Camas, WA — Camas City Council member Steve Hogan announced Thursday he’s running for Camas Mayor following this week’s abrupt resignation of the city’s former chief executive, Barry McDonnell.

Hogan, who’s served on council for 16 years, and has 30 years of managerial experience, said he’s well qualified for the position.

“I am running to help stabilize our city government,” said Hogan. “I believe in preserving and improving our Camas heritage of being a city that prides itself on a strong city government, outstanding school system and a high quality of life. I support the vision of Camas as a place where people who live in Camas, work in Camas. We need to do what we can to assure that we grow at a rate that is sustainable. As a city, we have prided ourselves on good financial management. We need to have balanced financial strength in the future while sustaining our high quality of life. I have pride in knowing that Camas is, has been and will be a great place to live, work and play.”

Hogan acknowledges the challenges of the last 14 months given the pandemic, and expresses gratitude to McDonnell.

“I want to thank Barry for stepping up and leading the city in a troubled time during COVID,” he said. “He changed staff and dealt with other pressing issues. He took care of them. Thank you very much.”

Hogan stands on his record of “hundreds of votes” and support of many initiatives, which currently include working to clean up of local lakes.

“Let’s figure out what needs to be fixed at City Hall so people can feel good about their jobs as soon as possible,” said Hogan. “I’m here to serve, I’ve been in government and worked in the private sector for 30 years in industrial management — in steel, wood, and recycled paper.”

He said the city has a “great history and huge potential and we just have to improve the communication of what is taking place, and make sure that the whole organization is working together effectively.” 

“The local organizations, such as the Chamber of Commerce, the Downtown Camas Association, and others, all need to know we’re here to help them be successful and have our city be successful. It’s worked well in the past. Now that COVID is turning the corner we can get back to more normal circumstances and work with community. It’ll be better to have open meetings.” 

Hogan officially applied for the mayor position by mail, and hasn’t decided whether to apply for a council appointment or just run for citywide election in November.

He stands on his vote to have citizens vote on Proposition 2, the pool bond. “I felt the process was rushed and my advice was to wait and do more research. Then Mayor Turk wanted council to vote on whether to build the community center and I felt it should be decided by the voters. Personally, I was against building the community center.”

The Lacamas Watershed Ad Hoc Committee is working with Senator Ann Rivers, Rep. Larry Hoff, and Rep. Brandon Vick to obtain grant money to start the process to improve water quality at Lacamas, Round, and Fallen Leaf Lakes. 

“We are in the process of presenting staff the consulting group,” he said. “When approved, this will get to where we have a defined program on how we work on water quality. We are also working with the Clark County Health Department and the city storm water department.”

Hogan’s other work includes:

• Member of the Board of Directors of the Columbia River Economic Development Council 
• Member of the Camas Washougal Rotary Club
• Downtown Camas Economic Vitality committee member
• Mayor Pro Tem position (2014 and 2017)
• Past President of the Camas Educational Foundation

Hogan and his family have lived in Camas for 27 years. 

Camas, WA — The City of Camas will host a virtual Town Hall, June 14, beginning at 6:30 p.m.

The meeting will take place via the Zoom platform, like the current City Council meeting setup.  Residents can log on using the following link  https://zoom.us/j/94538163839  and the following webinar ID: 945 3816 3839.

“I’m very excited to get together as a community again and to hear their questions,” said Camas Mayor, Barry McDonnell.

Camas Mayor Pro Tem, Ellen Burton, said this is a unique opportunity for residents. 

“We’re inviting our community to join us for this important conversation,” Burton said. “Unlike council meetings where we only listen to comments, this allows us to discuss your ideas, comments and concerns in the virtual town hall. We hope you participate,” she said.

Residents can ask questions live during the event or they can provide questions in advance.  For advance questions, residents can either send them topubliccomments@cityofcamas.us or via Engage Camas, using the “Mayor Barry McDonnell’s Q&A” section. Please mention the Camas Town Hall in the subject.

Camas, WA — Camas City Council member and Mayor Pro Tem Ellen Burton will not run for re-election this year. Burton announced her decision on Wednesday, April 28.

“It was a really tough decision,” said Burton.” It’s an honor to serve our Camas community as the council and administration worked together to strengthen our city operations and community. My intent throughout my term was and is to keep the communities’ best interest in the forefront and ask the questions citizens want to know about city plans and investments.”

Appointed to the city council in 2019, Burton was then elected in 2020. Her fellow council members selected her to serve as Mayor Pro Tem in January 2021. In total, she will serve three years.

“I want to thank Mayor McDonnell, City Administrator Fox and staff for their on-going commitment, especially during this difficult year so we emerge stronger on the other side.” Burton says she believes all of us need to work together to create the community where we live.

So, why is Burton leaving?

“Lifestage. I retired from my career in 2018 and started serving on the council in 2019,” she said. “Now, my youngest son is graduating from high school.”

Are there issues within the city that make you want to leave?

“There are no issues with/at the city causing me to leave. It’s a personal decision,” she said.

What have you learned since being appointed in 2019 about the city and how it operates?

“I’ve learned so much about our community and our staff, and our fellow council members,” Burton said. “If you’re open to learning you can learn a ton. Running a city is highly complicated. There are many conflicting stake holders, and there are unfunded mandates which conflict with the desire of our community, for example the North Shore development. There are restrictions about funds, they can’t be crossed over, and the planning horizon is very long. For example, the Brady Road expansion was planned 10 years ago and it’s just a mile.”

She said drafting a plan is required to get grants and state funds, and low interest loans, which is why the city often hires consultants to help make effective plans. 

“There are so many nuances that are buried to the public,” Burton said. “You have caring, confident people that have navigate this huge system. You have to approach this as a system.”

What direction do you want Camas to take with how it operates?

“I think with city operations we need to make the investment in people and resources and systems to automate some aspects of city business,” she said. For example, we are using a Y2K accounting system. We need to increase efficiencies so we can better manage our assets. People are on top of it, but we have a very lean staff and we need the tools to do the job.”

Do you think Camas is heading in the right direction?

“I think we need to improve our processes and have an equitable approach in funding parks across the city,” she said. “We need to make sure we continue to be welcoming to newcomers and long-term residents alike. We have many people over 65 so what does that mean? Do we need to accelerate the ADA corner replacements which cost $8,000 to $10,000 each? The city is well run, we are very financially conservative. We need to invest in our future. Where do we do that? For example, downtown infrastructure and the storm drains need to be fixed, but that will require tearing up the roads for several years, and people don’t want to see the streets torn up.” 

“We have to make the right decisions but we need to do that with great community input, such as what we did with the Lake/Everett Road roundabout. We need to co-create with our citizens, our business, non-profits and regional partners.” 

Burton is 64 and would be 68 when she’s done with a full term serving Ward 3 along with Greg Anderson.

“That was it, it was adding up the numbers,” she said. “One of my friends said ‘you’re done for now, but that doesn’t mean it’s forever.’”

What surprised her most about serving on council?

“I’m very team oriented and due to the open public meetings act you’re not able to pull together a team and solve a problem. Take a topic, such as the GP Mill, and I can only talk to two council members and we’re the only three that can talk about it privately. We do this because we follow the law, but the trade off is you can’t just pull the right people, good honest people in the room and solve a problem.’