Camas, Washington · September 21 is the next vote
Without an elected CEO mayor, a city doesn't have a political leader you can replace.
Camas already has the hybrid form that keeps control close to the electorate: an elected chief executive, a council that writes policy, and a professional administrator for the day-to-day. Four councilors just voted to send a switch to council-manager toward a February 9, 2027 special election. That would make the mayor ceremonial and put an appointed manager in the CEO chair. That spreads blame — accountability diffusion — so no one person on the ballot owns the result.
The design of the proposed form
Accountability diffusion
When seven councilors hire a manager, nobody on the ballot ran as CEO. If a budget, a hire, or a crisis goes wrong, the manager can say it was council policy, and each councilor can say it was operations. There is no elected person whose name is on the result.
Mayor-council pins that job on one person you can replace on election day. Diffusion is not a side effect of council-manager. It is the design.
The choice
Two forms of city government. Only one has a real mayor.
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Current Camas Mayor / Council / AdministratorCEO: Elected mayor |
Proposed Council / Manager / Ceremonial mayorCEO: Appointed city manager |
How the two forms actually work
The 4–3 vote Who moved it, who didn’tBoerke, Nohr, Svilarich, and Eshghi voted to draft a council-manager ballot. Hein, Elzingre, and Senescu voted to keep mayor-council. |
Washington data Cities that switched backMayor-council is still how 227 of 281 Washington cities are organized. Ocean Shores, Federal Way, Snohomish and others left council-manager after trying it. |
Take this to the meeting Questions to askWho do you replace when the city gets it wrong? What is accountability diffusion? Why a February special? |
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The argument, in one paragraph Professional management under an elected mayor is not a defect. It is the point.Municipal Research and Services Center — Washington’s own local-government library — records the case against council-manager: too much power in one unelected person, a mayor residents still call who cannot direct staff, and a business-corporation model that does not fit a community. Camas already has the other model: a city administrator under the mayor. Switching forms does not add a manager. It subtracts a mayor — and spreads accountability so that when the city fails, the manager can point at council and council can point at the manager. That is accountability diffusion. It is the design, not an accident. |
