News

Camas City Council: The Council will hold a workshop at 4:30 p.m. and regular meeting at 7 p.m. Monday, Dec. 2, at Camas City Hall, 616 N.E. Fourth Ave., Camas, and online via Zoom. For more information, including remote log-in details, visit cityofcamas.us/yourgovernment/minuteagendavideo and click on the agendas for the Dec. 2 workshop and meeting.

Washougal City Council: The Council will hold a workshop at 5 p.m. and regular meeting at 7 p.m. Monday, Dec. 2, at Washougal City Hall, 1701 “C” St. For more information, visit cityofwashougal.us/129/Agendas-Minutes.

East County Fire and Rescue Board of Commissioners: The Board will meet at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 3, at Station 91, 600 N.E. 267th Ave., Camas. Members of the public may attend this meeting in person or by calling in to 253-215-8782. To view the meeting identification number, password and agenda, visit ecfr.us.

Port of Camas-Washougal: The Port Commission will hold a remote meeting at noon on Wednesday, Dec. 4. Members of the public may attend by calling 253-215-8782. The meeting ID is 829 0393 6339 and the passcode is 154722. For more information, visit portcw.com.

Camas Parks Commission: The Commission will hold a special meeting at 5 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 5, at Camas City Hall, 616 N.E. Fourth Ave., Camas, and online via Zoom. For more information, including remote log-in details, visit cityofcamas.us/yourgovernment/minuteagendavideo and click on the agendas for the Dec. 5 special meeting.

The Port of Camas-Washougal has pledged to assist its industrial park tenants strengthen their security protocols after nearly half of the respondents to a recent leaseholder survey indicated they have been victimized by at least one theft in the past two years.

The Port created the survey for industrial park tenants to pinpoint specific theft-related issues, identify trends, gather insights on improving security measures, establish a baseline for tracking changes over time and enable tenants to make informed adjustments to their security strategies, according to a Port report.

The Port sent the survey to 45 industrial park tenants and received 16 responses.

“We’re just trying to help the tenants do their due diligence,” said Port Chief Executive Officer Trang Lam. “Each business is going to be slightly different (in the way they handle their security), so we’re going to provide an opportunity where they can get a bunch of ideas on the table and work through some of that.”

Tenants discussed the survey during the Port’s annual industrial park forum, held Nov. 7 at Recluse Brew Works.

“There’s a lot of interest in what the local tenants and other industrial park users can do in terms of protecting themselves,” the Port’s business development director, Derek Jaeger, said during the Nov. 20 Port Commission meeting. The survey found:

• 45% of the 16 respondents reported experiencing theft.

• Respondents reported 11 thefts in the past 24 months and nine in the past 12 months.

• 89% of the respondents said the theft occurred in open lots, where half of the areas were described as being unlocked and unfenced.

• 50% expressed interest in discussing options for additional shared security measures.

• 69% said they have security cameras installed.

• Pickup trucks (29%) and catalytic converters (28%) were the most-stolen items, according to the respondents, followed by trailers, metals/heavy machinery and gas or diesel, all at 14%.

• Roughly 75% of the reported thefts caused $3,000 or more of “financial impact” to the respondents.

• 71% reported the theft to police.

Lam recently met with Washougal Police Chief Wendi Steinbronn, who told the Port CEO to remind industrial park tenants to report theft to the Washougal Police Department, “no matter how big or small,” and that an online reporting option is available if they’d rather not make a phone call.

“We’re sharing that link with businesses because that allows the police to have a good call log and understand where the issues are happening,” Lam said. “(Steinbronn said) that police take a look at their call logs to figure out where they do their patrol route, so if they’re seeing something that’s more of a ‘hot spot,’ then they’re going to have more patrols.”

Lam said she also talked with Steinbronn about the possibility of arranging a meeting between police officers and industrial park tenants to discuss security options.

“If we can bring a police officer in to answer questions and to brainstorm and to share best practices with them, that’s something that we’re looking to do,” Lam said. “(We would like) to bring people together, give them a chance to talk to an officer about safety in that area.”

Tenants reported that fenced and locked lots, along with security cameras and signage, serve as deterrents to theft, according to the survey. Jaeger said the Port could provide tenants with information about other options, including hiring their own private security patrol or installing security cameras.

“A lot of them already do have (cameras installed),” he added. “We’re just trying to create awareness, connect to resources and be the focal point to help them out. It’s really just kind of figuring out the different options, what they are interested in doing, and helping them facilitate that.”

Lam said the Port does not have a policy of putting security cameras on buildings being leased to private business owners.

“We want to make sure that (they have) privacy, and however they want to manage that, that’s their right,” Lam said. “It’s kind of weird, right? Like, how would you feel if someone rented you a house and put a camera on your house? It’s for security reasons, certainly, but then it also is kind of this weird ‘big brother’ kind of thing as well. We haven’t had a conversation with tenants about that at all.”

Whether you love it or dread it, the “holiday shopping season” is upon us and Americans are expected to spend upwards of $125 billion on holiday gifts this weekend as they hunt for Black Friday deals, Small Business Saturday savings and Cyber Monday blowouts. 

In a bit of good news for retailers who have been able to hold on to their brick-and-mortar locations, nearly 90% of those surveyed by the International Council of Shopping Centers, say they plan to visit retail shops during their Thanksgiving weekend shopping sprees. 

“Thanksgiving weekend reflects the enduring significance of physical retail as the cornerstone of holiday shopping,” the ICSC president recently told BusinessWire. “Shopping centers are no longer just destinations for transactions; they are dynamic spaces where people gather, connect and make memories.”

In Camas and Washougal, holiday shoppers have an opportunity to not just find good shopping deals over the Thanksgiving weekend, but to use their dollars to support local independent retailers, give back to their cities through locally collected sales taxes and help strengthen the small businesses that help set Camas and Washougal apart and create that beloved “small-town feel” people love about this area. 

We detail in today’s Post-Record some of the sales and special events happening in downtown Camas for Little Box Friday the day after Thanksgiving and for Small Business Saturday on Nov. 30, but downtown Camas is not the only place local shoppers can find independently owned shops and restaurants that are counting on the holiday shopping season to help them weather the traditionally slower winter months. 

According to a recent Quickbooks survey, more than 60% of small business respondents said the revenue they earn during the winter holiday shopping season is “a key factor to the success of their businesses.” 

And research shows that where we shop makes a huge difference to our local communities.

“When you support a local business, you’re also supporting your town, city, and neighborhood by way of paying sales tax. The sales tax money is used to support public schools, parks, roads, and sidewalks, as well as fund public service workers, like firefighters,” the U.S. Chamber of Commerce noted in a Nov. 5 article about Shop Small Saturday. “Small Business Saturday encourages Americans across the country to support local small businesses. The day infuses money back into our local economies, promotes vibrant and diverse communities, and celebrates the important role of small businesses in the national economy.”

On the other hand, choosing to spend our holiday shopping dollars at “big box” stores — typically national retailers with massive, warehouse-like buildings and supersized parking lots — often has the opposite effect, pulling money out of the local community and negatively impacting smaller, more unique retailers. 

“In towns and cities across America, big-box retailers have been the death knell for local businesses,” Good Jobs First, a national policy resource center that promotes corporate and government accountability in economic development, recently pointed out. “As big-box retailers spread across the country and wipe out local businesses in their wake, America becomes more homogeneous and the unique character of individual communities is lost. In 2004, the National Trust for Historic Preservation named the entire state of Vermont as one of eleven Most Endangered Historic Places because Walmart had announced plans to open seven new 150,000-plus square foot stores there, threatening the state’s revered architecture and small-town culture, as well as its entrepreneurial health and environmental standards.”

The resource center noted that big box stores also undermine retail workers’ wages, undercut local “mom and pop” retailers, add to a region’s urban sprawl, increase a community’s car dependence and threaten “uniqueness of place.”

In contrast, shopping at local independent businesses has a host of benefits for the local community. As Sustainable Connections, a Washington nonprofit with a mission of “advancing a regenerative local economy that builds community, strengthens food systems, catalyzes climate solutions and expands access to housing in Northwest Washington,” notes in its literature on the benefits of buying from local businesses, “Small-scale, locally owned businesses create communities that are more prosperous, connected, and generally better-off across a wide range of metrics. When we buy from independent, locally owned businesses, rather than national chains, a significantly greater portion of our money is then cycled back through our local economy — to make purchases from our friends’ businesses, to aid our neighbors in need, and to support our local farms — ultimately strengthening the base of our whole community.”

Plus, as anyone who has battled Black Friday crowds inside big-box retailers can attest, strolling through downtown Camas’ historic shopping district — maybe grabbing a coffee and a pastry at a local cafe before perusing the unique and often locally- or regionally-made goods and catching up with friends and neighbors definitely beats sitting in traffic and jockeying for a parking spot only to wait with hundreds of other (likely cranky shoppers) under fluorescent lights in a hot, crowded big-box store. 

So this week, as you digest that Thanksgiving meal and begin to consider where you might find the most thoughtful gifts for your family and friends, do yourself — and your community — a huge favor and make a promise to avoid “big boxes” and spend the majority of your holiday shopping dollars at the many “little box” stores available in Camas and Washougal. 

Members of the Camas School Board are addressing the school district’s “critically low” general fund reserves and may soon adopt a new policy that would establish a minimum percentage of money that must be held over each year to cover ongoing and unexpected expenses.

“A fund balance is money remaining in our accounts from the previous fiscal year,” Jasen McEathron, the school district’s director of business services told school board members during their Nov. 12 workshop, adding that the district needs a certain amount of fund balance to cover normal expenses during months when its revenues from the state or from property taxes have not yet come in.

“This is money that carries you … if you have a drop in revenues or unexpected expenditures,” McEathron said.

Over the past 15 years, the school district’s general fund balance had remained relatively steady, hovering between 10% in 2017-18 and 17% in 2020-21, when the district received infusions of federal COVID-relief dollars. The fund balance has been rapidly depleting since its high of 17% in 2020-21, however, dropping to 16% in 2021-22, 13% in 2022-23, 9% in 2023-24 and to what McEathron has called a “critically low” level of 3% in 2024-25.

“Over the course of 12-plus years, the fund balance really didn’t change too much,” McEathron said. “Enrollment increased over 20 years and the district was getting bigger.”

That meant more per-student state revenues and the ability to carry over more funds for the following year. Two things — the state’s McCleary decision, which sought to end disparities among Washington’s poorer and wealthier school districts, and the COVID pandemic — “caused the latest volatility” to the district’s fund balance, McEathron said.

Decreases in enrollment, higher salary and benefit costs and an increase in other overhead costs have put the school district into a structural deficit, in which its revenues cannot keep pace with its expenditures. The Camas School Board has relied on its general fund balance money in recent years to help offset layoffs and other budget cuts, and had hoped state legislators would find a funding solution to help pay for increased transportation, special education and other school district costs.

“We settled into a new normal of using fund balance to make up for COVID-relief dollars, which were one-time relief revenues. And we used fund balance to cover that operational gap,” he said. “The longer you extend these things (the longer you can) offer the Legislature a runway to help along the way.”

Currently, the Camas School District’s general fund balance is expected to “reduce to a critically low level by August 2025,” McEathron told school board members this month. “The planned use of fund balance plus (a 1% decline in enrollment) plus exhausted use of one-time COVID relief revenues plus inflation and market pressures increasing expenditures have led to where we’re at,” McEathron said, adding that the school district must take action to shore up its general fund balance.

“Our sustainability plan is to restore our fund balance to a board-approved level and to reduce our expenditures by 10 to 12%,” he added. “We know we need to recover … our policy doesn’t state (a minimum fund balance) amount, so let’s provide an amount and provide a little more direction to staff.”

McEathron said the district’s budget committee had recommended the district keep a minimum of 8% in its general fund balance, but try to land at a “healthier” 10%.

“The reason for that was that 10% was where we were pre-McCleary, and the committee felt like this was a healthy fund balance size,” McEathron said. “If you do fall too far below that, you may not have enough cash on hand (to cover expenses during low-revenue months). When it gets below 3%, that’s our call to action. So, we’ve got to bring it back up.”

McEathron suggested the Board consider adopting in December a new fund balance policy that would target fund balances of 8% to 10% in its general fund, with 5% being considered “unassigned” fund balance that could be used to pay for unexpected expenditures.

The revised policy the Board is set to consider in December states:

“The district recognizes the importance of maintaining a prudent fund balance in the general fund to ensure operational cash flow needs are met, to set aside resources for known obligations and to help protect against unforeseen circumstances. Accordingly, the district adopts this policy in regards to those portions of fund balance that are in spendable form but are not legally restricted as to their use from outside sources.

Total targeted general fund balance in all budgeted accounts shall range from eight to ten percent (8%-10%) of the current year general fund budgeted expenditures. This shall include a budgeted unassigned fund balance account of five percent (5%) of the current general fund budgeted expenditures.

Staff must inform the Board in a timely manner if projections suggest the above targets cannot be maintained. Staff will be required to provide a sustainable plan that ensures targets are met or exceeded. The plan must include a four (4) year budget projection and is subject to Board approval.”

School Board member Matthew McBride said he also would like to see language in the minimum fund balance policy that spoke to the importance of maintaining the school district’s bond rating.

“The last bond we issued, we were seeking as high a rating as we could get,” McEathron said. “We were close to getting upgraded. (The credit rating agencies) look at the health of your fund balance and that was one of the attributes for that bond rating.”

McEathron added that his hope was, if the district can restore its general fund balance to a healthy level — and show the bond rating agencies that they have a plan in place — that the district may be able to still maintain its current bond rating.

“I call this out so that we understand this isn’t just about covering unforeseen (expenses) … but also about being prudent and getting the best rate when we do seek credit,” McBride said. “That could be a significant savings for us.”

Camas School District John Anzalone agreed with McBride’s assessment.

“Especially when you’re dealing with multi-million dollar transactions, even a fraction of a percentage could matter significantly,” Anzalone said of the district’s bond rating.

“It’s good to mention, and I think it will be looked at favorably by Moody’s,” McEathron added. “(Having a higher) credit rating means we don’t pay as much in interest, which means we don’t have to levy as much. … So, the bond rating is important. It impacts every taxpayer.”

The Board members will discuss approval of the new policy at their regular meeting in December. For more information, visit camas.wednet.edu/about-csd/school-board/meetings-minutes