John Farrell Named To At-Large Seat On Reston Association Board

RESTON, VA — Reston Association Board of Directors appointed John Farrell the new at-large board member at its May meeting on Thursday night.

The seat became vacant when former at-large Boardmember Tim Dowling announced his resignation during the first meeting of the current board on April 13.

Farrell is an attorney and longtime resident of Reston. Last year, the RA Board appointed him to be the vice chair of the Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee. He also has experience as a the president of the Colonial Oaks Homeowners Association, as well as previously serving as the president of both the Fairfax Girls Softball League and the Candlelighters' Childhood Cancer Foundation. In March 2021, he ran in the annual board election for an open at-large seat.

Farrell also attended most of the meetings of the Reston Comprehensive Plan Study Task Force, which is expected to hand in its final recommendations to the county by the end of the summer.

In addition to Farrell, Lynda Alicudo, Dan Lender, and Bill Roundtree submitted applications to fill the vacant seat.

Each of the four candidates had an opportunity to present their reasons for wanting to join the board and answer questions from board members.

When that was done, the board went into executive session to discuss other matters. Ninety minutes later, the board returned to its regular meeting and began the voting process.

After the first round of voting, none of the candidates received the five votes necessary to be appointed to the board. Alicudo and Farrell were both tied, with each receiving four votes.

A second vote was taken for Alicudo, but only four board members voted for her. When a second vote was taken for Farrell, he received the five necessary votes from Mike Collins (Apartment Owners), Glenn Small (At-Large), Jennifer Jushchuk (South Lakes), Irwin Flashman (At-Large) and Bob Petrine (At-Large). Former RA President Caren Anton (Hunters Woods/Dogwood) voted no and Laurie Dodd (North Point) abstained.

Once the announcement was made, Farrell was welcomed onto the board by President Sarah Selvaraj-D'Souza (At-Large). She thanked the other candidates for participating and invited them to continue working with RA and possibly serving on a committee.

Petrine told the candidates that despite the "shotgun nature" of the voting process, board members had an active discussion about the quality of the candidate during executive session.

"All brought very different skills and experiences to the board," he said. "I wish we could have had you all join the board. It would have been an incredible add to the board.