Volume XXXII, Issue 9

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Message from the Chairman

Per the by-laws of the SCA, the SCA Annual Meeting will be held on Thursday, May 17 at 7:30 p.m. at the Stone Mansion. The agenda, per the by-laws, will be as follows. Certain agenda items are described in more detail following the agenda list.

1. Call to Order
2. Reading of the minutes of preceding meeting
3. Report of the Treasurer
4. Reports of Committee
5. Transaction of Business
6. Unfinished Business
7. New Business
8. Adjournment

Under Unfinished Business, the following item will be addressed

• Vote to rescind support of the start of a petition to change trash pickup to Fairfax County

And under New Business, the following items will be addressed.

• Vote to amend by-laws to increase annual membership dues to $20.
• Recent lawsuit filed against the SCA
• Election of officers for 2007 – 2008
• Discussion of the future of the SCA
  

VOTE TO RESCIND SUPPORT OF THE START OF A PETITION
TO CHANGE TRASH PICKUP

At the January SCA Meeting, members voted to support the start of a petition to change trash pickup to Fairfax County. Subsequent to this vote, the current haulers agreed to pick up on the same days. This vote will be to rescind the January support of the start of this initiative.

You must be a member of the Association to vote on this issue. You can vote by proxy. A proxy vote form is included in this issue of the Sentinel. Proxy votes must be received by Secretary John Finamore no later than 7:30 pm on Thursday, May 17. John lives at 3905 Stone Mansion Court.

VOTE TO AMEND BY-LAWS TO INCREASE ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP DUES TO $20

Two years ago the annual membership dues were raised to $20. A vote was taken and there was virtually no opposition from any members to the increase. Our attention was recently drawn to the fact that our by-laws were not amended to include this change. To ensure we are in compliance with our by-laws, the by-laws should be amended to include $20 as the current annual dues.

You must be a member of the Association to vote on this change. You can vote by proxy. A proxy vote form is included in this issue of the Sentinel. Proxy votes must be received by Secretary John Finamore no later than 7:30pm on Thursday, May 17. John lives at 3905 Stone Mansion Court.

RECENT LAWSUIT FILED AGAINST THE SCA

A Stoneybrooke resident has recently filed a lawsuit against the SCA. The SCA Board has hired legal counsel to respond to the suit and has been advised not to discuss the suit. A statement regarding the suit and its current status will be read at the SCA meeting. A copy of the suit will also be made available to members.

ELECTION OF OFFICERS

As is required in our by-laws, we will hold elections for the offices of the Board of Directors. The following is a list of the candidates.

Chairman
No one has announced his or her candidacy for this position. Per the by-laws, Mike Jurkowski will continue as chairman until such a time as elections are held to elect a new chairman. Mike previously announced in the March Sentinel that he would resign from the position after decisions are made regarding the future of the SCA.

Vice-Chairman
No one has announced his or her candidacy for this position. Our current
Vice-Chairman, Scott McMahon, has submitted his resignation, effective at the end of the SCA meeting on May 17.

Treasurer
Bernie Tabarini has declared his candidacy. Bernie is the current treasurer and has served in this capacity for the last five years.

Secretary
John Finamore has declared his candidacy. John is the current secretary and has served in this capacity for the last year.

Parliamentarian
No one has announced his or her candidacy for this position. Our current
Parliamentarian, Herry Cordoba, has submitted her resignation, effective at the end of the SCA meeting on May 17.

Per our by-laws, a simple majority vote will decide the positions for which candidates have declared. A ballot is included below this message.

You must be a member of the Association to vote in this election. You can vote by proxy. A proxy vote form is included in this issue of the Sentinel. Proxy votes must be received by Secretary John Finamore no later than 7:30 pm on Thursday, May 17. John lives at 3905 Stone Mansion Court.

PROXY VOTES AND QUORUM

If voting by proxy, John Finamore must receive the actual, physical ballot by the deadline. Emailing, calling, or mentioning the intention of your vote will not count. Our by-laws do not allow for these methods of voting so we must stick to the physical receipt of the actual ballot.

As stated in the March Sentinel, our by-laws are silent on the inclusion of proxy votes in the quorum needed for a meeting. Thus, for this election to be valid, we must have a minimum of 20 members present at the meeting.

DISCUSSION OF THE FUTURE OF THE SCA

As you can see and know by now, the SCA will be without a Chairman , Vice-Chairman, and Parliamentarian. Where does the organization go from here? Will it continue to exist? What can be done to ensure the future of the SCA? This will be an open discussion to gather ideas and comments.

STONEYBROOKE CITIZEN’S ASSOCIATION PROXY VOTE FORM

TRASH PICK-UP

To Resind the Vote to Support the start of a petition to switch trash pick-up to Fairfax County

For ______

Against ______

AMEND BY-LAWS
To change annual dues from $10. per year to $20. per year.

For ______

Against ______

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Chairman: No Candidate

Vice-Chairman: No Candidate

Treasurer: Bernie Tabarini __________

Secretary: John Finamore __________

Parliamentarian: No Candidate

Resident Name: ________________________________

Resident Address: ______________________________

Signature: _____________________________________

Message from Supervisor Dana Kauffman

BRAC (Base Realignment and Closure) has reached another milestone with the public meeting held at Fort Belvoir on April 16. The purpose of this meeting was to hear public comments on the draft environmental impact statement (DEIS). Under federal law, an EIS statement must be prepared to analyze potential environmental and socioeconomic impacts associated with implementing the BRAC recommendations. At that meeting, I presented the following testimony.

Testimony of Lee District Supervisor Dana Kauffman on Fort Belvoir/BRAC EIS, April 17, 2007

BRAC is indeed a challenge to those charged with making it work. I liken it to trying to put together a puzzle as the pieces change shape in your hands.

BRAC is also a challenge to those of us wanting to ensure that this doubling of Fort Belvoir is a net positive change for the Richmond Highway and for Springfield area home and business owners.

When all is said and done, the importance and long-term benefit of having the NGA call Springfield home is perhaps the greatest positive change BRAC will bring to our County. It’s a generator of high level jobs, significant contractor support, and a command with a proven record of working with its residential neighbors. Decades from now, the NGA will be to Springfield what the CIA is to Langley and the Pentagon is to Arlington.

But for all the focus on the DOD community, I also believe the biggest hurdles we have yet to clear are simply getting different parts and levels of government to work together to realize two common sense accomplishments.

First and foremost, the missing leg of the Fairfax County Parkway must be built and built now. The project is funded and has been funded for a decade. This two mile facility is integral to the ultimate success or failure of the entire BRAC program. It creates a front door for the EPG while opening up the Richmond Highway corridor to the Springfield-area commands and finally completes what has become Fairfax County’s main street.

Our State and Federal partners have taken turns being at fault for far too long. The bottom line is that Richmond and the Pentagon must get on with laying the asphalt or we’ll all be left stranded.
The second intergovernmental challenge is getting DOD and the GSA to lower their bureaucracy defense shields and once and for all do away with the half-century old wooden relic known as the Franconia Depot. However one chooses to define the County’s future or promote smart growth in general, preserving low-ceiling warehouses next to a regional transportation center is just plain stupid and a waste of taxpayer dollars.

WHS commands coming from Metro-accessible locations can remain Metro-accessible if the GSA’s leaking monuments to inefficiency are leveled and quality offices are erected in their place. For its part, the DOD community must find a way working with the GSA and the private sector to expedite making this happen.

In closing, we also need a firm understanding of where Fort Belvoir is ultimately heading. At the purist level, this entire process is being undertaken completely “BRACwards” as there is no up-to-date, future plan for the entirety of Belvoir. Sooner rather than later we need to get a new master plan approved and in place for the sake of both the Army and the County.