Camas mayor resigns effective immediately

Barry McDonnell, who was elected mayor of Camas after a whirlwind write-in campaign in 2019, announced Tuesday that he is stepping down to spend more time with his family.

“Over the last few months, it has become clear to me that the needs of this council, city and community are such that balancing a full-time job and family, while running the day-to-day operations as Mayor in our form of government is not sustainable for me,” McDonnell said in an emailed statement.

“This job has taken up so much of my physical and emotional presence with my rapidly growing children, and I find myself missing out on more of their young lives than I am comfortable with,” the statement said.

McDonnell said his resignation, which takes effect immediately, is a personal decision and that he has full confidence in the city’s leadership. He said Mayor Pro Tem Ellen Burton will take over in his absence.

McDonnell launched a write-in campaign against incumbent Mayor Shannon Turk just over a month before the November 2019 election, following controversy over a $78 million bond to build a new community center.

The bond was overwhelmingly rejected, and McDonnell received 3,545 write-in votes to Turk’s 2,757 votes to turn her out of office, in a victory he still seemed to savor in his resignation announcement, noting that his abbreviated term in office was still 50 percent longer than Turk’s.