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April 17, 2008

New Directors Elected to RA

By Leslie Perales Observer Staff Writer

Residents voted to re-elect Cheryl Beamer to the Reston Association's Board of Directors as Hunters Woods-Dogwood district director and selected Richard Chew to serve as one of the board's at-large directors, RA announced during the annual member's meeting Tuesday.

Beamer defeated John Bowman by 132 votes and Chew received 539 votes more than Barbara Zicari. Beamer and Chew each will serve a three-year term.

Beamer has served on the board for the past year, and she was voted to the board in early 2007 during a special election. "I am looking forward to finishing up some of the things we started working on in the last year," she said. Being on the board for another three years will give her the opportunity to work on projects such as indoor recreation facilities and lighting Reston's pathways, she said.

Beamer also said she hopes to hear more discussion about what to do with funds that come from the stream restoration project being conducted by Wetlands Studies and Solutions. During an election forum held in early March, members of RA questioned why such a large portion of the funds from the project had been earmarked for the Nature House.

Chew is new to the board, but he has volunteered with RA before and served as president for the Cedar Cove Cluster. "I'm happy to have been elected, thankful to all my supporters and looking forward to getting started," he said.

During the campaign, Chew said he was focused on maintaining Reston's current recreation facilities and protecting the community's open spaces. In a March forum, he also said he would like to see more options for the community's aging and physically disabled population.

RA President Jenn Blackwell said she is looking forward to working with the new and returning board members. "It's great, I'm always thrilled when we have new members to the board," she said. Blackwell said the election process was great and all of the candidates were very qualified. "It will be a good year," she said.

Robin Smyers, vice president of RA, said she is excited that some of the board members are returning. "A couple of them are returning, so we'll be able to hit the ground running," she said. Additionally, Chew is very active in the community so he will fit in well, she said. "I really am excited about this board because I think we're really all in sync about improving communication with members," Smyers said.

Chief Executive Officer Milton Matthews and Blackwell both said they are looking forward to creating an indoor tennis and recreation facility in the next year. Matthews said it is his top priority and he thought an indoor facility would serve residents well during the winter.