The MCA’s Annual Membership Meeting for 2023 was held on Thursday evening, May 25. Attendance was around one hundred persons, divided about equally between members attending in the McLean Community Center, and members attending remotely via Zoom teleconferencing.
The first substantive item was an oral report by Mr. Steven Bloom, President of the McLean Community Foundation (MCF) regarding MCF activities. The MCF’s written Annual Report had been circulated earlier as part of the documentation for the meeting. Mr. Bloom reported that the MCF’s endowment, which has reached more than $2 million, is allocated 90 % to longer-term assets and 10% to short-term assets. Grant proposals are vetted in two annual cycles (April and October) by a Grants Committee, before being approved by the full Board of Trustees. The MCF had granted $2 million to local organizations in our area over its forty years of existence, including $125,000 in the most recent Fiscal Year. The MCF Trustees wish to update the MCF governance documents.
This year’s invited guest speaker was Mr. John Foust, the Dranesville District Supervisor on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. In introducing Supervisor Foust, MCA President Scott Spitzer noted that the Supervisor would be stepping down from his position at the end of this year, after having served four terms of four years each.
Among the points made by Supervisor Foust were the following:
- The property tax rate for the upcoming fiscal year had been reduced by 1.5 cents, which would only partially offset higher assessments;
- The Supervisors have attempted to “make a difference” in police staffing by increasing police compensation by around 12% on average;
- They adjusted the budget for Parks upward, with particular reference for control of invasive species;
- The recently adopted plan for the McLean business district will enable it to become more inviting and walkable, and several projects enabled by the plan are at various stages of development;
- The widening of Route 7 from Tysons to the Loudoun County border is well under way, including accommodation of cyclists and pedestrians on a wide Shared Use Path;
- The Supervisor had opposed VDOT’s decision to proceed with the 495 NEXT project (now ongoing) in the absence of a solid commitment from Maryland to widen the American Legion Memorial Bridge, since widening of the bridge is necessary to resolve the choke point rather than simply move it by two miles.
Supervisor Foust expressed appreciation for the solid analytical work done by the MCA.
Following Supervisor Foust’s remarks, Scott Spitzer provided a President’s Report with an overview of MCA activities over the past year, while each of the Committee Chairs provided a Committee report toward the end of the meeting. Scott noted that, during the past 12-month term, the MCA had expressed views through 21 resolutions or letters.
Topics highlighted by Committee Chairs included police staffing and compensation, student enrollment projections, public pension sustainability, more dense development by the West Falls Church Metro station, the trend away from office development toward residential development, off-street parking requirements, tree conservation, climate change mitigation/adaptation, Dolley Madison Boulevard intersections, and better accommodation of pedestrians and cyclists.
As provided in the Bylaws, nominations and elections were held for available positions on the MCA Board of Directors, and on the MCF Board of Trustees.
In the case of the MCA, the MCA Nominating Committee had proposed one nominee for each available position. Since there had been no nominations by petition, the MCA elections were uncontested, and the nominees were elected by a voice vote in the MCC and an online poll (for all positions collectively) for the remote attendees. Linda Walsh (formerly Second Vice President, and concurrently Chair of the Membership Committee) was elected to succeed Scott Spitzer as MCA President. Scott Spitzer will remain on the MCA Board as an At-Large Member.
In the case of the MCF, the MCA Nominating Committee had proposed five persons for the five available positions on the MCF Board of Trustees. Subsequently, two additional candidates were nominated by petition. Accordingly, there were seven candidates for the five available positions on the MCF Board of Trustees. Attendees were therefore asked to vote for five persons among the seven candidates. Polling was by paper ballot in the MCC, and by an online poll for the remote attendees. Due to the time required for tabulation of the paper and online ballots, the results were not announced during the meeting. On the basis of careful checking of the paper ballots and Zoom reports on the online voting, the following persons were elected to the five available MCF positions: Steve Hoffman, Jennifer Salopek, Alisa Schultz, Tracy Shively, and Despina Woltman.
At the end of the meeting, following brief remarks by a Board member, attendees expressed appreciation for Scott Spitzer’s service as MCA President with a round of applause.
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