Doc Harris closed pending generator installation

Doc Harris Stadium closed pending generator installation

The Camas School District Board of Directors on Monday approved spending $75,108 to install a new backup generator system at Doc Harris Stadium.

According to the Heidi Rosenberg, the school district’s capital programs director, the existing inverter and battery backup system at the stadium is “completely unusable and unsalvageable and is being disconnected and disposed of as part of the contract.”

Rosenberg told school board members on Monday, Jan. 13, that the Camas-Washougal Fire Department had inspected the backup generator system and “requested the system be replaced immediately and that the stadium not be occupied without adequate measures in place to assure occupant safety until the replacement system is up and fully operational.”

The new generator will not arrive for seven to eight weeks, Rosenberg said. Until that time, the school district cannot use Doc Harris Stadium. The timing was right, Rosenberg said, considering that the stadium gets very little use during the winter months.

The contract awards ADK Electric $69,288 for the emergency power equipment replacement, plus nearly $6,000 in state sales tax.

Rosenberg said ADK Electric was selected for the project due to its history of having performed similar work for the school district and of having the “lowest responsible and responsive bids on recent previous work.”

Camas man steals boat, arrested

A 20-year-old Camas man was arrested after stealing a boat from Parker’s Landing Marina on Jan. 7.

At about 5:30 a.m., the man broke into the Washougal boat basin by jumping over a fence and stole a 36-foot cabin cruiser named ‘Jack Daniels.’

“He got in, went through the yacht, found the spare keys and basically stole it,” Port of Camas-Washougal chief executive officer David Ripp said. “He was probably high when he broke in. When you’re high on meth, you don’t think about things like (getting caught). We have security measures, but if a thief really wants to get in, they’ll get in.”

The man navigated the boat west on the Columbia River to the Ridgefield area, where he ran the yacht aground, according to Ripp. The man attempted to run and hide, but was arrested by Clark County sheriff’s deputies at about 4 p.m.

“He got down to Ridgefield and put the boat up on shore,” Ripp said. “He got off the boat and thought that’d he’d escape, but he was basically on an island, so he wasn’t going anywhere. A member of the Department of Fish and Wildlife spotted the boat and called in the Vancouver K9 unit, and the dogs found (the man).”

Ripp said that the Port is “always looking” to improve its security measures.

“We already had a meeting about adding brighter lights and motion sensors to each gate, so when somebody moves, the lights will kick on and they will be seen,” he said. “This guy didn’t care; he was getting in no matter what. We want to try to keep honest people honest. We’re looking for ways to make changes to detour people from trying to do what he did.”

Ripp said the boat has been returned and is undergoing repairs.

Meeting on proposed Camas cell tower set

A meeting to discuss plans to build a 120-foot cell tower within 300 feet of Camas’ Woodburn Elementary School will be held at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 22, at the Camas Public Library, 625 N.E. Fourth Ave., Camas.

A group of Woodburn Elementary parents are fighting to have the tower moved due to concerns about potential adverse health impacts on Woodburn students. More than 400 people have signed a Change.org petition calling for Verizon to relocate the cell tower to a site at least 1,500 feet from the school.

Camas to host meeting on roundabout

The city of Camas will host a project update meeting on the city’s planned traffic roundabout at Northeast Lake Road and Northeast Everett Street at 6 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 23, at Lacamas Lake Lodge, 227 N.E. Lake Road, Camas.

The Jan. 23 meeting will include a question-and-answer session open to all attendees after a slideshow presentation showing: the project’s history; final designs for the planned roundabout; a timeline for construction and the city’s plan for handling traffic during construction.

To learn more about the roundabout project, visit cityofcamas.us/lakeroad.