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October 2, 2013
Police arrest two suspects for vandalism
Two suspects have been arrested in connection with several acts of vandalism which took place during a 48-hour period last week
Two suspects have been arrested in connection with several acts of vandalism which took place during a 48-hour period last week
Cats, dogs and other pets are welcome at the annual blessing ceremony Sunday.
It was only a year ago that Chris Dierickx and Nick Brown were working in two separate funeral homes in the small community of Camas. Dierickx is a fourth generation funeral director and current owner of Straub's Funeral Home and Columbia River Cremation, while at that time Brown was a third generation funeral director at Brown's Funeral Home and Cremation Services. "We were both managers of our own family firms," said Brown. "We really had only talked in passing. It wasn't that there was any hostility between the two of us, we just didn't know each other."
Two men who have lived in the local area for most of their lives -- incumbent Sean Guard and challenger Earl Scott -- are hoping to serve as the mayor of Washougal for the next four years. Utility rate reductions, parks and promoting economic development are among the issues of interest among them. Scott, a Washougal resident for 28 years, said he has always had political aspirations. He previously considered running for Port of Camas-Washougal commissioner, but it would have been a conflict of interest since he was the fire marshal with the City of Washougal. The duties of a fire marshal include inspecting port buildings. "This is not a quick decision," Scott said regarding his city council candidacy. "It's been in the works for quite a long time.
The people who attended the Washougal Town Hall Saturday morning at Washougal High School received an education about water and sewer rates and the potential for them to decrease. City Administrator David Scott presented preliminary cost of service and rate results, developed by FCS Group. Major findings include the indication that multifamily residential customers have been subsidizing other customer classes. A phase-in strategy would keep rates flat for multifamily customers, while other groups "step up," according to Scott.
During a short and somber meeting on Friday afternoon, the Camas City Council approved a consultant contract in the wake of an announcement early last week that City Administrator Nina Regor had taken immediate medical leave. The contract is with Ridgefield based consultant Paul Lewis. According to Mayor Scott Higgins, as part of the contract Lewis will assist the city with duties that will include bringing the consolidation of the Camas-Washougal fire departments to a conclusion, assisting with union contract negotiations, working on the 2014 budget, and being available to department heads, if needed. "He is a finance mind; that is his strength," Higgins said. "He's worked with a lot of different agencies."
Camas leaders focused on projects, partnerships and prosperity during the presentation of the first "state of the community" address. The Sept. 24 event was a joint venture of the city of Camas, Camas School District, and Port of Camas-Washougal. Speakers focused on the positive, and outlined recent accomplishments and future endeavors. Camas Mayor Scott Higgins highlighted a number of construction projects that have likely been visible to local residents, or soon will be -- the most significant being the 38th Avenue extension. "If you just drive around the geographical area of the city of Camas, you can't help but run into construction project after construction project," he said. "Things are going on in our community."
A public hearing regarding the development of the former Hambleton Lumber Sales LLC site attracted more than 40 people to the Washougal City Council meeting last night. After almost two hours of public comments and council discussion, council members approved a development agreement with the Port of Camas-Washougal and Parker's Landing LLC, for the land located at 335 S. "A" St. The vote was 6 to 1, with the opposing vote issued by Caryn Plinski. Prior to that, she and councilman Paul Greenlee voted to postpone a decision on the development agreement. That motion failed 5 to 2. Earlier, Plinski said the waterfront development could be "an amazing thing to add to Washougal." "I want a park, trail, restaurants and shops," she said. "I'm not sure I'm ready to pass it tonight."
A consultant study recently recommended that Camas consider raising its utility rates during the next five years to help fund items including future capital improvement obligations, and investment in maintaining the current system. Angie Sanchez Virnoche and Sergey Tarasov, of the consultant company FCS Group, provided the Camas City Council with the results of the recent study of water, sewer, storm water and sanitation utility rates.
The Washougal School District has set amounts for its upcoming three-year maintenance and operations levy, as well as a technology levy. Current levies are due to expire at the end of 2014. These were approved by voters in 2010 and provide additional funding to areas such as school safety, textbooks, special education, sports, music and technology. The levies will go before district voters in February 2014. The M&O levy will be set at $6.3 million, which is 23 percent more than the current $5.09 million levy. Additional levy dollars are needed to maintain current programs for increasing enrollment, and fund expanded learning opportunities and programs, such as all-day kindergarten district wide, summer school, instructional coaches and safety improvements at all buildings, according to business manager Brian Wallace.