Longtime Camas councilor will not seek 5th term

Longtime Camas City Councilman Don Chaney announced this week that he will not run for reelection later this year.

“I am hoping to serve the remainder of my current term,” Chaney said Monday, May 1, during the Council’s regular meeting.

Chaney’s current four-year term ends Dec. 31, 2023.

A former Camas police chief who worked with the Camas Police Department from 1973 through his retirement in 2008, Chaney has served on the Camas City Council since 2008. He also served as a Camas School Board member from 1992 to 1996.

In 2019, Chaney ran unopposed for his at-large Council seat, and garnered 95% of the vote.

“Camas is my family’s home (for) three generations and a special place to live,” Chaney stated in his 2019 campaign literature. “I have a personal interest in sustaining the unique and exceptional qualities of our community … Preserving our quality of life today and for future generations is my top priority.”

Chaney’s announcement comes five months after another longtime Camas City Council member, Greg Anderson — who also ran unopposed during the Nov. 5, 2019 General Election — announced in December 2022, that he was stepping down from his elected position after a 25-year run on the Council and one year before the end of his own four-year term. The Council has since appointed Camas-Washougal Chamber of Commerce Director Jennifer Senescu to fill Anderson’s Ward 3, Position 1 seat until voters have a chance to elect Anderson’s replacement during the November 2023 general election.

There are five city of Camas positions open in the 2023 elections:

• The four-year mayoral position now filled by Camas Mayor Steve Hogan;

• Chaney’s four-year at-large Council position;

• The four-year Ward 3, Position 1 Council seat formerly held by Greg Anderson and now filled by the Council-appointed Jennifer Senescu;

• The Ward 1, Position 1 Council seat formerly held by Shannon Roberts, another Council member who quit in July 2022, less than three years into her four-year term, and now held by the Council-appointed John Nohr; and

• The Ward 2, Position 1 Council seat currently held by Camas City Councilwoman Bonnie Carter.

Other open elected offices in Camas-Washougal that are up for grabs in the upcoming 2023 primary and general elections include three Camas School Board positions; three Washougal School Board positions; one Port of Camas-Washougal Commission seat; and six Washougal City Council positions, including the Washougal mayoral office.

The Clark County candidate filing period for open elected offices in 2023 is May 15-19. Online candidate filing opens at 9 a.m. Monday, May 15, and must be submitted by 4 p.m. Friday, May 19. In-person filing at the Clark County Elections office, located at 1408 Franklin St., Vancouver, begins at 8 a.m. Monday, May 15, and closes at 5 p.m. Friday, May 19. Candidates also may file by mail to Clark County Elections, P.O. Box 8815, Vancouver, WA 98666, May 1-19.

For more information, including a complete list of local offices open for election, filing fees and deadlines, visit clark.wa.gov/elections/candidates.

The Post-Record was unable to reach Don Chaney for comment in time for this newspaper’s print deadline.