The Salem City Council will reconsider a decision to reappoint a convicted murderer to two city public safety boards at a special meeting Wednesday evening following national media attention and threats against some on the council. Councilor Mai Vang, who originally proposed reappointing Kyle Hed quist to Salem’s Community Police Review Board at a Dec. 8 meeting, said she will hold firm in her decision despite several threatening messages following a public pressure campaign by the city’s police and fire unions. Despite that, she said in a statement Monday she “won’t be influenced or intimidated,” and will not change her vote “because I’ve been threatened and bullied.”  One threat Vang shared in her statement compared her to human excrement and said, “Everyone who voted to keep this murderer on the board should have one of your family members executed by a criminal scumbag.” Council President Linda Nishioka said the special meeting was called because City Manager Krishna Namburi “is concerned about the councilors’ safety,” and felt a special meeting should be held Wednesday instead of discussing the matter at the council’s next regular meeting on Jan. 12.  “Many of us have received horrific emails, and for some, it has been escalating,” Nishioka told Salem Reporter in a text message.  Members of the police review board include Hedquist, George McLean, Jefferey Jorgenson, Celine Coleman, Mel Gregg, Elizabeth Infante, Ashley Kuenzi, Kelly Raths, and Grant Yoder.  How to participate The meeting starts at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 7, and will be both in-person at the Loucks Auditorium at Salem Public Library, 585 Liberty St. S.E., and available to watch online. Members of the public can sign up in person before the meeting to comment live. To comment remotely, sign up on the city website between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Wednesday. The meeting will be livestreamed on YouTube. For written comments, email [email protected] before 5 p.m. on Monday, or submit on paper to the Customer Service Center at 440 Church Street, Suite 500. Include a statement indicating the comment is for the public record. Hedquist was convicted at age 18 for the 1994 murder of a teenager in Douglas County. He had his life sentence commuted in 2022 by then-Gov. Kate Brown. Both the original crime and his commutation received substantial media coverage.  Hedquist was later appointed unanimously to his current seat on the review board in 2024. Mayor Julie Hoy, a councilor at the time, was one of those votes. The review board is made up of appointed volunteers and meets infrequently to review unresolved complaints about sworn police officers. City records show the group met twice in 2025, and had no cases to review at one of those two meetings. Wednesday’s meeting will also consider application guidelines for the police review board and the Civil Service Commission, which Hedquist was also appointed to on Dec. 8 in a 5-4 vote. City Councilor Vanessa Nordyke will bring a motion Wednesday to reconsider Hedquist’s reappointment to the board and the commission, according to the meeting agenda.  Vang’s statement and the special council meeting come after Nordyke walked back her support for Hedquist’s reappointment after the union pressure. Nordyke originally voted along with Vang, and city Councilors Micki Varney, Irvin Brown, and Council President Linda Nishioka to reappoint Hedquist.  Councilors Paul Tigan, Deanna Gwyn and Shane Matthews joined Mayor Julie Hoy in voting against the reappointment.  In her statement, Vang homed in on the police and fire union’s pressure campaign, which included text messages to Salem voters attacking Nordyke, Vang, Varney and Nishioka for supporting the appointment. Vang, Varney and Nishioka are seeking reelection in May, while Nordyke is running for mayor against Hoy. “When trusted groups and organizations in our community appear to be deliberately misrepresenting the facts of this reappointment and what these boards actually do, it is a violation of public trust,” Vang said in her statement. “Our residents deserve all of the facts, and I’m committed to providing them.”  Vang said despite the unions’ actions, she supports unions and what they do for employee rights.  “However, effective labor relationships are built on good-faith, proactive communication, not reactivity and ambush. I’m disappointed this reappointment decision is being misrepresented,” Vang said.  Vang said that since the council voted on to reappoint Hedquist, the Salem Police Employee Union and Salem Professional Firefighters “have made their feelings known across our city,” but have not reached out to her directly before or since the appointment. Scotty Nowning, police union president, emailed councilors as a group on Dec. 12 objecting to the appointment, according to a copy of the email shared with Salem Reporter.  “Had I known these unions held such strong positions prior to my vote, I would have considered their perspectives,” Vang said. “To this day, I still do not know exactly what public safety harm Mr. Hedquist poses by being on this board.” Hedquist told Salem Reporter in an interview that he feels the attacks on him by the police union is about the union exerting political influence at his expense. He said he still wants to serve on the board.  “I feel like this is a power move,” Hedquist said. “It really doesn’t have anything to do with me.”  Hedquist said the police and fire unions have mischaracterized the amount of power he and the review board actually have.  According to a city staff report from City Attorney Dan Atchison, the police review board is tasked with reviewing unresolved complaints about sworn police officers. Atchison said the board reviews and advises on Salem Police Department policy and procedure, reviews and analyzes complaint summaries and department trends, and refers issues to the city manager.   Fire union President Matthew Brozovich said the fire union wouldn’t have gotten involved in the Hedquist matter if Hedquist didn’t sit on the Civil Service Commission which can have influence over members of the fire department. The commission rarely meets and administers the civil service system for fire employees.  “We are hyper-sensitive to anything that has to do with the fire department,” Brozovich said of the Civil Service Commission. “It hasn’t been active in a lot of years, but I know that our current fire management team is actually planning on using it a lot coming up. So, it is not going to be a dormant committee anymore…do they always have a lot of power? The answer is no. Can they have a lot of power? The answer is yes…So, it’s the unknown and we are unwilling to gamble with it.”  When it comes to the pressure campaign against councilors which have led to threats, Brozovich said elected officials are not the true victims in this case.  “This organization did not create the controversy. We did not make the appointment. We simply brought attention to a decision made during a public meeting,” Brozovich said of the campaign in an email to Salem Reporter. “Our position is not personal, nor is it targeted. It is about maintaining a clear, reasonable, and defensible standard for who is entrusted with public safety oversight.”  Nowning, the police union president, said the four council members who voted no on the reappointment responded to the union’s email objecting to Hedquist’s reappointment. Nordyke and Nishioka both also reached out to speak with Nowning, he said.  Nowning said he has still not heard from Vang, Varney or Brown.  “One of my main concerns, to sit on this panel you should have some understanding of why the police do what they do and how they do what they do …I think those people that are in there should be of good moral character. And maybe he is a reformed man, but he has also shown what he is capable of,” he said. Vang said in her statement that her vote to reappoint Hedquist is not meant to dismiss Hedquist’s crimes, or disrespect his victim’s family.  “My vote to reappoint was based on my values of fair treatment, people’s capacity to change, and in restorative justice,” Vang said.  Hedquist was also unanimously appointed to the city’s Citizens Advisory Traffic Commission, which public safety leaders have not objected to. Contact reporter Joe Siess: [email protected]. LOCAL NEWS DELIVERED TO YOU: Subscribe to Salem Reporter and get all the fact-based Salem news that matters to you. Fair, accurate, trusted – SUBSCRIBE The post Salem council convenes special meeting to discuss convicted murderer’s appointment to police review board appeared first on Salem Reporter. ...read more read less