Shane Bowman, the longest tenured Battle Ground City Council member, shared his perspective on damage that could be on the horizon caused by a majority of council members displaying partisanship in the non-partisan seat they represent in the early days of 2026.
“So far this year, I have seen a lot of politics,” Bowman said. “Pretty much, the two new council members that they got on, and the two that got on two years ago, have decided that they’re going to do what they want to do and the rest of us really don’t have a lot of say in it anymore. They made that known when the new mayor decided he wanted to be mayor.”
After Battle Ground’s newest mayor, Eric Overholser, was ultimately decided by a vote for himself in the first meeting of 2026, Bowman began to raise questions about internal operations on the city council. The next meeting was full of surprises as actions occurred that were not even on the agenda. Multiple committee changes were brought to the council that were not on the agenda for the Jan. 20 meeting…