The Reston Association board of directors unanimously agreed Thursday to the process for initiating the governing documents referendum.
Just weeks after receiving the second draft of the governing documents, the board set the referendum schedule in motion by appointing an independent counting agent to receive and tabulate the results and by adopting the referendum schedule.
The motion passed with one amendment.
Director Joe Leighton (South Lakes) introduced a suggestion to include more public outreach in the referendum schedule. “I’m not going to support this unless we have two town meetings,” said Leighton. “I’d like to see broad involvement of the community.” The original schedule only allotted one public hearing for the community to comment on the referendum on Sept. 8.
The rest of the board agreed with Leighton’s suggestion. “I agree in regards to a few more public hearings,” said Director Robin Smyers (Lake Anne/Tall Oaks). “Then we’ll have multiple opportunities for public input.”
Jennifer Blackwell, president of the board, suggested an amendment to add public hearings on Sept. 10 and Sept. 12, which was unanimously agreed to by the board.
The important dates in the referendum schedule include a special board meeting on July 19 to develop the referendum question and a regular board meeting on July 28 when the referendum questions will be up for board approval.
THE BOARD ALSO AGREED unanimously Thursday to establish a special committee on parks and recreation planning on the recommendation of PROS Consulting, LLC, which delivered a report on recreation May 26.
“This committee would be the first-level sounding board for the board,” said Larry Butler, director of parks and recreation. The committee, according to the resolution, will be charged with working with staff on design concept alternatives, monitoring the implementation of the 10-year recreation master plan, and organizing public meetings among other duties. The committee will include seven members and two board members.
The board also approved two lake-use requests for the Reston Triathlon tentatively scheduled for Sept. 11 and the 2nd annual Lake Thoreau boat party on Aug. 27.