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Local Teacher’s Union Responds to Camas School District Layoffs

Shelley Houle, President of the Camas Education Association (CEA) answered several questions about the upcoming Camas School District (CSD) layoffs.

22 FTE positions are being eliminated. Have all 22 teachers been notified?

As Superintendent Jeff Snell said it looks like most of those layoffs will be taken care of through attrition. Nobody has been contacted about being laid off, which happens on May 15. Human Resources has those details.

How will these layoffs affect the classroom?

It’s still a loss of FTE so I do fear it will impact students when we have less teachers overall. Classroom size could be impacted, but it will still be below what our cap is. It’ll depend on enrollment.

Did the budget committee make enough non-teacher cuts?

I was only there for half of the budget committee meetings. What we discussed is there shouldn’t be cuts in just one place. There was a shared vision that this would be done equally. I had two other members from CEA that were there, Jenelee Hurz (Math TOSA) and Miranda Jarrell (teacher at Dorothy Fox). We weren’t there to represent any special school or class type, we were there to be part of it, to listen and learn and to advocate for our members, and to advocate against impacts that affect children. We weren’t there to save particular jobs, and we had a student-focused approach to it. We spent many hours in with the committee, and I feel like we were well represented.

I’m disappointed that we don’t know the impact to SB5313 (bill that increases school levy lid) yet. I would loved to have pushed the pause button and see the impact of that levy lid. The May 15 date affected our decisions. Maybe some cuts will be reversed when we get more money from the levy lid.

What happens with the levy lid in 2020? Will that help CSD?

That’s where the SB5313 could increase the capacity to collect what is already approved. I think we’re all waiting to see what that means. I predict there’s the potential to collect $6 million more dollars, but we have to be careful about what we ask our constituents to do. CSD has some hard decisions to make. We hope we can the reverse the cuts to be able to increase FTE in areas where we feel some negative impact from loss of teachers.

CSD is waiting for direction from OSPI.

Is Camas above the prototypical model?

Yes, because we use levy money because we do more than the state funds.

Did CEA ask for too much in raises last year?

No, it’s what our teachers deserved — a professional wage. If we go all the way back to August, we assumed layoffs would happen. This is because we go above and beyond the prototypical model. We want all of our members to stay and earn the wage for the work that they do.

Editor’s Note: This is what CEA Lead Negotiator, Mark Gardner said on September 3, 2018 regarding layoffs: https://youtu.be/Lu4DGMN5rl He didn’t think there would be layoffs but was concerned CSD was above a sustainable teaching staffing level.

Houle continues: The state really pulled a big one by changing the funding model. It really created a challenge for everyone to figure out how to best make it work. We would have loved an increase in special ed funding. You’re not fully funding education if you don’t fully fund special education. Jeff and I had shared Legislative priorities — funding for safety positions like counselors and nurses.

It was interesting going up there. I think progress was made in several of the bills. Delinking 10th graders passing the state tests was a good thing. They didn’t make complete fixes, though. Some needed changes were made like SB5313 with the levy flexibility will help many districts.

The number of 22 layoffs was not surprising to me because we did need to stay close to prototypical.

We’re all in this together. I feel that PSE (classified staff), CAEOP, and CAP (Gary Moller) are all part of this. We have a shared vision in that we wanted our students to be minimally impacted by those decisions.

May 13, 2019/1 Comment/by Ernest Geigenmiller

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CSD Eliminates 34 Positions to Help Balance $8.2 Million Budget Deficit

These are questions that Lacamas Magazine asked Camas School District (CSD) Superintendent Jeff Snell regarding the considerations from the special volunteer budget committee, which was organized to analyze how to best resolve the district’s $8.2 million budget deficit. Here are his answers.

What steps are being taken based on budget committee considerations?

First, we looked across the system for efficiencies, reducing supply budgets and things like that. We talked in the budget committee about distributing reductions across the system so we looked at certificated, classified and central office staffing, as well as unrepresented staff.

In the committee, we explored the state prototypical school funding model. We’re overstaffed in certain areas by state standards such as certificated staff, but we feel we’re staffed appropriately. We looked at TOSAs (Teachers on Special Assignments). These positions are not funded by the state so there’s a reduction there. We looked at the elementary, middle, and high school class sizes which are addressed in the teachers’ contract. At elementary that’s 24, then 30 for middle school, and 31 for high school and we run schedules with those targets in mind. We found capacity in that while keeping those targets in play. We realized some reductions there.

Camas School — Camas school teachers and supporters during bargaining sessions last summer.

From a student and family standpoint, we might be from 21 now to 23 in the ratio of students to certificated staff in a school. We’ve been able to run a small highly specialized class as needed, and it makes it more difficult to do that now.

Overload occurs when we exceed those class size targets as defined in our collective bargaining agreement. On a spreadsheet the students are divided evenly, but the reality is that doesn’t always happen. We may have more kindergartners than first graders, for example. Teachers can get a variety of remedies to address overload such as additional staff assistants. Each year overload is something that needs to be addressed. It may become a bigger problem next school year. In August, it’s possible that more students will enroll than anticipated. If that’s the case, we would need to consider adding staff.

Classified. We’re not really overstaffed based on the prototypical model. It was challenging to find efficiencies there. We looked specifically at retirements and resignations. If we have a custodian retiring, could we possibly not fill that position recognizing services would be reduced? In transportation, we are finding savings by adjusting some routes.

Scholarship — VancouverLaserSkinCareClinic.com

Our facilities are well taken care of. We have a great crew, but, again, we may have to change the level of service moving forward.

Most of the certificated reductions will be addressed through retirements, resignations, and staff who were on one-year contracts.

Twenty-two FTE teaching positions are being eliminated. It’s spread across the levels, elementary, middle and high school and teachers on special assignment.

Six central office staff positions are being eliminated. Six support staff positions are being eliminated.

We don’t have the number on non-instructional staff.

To balance the $8.2 million deficit, CSD is eliminating $4.6 million in position and non-staff reduction, and we are taking $3.7 million out of the fund balance, which leaves our fund balance at about 5 percent, which is approximately $5 million.

All the details have to be worked out by May 15, and we’re working with CEA.

Budget Deficit — School board members listen to budget committee members Monday night.

How does SB5313 affect Camas? Will it increase levy authority for CSD in 2019? Do we know yet how it will affect us?

What it does is it raises our authority to collect additional local funds to $2.50 per $1,000 assessed value. It’s a change from the model that was rolled out last year. We also receive some state subsidy dollars for levy called Local Effort Assistance that may be affected in the change. We are waiting for clear direction from the state about this.

We have an approved levy in place and we want our citizens to know what’s happening. We want to be transparent with the public about where their tax dollars are going. We will get guidance on how to use this new authority. January 1, 2020, is when we could start collecting on the new levy, should the school board determine to do so.

Regarding the school employee benefits board decision, between now and then more information will be need to be made public.

Did the legislature fail to fund special education this session? My research shows they don’t include special education under basic education.

It initially looks they funded more special education dollars, but there’s still a gap. OSPI estimated $240 million more was needed to fully fund special education. We think the new legislation could give us $500,000 to help fund special education in Camas, but we’re not sure yet. The details should be available in the coming months.

Agencies will help interpret the legislation first. ESD 112 has provided a lot of support to us.

What are the major parts of the 2019 Legislative session that disappoint you?

Special education — such a common need across the state. I was hoping there would be more revenue in that. Overall, the session didn’t significantly change our situation for the short-term.

We planned for the worst, and I don’t think the worst happened. A couple big variables are still ahead of us that we need to navigate including levy authority and the impact of the new model for school employee benefits.

Our budget committee has invested a ton of time trying to sort through this, and they gave us guidance through a very complicated situation. We’ll keep coming back to them as we navigate those variables in the future.

To learn more, visit www.camas.wednet.edu

You can also visit https://lacamasmagazine.com/2019/04/camas-schools-budget-committee-9-considerations-to-balance-8-2-million-deficit.html

May 10, 2019/2 Comments/by Ernest Geigenmiller

Featured, Local, News

Washougal’s Jemtegaard Middle School Wins 2019 Whole Child Award

Washougal, WA — Jemtegaard Middle School (JMS) is the recipient of the 2019 Whole Child Award chosen by the Washington State Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. The Whole Child Award acknowledges and honors a school that makes significant contributions to student learning by creating a school culture with programs that exemplify two or more of the five tenets of The Whole Child Initiative: Healthy, Safe, Engaged, Supported, and Challenged; as well as serve as models for all educators across the state.

“Our staff can think of no bigger honor than to be recognized for striving to meet the many needs of our kids,” said JMS Principal, David Cooke. “It takes a lot of work, but the results are worth it.”

JMS received their award at a school assembly on Wednesday, May 8, as well as a check for $500, sponsored by SHAPE Washington.

“Equity and meeting the needs of the Whole Child is what drives the work of administrators, teachers, staff and community members at JMS,” said Cooke. “We continue to listen and learn from our students so that we can improve to give each one the best chance of success. We focus strongly on equity and supporting the Whole Child.”

Sustainable support protocol

JMS has a sustainable Student Support Protocol to foster a positive working relationship with peers and teachers for students to feel safe and supported in the classroom. Their Student Support Flowchart works to eliminate disruptive and/or off task behavior that can be damaging to the relationship between the student and teacher.

“Our primary process goals are to keep students in the learning environment as long as possible, allow teachers to keep teaching, even following problem behavior, and provide an opportunity for students to reflect on their behavior and have a voice in the refocus process,” Cooke said.

“The most effective way for students to learn is to be in the classroom with a quality teacher every day,” said Cooke. “With this new student support process, out of class time was reduced to five minutes for minor issues and up to 20 minutes for major issues for the majority of discipline referrals.”

As a result, this method is showing results with an 80 percent drop in disciplinary referrals this year, minimal suspensions and a high approval rating from staff. Many students with prior disciplinary referrals last school year are having minimal discipline concerns now.

Restorative practices

Restorative practices also play an integral role in repairing relationships and restoring safety after bullying occurs.

“Traditionally, bullies were punished through exclusionary discipline,” said Cooke. “At JMS, we use restorative practices to bring all parties together so that the victim and family can explain how the bullying has impacted them and what they need from the student doing the bullying in order to feel safe.”

Their findings show that in 100 percent of bullying cases this year, with clear expectations and procedures for Restorative Circles used, none of the students violate the conditions after the meeting or continued bullying at JMS. Parents and guardians also appreciate the opportunity to meet each other and support all students.

“There are many people who support our mission including parents, community and educators across the district,” Cooke said. “As a team we have created a school that our students, staff and community can be proud of.”

Club 8 for students

An example of this teamwork is the Club 8 after-school program that helps keep students engaged in additional learning opportunities including arts, science, leadership activities, and more. The program is two years old and meets on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. The name represents an 8th period of the school day for learning.

“The goal of this program is to address an equity issue related to lack of extracurricular opportunities for students on free and reduced lunch who don’t have access to transportation,” Cooke said.

Club 8 not only provides a bus ride home to remove the transportation barrier but provides all students an afternoon snack. The program regularly has around 90 students in attendance for a school just over 500 (not including 7th and 8th grade athletics with 40-70 students per season.) The list of Club 8 opportunities continues to grow along with community support.

Community service with students

Adding to the positive culture of JMS, the entire student body works on community service projects. Students pick the project that interests them the most which includes building bird houses for local parks, making animal toys for a local shelter, creating positive posters to hang on the hall walls, and helping run games at the elementary school recess and more.

“I’m proud of the hard work the Jemtegaard school staff and community does to educate the whole child,” said WSD Superintendent, Dr. Mary Templeton. “They have embarked on a journey to shift the culture of the school, focusing on identifying ways students may fall through the cracks, and ways in which they can provide resources to keep students engaged in learning, encourage safe choices, and provide students with the problem solving skills to succeed in the classroom and beyond.”

Founded in 1956, as Washington State Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, now known as Washington State ASCD, is a community of all educators committed to promoting promising practices to ensure ALL students are safe, healthy, engaged, supported and challenged.

May 9, 2019/0 Comments/by Ernest Geigenmiller

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Camas City Council To Revive Ward Meetings With Residents

CAMAS, WA — After several years, Camas City Council is bringing back ward meetings to encourage residents to share ideas, concerns, and questions with the elected officials who represent their geographic area.

“As community and regional growth continues, the City of Camas wants to make sure that all residents keep having a voice in the issues that affect them,” said Mayor Shannon Turk. “I believe the smaller setting of local ward meetings will have a big impact on making valuable connections across Camas.”

Residents are encouraged to locate their ward by visiting the Clark County Maps Online website, clicking the Search tab and entering their street address or tax ID number.Ward meetings will occur twice this year, once in the spring and once in the fall. The first set of upcoming ward meetings will be held in April and May 2019, as follows:

Ward 1 – Sat., April 27, 1-3 pm, with Council Members Deanna Rusch and Melissa Smith, at Camas City Hall Council Chambers, 616 NE 4th Ave.

Ward 2 – Sun., May 19, 12:30-2 pm, with Council Members Bonnie Carter and Steve Hogan, at Camas City Hall Council Chambers, 616 NE 4th Ave.

Ward 3 – Mon., April 29, 7-8:30 pm, with Council Members Ellen Burton and Greg Anderson, at Dorothy Fox Elementary Library, 2623 NW Sierra St.

The format of the spring ward meetings will be casual to allow residents to bring their own ideas, concerns and questions for discussion with their council members as well as the Council Member at Large Don Chaney and the mayor. The format of the fall meetings will be more structured, with a set topic that is specific to the ward. Council members from other wards will attend one another’s meetings to get a sense of key themes across the community; however, they will not take part in the discussion.

“By trying out various formats, we hope to see what works best for the citizens and council/mayor to communicate on ideas and issues,” said Turk.

Starting in 2013, the annual September State of the Community event was launched to replace ward meetings, which ceased in 2011 due to decreased attendance. The event is held each September and features presentations by the mayor, Camas School District superintendent and other local leaders such as the Port of Camas-Washougal director. The event is expected to remain part of the City’s public outreach continuum.

The decision to reinstate ward meetings was inspired by the success of recent town hall meeting with state legislators.

About City of Camas

Located in eastern Clark County, City of Camas is home to approximately 23,000 residents. Camas boasts a vibrant historic downtown, approximately 60 miles of trails, numerous hi-tech manufacturing industries, and a state-leading educational system. From its origins over 100 years ago as a paper mill town, Camas continues to successfully blend a mix of cultures, values, and vision. For more information, visit www.cityofcamas.us

April 22, 2019/0 Comments/by Ernest Geigenmiller

Featured, News, World

Vick, Hoff Condemn Billions In Tax Increases Approved by House Committee

Olympia, WA — Earlier today (April 19) in the House Finance Committee, the 9-4 Democrat majority voted to increase taxes on Washingtonians by more than $4 billion over the next four years. The new taxes approved by the committee include:

· A capital gains income tax;

· A Business and Occupation tax surcharge on services;

· A graduated real estate excise tax; and

· A change to the nonresident sales tax exemption, turning it into an annual remittance program.

Eighteenth District Republican Reps. Brandon Vick and Larry Hoff, who recently co-authored two op-eds in opposition to new and increased taxes, issued the following statement Friday afternoon:

“Despite record revenues, a $3 billion surplus, and voters rejecting tax increases time and time again at the ballot box, the majority party continues to show blatant disregard for anything resembling fiscal sanity. If these new taxes are signed into law, along with the House majority’s proposed spending plan, we will not only have ignored voters’ wishes, but we will also have increased spending by 70 percent since 2013.

“Here locally, residents in the 18th District and across Clark County will be hurt if the state’s nonresident sales tax exemption is turned into an annual remittance program. Hindering cross-border competition will result in businesses closing, jobs being lost, and more families struggling to make ends meet.

“We don’t believe taking money out of taxpayers’ wallets and making our state less competitive is going to improve the prospects of Washingtonians in Clark County or anywhere else. Our state’s policy goals can be achieved within existing revenues without making cuts to necessary programs. We call on the majority party to revise its approach to budgeting and fund our shared priorities with the record revenues we currently have.”

The 2019 legislative session is scheduled to adjourn Sunday, April 28.

April 19, 2019/2 Comments/by Ernest Geigenmiller

Featured, Local, News

Washington Timbers FC Selects Lifetime Promotions to Run Snack Bar

Lifetime Promotions, the region’s Dippin’ Dots distributor, is pleased to announce they’re managing the snack bar at Harmony Sports Complex as part of a multi-year agreement with the Washington Timbers Football Club.

“One of our goals is to raise $20,000 for the Washington Timbers,” said Dennis Beffehr, the owner/operator of Lifetime Promotions. “The snack bar will proudly serve Dippin’ Dots and a whole lot more. We’ve been working on the menu, and want to provide good service to all the athletes, and all their family and friends.”

Their big opening is this Saturday, April 20, and the snack bar will open at 7 am every Saturday and stay open until the last game — all throughout the summer season. And, they’ll proudly be serving Hidden River Roasters coffee, which is based in Camas.

“Dennis and the Timbers already have a nice partnership with his ice cream entity and his donations to the club, and we thought it would it great to continue that relationship long-term and give them a permanent location,” said Michelle Beard, Soccer Operations Manager for the Timbers. “The money they will raise will go toward our scholarship program to help those in need to play soccer. I would encourage families to check it out, and know that it’s part of the Washington Timbers program. There will be more options. Money spent there is a direct benefit to the club.”

Washington Timbers FC serves thousands of youth throughout Clark County with their numerous athletic programs and events. To learn more, visit www.WashingtonTimbers.com

Menu items:

Concessions — Lifetime Promotions will be managing the concessions stand at Harmony Sports Complex.

April 18, 2019/0 Comments/by Ernest Geigenmiller

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CSD Budget Committee: 9 Considerations to Balance $8.2 Million Deficit

As Camas School District (CSD) grapples with an $8.2 million budget deficit, the School Board listened to a budget committee update Monday night that outlined nine major considerations to resolve the challenging financial issues.

Mike True and Mary Tipton, who volunteer on Superintendent Jeff Snell’s special budget committee, explained in detail the methodologies used to analyze the thorny issues in front of them, as well as their commitment to finding the best possible solutions.

The special budget committee was formed to take a deep dive into how CSD spends its money, find ways to reduce expenses, and ultimately provide Snell with overall considerations on how to balance the budget, which was thrown into chaos following “McCleary” legislation, legislative fixes, loss of voter-approved levies, and collective bargaining agreements. Approximately 225 of the state’s 295 districts are dealing with similar budget deficits.

School board member Connie Hennessey said that although the process is painful, she also sees this as an opportunity to shine light on inefficiencies throughout CSD. Seventeen community members, from various and diverse backgrounds, are on the committee who meet regularly to find solutions. The urgency of their work is in part because the current bargaining agreement stipulates certificated staff must receive layoff notices by May 15.

“We’re dealing with extraordinary circumstances and I appreciate everyone on this committee,” said True. “This isn’t easy work, but we don’t want to bury our heads, this is our community, and we want you to know our desire is to preserve as many programs as possible — we don’t want to cut programs entirely as they will be hard to bring back.”

He also emphasized this is a year-to-year approach, as CSD doesn’t know how future legislation could change the funding model.

True addressed the first four points, which are as follows:

1) Use of Fund Balance:
a. Using fund balance allows CSD to address the budget gap over two years.
b. Access fund balance in year 1 (2019-20) at a reasonable level, but could potentially lead to additional reductions in 2020-21.
c. The committee believes it’s important to maintain the fund balance at 5 percent of the annual operating budget. This allows for emergencies and 2-4 weeks of continued operations in the event the state doesn’t provide funding in a timely manner.
d. Future justified uses of fund balance may include preservation of programs, additional of staff to reduce overload, where justified and appropriate, and short-term opportunities where there is a known strategy to refund.
e. Future uses reducing unrestricted fund balance levels below 5 percent are not recommended for addition of programs, addition of staff, or compensation increases for existing positions.

2) Advocate for legislation that provides sustainable district funding.

3) Work towards preservation of CSD program opportunities for students during the funding model transition, which includes the following:
a. Avoid cutting entire programs.
b. Establish program evaluation metrics for future analysis of impact and efficiency.
c. Pursue opportunities to enhance program support funding from PTA/CEF/Boosters and other supporting organizations and initiatives.

4) Preserve student access to counselors.

Tipton addresses points five to nine, which are as follows:
5) Close staffing alignment to the state prototypical school funding model while preserving the goals of CSD. Reduce teacher on special assignment staff to a minimum level that keeps support for target district initiatives.
a. Protect class size — contractual class size target
Elementary: 24
Middle School: 30
High School: 31
b. Manage staffing to avoid increased overload, as defined in collective bargaining agreement.

6) Maintain appropriate security levels and protocols.

7) Reduce non-staff expenses: 7.5 percent reduction goal.

8) When pursuing capital projects, continue to consider the impact on operating expenditures.

9) As future funding becomes available, consider the following:
a. Prioritize service levels to our students, community and staff.
b. Prioritize program and extracurricular funding for students.
c. Growth of fund balance to appropriate levels.

“This is our report about our guidance to Jeff, who will be finalizing his recommendations to the board in the next few weeks,” said Tipton. “We’ve had a board member at every budget committee meeting, for which we are grateful.”

True said the committee members all come from different places and levels of understanding.

“I’ll go on the record and say that Mary and I have made a three-year commitment to be a part of this,” said True. “As processes move on, we’ll continue to look at fund balance and uses within that fund balance. It’s not an enjoyable process. There will be reductions.”

School Board member, Corey McEnry, said: “We’re thankful for so many stakeholders as we wrap our heads around this.”

Budget committee members present in the meeting acknowledged the challenges they face with making the considerations. “It’s really hard to understand,” said one member.

The School Board voted unanimously in favor of Resolution 12-03, which is a Modified Educational Program that authorizes Snell to move forward with a budget model.

Snell said he will continue to work with legislators advocating for better funding, and that CDS staff will work through the budget committee’s considerations to draft staffing models for the upcoming school year.

April 16, 2019/2 Comments/by Ernest Geigenmiller

Featured, News, Sports

Washington Timbers Women’s First Team Gears Up for New Season

The Washington Timbers Women’s First Team are ready to once again provide a summer of quality soccer with hopes to avenge their 3-1 loss to the Seattle Stars FC in last season’s Northwest Premier League (NWPL) championship.

“I’m very proud of what this team has done in two years, competing for the championship both years has established a culture of success that people want to be a part of,” said Executive Director, Sean Janson.

On June 1st, the Timbers are hosting a rematch of last season championship match against the Stars.

“Coming to the Timbers from Seattle United, I’m very familiar with the quality of players in the Seattle area and I look forward to facing the Stars in a couple months,” said Coach Evan Gaul.

The Timbers open their 2019 season against the NCW Alliance FC on May 5th while hosting their first home match of the season on May 18th against the Capital FC.

Coach Gaul took the reins from Kat Tarr, who stepped down due to the birth of her daughter. Coach Gaul looks to continue the tremendous success of the team witnessed under Tarr, who led the team to two championship appearances and winning it all in 2017. Coach Gaul has experience coaching high-level women’s soccer having coached in the National Women’s Soccer League with the Seattle Reign FC.

“With my experience coaching at the top Women’s level, I will bring a competitive platform for the team to be successful,” said Gaul.

Comprised of current, former and aspiring college players, the Washington Timbers First Team represents the highest level of women soccer available in Southwest Washington. The NWPL is comprised of teams from throughout the state of Washington and includes Capital FC out of Salem, Oregon.

The Timbers play their home matches at the Harmony Sports Complex on NE 18th St & NE 192nd Ave in Vancouver, and their season runs from April to July. For more information, please visit their website at http://www.washingtontimbers.com/nwpl or visit their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/WashingtonTimbersFC/.

Scoring a goal! Photo by Alan Moditz.
Defense! Photo by Alan Moditz.
Getting ready to pass.
Offense! Photo by Alan Moditz.

Washington Timbers FC 2019 Schedule
Date Opponent Time
May 5th NCW Alliance FC
May 12th Yakima United FC
May 18th Capital FC 5 pm
June 1st Seattle Stars FC 3 pm
June 8th Blackhills FC
June 15th Twin City Union 5 pm
June 22nd Olympic Peninsula Force
June 30th Washington Premier FC 3 pm
Bold denotes a home match

April 11, 2019/0 Comments/by Ernest Geigenmiller

Featured, Local, News

Help Beautify Downtown Camas At The Annual Spring Clean-Up & Planting Day

Camas, WA, —On Sunday, April 28^th from 1-4pm, Downtown Camas will have a “spring cleaning” with weeding, litter pick up and flower planting. The Downtown Camas Association (DCA) invites community members to come share in this annual grass roots effort. Journey Community Church in downtown invites the volunteers to come early at 12:30pm for a grilled burger and hot dog lunch served by Journey volunteers.

In honor of Earth Day, which was started by Camas native Denis Hayes, the Downtown Camas Association, volunteers, local students, Journey Church, City of Camas staff, and other community members will be helping with:

• Sidewalk and landscape bed clean-up

• Weeding

• Planting flowers and plants

• Bark dust spreading

Volunteers meet in front of Journey at 4^th & Birch (304 NE 4^th) to sign in. Journey will be serving lunch to volunteers starting at 12:30pm. All ages welcome to volunteer. Bring your own shovels, spades, buckets, wheelbarrows and garden gloves. Wheelbarrows are especially needed. Garbage bags and rubber gloves are provided for litter pick up.

“We love to see the transformation of our town within just a few hours,” says Carrie Schulstad, DCA Executive Director. “Everyone comes together in a grass roots way, has fun and gets to see what a difference they make in the aesthetic and charm of our downtown. All ages can participate. Thank you to the City of Camas for all your help, to Journey Church for providing lunch and to all the wonderful volunteers that come rain or shine to beautify the town we love.”

The downtown improvements are done just in time to make downtown shine for the Annual Camas Plant & Garden Fair in Downtown Camas on Saturday, May 11^th.

Planting along 4th Avenue.
A completed project.
Craig Schulstad planting shrubs.
Two girls volunteering to help out.

April 9, 2019/0 Comments/by Ernest Geigenmiller

Featured, Local, News

Camas City Council Eyes New Aquatic Center Site; To Seek Public Input, Vote

At the Camas City Council workshop meeting Monday night, the council unanimously gave direction to city staff to prepare a general obligation bond this November to fund the construction of a new aquatics center.

The news is a major breakthrough in the years-long battle to build a new aquatics center to accommodate the growing demands of all competitive and recreational swimmers, as well as address learn-to-swim and health-related programs.

“We gave staff direction to look at the Buhman property, which is adjacent to Fallen Leaf Lake, across from Heritage Park,” said Camas Mayor, Shannon Turk. “The land, which is just over six acres, is already owned by the City of Camas, and Camas residents have made it very clear they want a new pool. I feel this is a positive step forward.”

Monday’s motion gives staff direction to prepare a general obligation bond that will be presented to voters on the November ballot. The general obligation bond would fund the construction of the new aquatics center.

“Council will look at other sites in Camas, as well, and to look at getting a general obligation bond, which is putting a vote to the people on whether they would be willing to pay for a new pool,” said Turk.

Aquatics Center — Archived plans for a pool site near Fall Leaf Lake.

Over the past several months, Camas has been meeting with Washougal to build a community center that has a pool, and Turk said it was time to change the direction.

“Although we’re not saying no to a partnership with Washougal, we feel it’s in our best interest to go forward without them,” said Turk. “The meetings with Washougal weren’t moving this forward.”

City Council member, Melissa Smith, agreed.

“The bond amount hasn’t been determined, and this directs staff to look at property and put in a phased approach,” said Smith. “Timing is in November, and we would have to know the bond amount by August 6.”

Smith added there is potential to buy surrounding parcels, but that’s very preliminary.

“We could accommodate the needs for a 50,000 square foot pool facility,” said Smith. “If we went further and wanted to add more, there would be potential for that.”

Turk said this general obligation bond would be offset by the retiring of the Camas Public Library general obligation bond, which happens in 2019. “This bond would be offsetting,” she said.

Smith said the city staff will also exhaust every possible site, and that preparing this for the November ballot is a super tight timeframe, but doable.

“We have to take advantage of the momentum,” said City Council member, Don Chaney. “Shannon embraces this. We have a chance to do it. If the people say no, they say no. The challenge will be to make the timeline. The community will see that we heard them.”

The city has made numerous failed attempts to build a new aquatics center over the years, but Turk is determined.

“We’re not going to fail anymore,” said Turk.

Chaney said this location is optimum.

“People talk about location,” said Chaney. “I have a different view, it has to be a destination. It’s like Crown Park, and a competitive pool will bring money to downtown. This plan has full council support. We are re-engineering the intersection there, and that will be a big improvement. It was a great meeting today. Everyone should be happy with that meeting.”

Camas has been feeling the effects of losing access to aquatic centers over the past two years. First, the Crown Park Pool was closed, and then Camas High School swim teams were no longer allowed to use the Lacamas Athletic Club’s pool.

“It’s been a real challenge,” said Dave Peddie, a part of the 2018 State Champion Camas High School Boys Swim team. “Losing our home pool hurt us.”

Local residents have also been dismayed at losing the Crown Park Pool, feeling like their children are missing out on great summertime experiences, as well as the loss of valuable swimming lessons.

“This is great news,” said Darlene Lumbard, Head Coach of Columbia River Swim Team. “This is a chance to build a pool for everyone. We can all come together with a good design to reach all the things our community needs. A center encompasses all kinds of things with a competitive pool. Building the right aquatics center will have everything from competitive to therapeutic. It should have all the necessary programming.

“A well-run aquatics center has a private team, a high school team, recreation, learn to swim, scuba, kayak training, water therapy, silver sneakers. I would prefer a deep end because you can do so much more with a deep end. You can do synchro, diving, and water polo. This is a great opportunity to build the right pool. There’s no diving in the community, and there are a lot of gymnasts here. The deep end should go into a five foot, and then maybe with an L to it, where you have your learn-to-swim pool. You can put in your therapeutic work there, as well. This is so exciting!”

The next article will look at aquatics center design options and what they can do for a community.