Expected arguments to be heard Wednesday were delayed, and Rob Anderson of Reform Clark County has refiled for a July 9 hearing

Paul Valencia
Clark County Today

In the old days, it might have been described as a paperwork error.

Today, perhaps it was a technical glitch.

Either way, the judge who was to hear arguments from Rob Anderson’s lawsuit against four Clark County councilors on Wednesday did not receive the proper files, and he delayed the proceeding.

Anderson, describing himself as frustrated with the miscue, said he talked to the Clark County clerk later Wednesday afternoon. Anderson said he was assured that this issue had been resolved, and Anderson filed for a July 9 hearing date.

Anderson, founder of Reform Clark County, was hoping to argue his case in front of Clark County Superior Court Judge Derek Vanderwood before the next C-TRAN Board of Directors meeting. In that meeting, scheduled for July 8, board members are expected to revisit a vote that led to two separate lawsuits.

In March, the C-TRAN Board was about to vote on reverting to older language that would protect Clark County citizens from paying for operations and maintenance costs for Oregon’s light rail transit system expanding into Vancouver. That move was led by Michelle Belkot, C-TRAN board member at the time and a Clark County councilor. Just before that vote was to take place, and after it was learned that the vote would likely pass, the vote was tabled.

The next day, the four other Clark County councilors — Sue Marshall, Wil Fuentes, Glen Yung, and Matt Little, voted to remove Belkot from the C-TRAN board and moved Fuentes into that position.

Anderson filed suit claiming those moves were Open Public Meetings Act breaches and unethical. 

Soon, Belkot filed her own suit.

At the following month’s C-TRAN meeting, board member Tim Hein of Camas asked to delay the vote on the language until July, to allow time for the courts to hear the cases.

Belkot’s lawsuit has been moved to federal court and has yet to be scheduled. 

Anderson’s case, initially filed in Skamania County, was moved to Clark County. That move, apparently, led to the miscue. Anderson said the disk files were “corrupted” during the transfer from Skamania to Clark County, and Judge Vanderwood was not able to read them in preparation for Tuesday’s hearing.

How this delay will affect the July C-TRAN meeting remains to be seen. Will Hein or another board member ask to delay the vote on the language again? Will the vote proceed with Fuentes in place of Belkot? If the vote does take place and Belkot is reinstated at a later date, will the vote be overturned? Attempts to reach Hein and Belkot were unsuccessful Wednesday afternoon.

Anderson said he refiled for July 9 because that was the earliest he could get on the court’s schedule. He hopes to find an opening at an earlier date due to the circumstances.

He also said any delay is welcome by the defendants.

“They want to get this train, pun intended, further down the track. It’s harder to stop, the more speed it collects,” Anderson said, a reference to light rail. 

“The defendants know it’s harder to unwind than to prevent,” he added later.

Anderson said the defendants broke with the Open Public Meeting Act when they acted on March 12 to remove Belkot from the C-TRAN board. That was a day after the C-TRAN board meeting when the vote on the language was delayed at the last minute.

“They wanted to strike while the iron was hot,” Anderson said. “They didn’t give agenda notice.”

Anderson said the public does not concede its right toward these actions and has a right to give voice.

Furthermore, if the Clark County Council is allowed to get away with this, then it could become the standard operating procedure to leave the public out of any future controversial subjects, Anderson said. All they would have to do, he explained, is keep “contentious, final-act votes” from the agenda, then only allow public comment on agenda items. Thus, no public comment on controversial issues.

“That is frightening,” Anderson said.