Margaret Tweet: Dan Coursey ‘would serve Washougal honorably as mayor’
Washougal City Councilor Dan Coursey has the integrity and experience as a financial analyst, treasurer, and systems engineer to serve Washougal well as mayor.
Washougal contracts with WasteConnections for garbage/recycling services. WasteConnections has donated at least $900 in 2013 to the current mayor, $500 in 2011 to former city Councilor Molly Coston, and has donated thousands of dollars to other local officials who have affirmed their contracts. (http://couv.com/community/waste-connections-inc-lobby-for-local-campaigns)
In 2009, a former mayor signed a 15-year contract with WasteConnections, with no competitive bids. Coursey has not accepted, nor will he accept WasteConnections contributions, to avoid a conflict of interests.
From 2008-April 2011, there were no Washougal public hearings on light rail vs buses as the recommendation by Camas/Washougal to the C-TRAN board for a proposed bridge over the Columbia River. Lacking public input, the Camas/Washougal C-TRAN representative voted for light rail, subject to a public vote. Then there was discussion of eliminating Camas/Washougal and other cities from the promised public vote on light rail. Therefore, a resolution was proposed to the Washougal City Council to insure that Washougal voters would get to vote on high capacity transit light-rail as a city in the C-TRAN district that would help pay for the system (April 4, 2011).
Arrogantly, former city Councilor Molly Coston voted against the resolution instead of supporting the right of Washougal citizens to vote on this C-TRAN issue that affects our area! Eventually, Washougal citizens were allowed to vote on light rail in 2012 and 2013, and rejected costly light rail both times, as did every city in Clark County. Sadly, the same Camas/Washougal C-TRAN rep that originally supported the public vote on light rail ignored the vote results, and voted for light rail anyway, and C-TRAN now has signed a contract for light rail services with OR TriMet in spite of the votes against light rail.
We need representatives that will not only support public votes on new tax burdens, but will honor those vote results. City Councilor Dan Coursey has honored the rights of Camas/Washougal citizens to vote on transportation issues, respected the ballot box results, and would serve Washougal honorably as mayor.
Margaret Tweet
Camas
