heather.acheson@camaspostrecord.com
November 26, 2013
A new chapter for The Fairgate
On a cold but sunny Saturday afternoon, The Fairgate Inn in Camas held its annual holiday high tea. As always, the event was beautifully decorated and the food was absolutely amazing.
On a cold but sunny Saturday afternoon, The Fairgate Inn in Camas held its annual holiday high tea. As always, the event was beautifully decorated and the food was absolutely amazing.
The 15 Clark County residents elected as freeholders earlier this month will be sworn in today. The event will be held at 6 p.m., at the Clark County Public Service Center sixth-floor hearing room, 1300 Franklin St., Vancouver. The group's first meeting will follow at 6:30 p.m.
A pool of 17 candidates for Camas city administrator is currently being narrowed to a field of three who will be interviewed next week. Higgins announced earlier this month that an expedited recruitment process that will make use of the results from the city administrator selection process completed within the past year would be used. This time around, the recruitment is being completed internally with assistance from Waldron, a regional human resources consulting firm that completed the city's previous city administrator recruitment. The application deadline was Friday, Nov. 15. Finalists will be interviewed by a selection committee on the morning of Thursday, Dec. 5. Higgins will then interview the committee's top two choices and make a final selection.
As the tide turns toward the beginning of the holiday season, the goodness in people's hearts truly begins to show. Local volunteers, both young and old, are an inspiration as they spring into action. They coordinate food and toy drives, prepare hot meals for people in the community, put together gift baskets, collect jackets, hats and mittens, and raise money to benefit those in need. All of these efforts are done on both large and small scales, from a penny drive to events like Stuff the Bus that generates thousands of pounds of donated food each and every year. The great part about all of these efforts is that they allow each and every one of us to give what we can, because even the smallest contribution has the capacity to help someone in need.
Electrical work is now being completed, and soon insulation and drywall will be installed inside the new Lacamas Lake Lodge and Conference Center. Contractor JWC Construction began work in July on the 5,000 square foot building located on the banks of Lacamas Lake. It has slowly begun to take shape in the last couple of months. "There hasn't been any real unexpected challenges," said Site Superintendent Chad Shumaker on Friday. "The city has been super easy to work with. This is going to be a beautiful building."
The Camas City Council last night approved a series of changes to parking time limits in downtown Camas, and the much debated topic is likely to come up again at the annual planning conference in January. The ordinance establishes 35 spots on Cedar and Birch streets, between Northeast Fifth and Sixth avenues, that will shift from the current six-hour to a new "unrestricted" 72-hour parking time limit. The intent is to give employees of downtown Camas businesses areas to park other than in front of other businesses. In addition, three 10-minute spots will be added -- one in front of Caffe Piccolo at 309 N.E. Birch St., one in front of Happy Island Restaurant at 419 N.E. Cedar St., and another in front of the apartments at 615 N.E. Sixth Ave., to be used as a C-Tran pick-up spot.
It might be an understatement to suggest that in Camas and Washougal, high school sports are a big deal. Friday night football games draw hundreds, if not thousands, of screaming fans -- students, parents and community members alike -- to Fishback and Doc Harris stadiums. This is also where crowds faithfully cheer on the soccer teams and track and field teams. Volleyball and basketball supporters also pack local gymnasiums to the gills.
On Monday, Nov. 18, the city of Camas will hold a public hearing on its proposed $66.7 million 2014 budget. To fund the budget as recommended, the City Council will need to boost its property tax levy and use its banked taxing capacity, which has accumulated since 2009 because the city did not use its 1 percent annual property tax levy increase that is allowable by state law. The amount of money the city can increase its levy by each year is limited to 1 percent of the previous year's levy. The city is also limited by a statutory maximum rate of $3.60 per $1,000 of assessed value.
Parking in downtown Camas. It's a complicated issue that can draw emotions including frustration, anger and exasperation. While a handful of businesses are lucky enough to have their own parking lots, the majority of merchants in the downtown core share customer on-street parking limited to two hours, with some areas of 10-minute and 6-hour parking spots as well. It's an issue that over the years has come up time and time again. A city-sponsored committee attempted to tackle some of the problems in 2009. "This animal has been one we have grappled with," said Councilman Steve Hogan. "It's kind of like dancing with a bear. Once you start dancing, you don't get to determine when to stop. It seems the bear does."
Due to the Legislature going into a special session today, Sen. Ann Rivers and Rep. Liz have cancelled a town hall meeting, which was scheduled for Saturday, at the Camas Public Library. Gov. Jay Inslee announced Tuesday he is calling lawmakers back to Olympia to pass legislation that would benefit the state's aerospace industry. Lawmakers were unaware of the governor's plans until he made the announcement. Pike said the town hall will be rescheduled.
