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Camas mayor resigns unexpectedly

Barry McDonnell won write-in campaign weeks after entering contentious November 2019 race; Mayor Pro Tem Ellen Burton will lead city temporarily

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Camas Mayor Barry McDonnell (right) speaks to Camas residents John Ley (center) and Ernie Geigenmiller (left) at his first city council meeting in December 2019. McDonnell, a last-minute, write-in mayoral candidate, beat incumbent Mayor Shannon Turk in the November 2019 general election. (Photo by Kelly Moyer/Post-Record)

A little more than one year after winning a write-in campaign to lead the city of Camas, Mayor Barry McDonnell is stepping down and handing the reins to Mayor Pro Tem Ellen Burton. 

“Over the last few months, it has become clear to me that the needs of this Council, City and community are such that balancing a full-time job and family, while running the day-to-day operations as Mayor in our form of government is not sustainable for me,” McDonnell wrote in a letter sent to Camas city staff and media late Tuesday afternoon, May 11. 

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