Months of researching real estate in town, hours spent in meetings debating solutions and multiple conversations between town and Fairfax County officials have finally paid off for Herndon's day-labor population.
"We are currently working to develop the requirements for a proposal to solicit bids for an organization to come in and work for a day-labor site," said David Ellis, neighborhood building coordinator for the county.
Ellis said he could not go into detail about the proposal because of its preliminary status. But he did say money had been allocated by county officials to help fund three day-labor sites in the area.
"We're looking into different approaches for different sites," he said. "Herndon already had the structure and we're looking at different methods for the Annandale and Culmore sites."
Ellis said once the proposal is finalized the county will open bidding to area organizations. He explained the hope is that the day-laborer sites will be run similar to the county's homeless shelters. Currently the county funds area homeless shelters, but the sites are run by independent organizations.
The concept would be the same for Herndon, except that the chosen organization would work closely with Project Hope and Harmony, a community-based group created to find a solution to the day-labor issues in town.
"The money allocated is to work at three different sites in the county," he said, adding no dollar amounts will be decided until all bids are finalized.
AT THE BEGINNING of April the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors reviewed an internal proposal by Anthony Griffith, county executive, to allocate $400,000 of existing fiscal year 2005 appropriations to day-labor sites.
In a memorandum, Griffith stated the allocation would be to "develop and implement an initial 12-month safety and self-management strategy for existing informal day-laborer sites" in the county.
After a year of researching day-labor sites in the county and speaking to other jurisdictions, county representatives provided an outline to improve the day-labor situation.
The outline included increasing day-laborers' responsibilities on site and offering resources for social services to laborers, among other things.
After reviewing the information and other factors, Griffith proposed Herndon be the first location to pilot the county's proposal.
"The county wants to do something and the town is going to provide the land," said Mayor Michael O'Reilly. "They will fund at least two employees and miscellaneous expenses, which is what is needed to run the site."
He added that additional funding would be needed over time, but that it would be Project Hope and Harmony's role to raise money for the site.
Griffith cited work already done in town by groups like Reston Interfaith and Project Hope and Harmony as reasons for a portion of the $400,000 to go toward a formal site.
"It was chosen because Herndon had a location," said county Supervisor Joan DuBois, (R-Dranesville). "Herndon officials came forward and said they had the old police station open."
At its May meeting, members of Project Hope and Harmony said an application for a conditional-use permit seeking to use the existing Herndon police station would be submitted to the town.
Ellen Kaminsky, executive board member Project Hope and Harmony, said there was no new information regarding the application, other than it had been submitted.
IN THE MONTHS leading up to the allocation of funds, O'Reilly said county and town officials held a series of meetings.
"The county's position was that this is a regional problem," he said, explaining the county was trying to determine what sites should be given the money.
"We expressed some concern," he said, "because we have groups willing to regulate the site now and we didn't want to wait for the county to determine how they were going to address the problem."
After more meetings, O'Reilly said town officials were able to convince the county that "Herndon was ready to move forward and take the next step."
DuBois said during discussions, county officials were swayed by the town's mentality that "this was not only a town issue" but something that was felt throughout the county and Herndon should be the leading example.
"The funding is there," she said about the current situation. "It just depends on the building status and permits."
Because the existing police station resides partially in Herndon and partially in Sterling, O'Reilly said they have met with Loudoun County supervisors.
"We're not trying to hide anything," he said. "We're trying to get as many people to participate as we can."
In addition he said he hopes Loudoun County residents near the station will continue to step forward and ask questions, like they did at the last Project Hope and Harmony meeting.
"The more people learn about what the actual site is," he said, "and what it will provide for people, the better."
Although still in the process of writing a proposal, Ellis said the county was "looking to move as quickly as possible" with the bidding process to have the site operational once permits are approved and the police station is vacated, which is estimated to be by the end of this summer.