RA Board Kills Ethics Committee

The Reston Association Board of Directors recently killed a proposal by Director Rachel Muir to create a semi-autonomous Ethics Committee to serve as watchdog of the ethically challenged Board.

Muir’s proposed Committee would consist of 4 members from the community and one representative from the RA Board. The Committee would have overseen implementation of a new, more rigorous code of conduct for RA Board members. It would have had the power to investigate allegations of violations from the community, publicly report their findings, and recommend appropriate action to the full Board. The Board rejected the proposal by a 6-2 vote, with only Ms. Muir and Director Lucinda Shannon voting in favor of it.

There has been talk of ethics reform following last year’s controversy about RA’s secretive land swap of a wooded common area to become a parking lot for the exclusive use of Lake Anne business; and, subsequent revelations that some RA Directors fail to complete even the minimal conflict-of-interest forms currently required by the Association.

Instead, the same Board majority voted to officially assigned ethics oversight responsibility to a newly created Governance Committee, consisting of Board members themselves. That is, the fox is in charge of the chicken coop.

Now, just after helping to kill the ethics reform, one of those who voted to kill it is actively taking a side in the RA referendum to determine whether or not to eliminate the RA covenant binding 343 Lake Anne homes to the Reston Lake Anne Air Conditioning (RELAC) system monopoly. RA is required to conduct the referendum of all affected single family homes under RELAC as a result of a petition submitted by many of the affected homeowners. The RA Board is to play the role of neutral broker to conduct, oversee the vote and certify the results.

In fact, the RA Board member living in the referendum area has actively been encouraging homeowners to vote NO on the referendum. In addition to singing the praises of the aging RELAC and arguing with homeowners favoring change, the Board member has even resorted to what I would call fear tactics, by suggesting that if the referendum were approved and some homes convert to conventional air conditioning, the electricity serving the area may be overwhelmed. In one of many emails, the Board member said, “I have a concern our 50 year old junction line will not handle the load.” There is no such problem.

In fact, Dominion supplies more than adequate power and would be delighted to sell even more electricity around Lake Anne if it were needed. When asked, Dominion, in fact, said as much.

Now, imagine if someone complains about the lobbying and fear mongering by the Board member required to be neutral in this matter. Yep, the complaint would be referred to the Governance Committee on which the Board member sits.

Change is way overdue in the Reston Association.