The Connection

Now that the country is emerging from the depths of the Covid-19 pandemic, most organizations seem to be returning to an actual, more normal way of operating. Many people are returning to work in their offices and are reachable at least by phone. I’m seeing it with some Fairfax County elements, and hope to see it soon with our Reston Association (RA) as well.

It’s doubtful however that some difficulties with RA responsiveness are attributable to the virus. Critical IT functions at RA, for example, are of special concern. The organization’s website, on which the community depends for information about numerous RA activities and services, has been less than stellar for years, but for over a year it’s been “under construction” and barely functioning at all..

Furthermore, last summer RA’s IT experienced at least two significant data breaches. The breaches were kept secret from the community for many months, until a fed-up member of the Board of Directors revealed them in heated remarks at the VIRTUAL February 2021 Board meeting. The President and Board majority at the time quickly called for adjourning into Executive Session to discuss the matter out of Zoom’s public view. When the Board returned -- an hour or so later -- to the open meeting, it was impossible to ignore the fed-up one’s disclosure.

At-Large member Sarah Selvaraj D’Souza promptly made a motion for action that could not be ignored. Her motion, seconded by Director Ven Iyer, called for transparency for RA members on issues affecting their financial and personal data as well the security of IT systems to protect them, and directed RA staff to prepare a comprehensive report for the membership “on all IT incidents [i.e., breaches] in the past two years resulting in loss of data, money or website capacity, when & why the incidents occurred,” corrective action taken, costs associated with each incident, etc. The written report was to be delivered to the Board a week before the next monthly meeting (March) AND RELEASED TO THE MEMBERSHIP (my caps). Her motion passed unanimously. To date no report has been delivered to the Board, much less to the membership! Nor has there been any public explanation for the three-month delay.

Speaking of unresponsiveness… At the beginning of every monthly meeting of the RA Board, Association members are granted 2-3 minutes to address the august Board of Directors before they get into the evening’s agenda. It is an opportunity to bring a problem or a proposed solution to a problem directly to the Board. The source of major frustration for members who take the time to speak is that the Board politely listens to the member’s remarks, then goes on to the next speaker without responding to the remarks. Furthermore, rarely do members ever get a response to the issue or proposal they present. From time to time, members as well as Board Directors express frustration about lack of responses to the CEO and staff, apparently to no avail.

At the May 27 meeting, South Lakes Director Jennifer Jushchuk made a formal motion which was adopted for action by the Board. Her motion directed RA staff to reinstitute a process for tracking member comments and assuring that members concerns are addressed and members informed of resulting actions. This is to be in operation “by a date certain of June 15, 2021.” Perhaps the June 24 Board meeting will be real, not virtual, and we’ll see if this directive is in fact implemented.

Elsewhere in RA Land, several pools will not be opening on Memorial Day. Four of them may never see the light of day again, as RA staff apparently have them targeted for “repurposing”, which likely means closing. Among them are Tall Oaks, Shadowood, and Autumnwood.