through one-on-one conversations…the mayor then communicated the results of her conversation with each councilor to Councilor Nishioka,” Sullivan said. “Councilor Nishioka then communicated that to the city manager in an attempt to have him resign.”  

Sullivan’s report urges the ethics commission to find that Hoy, Nishioka and the four councilors illegally held a meeting out of public view by communicating with each other through the mayor. He told Salem Reporter in an email that his reports will be considered at the commission’s upcoming meeting on Oct. 10. 

Now that the investigation is concluded, the commission will determine based on the evidence if Hoy and her colleagues engaged in a serial meeting. 

If the commission finds they did, each could be fined and issued a letter of education, creating a record the commission can point to in the event that a similar incident should occur in the future. The commission’s director Susan Myers indicated during an executive session on the matter in June that a letter of education is more likely than a fine. 

Sullivan’s report addressed the city’s contention that Hoy did not act as an intermediary because she only shared other councilors’ views on Stahley with Nishioka, and did not share those views with a quorum of the council. 

City officials made that claim in a response sent to the commission addressing the ethics complaints.

“Despite this contention, the evidence establishes that Julie Hoy shared city councilor views with multiple members of city council,” Sullivan wrote. 

Sullivan said that Nordyke stated that she met with Hoy privately in person and that Hoy assured her that the conversation would “stay between the two of them.” 

“And she did not know that Hoy was going to share the confidential conversation with other councilors,” Sullivan said. 

In a Feb. 10 text message to Interim City Manager Krishina Namburi, who at the time was a deputy city manager, Nishioka stated that Hoy “told her that all city councilors, with the exception of Councilor Vanessa Nordyke wanted Keith Stahley to resign.” 

Two city councilors, both of whom took office in January, weren’t implicated in the report: Irvin Brown and Shane Matthews

Brown told Varney that “he hadn’t talked to (Hoy)” when she approached him to get his opinion on the city manager’s departure. However, he told Sullivan he spoke to Hoy about the performance audit in early January. The audit remained in draft form until Feb. 11, 2025. 

Matthews did have a conversation with Hoy about the audit, Sullivan said, but “Matthews tells Hoy that he did not have enough time to form an opinion.” 

Councilor Mai Vang was sworn in as councilor in June after the city manager’s departure.  

PREVIOUS COVERAGE:

Ethics commission votes to investigate Salem mayor, councilors over possibly unethical communications

State investigator concludes Salem council discussed manager’s ouster out of public view

Records reveal Nishioka wanted to sue Hoy after Stahley resigned 

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

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