Camas city councilor announces surprise resignation

Bonnie Carter, the longest-serving member of the Camas City Council, resigned unexpectedly Monday night, telling Camas Mayor Steve Hogan and other Council members that she planned to stay in her position through the Council’s Feb. 3 meeting. “It’s really bittersweet,” Carter told The Post-Record on Tuesday. “I will miss the staff and the policy work, but 10 years is a good, solid time to serve, and I really believe that a fresh perspective and new leadership is good.” Carter, 55, who works as an administrative secretary at Skyridge Middle School in Camas, jumped into local politics in early 2015, when she was appointed to the Camas City Council’s Ward 2 position. Her first swearing-in ceremony took place Feb. 2, 2015 — almost exactly 10 years before the date of her final Council meeting. Voters elected Carter to a full term on the Council in November 2015, and have continued to support her in subsequent elections, including the general election in November 2023, when Carter beat her opponent, political newcomer Ry Luikens, by 24 points. “I am really grateful that they trusted me to be their voice,” Carter said of the voters who have stuck with her over the past decade. “I’m really grateful for that trust. And I hope I represented them well.” During her 10 years on the Council, Carter has pushed other city officials to avoid what many Camas leaders have referred to as “kicking the can down the road” when it comes to maintaining and upgrading City facilities, parks, equipment and streets. Over the past decade, the Council has heard several reports showing critical infrastructure needs in City-owned buildings, including a 2021 report showing the cities of Camas and Washougal needed to replace two fire stations and build a third in Camas by 2031, and a 2022 report revealing that the City had nearly $35 million worth of needed upgrades and repairs at 17 of its buildings. “We needed to know everything that was bad so we could address it and make a long-term plan. You can’t plan unless you know,” Carter said. “It’s scary when you know how bad things are, but that’s when you can plan accordingly.” Knowing that voters have already approved building a new Camas-Washougal Fire Department headquarters station in downtown Camas and will soon weigh in on a proposal to form a regional fire authority (RFA) to oversee the joint Camas-Washougal fire department makes Carter feel better about her decision to leave the Council halfway through her most recent term. “We accomplished a lot of good things last year,” Carter said. “And we’re getting some things on the ballot, which is important. There is the utility tax to fund police (on the February ballot) and, hopefully, the citizens will approve the RFA to really stabilize funding and transparency for the fire department. And we’ve diversified the revenues, which helped stabilize our funding sources.” Carter said she is leaving the Council knowing the City will be in good hands under Mayor Steve Hogan’s leadership. “Steve and I did a lot of work last year that was really needed,” Carter said. “That’s why I stayed on. I knew we were close to getting that work done.” Her resignation from the Council is not the end of Carter’s volunteer work in Camas, the city she’s called home for the past 23 years. She remains a member of the Camas Educational Foundation and said she hopes to help raise funds to “grow and maintain some of (the City’s) open spaces.” Now that she will have more free time, Carter said she plans to spend more time with her husband, Steve Carter, who recently retired, and take trips to visit the couple’s four adult sons, who live in Washington, Oregon and Montana. Carter said she hopes more community members will get involved with local politics and that a few may even consider vying for her soon-to-be vacant Ward 2 Council seat. “More citizens knowing how their government works is valuable,” Carter said. “I encourage others to trust that they can do this work as well.” On Monday, Jan. 6, during the Council’s workshop, Mayor Steve Hogan thanked Carter for her service on the Council. “You’ve been a true leader on Council for 10 years, and the work you’ve done on many projects has led to great things,” he said.

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