Camas, 2026
The committee that recommended the change.
Mayor Steve Hogan appointed seven people to study whether Camas should leave mayor-council government. Five recommended council-manager. Three of those five had already held city office. The other two yes votes had not. Both had just worked on the city's strategic plan.
On March 2, 2026, the City Council approved the mayor's request for a Form of Government Citizen Committee. The city said the group would gather information, report to the council, and recommend how to proceed. A later public hearing and a council vote could send the question to the ballot. Camas looked at the same question in 2002 and again in 2018. In 2018 a citizen committee studied it and the council did not go forward.
The 2026 committee's written charge was to address whether changing from the current hybrid mayor-council form would benefit the city. Its starting point was the April 2018 report. The May 28, 2026 report says a clear majority, five of seven, selected council-manager. Of those five, four preferred an elected mayor and one preferred an appointed mayor. The report recommends a ballot measure for council-manager with an elected mayor, plus community engagement. Timing options in the report are November 2026, February 2027, or August 2027. The committee presented that recommendation at the June 1, 2026 council workshop.
The written report does not name the two members who did not select council-manager. Dan Duringer, a member of the committee and the person who maintains this site, says the two no votes were his and Don Chaney's. Duringer also reports that, at the start, the committee voted to keep "accountability" out of its scope of interest. The report does not record that vote. Where the word appears later, it is a label, not a subject the committee examined. The comparison chart calls a mayor "accountable to voters" and a manager "accountable to the council," and the conclusion says a manager provides "operational accountability." The majority text never asks who the public can replace, or whether a manager who answers to the council answers to the city. The only sustained treatment of political accountability is in the minority report for keeping the current form.Who was appointed
The report describes the group as two former mayors, two former council members, and three interested citizens. That last phrase covers three different situations.
| Member | On this committee | Connection to Camas government |
|---|---|---|
| Nan Henriksen | Co-chair. Yes. | Former mayor and former council member. |
| Greg Anderson | Co-chair. Yes. | Former council member, about 25 years. |
| Ellen Burton | Member. Yes. | Former council member and interim mayor in 2021. Later a member of the Parks and Recreation Commission. Also a city appointee on the 2025-2030 strategic-plan advisory committee. |
| Don Chaney | Member. No. | Former police chief and former council member. He has also served on the school board, which is the school district, not the city. |
| Dan Duringer | Member. No. | No city office and no city contract on the record. He is the person behind RealMayor.org. |
| Kim Sogge | Member. Yes. Not a former elected official. | Consultant at PointNorth, the firm the city hired to produce the 2025-2030 strategic plan. The May 6, 2024 staff report recommended a contract not to exceed $174,440. She is listed in the plan as a consultant, not as a community adviser. |
| Terry Wiener | Member. Yes. Not a former elected official. | Citizen member of the strategic-plan advisory committee. Not the paid consultant, and not a former city official. In April 2026 she worked on the committee's strategic-plan alignment subcommittee with Greg Anderson and Dan Duringer. |
Yes and no here mean the final position on council-manager, as Duringer describes the vote. The city's report confirms the 5-2 count and does not print the names.
Four Had held city officeHenriksen, Anderson, Burton, and Chaney. Three of them voted yes. Chaney voted no. |
Two Yes votes, no city officeSogge and Wiener. Both had just worked on the strategic plan, one as the city's consultant and one as a citizen adviser. Burton, who had held office, was on that advisory committee too. |
One No city role on the recordDuringer. He was also one of the two votes against the recommendation. |
The strategic plan did not order this
The 2025-2030 strategic plan uses the words "Form of Government" once. They appear on page 23, under Engaged Workforce, in a list called "Links to relevant city plans," next to the organizational chart, the wellness program, and workers' compensation. The words "council-manager" do not appear. The city's strategic-plan page posts the same PDF.
Engaged Workforce is an employee section. Its goals are retention, safety, training, and internal communication. One action says to improve shared governance by clarifying roles for the city team. That is workplace management, not a new form of government.
The plan's acknowledgments separate the people. Ellen Burton is listed as a city-appointed member of the community advisory committee, for the Parks and Recreation Commission. Terry Wiener is listed as a community member at-large. Kim Sogge is listed with Cadie Dye and Lisa Keohokalole Schauer under "Strategic Planning Consultant." PointNorth facilitated the plan. A final advisory-committee meeting was in March 2025, before this form-of-government committee existed.
Nothing in the published plan says that advisory committee considered a form-of-government change necessary to carry the plan out. The form-of-government committee made that connection later.
How the committee used the plan
In April 2026 a subcommittee — Greg Anderson, Dan Duringer, and Terry Wiener — produced a City of Camas deck titled "Strategic Plan Alignment." Page 2 asks whether the strategic plan can explain why the city is exploring a change, and it weighs two stories.
Option A says the plan requires a form-of-government review so the city can deliver the plan. The deck lists the political advantage: the committee looks "responsive to community priorities, not self-initiated." It also lists the risk: the claim "feels like post-hoc rationalization" unless someone can prove the plan cannot be carried out under the current form.
Option B says the review merely "falls under" plan priorities. The listed advantage is that page 23 already names "Form of Government" as a linked plan, so the claim is "harder to dispute or dismiss," and it does not say the current structure failed.
The last page offers an example narrative: the community identified Leadership and Governance, Engaged Workforce calls for transparency, accountability, and role clarity, and so the committee is reviewing the form of government "to ensure our governance structure is positioned to deliver on the plan's commitments."
The June 1 presentation uses that line of argument. It says the committee "found strong alignment with the Strategic Plan" and that "delivering on the Strategic Plan requires the right governance foundation." Those sentences are the committee's. They are not findings written into the plan. The plan is listed among materials the committee reviewed, along with the municipal code, the comprehensive plan, MRSC, and the state statutes.
What this does not prove
It does not prove the strategic-plan advisory committee already preferred council-manager. The published plan does not record that discussion or that recommendation. Overlap of people makes a private opinion possible. It is not the same thing as a recorded position.
It does not prove the city paid Wiener. No contract in her name shows up in these documents. Sogge's firm did have a city contract. That contract was to write the strategic plan, not to sit on this committee.
It does not prove a form of government fails or succeeds by itself. The committee's own June 1 slides say the form alone does not guarantee quality governance. Camas already has a city administrator under the elected mayor. The recommendation would move the chief executive from an office the public fills to an office the council fills.
Documents
- City of Camas: exploring a change in the form of government — the city's own description of the committee and the two forms.
- Form of Government 2026: Summary and Recommendation — updated May 28, 2026. The 5-2 recommendation. Minority reports are attached.
- June 1, 2026 presentation to the City Council — "strong alignment" with the strategic plan.
- City of Camas Strategic Plan 2025-2030 (PDF). "Form of Government" is a linked document on the Engaged Workforce pages. City webpage.
- May 6, 2024 council workshop packet — PointNorth contract and scope of work. Staff recommended a not-to-exceed of $174,440.
- August 11, 2026 town hall presentation — repeats the 5-of-7 recommendation. Town hall page, including the September 17 session.
- April 2026 subcommittee deck, "Strategic Plan Alignment." Credited to Greg A, Dan D, and Terry W. Not posted on the city site.