Top Five Countdown: reviewing the top Camas-Washougal stories of 2024

No. 5: Camas residents again battle proposed gas station complex

Two years after a Camas hearings examiner cleared the way for the controversial Camas Station, a gas station-car wash-retail complex, to be developed at the corner of Northwest Brady Road and Northwest 16th Avenue in Camas’ Prune Hill neighborhood, Camas neighbors living near Union High School came out to oppose a second gas station-car wash-convenience store complex in 2024.

This time, the impacted area is located about one-half mile from the high school near the intersection of Northeast 13th and Northeast Friberg-Strunk streets.

Throughout the year, Camas residents have written to the city of Camas to oppose the 13th Street gas station project, telling City officials and staff that they fear the project will negatively impact the environment, groundwater and traffic safety in their neighborhood.

“What a nightmare project it is for this location,” Ruth and William Small, who live on Northeast 16th Street, just a few blocks away from the project site, told The Post-Record in December. “There are so many Camas laws, rules and codes being overlooked, ignored or given variances for this 13th Street gas station, that it appears to us that if you have the means to acquire enough variances, you can do whatever you want to in the city of Camas.”

As of this newspaper’s print deadline, Joe Turner, a contracted hearings examiner for the city of Camas was set to make a decision on an appeal of the city of Camas’ State Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) decision that the project would not negatively impact the environment, as well as a “substantive appeal” of the project related to the appropriateness of a car wash in a business park zone and of other traffic and neighborhood-impact issues brought up by the project’s opponents.

No. 4: Camas bans mortar fireworks

Love ‘em or hate ‘em, you couldn’t get away from discussions about fireworks in Camas in 2024.

Camas city officials spent several months debating the pros and cons of keeping their lenient fireworks policy and held public hearings that drew fireworks fan — who argued that sales from local Mean Gene Fireworks stands help Camas-Washougal high school seniors fund safe, school-sanctioned graduation parties — and opponents who cited concerns about fires, pollution and loud noises that scare wild animals, torment pets and may cause harm to war veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

In September, the Camas City Council held a public hearing before voting to ban aerial the sale, possession, purchase or discharge of fireworks with reloadable shell kits that are more commonly referred to as “mortars.”

“It’s like a war zone on top of Prune Hill on the Fourth of July,” one person who spoke in favor of the mortar ban told Council members during the Sept. 3 public hearing. “We dread the holiday and would leave, but are worried our house or landscaping could be set on fire. As a Humane Society volunteer, I have seen lost and terrorized dogs that arrive every year. … It is time to stop this nonsense.”

Several Camas officials noted earlier in the year that the fireworks debate has reared its head in Camas nearly every year for at least the past decade, and said they hoped the mortar ban might signal the end of the City’s fireworks debate.

No. 3: Voters OK new fire stations; will decide Regional Fire Authority issue in 2025

The Post-Record published nearly a dozen articles related to the creation of a regional fire authority (RFA) — something Camas-Washougal voters will decide in 2025 — and the quest to fund and build two new Camas-Washougal Fire Department (CWFD) fire stations, including one near downtown Washougal and a fire station headquarters near Camas City Hall on Northeast Fourth Avenue, in the heart of downtown Camas.

Camas-Washougal voters OK’d three fire-related issues during the Aug. 6, 2024 primary election, including a levy lid lift for the East County Fire and Rescue (ECFR) district north of Camas-Washougal and for the replacement of the two CWFD fire stations, which will cost around $26 million to build the new CWFD headquarters station in downtown Camas and a little less than $16 million to replace the Washougal fire station.

In December, Camas and Washougal city council members voted to send the issue of forming an RFA, which could, as its own taxing district, take pressure off the cities’ general funds, to voters during the April 22, 2025, election.

No. 2: Death at Camas paper mill

One of the most tragic Camas-Washougal stories of 2024, happened inside the Camas paper mill on March 8, 2024, when a 32-year-old mill employee, Dakota Cline, died inside his workplace, after apparently becoming entangled in a machine that prepared boxes for shipping.

In October, a Washington State Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) investigation showed that Cline’s death could have been prevented.

“Tragically, our investigation found this fatal incident could have been prevented. (Georgia-Pacific) knew what needed to be done to make this equipment safer, but didn’t take action that could have prevented this worker’s death,” “Craig Blackwood, assistant director for L&I’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health stated in a press release announcing L&I’s citation and $648,292 fine against the Camas mill, which is owned by Georgia-Pacific, a subsidiary of Koch Industries.

A Georgia-Pacific spokesperson told The Post-Record in March that the company had “extensive safety protocols,” including training on specific machines before allowing employees to operate the equipment.

The L&I investigation, however, showed that Georgia-Pacific violated “fundamental safety rules that contributed directly to (Cline’s) death, along with other safety issues identified at the site.”

Those violations included removing permanent guards on the machine in question in 2017, and replacing the guards with what L&I investigators said was “a fence built around the machine that did not prevent physical access to parts of the machine that could cause serious injury or death.”

The state also cited and fined Georgia-Pacific for failing to follow rules meant to protect workers in isolated areas. According to the L&I report, Georgia-Pacific employees in Camas told L&I inspectors that, although they were aware of a policy stating that a lead must check in with employees working alone every two hours, that policy “hasn’t been enforced for years.”

No. 1: School districts, city of Camas tackle revenue shortfalls

Moneywise, 2024 was not a great year for the Camas and Washougal school districts or the city of Camas. Officials from all three jurisdictions struggled to figure out how to pay for needed public services in the face of revenues that were not keeping pace with expenses throughout 2024.

In February, Mary Templeton, the then-superintendent of Washougal schools, announced she would take an almost $21,000 pay cut in light of the district’s $3 million budget shortfall. In April, Washougal High School students staged a walk-out protesting the district’s budget cuts and, in June, the Washougal School District announced its second round of budget cuts before the start of the 2024-25 school year.

The Camas School District also is facing significant budget cuts due to rising costs, lower revenues from the state to fund highly experienced teachers, the end of federal COVID-relief dollars, depleted reserves and lower student enrollment rates that equal fewer per-student funds from the state. In October, the Camas School District (CSD) began to survey its staff, students, families and the general Camas community to see where district leaders should cut 10 to 12 percent of its general fund budget. Most recently, in December, the CSD community weighed in once more on the looming budget cuts and CSD Superintendent John Anzalone said he expects to reveal proposed cuts to the public in March 2025.

The city of Camas also suffered budget woes this year, as the City’s revenues — particularly those connected to housing construction and sales, an industry negatively impacted by high interest rates throughout 2024 — tumbled while expenses, including employee salaries and benefits, continued to increase. In October, Camas Mayor Steve Hogan warned of “draconian” cuts without new revenue sources.

On Dec. 2, the Camas City Council voted 4-2 to pass a “hold steady” $322 million biennial 2025-26 budget that will include several new revenue sources, including a continuation of the City’s 2 percent utility tax, increased fees and a newly formed Transportation Benefit District funded by $20 annual vehicle fees and a 0.1 percent sales tax to help fund the City’s streets-related needs. Camas voters will weigh in during the Feb. 11, 2025 special election on another possible revenue source — a 4 percent utility tax to fund police staffing positions and equipment.