Thurston County Superior Court Judge John C. Skinder ruled ‘C-TRAN has demonstrated that the public interest will be served by restraining WSDOT from withholding funding from C-TRAN’

Paul Valencia
Clark County Today

A Thurston County Superior Court judge has granted C-TRAN’s motion for a temporary restraining order against the Washington State Department of Transportation.

WSDOT had threatened to take action against C-TRAN if its Board of Directors was not in compliance with state law in terms of representation based on population.

WSDOT had informed C-TRAN this summer that the board was out of compliance and that there should be more representation for Vancouver and unincorporated Clark County. WSDOT also threatened to take away grants – estimated at around $10 million – for C-TRAN if the board remained out of compliance. WSDOT gave C-TRAN until Oct. 1 to come up with a solution.

The C-TRAN Board Composition Review Committee came up with a compromise, asking the state to allow for a 3-3-3 board of directors — three for the city of Vancouver, three for Clark County, and three to be shared by the smaller cities.

WSDOT denied this compromise, but the review committee met again and opted to try again with the 3-3-3 format.

C-TRAN then asked the court to delay any WSDOT action pending a final resolution. The court agreed with C-TRAN’s request and has ordered WSDOT to appear in court on Oct. 3.

Molly Coston, the chair of the C-TRAN Board of Directors, cancelled a scheduled meeting of the review committee, which was to be held Thursday night. She wrote a letter to the board members:

“As you know, C-TRAN just yesterday received a response from Thurston County Superior Court Judge John C. Skinder granting C-TRAN’s request for a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) prohibiting WSDOT from enforcing the October 1, 2025, deadline. There will be an additional hearing on October 3, 2025, to consider the issuance of a Preliminary Injunction against WSDOT.  In response, I have decided to cancel (Thursday’s) Board Composition Review Committee (BCRC) meeting.  Once we have a better indication of the legal decisions forthcoming, I will schedule another BCRC meeting.”

In his ruling, Judge Skinder wrote:

“C-TRAN has shown that this lawsuit immediately affects significant segments of the Clark County area and Clark County residents, who rely on C-TRAN for essential activities such as traveling to work, grocery shopping and medical appointments. 

“C-TRAN has demonstrated that the public interest will be served by restraining WSDOT from withholding funding from C-TRAN. The public has a strong interest in the continued funding of C-TRAN to provide public services to its constituents.’’