Press Release from Mayor Finn

October 20, 2022

***For Immediate Release***

On August 23, 2022, the City of Woodland was made aware of a potential theft of electronic information. The information contained names, addresses, account numbers, and meter ID’ of more than 2,000 City utility account holders.

The City of Woodland immediately contacted the city attorney, Information Technology contractor (IT), and Cowlitz County Sheriff’s Office given the privileged utility account holder information. This investigation also revealed the unauthorized taking of two laptops purchased and owned by the City of Woodland. The City of Woodland attorney was able to retrieve the initial document that began the investigation.

On October 19, 2022, the Cowlitz County Sheriff’s Office contacted two residential addresses in Cowlitz County and retrieved the missing laptops. The equipment was located at the residential properties of two former city employees. This included one former employee with 32+ years of employment and the other with 12+ years of employment.

The City of Woodland IT contractor will be analyzing the laptops to determine if additional sensitive information had been taken.

Mayor Will Finn

City of Woodland

230 Davidson Street

Woodland, WA 98674

Office: 360-225-8281