
Hearing to be held March 2 at the Skamania County Courthouse
Leah Anaya
For Clark County Today
Just weeks ago, the citizens of Camas celebrated a victory after they collected over 3,000 signatures from residents demanding that the newly imposed 2 percent utilities tax enacted by the City Council be placed on a ballot for a special election. Now, the city of Camas and Clark County have both rejected those signatures connected to Referendum 1 due to a technicality that advocates say was not clearly communicated to them at the time of submission.
“In the city’s mind, rejecting over 3,000 citizen voices all came down to one staple,” said an advocate with Fix Camas who asked to remain anonymous. The advocate explained that after the petitions were accepted by the city’s clerk and public records officer, Bernie Bacon, they were denied because the seven-page ordinance was not attached to every petition sheet at the time they were submitted to the Clerk’s Office. “There were 307 petition sheets. If we would have attached the full ordinance to every sheet, we would have had to print an extra 2,100 pages. Instead, we printed a summary page and included those when we collected signatures.”
Bernie Bacon has since unexpectedly resigned from her position.
A lawsuit has been filed in response to the rejection and will be heard at the Skamania County Courthouse on March 2, at 9 am. The intent of the lawsuit is to force Clark County and the city of Camas to verify the 3,160 signatures which were collected during the 30-day window as stated by law.
The members of the Camas City Council also voted in January to revisit the issue of the tax after overwhelming opposition. However, that can’t happen until a replacement for Council Member Greg Anderson, who also unexpectedly resigned after his vote in favor of the utility tax, is appointed. The council has indicated that will take place on Feb. 17.
In addition to the added utility tax, which is projected to bring in about $1 million to the city, a $30 million capital bond will also be on the August ballot to replace firehouses. At the Jan. 17 City Council meeting, Council Member Leslie Lewallen said, ”We are talking about a million dollars over the course of two years. Is that where we want to hang our hat …when we have a 30 million dollar bond coming up and some other big ticket items?”

The council approved the new tax on a 4-3 vote in November of 2022. Canvassers worked for 30 days to get signatures to pass Referendum 1, Camas’ first petition of its kind, asking to have the tax on the ballot. To accomplish this, the group needed to collect 15 percent of the population of residents in the city limits of Camas (which amounted to 2,730). Volunteers surpassed that number by far and were able to gather 3,160 signatures. The paperwork was turned in to the city and received a stamp of approval by Bacon on Jan. 9.
However, on Jan. 13, signers of the petition received a letter from Bacon saying the petition was rejected by Clark County due to the aforementioned clerical issues. “The vote to approve this tax was not a consensus vote by our City Council,” reads the Fix Camas website. “The 4-3 split vote was made after many Camasonians from all walks of life came to the table, unified in opposition and delivering testimony about the impact this tax will have on them.”
“The biggest impact this tax will have,” said the advocate, “is on our senior citizens on fixed incomes. They can’t afford this added tax.”
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Thank you for reporting the facts. This is what journalism should be. Great article!
In reality, we had 30 days to gather signatures, but upwards to 10 days over that period were down days because of the lingering ice storm, other severe weather conditions, and two holidays.
The number of signatures gathered by 30+ volunteers, over 20ish days in crummy weather is astounding. It is commendable.
Bernie Bacon, who was a long term City of Camas employee, suddenly resigns. Something smells bad about this. What really transpired and is Hogan going to just sit there and let her take the hit? Maybe the Mayor needs to put on his big boy pants.
As a tax payer we’re asked to tighten our belts as we turn our hard earned dollars over to elected officials. Isn’t it about time government tightened their belts?
Let’s just make sure we all take names of those who were on the council that voted for this increase, from the bottom to the supposed top. Make absolutely sure this is their last term plus we may need an audit to see where all this surplus money is. Some no longer serve the community but try to serve and enrich themselves with underhanded behavior because no one will call them out. Thank you for taking the time to give us a great article that included real facts. So I guess it’s time to go online and see who is left on the council and who “unexpectedly resigned”.
It’s really ironic that the City of Camas can choose what is good and what is bad, after the fact.