INSIDE Search Underway For New Inova Loudoun CEO ...... Page 3 D ECE MB ER 2 0 1 1 VOLUME 9 NO. 1
New Board Targets Business Growth By Norman K. Styer & Kara Clark, Staff Writers A month after an historic, sweeping victory for Loudoun’s GOP candidates and a month before seven newly elected members join just two returning incumbents on the board dais, a clear priority its emerging for the new Board of Supervisors: to invest significant time and resources into efforts to spur new business growth. Promises to expand the commercial tax base are familiar elements of candidates’ platforms in local races, but during the weeks following the election supervisors-elect are making it clear they intend to follow through on their pledges. The environment in which they take office provides special challenges. The county has held its own during four years of a severe national recession, but the recovery—nationally and locally—remains slow-paced and fragile.
Fears that the federal government will be forced to implement spending cuts that could disproportionally hit Washingtonarea businesses and workers have promoted Moody’s Investment Service to put Loudoun and other triple-A rated jurisdictions on its watch list for potential downgrades—an action that would increase the cost of borrowing to build new schools, fire stations and other infrastructure. And very early in the new board’s term it will cast a pivotal vote on whether to move ahead as a funding partner in the Phase 2 extension of the Metrorail to Ashburn. The new supervisors have expressed support for the project, although they have concerns about the high price of tolls, and the Loudoun County Economic Development Commission recently identified the rail line as its top priority. A decision to continue with the project affirms 20 years of See Supervisors, Page 10
Purcellville Gateway Taking Shape
When it comes to commercial development the Town of Purcellville a prime hub of activity. After months of site preparation, the Purcellville Gateway shopping center is quickly taking shape and on schedule for the 53,000-square-foot Harris Teeter grocery store, a 10,000-square-foot retail center and a 4,000-square-foot restaurant complex to open early next year. Just down the road another team of construction crews are working on a large-scale expansion of the Loudoun Valley Shopping Center.
Feds Expand MWAA Board As Rail Wrangling Continues By Erika Jacobson Moore, Staff Writer Following votes by the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, there are changes coming to the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Board of Directors. Three provisions are included in the U.S. Department of Transportation’s spending bill: increasing the number of seats on the MWAA board by four; requiring board members to leave office at the end of their term even if a replacement has not been named; and allowing any board member to be removed from office for cause, such as a conflict of interest.
MWAA oversees operations at Dulles and Reagan National airports and the Dulles Toll Road and the construction of the Silver Line Metrorail extension. Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA-10) proposed the language that led to the changes. For months, Wolf has been pushing for changes to come to the MWAA board, citing concerns about the way the body was conducting itself and its management of the rail project in the wake of significant cost increases. Members of the MWAA board are appointed by the governors of Virginia and Maryland, the mayor of Washington, DC, and the president. Wolf cited an appointee by the mayor PRSRT STD U.S. Postage
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of Washington, DC, whose term had expired in January 2009, but was still voting by proxy as recently as the beginning of this year from Sierra Leone where he was under house arrest. Wolf also noted there was another member whose term expired in May 2010 but who was still casting votes, and a third member whose term expired in November with no plans in place to replace him. “Now either they are going to sit vacant or [the governors, mayor and President of the United States] are going to have to appoint people when the seats are available,” Dan Scandling, Wolf’s spokesman, said. The make up of the MWAA board will be increasing by four members, two of which will be appointed by Gov. Bob McDonnell. Maryland and DC will get one new appointment each. McDonnell moved quickly to fill the seats. Todd A. Stottlemyer of Oak Hill, currently serving as chief executive officer of Acentia, was McDonnell’s first selection. Stottlemyer was executive vice president and chief corporate services officer
of Inova Health System until December 2010. In that role, he oversaw technology innovation, legal services, compliance and privacy, and systemwide governance. He also was a leader in Inova’s community affairs, governmental affairs and the hospital system’s foundations and philanthropic activities. Stottlemyer has served on the boards of Virginia Commerce Bank, the Northern Virginia Technology Council, the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce, where he served as chairman from 1998-99, and Helping Children Worldwide. The second appointee is a familiar face to Loudouners. Caren Merrick, a partner with Bibury Partners from McLean, recently ran for the 31st Senate District seat in the General Assembly. The district includes portions of eastern Loudoun in the Sterling area. A 23-year resident of Northern Virginia, Merrick co-founded webMethods, that went on to employ more than 1,100 people worldwide. The company provided business-to-business integration and business See MWAA, Page 9