Cathy Clark, Keizer mayor, has been in violation of state ethics law for not ensuring notices of public meetings were properly issued by employees of a homeless organization.

The Oregon Government Ethics Commission last month issued a “letter of education” for two violations where the penalty could have been a fine of up to $2,000.

Clark was one of several directors caught in the paperwork mess at the Mid-Willamette Valley Homeless Alliance. The agency, a public body, orchestrates homeless services and funding the mid-valley area.

An ethics commission investigation found that a notice of a Dec. 3, 2024, board meeting wasn’t posted for the public until after the meeting. The law requires such notice at least 48 hours ahead of the meeting.

The investigation found that only 24 hours’ notice was given to the public for a meeting scheduled for Jan. 9.

Though the alliance staff handles such notices, state law makes board members responsible for ensuring open meetings laws are fulfilled.

Besides Clark, the ethics commission also acted against Marion County Commissioner Danielle Bethel.

Clark said the alliance was going through staff changes and the situation with notices “was cleared up months ago with training for new…Problem solved.”

She said she and other directors were caught by revisions to the ethics laws in 2023, making them “individually responsible” for matters such as open meeting notices.

Clark wrote the ethics commission after learning of the complaint against her and others.

“I am a little unclear as to the nature of the complaint toward me as an individual because I don’t do the website work and did not know of the clerical omission until afterward,” she said in a Jan. 4 email.

Jeremy Gordon, a Polk County commission who chaired the board, told the commission that “this was a clerical error by our new support staff and steps were taken immediately to correct the issue.”

Clark said she and others have approached state Rep. Kevin Mannix and others about amending the law to make the entire board of any organization, not individual members, liable for such ethics violations.

She said she negotiated a settlement for her first-ever ethics violation.

“I agreed because it puts to an end what I believe is a pointless exercise,” Clark said.

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