Camano Island, Washington

How Camano Island is governed

Camano Island appears to be an unincorporated community or a census-designated place, so it may have no city government of its own — services usually come from Island County and its elected officials. The chart below is a generic template; readers can correct it if Camano Island does have local officials.

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0 of 14 positions listed. Gray dashed boxes are placeholders waiting for a name.

• Mayor

  Executive

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  The city's chief elected official. Presides over the executive branch, proposes the budget and represents the city.

  • City Manager / Administrator

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    The professional administrator who runs day-to-day operations (in some cities appointed by the council instead of the mayor).

    • Police Chief

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      Leads the police department.

    • Fire Chief

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      Leads the fire and emergency services department.

    • Public Works Director

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      Streets, water, sewer, and city buildings.

    • Finance Director

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      The budget, taxes, and city accounts.

    • Planning & Zoning Director

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      Land use, zoning, building permits.

    • Parks & Recreation Director

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      Parks, programs, and public facilities.

• City Council

  Legislative

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  The elected body that passes ordinances, sets the tax rate and approves the budget.

  • City Clerk

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    Keeps the official records, runs meeting agendas and, often, local elections.

  • City Attorney

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    The city's lawyer; advises officials and prosecutes ordinance violations.

  • Boards & Commissions

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    Citizen advisory bodies, such as planning, zoning appeals and library boards.

• Municipal Court

  Judicial

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  Hears traffic, ordinance and other minor cases.

  • Municipal Judge

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    Presides over the municipal court.

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History

19th century

Prior to American settlement, Camano Island was within the territory of both the Kikiallus and the Snohomish peoples. The Kikiallus controlled the northern parts of the island around modern-day Utsalady, while the Snohomish controlled the areas of the island south of Point Demock (Lushootseed: duʔdukʷšəd). Other tribes also used the island, such as the Lower Skagit, Stillaguamish, Snoqualmie, and Sauk-Suiattle. The island may have been a "free-use" area where usage was not strictly restricted like other places.

Prior to the population decline due to smallpox, there were likely many villages all along the island, and the Kikiallus were said to have 6 villages. Artifacts and human remains attributed to an old village were discovered by archaeologists at Cama Beach which were dated to 1,600 years before present. By the beginning of the 19th century, there were two known villages: a Kikiallus village at Utsalady (Lushootseed: ʔəcəladiʔ), and a Snohomish village at Camano Head (Lushootseed: x̌ʷuyšəd).

Around 1820, a major landslide occurred at Camano Head that completely demolished the village there. It also created a tidal wave which destroyed another Snohomish village on Hat Island, and almost destroyed the main village of Hibulb. Hundreds of people died or drowned, including visitors to the village for the clamming season. After the catastrophic event, the site of Camano Head was never used as a village, but did continue to be used seasonally for clamming.

Camano Island continued to be under the Snohomish and Kikiallus until 1855, when, under the Treaty of Point Elliot, they ceded control of most of their lands, including Camano Island, to the United States. White settlement on the island began in the 1850s and it was included in the newly established Island County in 1853. The first major settlement on the island was at Utsalady (originally spelled Utsaladdy), which would be home to several sawmills. The first sawmill on the island was constructed by Thomas Cranney in 1858 and a school district was organized in 1862 to serve 17 students in a one-room schoolhouse.

Cranney's sawmill at Utsalady was seized by the federal government in 1876 due to his bankruptcy and sold the following year to the Puget Mill Company, which enlarged it to handle 75,000 board feet per day. A plat for Utsalady was filed in 1891, with the town boasting three stores, two hotels, a telegraph line, and daily steamship service to Coupeville. The area had a large population of Chinese and Norwegian immigrants who worked at the mill until the former were expelled by anti-Chinese riots in the 1880s. By the 1880 census, there were 112 residents in Utsalady and 74 Coast Salish peoples in other settlements on Camano Island. Following the Panic of 1893, the Utsalady sawmill was closed and left 125 residents unemployed, but five shingle mills were later opened to capitalize on the island's timber.

20th century

Camano Island was identified as an ideal location for farming and vacation homes during the early 20th century, as logging had cleared the island's old-growth forests. A cable ferry connecting the island's north end to Stanwood was replaced by a bridge in 1909. The first resort settlements on Camano Island at Utsalady, Juniper Beach, and Madrona beach were established in the 1920s, but were later dwarfed by larger resorts like Cama Beach (opened in 1936). During the Prohibition era, Camano Island was used as a major transiting point for rumrunners due to its remoteness and proximity to Canadian waters. The Juniper Beach area was also home to a new oyster farm that was established in 1930 and helped sustain the island during the Great Depression.

In 1943, the Puget Mill Company began developing its plots into residential subdivisions, ushering in the arrival of permanent summer homes on the island. The Stillaguamish River bridge to Stanwood was replaced in July 1950 by the Mark Clark Bridge and the island's roads were also improved by the state government. A new state park was established in 1948 and opened the following year after a day-long event in which 800 residents cleared the land to prepare for park development. In the 1950s, the island received its own post office, having previously been part of the Stanwood post office's delivery area, an organized fire department, and telephone service. Major population growth in the 1960s and early 1970s caused strain on the island's infrastructure, requiring the creation of a new planning office and a satellite county courthouse.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

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