Camas Matters

06/01/2026

Camas residents—pay attention.

The City is quietly lining up a ballot measure to replace our strong mayor system with a strong council / city manager model—and they’re counting on you not noticing. The lack of resident engagement is why bad decisions keep getting pushed through.

Let’s be clear about what this means:

Right now, you elect a mayor who is directly accountable to you. If things go sideways, you know exactly who’s responsible.

Under a “strong council” system? Power shifts to an unelected city administrator, and accountability gets diluted across a committee. Everyone’s in charge…which usually means no one is.

And this isn’t just theory.

Across the U.S., most smaller cities (under ~100,000 residents) do use a council-manager system—but research consistently shows a tradeoff:

Council-manager systems tend to run smoother administratively, but often reduce direct voter accountabilityand can become insulated from public pressure.

Strong mayor systems are messier politically, but they increase transparency and voter control, especially when residents are engaged.

In other words: efficiency vs accountability. And guess which one gets harder to claw back once it’s gone?

Now consider the context.

This is the same city leadership culture that thought bulldozing the Crown Park pool would corner residents into approving a $70 million replacement. That didn’t work—because people were paying attention.

So now we get this?

A fundamental restructuring of city government—being fast-tracked to the ballot with minimal public engagement—and pushed by a committee stacked with former Camas City Council members who already tried to sell you a bill of goods recently.

That’s not reform. That’s a workaround.

And here’s the real kicker: This change would likely entrench the current administrative structure, making it harder, not easier, to course-correct in the future.

If you think accountability at City Hall has been frustrating lately, wait until it’s buried behind a manager and a committee. This isn’t a small tweak. It’s a permanent shift in who answers to you—and who doesn’t.

If you care about having a direct voice in how Camas is run:

1. Show up to the council meeting
2. Call in
3. Email the council

Because once this goes to the ballot, the framing will sound harmless. Maybe even “modern” or “efficient.” But don’t confuse streamlined government with accountable government.

Camas works because its residents pay attention. Now would be a bad time to stop.

05/20/2026

It's an PNW epidemic! First Svilarich of Camas City Council, now Beaverton had the same type of interaction with a clearly unhinged individual.

A candidate for the Beaverton City Council was arrested Monday night following an alleged menacing incident, police say.

05/11/2026

Disfunction Junction: Strong Council vs Strong Mayor for Camas.

If anyone needed a real-time demonstration of why handing more power to the Camas City Council would be a bad idea, the latest council meeting practically served as a live-action training video.

What should have been a routine discussion about committee appointments devolved into a procedural cage match featuring competing motions, motions to amend motions, arguments over Robert’s Rules, confusion about whether motions could even be withdrawn, and councilmembers openly debating punishments, reprimands, and personal grievances on the dais.

At one point, the city attorney essentially had to become an air traffic controller for parliamentary chaos:

“Robert’s Rules: learn it, know it, love it.”

That may end up being the unofficial slogan of the Camas City Council. And this is the group some people want to elevate into the primary governing authority of the city under a “strong council” system.

Currently, Camas operates under a mayor-council structure where the elected mayor acts as the city’s executive and administrator. The proposal being floated would shift Camas toward a council-manager model, where the council collectively exercises more power and hires a city manager to run day-to-day operations.

In theory, advocates describe this as “shared governance.” In practice, the latest meeting suggested something closer to “shared confusion” along with “uncontained spending and questionable community priorities.”

The irony is hard to miss. Supporters of the change argue that concentrating authority in one elected mayor is risky because one “destructive individual” could disrupt city governance. But the transcript from this meeting demonstrates the opposite concern just as clearly: what happens when dysfunction itself becomes decentralized?

Because the current problem in Camas does not appear to be an unchecked emperor-mayor issuing decrees from atop Prune Hill. The problem is a council that increasingly struggles to separate governance from personal vendettas, political maneuvering, and procedural theatrics. It’s devolved into personal preference rather than what’s best for the city. It wasn’t just last week, it’s every meeting!
And that matters because a strong-council system depends on one thing above all else: a highly functional council. Currently, our council participates in a group project where nobody read the instructions but everyone still wants to lead. Right now, the public is watching meetings that increasingly resemble a homeowners association argument conducted with microphones and legal counsel.

There’s also a deeper accountability issue here. Under the current system, voters know exactly who the executive is: the mayor. If residents dislike the direction of the city, they can vote that person out. Clean. Direct. Transparent.
Under a council-manager system, accountability gets blurrier. The council hires the manager. The council directs the manager. The council shares responsibility collectively. Which sounds collaborative until something goes wrong and suddenly nobody owns the decision.

One Reddit commenter summarized it surprisingly well:

“This just makes it harder to hold people accountable.”

Exactly.

And perhaps that’s the biggest unanswered question in this entire discussion: why is Camas pursuing a structural overhaul at the exact moment its council appears least capable of demonstrating stable collective leadership?

Changing the form of government is supposed to solve dysfunction, not institutionalize it.

Because after watching this latest meeting, many residents probably came away with the same thought: If this council can barely organize a committee appointment without descending into parliamentary warfare, maybe giving it more power isn’t the reform Camas needs right now.

05/05/2026

Sh*tshow, Season 23, Episode 4: Last night's Camas City Council meeting.

What should’ve been a straightforward discussion about committee appointments turned into a greatest hits compilation of defensiveness, procedural confusion, and good old-fashioned political maneuvering. The public got a front-row seat to exactly why confidence in our city government keeps slipping.

We had last-minute agenda changes (because planning is optional), motions to amend motions to amend motions, and a live demonstration that “following the rules” is apparently more of a suggestion than a practice.

Then came the main event.

Councilmember Svilarich showed up ready to spar, and it quickly felt less like governance and more like an attempt to reshuffle power—particularly around the Mayor Pro Tem role.

To his credit (finally!), Tim Hein called out the obvious: accountability still matters. Asking for a clear apology to the community should not be controversial. Instead, it turned into more defensiveness, which pretty much summed up the night.

And let’s not pretend this exists in a vacuum. Svilarich’s recent legal issues, the reprimand, the ongoing refusal to take real responsibility, and even a court-approved recall effort all hang over this. That context matters—especially when the same person is pushing for influence again.

Meanwhile:
– Some councilmembers are still defending him (loyalty > accountability?). Yeah, we're talking about Nohr and Bourke.

– Others seemed focused on positioning themselves for roles they clearly want

– And the mayor along with Svilarich and Nohr openly clashed over authority and process

Totally normal, very functional stuff.

What was missing? The city.

Seriously—residents, priorities, actual governance—none of that felt like the focus. Instead, it was grievances, alliances, and ego. Less “serving the public,” more “settling scores.” If there’s a takeaway, it’s this: Camas doesn’t need more titles, reshuffling, or political chess moves. It needs accountability, focus, and leaders who remember who they work for: YOU!

Because right now? This isn’t leadership. It’s dysfunction.
And yeah—residents should probably start speaking up, because this doesn’t fix itself and in the long run you'll have to deal with the decisions you may not agree with made down at city hall.

04/21/2026

Come out and enjoy the Skyridge Middle School performance of "Once Upon a Mattress" May 15-16th (details in the photo). Have no fear, you'll face far fewer parking lot issues at this event!

Reserve your seats for these performances at https://events.hometownticketing.com/boxoffice/camas/entity/schools/4

04/13/2026

We’re thinking of launching a new reality show: School Pickup Vehicle Follies, starring the fearless parents of Camas—where basic traffic rules go to die and parallel parking becomes a competitive sport. Honestly, it might be the most chaotic (and educational?) reality show yet.

These two videos sent in by a follower that took place at Camas High School. Our favorite is entering a one-way exit to bypass the line. And we also want to give a shout out to the tan FJ Cruiser at Skyridge this morning that drove into oncoming traffic to bypass the Subaru waiting in the turn lane to enter the school. Thumbs up!

04/07/2026

Let’s shift from school pickup chaos to something that may matter a bit more long-term: how our city is run.

Mayor Steve Hogan and the Camas City Council have approved forming a committee to explore moving from our current strong-mayor system to a council–manager model. It’s a significant idea, especially at a time when many residents feel the city has lacked clear direction, and arguably lacked leadership from the top down.

In the latest issue of Camas Neighbors, the mayor announced the committee but didn’t outline a clear case for why this change is needed or why another committee beyond the last two should be formed, beyond noting that Vancouver made a similar move.
Maybe the issue is structural. Or maybe it comes down to leadership, priorities, and how decisions are being made and communicated. One thing is clear: our city operates with diffused accountability and inefficiency. It could be argued we've elected individuals lacking vision or leadership, and the lack of prioritization with spending and project priorities is apparent.

Either way, it’s a conversation worth having—what do you think?

03/30/2026

Mark your calendars and don’t forget to support the Camas Music Boosters!

Our 3rd Annual Gala is fast approaching! Grab your tickets or sponsorship today while you still can!

https://secure.givelively.org/event/camas-music-booster/making-waves-for-music/making-waves-for-music

03/26/2026

Oh Skyridge parents… are we really doing this again?

Because apparently the new pickup strategy is: skip the line, drive against exiting traffic, and hope physics takes the day off. All because your schedule is just a little more “important” than everyone else’s. Notice the white Land Rover Defender and the black Audi SUV facing off (Audi has the right of way).

Here’s the problem: besides the obvious main-character energy, you’re not just saving yourself a few seconds. You’re creating a mess for everyone else and, more importantly, a genuinely unsafe situation for other drivers, parents, and kids.

There are plenty of ways to pick up your child that don’t involve turning the parking lot into a live-action game of Frogger. A little planning goes a long way.

Let’s try that instead. Or maybe Camas Police Department needs to be a presence again?

03/13/2026

Watching our neighbors in Washougal build their first official off-leash dog park is exciting, but it’s also a gut punch for those of us in Camas. We pay some of the highest property taxes in Clark County, many of us have dogs and plenty of land, and residents have been asking for a dog park for years—yet we still don’t have one.

Instead, our city chose to pour millions into a splash pad that most people never asked for or ranked as a top priority. Why? Because it gave staff something to do: apply for grants, hire consultants, and manage another shiny capital project, while a basic, widely supported amenity like a dog park keeps getting kicked down the road.

Washougal is proving what’s possible when a city actually listens to its community and incorporates a dog park into its downtown vision. Maybe it’s time for Camas leadership to stop checking boxes on grant applications and start delivering the things residents have been clearly, consistently asking for.