Although I don’t pay as much attention to the daily intrigues and workings of our Reston Association as I used to back when I was on their Board, there are times when RA actions spark my interest or concern. Recent tensions on the Board got my attention. A trend toward secrecy in decision-making and a weak ethics regimen are a greater cause for concern.
Decisions arrived at behind closed doors can result in events like the controversial land swap at Lake Anne involving a questionable appraisal of comparative values prepared months after the deal was quietly cut. RA’s hurried purchase of the former Tetra office building on Lake Newport dam is another example. That deal cost Reston homeowners $2.7 million, twice the property’s assessed value. Huge cost overruns in rehabbing seem endless, totaling $1 million-plus to date, and fantasy projections for facility use point to a long-term drain on RA’s budget. This fiasco has forced RA to contract for an “independent” review/audit of the behind-the-scenes purchase decision, including lack of plans for its use, and all that followed. A lot is riding on the reviewers’ competence and genuine independence, and their recommendations for avoiding recurrences.
Independence is not easy in the current environment. There is a culture of control in the organization which is worrisome and may be difficult to unglue. Communication between Board members and RA’s large staff is discouraged. If a Board member wants to get information for a homeowner, for example, he/she is supposed to go through the CEO in order to speak to the appropriate staffer. Board leadership forbids Board members from talking to the local press even in a personal capacity. Even communications with homeowners can be problematic.
In fact, at a recent meeting of the Board, the Board’s four officers began by reading prepared remarks berating At-Large Director Ray Wedell for having informed a homeowner from the St. Johns Woods neighborhood about an earlier (public) meeting of this very Board. What!? Members from St. Johns Woods indeed came to the earlier meeting and asked to speak to a matter not on that night’s agenda. They spoke, and thanked the Board for hearing their concerns. Mr. Wedell acknowledged he had told a neighbor there was a meeting, but promised nothing. His account was confirmed by the neighbors. I thought surely this story of the attack on Wedell, including a threat of “sanctions,” was an exaggeration—until I reviewed the videotape for myself. Ethical concerns also have arisen in the recent past. It appeared the Board was addressing the need to strengthen the Board’s Code of Ethics, presumably including complete, timely conflict of interest forms from Board members and independent review of ethics complaints. In fact, RA hired a capable contractor to prepare a new code. Their draft code, however, proved to be confusing, short on teeth and in need of some re-drafting. Now the process is stalled because the contract has run out of money? There is even talk of dropping the effort altogether. Let’s hope the Governance Committee can re-start their engines. What remains to be done is important and really is not nuclear science.
There are many challenges ahead for Reston and for our Association. There are already groups wanting to tap the already stressed (thank you, Tetra) RA budget for pet projects and we are going to experience major population growth in the next several years that will further stress our infrastructure and amenities. We need a Reston Association that is more open, more ethical and more efficient if we are to meet the challenges.