Salem staff outline stepped plan for safety, livability; city chosen for Bloomberg‑Harvard collaboration

Interim City Manager Krishna Namburi told the Salem City Council on Aug. 11 that the city has a three‑part strategy to address safety and livability concerns: near‑term actions through December, a budget‑focused discussion in September, and a longer‑term plan reaching into the 2026 fiscal year.

Namburi said immediate steps already taken include increased police visibility in downtown and northeast neighborhoods and exploratory work to expand cleanliness services; staff plan a council work session on Sept. 18 to consider sustainable funding options and then to return to the council with implementable items between October and December. Namburi also announced that Salem was selected for the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Program’s collaboration track and that Bloomberg will visit Salem in October.

Why it matters: Councilors and staff framed the initiative as an effort to move from temporary, costly "management" of street‑level problems toward coordinated, sustainable responses that mix public safety, behavioral health support and cleanliness services.

Namburi said the council’s July 21 work session shaped the objectives and that the strategy will be phased: near‑term measures to manage immediate needs, a September budget decision point, and longer‑term implementation tied to the fiscal 2027 budget cycle. He described planned near‑term items as increasing police visibility, piloting cleanliness measures beginning in October if temporary funding is available, and developing a pilot core response model to provide behavioral‑health interventions alongside partner agencies.

"Salem lacks a unified framework to collaborate with county and state partners, community‑based organizations, and residents in the community with lived experiences who can provide critical thinking to deliver solutions that promote safety, belonging, and well‑being for everyone," Namburi said during the presentation.

Chief Trevor Womack of the Salem Police Department described the immediate, temporary increase in patrol presence as an overtime‑funded measure drawn from current salary savings while the department fills vacancies. "We've already had, just within the first two weeks of the program, we had about 40 different shifts filled by overtime officers," Womack said, adding the overtime assignments are not a long‑term solution.

Councilors pressed staff on details and priorities. Councilor Nordyke said she was encouraged to finally see behavioral‑health responses included, and asked when mental‑health professionals would be available to respond to calls that do not require armed officers. Councilor Varney asked whether a dedicated work group might be formed, similar to past internal task forces used to address concentrated problems. Councilor Teigen asked that the operations fee rewrite remain part of the city's revenue‑options discussion.

Namburi described a proposed sequencing: a September 18 council work session focused on the budget forecast and funding options; October–December informational reports and potential temporary pilots (including cleanliness pilots); and, in the March–July window before the next fiscal year, more formal budget proposals and decisions on whether to continue or expand pilots such as a bicycle team and the core response model.

The Bloomberg‑Harvard selection — at no cost to the city — will add outside coaching and facilitated problem‑solving workshops, Namburi said. He described the city's application problem statement to Bloomberg‑Harvard as centered on the lack of a unified collaborative framework and said Bloomberg will provide three months of coaching, a March intensive workshop, and guided implementation support for a year.

Councilors and staff identified several implementation constraints and dependencies: sustainable funding (rather than temporary or one‑time allocations), coordination with Marion County and regional partners for behavioral health and sheltering services, and the need to balance proactive community policing with reactive emergency response. Chief Womack said the department remains understaffed relative to historical needs, noting vacancies remain despite recent hiring and that some proactive units, such as the downtown bicycle team, were previously eliminated for budgetary reasons.

Next steps: staff will return to council on Sept. 18 for a budget‑focused work session and expect to bring back informational reports on near‑term pilots in October–December. Bloomberg‑Harvard partners will visit Salem in October to meet community partners and begin the collaboration coaching, Namburi said.

Ending: Councilors and staff framed the current phase as planning and budgeting rather than adoption of a single new program. The council did not take a formal vote on the strategic plan on Aug. 11; staff will return with funding details and proposed pilot scopes for council review.