Salem City Council Chambers. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter)
A former Salem city councilor was the subject of an ethics complaint after failing to disclose a potential conflict of interest during a Salem City Council meeting this summer.
During a June meeting, the council denied awarding federal Housing and Urban Development dollars that would have helped build an affordable housing project proposed for 905 Cottage St. N.E., currently Evergreen Church.
READ: Why Salem City Council nixed an affordable housing development over an office space
Former councilor Cara Kaser lived across the street from the proposed project but didn’t disclose that information at the June meeting.
Kaser told Salem Reporter she called City Attorney Dan Atchison before the meeting to ask how the potential conflict of interest would work.
According to the final order from the Oregon Government Ethics Commission, Atchison told Kaser that a decision involving a conflict of interest was many months removed from any potential land use decision impacting the church.
“I said ‘Okay, great. I don’t have to do anything.’ So, I didn’t’ do anything,” she said.
In July, homeless advocate Sara Owens filed a complaint with the Ethics Commission.
During a September meeting of the commission, Commissioner Sean O’Day stressed the importance of reaching out to the commission for clarity on ethics issues.
“Although the city attorney can be your Sherpa through the mountains of ethical conflict and the law, their advice… really can’t be relied upon. It’s really the staff and this commission’s advice that is the final word on the ethics laws,” he told Kaser.
Kaser told commissioners that regardless of the outcome she viewed it as a learning process.
“In hindsight I would have just said, ‘Oh yeah I own property across the street.’ I wasn’t intentionally trying to conceal it or hide it. I guess I would have done differently sure, just to kind of avoid all of this,” Kaser told Salem Reporter.
As a result of the review, Kaser received a formal letter of education from the commission.
The order said Kaser was “acting in good faith and on the opinion of the city attorney” when she didn’t disclose that she lived nearby. Kaser voted against awarding funds to the project.
“I think it’s pretty gray. As volunteer we need more education about this kind of stuff because it is so gray,” she said.
Kaser resigned from the council in early November after moving to Silverton. Her term would have expired at the end of the year after she chose not seek reelection.
Salem City Council will decide whether to affirm or reverse the planning commission’s decision to approve a zoning change on the proposed affordable housing project at its meeting Monday night.
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