A Skamania County Sheriff’s Office report is recommending fines be levied against four Clark County councilors and a charge or letter of reprimand for County Manager Kathleen Otto after violations were found when the council voted to remove Michelle Belkot from the C-TRAN Board
Paul Valencia
Clark County Today
A Skamania County Sheriff’s Office (SCSO) investigation has concluded that four members of the Clark County Council violated the county charter and the rules of procedures as well as the Open Public Meetings Act. Plus, the county manager could be charged with official misconduct.
The report says that Councilor Wil Fuentes should be removed from the C-TRAN Board of Directors “immediately” and that Councilor Michelle Belkot should be reinstated to the C-TRAN Board.
The report, written by Det. Christian Lyle of the Skamania County Sheriff’s Office, recommends that Clark County Chair Sue Marshall, as well as councilors Fuentes, Glen Yung, and Matt Little, should be fined for the violation of the Open Public Meetings Act. Lyle added that Kathleen Otto, the county manager, “could be charged” with a violation of Revised Code of Washington 9A.80.010, Official Misconduct, for failing to act. If not charged, Lyle recommends a letter of reprimand for Otto for “not properly performing her duties as the County Manager.”
The SCSO was asked by the Clark County Sheriff’s Office to investigate the complaint that was filed by Rob Anderson of Reform Clark County after the Clark County Council removed Belkot from the C-TRAN Board in March and replaced her with Fuentes. Anderson alleged that the County Council did not follow proper procedures.
Lyle agreed.
The report was forwarded to the office of the Clark County Prosecuting Attorney Tony Golik. The report’s recommendations are not binding.
“Our office has received the report from Skamania Co.,” Golik texted Clark County Today on Friday afternoon. “Our office has determined we have a conflict and we will ask an outside prosecutor’s office to review the Skamania County report.”
Michelle Belkot said she appreciates the work done by the Skamania County Sheriff’s Office.
“I hope the PA’s office does take corrective action to make this right and reappoint me to the C-TRAN board,” Michelle Belkot told Clark County Today on Friday. “I think it’s ethically the right thing to do.
“Just because you don’t like the way I vote is not grounds to remove me,” she said.
On March 11, 2025 at a C-TRAN Board of Directors meeting, Belkot announced her intention to vote to protect Clark County taxpayers from paying operating and maintenance costs for TriMet’s light-rail extension into downtown Vancouver. The next day, the Clark County Council voted to remove Belkot from the C-TRAN board.
Soon after, Reform Clark County sued four members of the Clark County Council and asked for an investigation into the legality of removing Belkot.
The Clark County Sheriff’s Office took the complaint and asked Skamania County to conduct the investigation.
“It feels nice to see there is definitely fire in this smoke,” Anderson said. “I think it’s partial vindication. It shows there are a lot of issues that really have to be addressed, corrected, and hopefully reformed so these kinds of things don’t continue to happen.”
Anderson said the conclusion and recommendations of the report do not necessarily make him happy, though. Instead, he called the entire situation sad, noting that the council’s actions affected all Clark County residents.
“I’m glad on a small level that maybe justice is around the corner,” Anderson said. “Overall, it just demonstrates that the conduct of the county on March 12 is very disappointing.”
The synopsis of Lyle’s report states:
“Upon review of the Clark County Home Rules Charter (bylaws) and the Open Public Meetings Act, the actions taken by the Clark County Council to remove and replace Council Member Belkot should be considered … null and void.”
Later in the report, Lyle notes that Marshall had “no authority” to remove Belkot from the C-TRAN board. He said Otto was “derelict” in the manager’s duties by allowing the removal of Belkot from the C-TRAN board and for allowing the appointment of Fuentes to that board.
The appointment of Fuentes, the report notes, was without public discussion. It was also a violation of OPMA due to the “obvious existence of a secret vote.”
The report goes on to say that the county manager has the authority to appoint members of boards. The council confirms or rejects those appointments. The council cannot remove a board member. Therefore, the unilateral decision made by Marshall was in direct violation of the rules, and the lack of action by Otto reveals the potential for a violation of RCW 9A.80.010, Official Misconduct.
“When County Manager Otto failed to act to retain County Council Member Belkot and correct the error made by Chair Marshall, County Manager Otto deprived another person of a lawful right or privilege,” the report says.
The report also points out that Fuentes was appointed without adequate public discussion.
The ethics committee for the Clark County Council’s office should be notified and convene a meeting to review the violations contained in the report, Lyle wrote in the conclusion.
Under recommendations, Lyle suggested fines for Marshall, Fuentes, Yung, and Little for the OPMA violations. And for Otto, either a charge or an official letter of reprimand for official misconduct.
To read the report, go to: https://www.clarkcountytoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/25-05127-Skamania-Report.pdf
Emails and texts sent to Marshall, Fuentes, Yung, Little, and Otto on Friday morning were not returned by late afternoon Friday. It should also be noted that Little previously reported to Clark County Today that while he did vote to remove Belkot from the C-TRAN Board on March 12, he changed his vote the next meeting.
Clark County Today will update this story or post a new story should Marshall, Fuentes, Yung, Little and/or Otto reach out in the coming days.
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Given the nature of politics today. Honesty is a crucial virtue when keeping the taxpayer’s trust on point. Since either board nor County Manager have shown the ability to maintain their oath when they were sworn in. A recall for County Chair Sue Marshall, as well as councilors Fuentes, Glen Yung, and Matt Little be initiated. Upon their recall, the County Manager should be given the opportunity to either resign or be fired. Her disservice to the Taxpayer of Clark County cannot be tolerated or swept aside with an apology.
Clark County has only 2 seats on the CTRAN board today. Councilor Michelle Belkot serves in District 2, which is mostly county area, with a small area that is in City of Vancouver. She has opposed light rail as the transit option for the proposed I-5 Bridge due to excessive costs and low ridership on CTRAN buses over the bridge since 2006. Spending $BILLIONS to build a 1.9 mi extension of Trimet MAX light rail and untold $MILLIONS to Operate and Maintain, as IBR proposes, is not justified. Buses and vans have and can continue to meet the demand for public transit now, and in the future.
Councilor Fuentes serves in District 3, which is mostly in the city of Vancouver and along with Councilor Sue Marshall, is an ardent light rail proponent. Vancouver already has 3 representatives on the CTRAN board who have been pushing light rail for years. The switch to Fuentes essentially gives Vancouver 4 seats on the CTRAN board.
Clearly the whole point of removing Michelle Belkot from the CTRAN board was to replace her with a light rail proponent , full speed ahead, no matter the cost.
WOW! What an excellent investigative report on this corruption within the Clark County Council and the County Manager, who should resign. Detective Lyle from Skamania County Sheriff concluded his investigation that makes a retired law enforcement officer like myself, get excited about seeing the start of “justice comes to Clark County”, I HOPE. This report will go to County Prosecuting Attorney Tony Golik. What will he do? I remember a person, living in Oregon, who was voting here in Clark County over several years. When this report was given to Sheriff Chuck Atkins, it went dormant for almost a year if I remember right. It was then passed on to Golik who declined to prosecute? Why he was asked and he decline to answer. Remember? So will he do the right thing and bring justice to the council who is responsible for his budget needs? Would this be a conflict of interest? YES! What now?
An outside of Clark County prosecuting attorney or appointment of a special prosecutor?
The recommendations of Det. Lyle should be followed as he has the detail. Councilor Michelle Belkot is my District 2 representative on the council. I supported her 100% and agree with her on the IBR. I am an opponent of lite rail, cost and everything about the politics of it. I hope you all keep track of this one. Justice MUST BE served.
This is just the tip of the iceberg. There’s more coming… stay tuned.
A huge unanswered question now, is will all votes and actions taken by the C-Tran Board be invalidated, because of the illegal removal of Councilor Belkot? Let’s hope that’s part of “what’s coming”.
Citizens should attend the upcoming Nov. 18th (Tuesday) C-Tran Board meeting and offer input.
There are 2 CTRAN meetings Tuesday, Nov. 18th.
4 pm is the CTRAN Board Composition Review Meeting
Citizens should ask that Michelle Belkot be reinstated! Her removal from the CTRAN board for representing District 2 was unithical, and potentially illegal.
5:30 PM is the regular Board meeting.
Citizens should come in person to both meetings, prepared to speak up, and turn in written comments for both meetings, a separate comment for each meeting, by 12:00 noon on Tuesday, Nov. 8
For details, see https://c-tran.com/about-c-tran/c-tran-board-information/board-meeting-documents
This report puts a massive blow-torch to most of the Clark County Government, such as it is, along with the lie of “non-partisan” politicians. Clark County council compromised themselves, the Board of C-Tran, the County Manager, the Sheriff’s Office, and even the County Prosecutor.
This means every single thing that Wil Fuentes voted on since his illegal appointment to the Board of C-Tran is null, and none of their decisions since then are valid and will have to be re-done. I said from the beginning that if Wil had two living brain cells left, he would have refused this appointment. I take no joy in being proven right.
The 800 Pound Gorilla in the room that is conspicuously absent from this report is Vancouver Mayor Annie Megalomaniac-Ogle. There is no way she was not secretly involved in this decision too, which should open her up to official misconduct charges as well as a violation of the open public meetings laws. Let’s see who comes clean on her involvement first. My bet is on the County Manager who is facing very serious consequences.
When Annie and her entourage return from their celebratory jaunt to Japan, someone from CCT should attempt to get her views on this report.
This also gives fresh fuel to Michelle Belkot’s lawsuits which are still to be resolved.
The bottom line here is that Sue Marshall and Company have pretty much trashed any and all credibility they may have ever had, by laying waste to almost every level of Clark County government with this incredibly foolish act. This is going to cost the County a lot of utter chaos and plenty of taxpayer money before it comes close to being resolved.
Now, stand by for high winds and heavy seas….
I agree with what you’ve written. However, in these times, as much as I wish otherwise, the following will very likely happen:
1) tony golik-me will not pursue this. Sure, he’ll have a well worded reason or two, but he won’t pursue it. Nor will his replacement. Thank God he’s not running for re-election as he has proven several times that he and his office are not interested in true justice. Remember, the CCSO Deputy who shot and killed a man (before he even knew who the players were upon arriving at the scene) didn’t even get a slap on his wrist.
2) Special Investigative Counsel or some such?… nope, won’t happen. “Budgetary restraints” or whatever will be the reason.
3) County Manager Otto stepping down?… hahaha… no way she’s giving up her cushy job and performing career-suicide. And you think the Councilors are going to push anything… hahaha. The most that will happen is a light smack on her hands via a weakly-worded reprimand that will be declared “a learning experience,” then business as usual.
4) Recall of the involved Councilors?… hahaha… voters in this area can’t even take time to vote from their rocking chairs at home (as evidenced by this week’s election turnout). To get the recall on a ballot, and to muster support to un-elect them, well, it’s just too much work and won’t happen. They’ll shoot down any re-call attempt as being “against our policy and methods.” (see Vancouver City vs Save Our Streets)
5) mayor ogle… she’s so friggin crooked that I guarantee she’s already got a get-out-of-jail-free card in her hand and is ready to sweep all of this under the rug. After all, she’s busy telling all the lies about the choo-choo train she wants us to pay for, and pay, and pay, and pay.
6) Michelle Belkot will be reinstated, but actions taken recently by fuentes will be left unchanged due to them being “the best of our ability, based on the facts known at that time” or some such malarky.
7) The Columbian will simply not publish this article (Skamania County Sheriff’s Report), or will downplay it and bury it on page 17 of their fish-wrapper.
8) In 4-6 weeks from now, this will all be forgotten.
I hope I’m wrong, but I doubt it.
“The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it.” — George Bernard Shaw
You nailed it Susan. 10 ring…
Susan, are you trying to tell us that Clark County “government” is full of crooked politicians, sleazy “lawyers”, and corrupt to the core? Oh, I’m just SO shocked AND surprised! /s
In the natural progression of things, yes, you’d be right, but that’s what they are counting on. Good people to be discouraged and give up to how things typically go.
Or, you can determine yourself to bring about reform and change which will require extraordinary effort & resolve.
I choose the latter and I hope you and others do too.
As of Monday morning, Pravda on the Columbian is actively ignoring this story.
Right again Susan.
I hope this results in real consequences. What happened was unacceptable. I testified at C-TRAN board meetings in support of Councilor Michelle Bourret-Belkot when this occurred, and what struck me most was the cavalier attitude shown by the other councilors and the county manager. They acted as though they could simply steamroll Michelle, that the rules didn’t apply to them, and that there would be no accountability.
Credit to Reform Clark County and Rob Anderson for pursuing this and refusing to let it be swept aside. And credit to Michelle Bourret-Belkot for standing firm in defense of Clark County taxpayers. It takes resolve to stand alone when the pressure is intense, and she did exactly that.
I hope that Councilors Fuentes, Marshall, Little, Yung, and County Manager Otto face consequences serious enough to deter this kind of disregard for procedure in the future. I also believe that others, like Mayor Anne McEnerny-Ogle, who influenced or encouraged this situation should not escape scrutiny simply because they operated behind the scenes.
They believed they could force a fait accompli, and that Michelle would quietly accept it. They were wrong.
Politics just gets dirtier.