What We’ve Done
Our city. Our accomplishments.
Police & Public Safety
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12 Years Ago
12 years ago, we had frozen police positions, few technology resources, no parks cameras or body cams, no way to enforce livability issues like fireworks or leash laws, and incidents of gunfire across the river into West Keizer.
Today
- Police Service Fee Study that shows actual work, cost and need for police services in Keizer.
- Updated police fee that covers the entire department rather than 5 positions, and is paid by all residents, and a formula to for businesses to share the costs
- The cadet and reserve programs, along with active partnership with CTEC – Law Enforcement has produced the next generation of police officers and staff
- Ongoing School Safety Officer program for the Keizer schools to provide as much service as possible
- Technology for safer and more effective public safety services has been purchased or is coming on line, including innovative technology solutions created by Keizer police and IT staff:
- Body Cams for Police – coming soon
- Parks cameras in our most heavily utilized parks
- Drones and a drone pilot staffer on each shift
- Portable drug testing equipment
- Enforceable local fireworks ordinance
- Traffic Safety officer team back to full staffing
- Ongoing efforts to curb organized retail theft and retain cooperation from large retailers
- Rights of Way and Parks managed so they are used as intended, not as camps except for permitted events
- Trespass Authorization program in cooperation with the Keizer Chamber of Commerce
- Added a second Code Enforcement position
- Keizer remains rated one of the safest cities in Oregon
Looking Ahead
- Police soon to be fully staffed for the 3rd time since 2000; all fully staffed years have been during the Clark administration
- Updated police fees include all households as well as updated fee formula for our businesses
- Gang violence, organized retail theft, and drug/addiction issues are ongoing issues for our region
- More technology and updated options to provide effective public safety for our community members
- Keep costs focused for results
Economic Development
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12 Years Ago
12 years ago, Keizer was struggling with the just completed complex foreclosure on properties north of Keizer Station, had to repay Keizer Fire District, Salem Keizer School District and other agencies the urban renewal funds to make them whole, closed out the urban renewal district, and was required to do nothing with the land for five years. The 2008 recession was still slowing building and the tribal nations had chosen to delay Chemawa Station development. River Road Renaissance was unable to entice any additional property owners to accept city funds to improve their facades and sidewalks.
Today
- Trader Joes is under construction, a third hotel has opened, new and renovated business spaces on River Road
- Kaiser Permanente has their medical and dental offices in Keizer Station
- Chemawa Station welcomed the Fairfield by Mariott, adding to the businesses open in that development
- Regional brands like Waremart/Winco, Wilco, In N Out Burger, and Burlington recognize Keizer as a very desirable location and easy to work with
- The property north of Keizer Station is now under contract for sale for battery energy storage, which will also increase Keizer’s energy resiliency
- The city property next to Keizer Transit and the large triangle by McLeod are both under contract for sale and will bring more jobs
- All the complicated commercial zoning on River Road and Cherry Avenue has changed to one zone of Mixed Use and property owners are able to do more their land
- First housing subdivision in many years has been approved
- Food truck ordinance revised and simplified in 2019 to make it easier for businesses to add these popular food destinations to their locations
- Housing options expanded so private property owners can build more and updated housing
- Keizer is a welcoming city for transitional and permanent supportive housing facilities and programs in nearly every neighborhood
- Transportation projects completed: the Verda Roundabout, Chemawa Road N, new rapid flashing beacon crossings; Verda Lane upgrade is nearing completion and the Verda gap is funded for construction next year
- Helped secure $11.3M in Federal transportation grants.
Looking Ahead
Land Supply
- Our 2025 town halls and 2026 survey information on the Urban Growth Boundary (UGB) will be soon be reviewed for what the community wants to do going forward.
- The cost of growth, in studies produced in 2018, 2019 and 2020 all indicate that UGB expansion will have an ongoing cost to current residents
- Climate Friendly and Equitable Communities: the scenario planning mandated by the Governor’s executive order and upheld by the Oregon Supreme Court is changing our planning requirements for Keizer with no funds to actually build any of the necessary infrastructure
- Creative solution to using the land on Windsor Island Road will bring more needed housing to Keizer
Transportation
- Transportation System Plan adopted in 2009 will be updated thanks to a new grant we received
- Sidewalk infill and repair program will be launched
- The Brooklake Interchange Management Plan has been approved by the Oregon Transportation Commission and needs funding to be built; this serves as Keizer second interchange
- Traffic safety improvements in our neighborhoods and improved ways for us to get involved in finding practical solutions
- Completion of the Verda Lane Project and construction of the Verda sidewalk east of the apartments
- Full funding for the Wheatland Corridor project for sidewalks, bike lane, and turn lanes
Parks
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12 Years Ago
12 years ago, the parks had a very small budget of under $350,000. The 148 acres of Keizer Rapids Park had been added to the other 18 parks with no plans for additional funds for maintenance. Playground equipment was wearing out citywide, playgrounds used bark chips for a play surface, sports courts were in poor condition, undersized, and in short supply, and there was no money to pay the required matching funds to qualify for grants. Systems Development Charges, paid by developers, were sitting unused because there were no matching funds available. The Big Toy was about to go to construction. The Parks Master Plan, adopted in 2009, did not include projects in Keizer Little League Park.
Today
- 19 parks on 248 acres for healthy, safe and inviting places for play
- 2017 – Two years of work by Parks Board and community members connecting with people all over Keizer to listen to what the people want in their parks and how much it would cost. The result was a $4/month/household parks service fee that still keeps Keizer at one of the lowest funding rates for city parks systems and pays for maintenance, replacement and matching grant funds
- 2026 – Update to the Parks Fee to $4.50 to include all households and continue work for all our parks to be healthy, safe, accessible and inviting
- Playgrounds continue to be replaced with safe, accessible equipment; Meadows, Claggett Creek, Bob Newton, Ben Miller done, Country Glen next in line
- Rebuilt sports courts, new sports courts and more pickleball
- Tree damage during the 2021 ice storm was taken care of more quickly with staff and funds for tree services
- New Parks Master Plan in 2021 and updates coming this year to keep it fresh and moving forward
- Keizer Little League Park professional management to invest in repairs, updates and scheduling for maximum use as well as being an attraction for tournaments to come to Keizer
- The land across Claggett Creek given to the city by the Herber Moore family now has a boardwalk and ongoing wetland restoration
- Keizer Rapids Park sports fields complex built out through three phases of grants
Looking Ahead
- Sports Facility Companies will manage our two sports complexes to benefit our local youth sports as well as bring sports tournaments and events to Keizer
- An additional city park is called for in the Parks Master Plan for the North and Northwest areas
- Additional artificial turf surfaces will be needed to extend playing season for all outdoor sports
- Continue replacing and modernizing playgrounds – Country Glen is next to be done
- Finish working with our community in updating the Capital Improvement Plan in the parks master plan – looking toward our future!
Fiscal Management & Resources
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12 Years Ago
12 years ago, Keizer faced the same issues with unfunded state mandates as we do today. The marijuana sales tax had just been adopted (2014) anticipating the legalization vote. New residential construction continued to cost more to provide services than covered by property tax dollars collected. Impacts from the 2008-2009 recession were still affecting the local economy. Ongoing success: The Long Range Planning Task Force created in 2008 continued to provide for community based financial decision making. And the Keizer budget document and process continued to win accounting and budgeting professional awards.
Today
- Keizer emerged from the 2020 recession caused by the global pandemic and is refocused on providing the essentials for city financial stability in this uncertain economy, as well as remain as flexible as possible to adapt services to today’s economic and community needs
- Financial drain on the General Fund from the properties north of Keizer Station has ended
- The Parks Services Fee and Police Services Fee, both passed in 2016, have been updated in 2026 in order to continue to stabilize funds for both of those essential services. Both are accounted for separately in our budget to make it easy to keep track of them.
- Keizer’s second hotel opened in 2018 and the third in 2026; more projects such as the Keizer Public Library and Keizer Heritage Center, the match for the turf fields, have been funded through the Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) from those hotels
- Three major parcels of city owned land are under contract for sale which will add jobs and businesses; the funds will be used to pay down the PERS unfunded actuarial liability which is forecast to continue growing until 2029, freeing up General Fund dollars for years to come to pay for basic services
- Other city owned parcels are on the market and those proceeds are expected to be used for similar long term financial stability
- Keizer event center rebounded after the pandemic closure provides economic opportunity for local businesses, uses less of the TOT funds than it used to, has a plan for updates, and is still available for community groups to use
- ARPA $8.8M funds followed established fiscal policies for one time funds to be invested for one-time expenditures, projects and updates; ARPA also was used to assist local negatively impacted organizations such as over $100K for Keizer Heritage Foundation and three years of funding for the Keizer Community Foundation closets
Looking Ahead
- State shared revenues for alcohol, cigarettes, and marijuana are continuing to decline, creating a growing hole in our local budgets
- An ongoing thirty year error in the state of Oregon’s PERS manual was discovered and a financially responsible plan has been established and is spreading the costs to Keizer taxpayers over time
- PERS performance has been below the 8% guaranteed benefit for Tier 1 and Tier 2, so the costs continue to be extracted from the cities; this is expected to start going down in 2030
- Not all utilities doing business in the public rights of way are paying their share of their costs to the taxpayers; the city needs to resume this work on this complex issue; federal regulations may be changing and require us to adapt
- Property taxes continue to be out of sync with actual costs and wildly different between similar properties; this is a statewide issue that cities cannot change but must budget for
- Bringing more businesses into Keizer by selling city owned land for commercial development is a plus for our economy, jobs, and city budget
- The city Strategic Plan adopted earlier this year will provide needed direction and data toward fiscally responsible decisions and actions
- Infrastructure Maintenance and Modernization: water main replacement, stormwater facility maintenance, paving, parks maintenance and playground replacement have been funded by paying as we go and keeping our fees and rates consistent with actual costs; we will need to discuss if this is sustainable for capital projects for our current and future taxpayers; things do wear out, but we can get more quality service out of our infrastructure if we keep it in a state of good repair and replace on schedule rather than in an emergency
Keizer at 30 and Keizer at 40 and beyond
In the last decade, Keizer has worked to update, modernize and streamline the startup work done over the first thirty years.
2026
- Police Services Fee Study completed and adopted
- Strategic Plan completed and adopted
- Claggett Creek wetlands restoration and opening of new boardwalk
- Community survey completed
- Keizer Rapids turf fields complex phase 2 completed
- Gold Star Family Memorial Monument dedicated
2025
- Bob Newton Family Park playground replacement
- Parks Master Plan update community conversations begun
- Urban Growth Boundary community conversations
2024
- Neighborhood Association Ordinance – work started in 2023 (1993)
- Neighborhood Traffic Management Plan – work started in 2023 (2005)
- City phone systems and communications (some systems were over 20 years old)
- Codification of City Ordinances (1983)
- Procurement Policies (2008)
- Keizer Rapids Park turf sports fields open
- Keizer Rapids Park pickleball courts open
2023
- City Website updates (new employees hired who had those skills able to do in house)
- Ben Miller Family Park playground replacement
- Strategic Plan development began
- Meadows Well Pump Station: first filter plant installation to naturally remove iron, manganese, and hydrogen sulfide.
2022
- Hired Adam Brown as Keizer's 4th permanent city manager
2021
- Council approved new Council Rules and Procedures
- Parks Master Plan (2008)
- Claggett Creek Park playground and sports court replacement
2020
- Voter approved new City Charter (last updated in 1993)
Cathy Clark: two decades of leadership
Elected or appointed board service
- League of Oregon Cities Board (2017-2019)
- LOC Policy Committees (2012 to present) on topics such as Transportation, Housing, Land Use, and Community Development
- Oregon Mayors Association Board (2024 to present)
- SEDCOR Board of Directors (2022-2026)
- Chair of Salem Keizer Metropolitan Planning Organization for transportation (2012-2025)
- Vice chair of Mid Willamette Valley Area Commission on Transportation (2009-2025)
- Mid Willamette Valley Homeless Alliance Board (Chair 2019-2021)
- Mid Willamette Valley Council of Governments Board (Chair 2018-2019)
- Multiple city task forces, work groups, and event planning committees since 2002
James C. Richards Memorial Award, 2019 by League of Oregon Cities
Gwen VanDenBosch Leadership Award, 2021 by Mid Willamette Valley Council of Governments