Salem Mayor Chris Hoy is proposing a public censure for City Councilor Julie Hoy, who is mayor-elect, and Councilor Deanna Gwyn after they chose to vote recently on a land use decision involving a campaign donor. The mayor, who is not related to the mayor-elect, plans to move for the Salem City Council to censure the two for acting against the city charter. Hoy is reacting to the Oct. 14 vote of the two to grant an appeal for a Salem development project that involved a company owned by Larry Tokarski. He is a prominent Salem developer and major political donor who gave tens of thousands of dollars to Gwyn and Julie Hoy for their campaigns. Tokarski is an owner of Salem Reporter. City councilors vote in favor of land use decision benefitting campaign donor  “We do not get to pick and choose which of those laws we follow. Faith in our laws and institutions of government is paramount,” Hoy said in a memo to the city council.  “The city charter is the foundation of our city government and must be honored by its election officials.”  Mayor Hoy had little to say on Thursday regarding the possible censure of two of his colleagues for breaching a section of the city charter that advises recusal when the outcome of a vote could potentially benefit campaign donors.  “It’s basically the council holding members of the council accountable, and saying, ‘What you did was wrong,’” Hoy said of the censure. “There’s no other ramifications to it. Nothing is legally binding in terms of whatever next steps would be. There’s nothing that’s prescribed.”  Hoy declined to elaborate in an interview with Salem Reporter, saying he was uncomfortable because of Tokarski’s co-ownership of the news organization.  Mayor-elect Hoy responded to Salem Reporter via text message Thursday.  “He can put whatever he wants on the agenda…because he’s the mayor,” Hoy said. “As long as he can get five votes it will pass. Does that make it right? No.”  The last public censure of a councilor was in 2016, when then-councilor Daniel Benjamin was cited for posting inappropriate content on social media, according to Trevor Smith, city public information officer. The council voted 6-2 on Oct. 14 to grant an appeal related to an 11-lot subdivision on behalf of Creekside Golf Course LLC and the land’s buyer and developer, Don Lulay Homes. Creekside is managed by Mountain West Investment Corp. and Tokarski is Mountain West’s president. With the council’s decision, Don Lulay said, his project would be spared $216,000 for sidewalks required by the Salem Planning Commission.  He said his purchase of the property had been contingent on getting the needed land use approvals. He said his firm would have been responsible for the sidewalk costs, not Tokarski’s company. Buyer in Tokarski land deal would benefit from favorable city vote Chris Hoy was absent from that meeting and did not vote on the appeal. The appeal would have been granted even if Councilors Hoy and Gwyn had recused themselves. According to the engineering firm that appealed for Creekside and Don Lulay Homes, Lulay Homes is the sole beneficiary of the sidewalk savings.  Don Lulay of Don Lulay Homes and his company, The Lulay Group, also donated to both Gwyn and Hoy’s campaigns. The potential benefit came as city councilors were reminded that the city charter requires councilors to recuse themselves from a hearing if their participation would create “the appearance of bias or impropriety in the mind of a reasonable person.” That charter says a recusal should be considered where a councilor has received more than $501 in campaign contributions in the past two years from a party with business before the city. 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.A MOMENT MORE, PLEASE – If you found this story useful, consider subscribing to Salem Reporter if you don’t already. Work such as this, done by local professionals, depends on community support from subscribers. Please take a moment and sign up now – easy and secure: SUBSCRIBE. The post Two city councilors who didn’t recuse themselves in land use decision could be publicly censured appeared first on Salem Reporter.