Politics & Government

Beamer, Sigle Win Seats On Reston Association Board

Top volunteers, corporate partners also recognized.

Andy Sigle won an at-large seat on the Reston Association's Board of Directors and incumbent Cheryl Beamer was re-elected to her position as the Hunter's Woods/Dogwood representative.

The winners were announced at Tuesday's annual members' meeting.

At-large rep Richard Chew's seat was up for re-election, but he opted not to run for a second term. Other candidates in the race were Jason Carlo, Sridhar Ganesan, John E. George and Donovan D’Souza.

Find out what's happening in Restonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"I am proud to be elected," said Sigle, an executive at XO Communications and on-camera host of RA's Reston Today videos. "I look forward to working with everyone."

This is Sigle's first elected office. Beamer was elected to her second term on the RA board.

Find out what's happening in Restonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"I am very excited I will get to see some of these ideas through," said Beamer. "This is a great vote of confidence. A lot of good ideas came out of the campaign from my opponent [Victor Van Rees], and I intend to discuss them further."

Ellen Graves, Reston Association elections committee chair, said at the meeting there were not enough votes cast to meet 10 percent required quorum in the apartment owners’ election to replace Tim McMahon, who held the seat since 2005.

New ballots will go out to apartment owners on Friday, April 15 and must be returned to the counting agent’s office by May 2.  Amanda Andere was running to replace McMahon, who will remain the Apartment Owners’ representative until the results of the second election are announced on May 7.

The new directors will serve three-year terms and can be elected to serve a second term.  They board will elect officers, including a president, vice-president and secretary, on Wednesday.

In other news: 

* RA recognized Ron Rubin and Freya De Cola as 2010 Volunteers of the Year. Rubin and De Cola, co-chairs of the Environmental Advisory Committee, have together donated  500 volunteer hours.

"Led by Ron and Freya, the committee worked on the stream restoration project, prepared a recommendation for the Board of Directors on the use of pesticides and fertilizers, advised the board on environmental issues regarding the Reston Master planning updates," said RA president Kathleen Driscoll McKee.

De Cola and Rubin have also worked for several years to identify invasive plants, educate homeowners about them and remove them from  RA property.

* Volunteer Fairfax and Aol were named 2010 Corporate Partners of the Year.

The groups  contributed 540 hours of volunteer time, helped restore a wildlife habitat and assisted  RA staff in last summer's move to the new headquarters after more than 40 years at the previous location.

"The Aol interns prepared and packed more than 90 crates and boxes through all the departments," Driscoll McKee said. "This support came at one of the busiest times for the association. The interns accomplished so much. In fact in just one day, they did what it would have taken RA staff to do while working."

Driscoll McKee also gave her State of the Association address. She highlighted the changes that will be coming to Reston with Metro's arrival and the upcoming recommendations of the Reston Master Plan Special Study Task Force.

"Last summer, in the face of the coming of Metro, and a task force examining our master plan, our board sent a letter to the task force outlining what we called Essential Reston," she said. "In effect – these six tenets are essential to retaining and building upon [Reston founder Robert] Simon’s goals.  They address housing, the environment, culture and diversity. For it is not where we put a building, but how we live together that make our community successful."

"Next month, our board will begin developing our next five-year-strategic plan," she said.  "We have achieved most of the objectives on the last one. ... The changes we face will surely impact the objectives and goals we set for the Association.   How we plan, address and make decisions will continue to be a driving force as we look to a landscape that is forever changed, yet uniquely Reston."


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