Supervisor Elaine McConnell's (R) has a few things on her agenda to complete in the Springfield District, so she's running for another term this year, which is her 20th year as supervisor. Those projects include the completion of the Ox Road widening, the addition of an emergency communications center, construction of the south county high school and putting ball fields in the 98 acres the county recently received.
"There are some things I feel like I need to complete," McConnell said, at a recent gathering to launch her campaign. The Republican primary for the Springfield District will be June 10, and McConnell thinks experience is a sufficient campaign platform.
"My platform will be what I've done and what I plan to do," she said. "I've battled to get that high school in, and now it looks like it's going in."
While funding remains a problem, McConnell feels taxes or the state formula might have to be adjusted. Recently, she proposed reducing the real-estate tax from $1.21 to $1.16 per $100 of assessed value. Going against a Republican staple of opposing tax hikes, she backed the sales-tax referendum that lost last November.
"Nobody is without these budget problems," McConnell said. "States are having a problem, and they're handing it down to localities. Until we can find any other way for income, we're in a bind."
Supporters filled the room at the Springfield Country Club, on March 23, as McConnell addressed her constituents. Representatives from the fire department, the Virginia Railway Express and school board were in attendance.
"She's done a remarkable job through some very difficult times," said Pete Murphy.
McConnell's husband, Mac, remembered the first election in 1983 against Marie Franesky.
"Elaine ran against her and beat her by 40 votes," he said.
The chairman of the Springfield Magisterial District Council, Jim McIntyre, supported McConnell. He looked at her accomplishments with the Democratic majority on the Board of Supervisors.
"Even when she's an overwhelming minority on the Board," he said.
The Springfield District goes from the western edge of central Springfield out to Clifton and up to I-66.
"It's almost like two districts," McConnell said. "I haven't had a Democratic opponent in eight years."
Linda Clary
A recent proposal to put a Springfield District homeless shelter along Route 29 away from transportation and jobs was an example of why Linda Clary thought the land-use procedure in the county needed to be changed. On her platform for the Republican nomination for Springfield District supervisor, Clary thought a change in the land-use procedure was one of the things she backed.
That location for the homeless shelter is on a storm-water-management area and away from transportation and jobs, but Clary said that if the county had allowed citizen input first, there might be more options. An open area by the government center or a location by Fair Oaks Mall might be better.
"The county did not put it on the plan," Clary said. "Citizens did not know about it. They go and do these things behind closed doors and all the citizens can do is go to meetings and complain."
Clary's method would be town meetings before a land-use decision is made by the county.
"So you can communicate pro-actively with your constituents," Clary said, adding that with the current procedure "town meetings are not done until after the fact."
Clary said that this method of land-use planning would save money in the long run. The $20 million study on the rail to Dulles was one area where the county could have saved money.
"The federal government even said that study was too expensive," she said.
Putting things like this on the county comprehensive plan during the amendment process would let the citizens have an opportunity to change things.
"That is the absolute appropriate place for neighborhood input," Clary said.
A staple on the Republican docket is eliminating taxes, and Clary's seen too many people taxed out of their homes and out of the area. Her daughter, who moved from Annandale to Florida, is one example.
"These are young families, this is our future," she said.
Controlling the spending is what Clary's interested in.
"Taxes aren't the answer to our problems. How we prioritize our expenditures. We've got to live within our means. We've got to use creative ways to finance our needs, not on the backs of homeowners," she said.
Creative ways to do this include using transportation bonds, eliminating needless studies and a adopting a better approach to the comprehensive plan.
CLARY BEGAN her experience with government and legal issues as an administrative assistant for the chief judge of Dade County in Florida. She then worked for the Florida state legislature and the chief justice of Florida's Supreme Court. She relocated to the Washington, D.C., area, where she worked for Harold Green, a chief judge in D.C.
Husband Matt was in the U.S. Marine Corps, and they were transferred overseas for a few years. They returned to the area in 1975 and bought a house in West Springfield, where they raised their children.
"Matt started his law practice," she said, where he still works.
While in Springfield, Clary attended George Mason University, taking accounting classes, while she was an active member of the Springfield Chamber of Commerce.
"I rejuvenated the Springfield Days Festival," Clary said.
Clary then moved to Clifton in the 1980s and founded the Wolf Run Estates community of 25 homes. Although her address is Clifton, she's active with the Fairfax Station community.
"There's a dividing line of a street, and I live on the Clifton side," she said.
On the education side of county issues, Clary looked at the current Standards of Learning Test scores as not good enough.
"We're excited that we're just getting a D?" she asked.
Clary's approach is in three steps:
"We have to have a decision, a plan, and monitor it," she said.
Clary's plan from now until June 10 is to hold town meetings, knock on doors and greet people face-to-face.
"Inspire people to do their best, that's what I'm about," Clary said.
Stan Reid
Living within the county budget is Stan Reid's big concern as he gathers support for his upcoming campaign for the position of the Springfield supervisor. Reid is not pushing a tax referendum or funding formulas, but just the policy of living within the means.
"Let’s get a handle on what were spending," Reid said. "Let’s look at what we really need as a county, I think of it as common sense.
The five areas on his list of problems are nothing new to people in the county. They include sprawl and overdevelopment, traffic congestion, an out-of-control county budget, the real-estate-tax burden, keeping the "county" status, and maintaining an excellent school system.
"I want to help find solutions to these things," he said.
Reid does have solutions in mind that he thinks will work. For the sprawl, he wants to hold developers responsible for infrastructure improvements beyond the current proffer system. The proffers are not enough.
"We need to leave as many trees in place," Reid said. "I'm very environmentally concerned. These issues are quality-of-life issues, not partisan politics."
More rail is one of Reid's traffic solutions, which includes the rail to Dulles that has been on other politicians’ agendas.
"We must put rail in, extend Metro," Reid said, looking at the popularity of the system. "Try and go down to the Vienna Metro and find a parking place after eight in the morning."
To fund the rail, he wants to shift funding from one program to another as well as increase federal government subsidies. To reduce the real-estate-tax burden, Reid wants to reduce the percentage of the county budget that the real-estate taxes fill.
Cutting existing county programs is one of the ways Reid intends to reduce the budget. Reid pointed at 700 county programs in the budget that aren't needed.
"Budget should be based on need," Reid said.
Reid wants to work with the school board as well, without pointing fingers or blaming.
Reid looked at a lot of existing supervisor activities as examples of what not to do.
"I think the problem is within the supervisors," Reid said. "They don't have an incentive to reduce programs or make priorities. Supervisors need to lead by example, get involved, do hands-on things."
Reid has a Fairfax address in the western area of the Springfield District and is practicing the hands-on approach with a stretch of highway he and his wife have adopted in the "Adopt-a-Highway" program. They clean up the roadside trash on a regular basis.
"I'm not waiting for the county to come over and pick it up," he said.
REID graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara, with a communications degree. After graduation, he moved to Arlington and then the Springfield area, where he volunteered for the Springfield District Republican Committee. He moved up in that organization.
"I became chairman of the Springfield District Republican Committee," Reid said. As the current committee vice-chairman, Reid has worked with Supervisor Elaine McConnell's office in the past, but not in an official capacity.
He currently works in the area of business development, as a bridge between private sector and government. He is also a member of the Springfield Chamber of Commerce and has worked on the Popes Head Estates homeowners association, the Coalition for Rural Conservation, Virginians United Against Crime, Friends of Fairfax County Libraries and Pedals for Progress.