January 2 — 8, 2020
Fa lls Chur c h, V i r g i ni a • ww w. fc np. c om • Fr ee
Fou n d e d 1991 • V ol. XXIX No. 46
Falls Church • Tysons Corner • Merrifield • McLean • North Arlington • Bailey’s Crossroads
Mayor Tarter Expected to Win 4th Term in F.C. Council Vote Monday Busy January Lies Ahead for City Officials
by Nicholas F. Benton
Falls Church News-Press
The launch of the new decade commences for the City of Falls Church government on Monday, Jan. 6, when the City Council will convene to elect a new mayor and vice mayor in the Council chambers of the new City Hall. Incumbent Mayor David Tarter is expected to be returned for a fourth two-year term following his re-election to the Council in November, even though the top vote getter in that election was second-term Council member Letty Hardi. If elected as expected on Monday night, Tarter will have tied the all-time Falls Church record for election by his Council colleagues as mayor, matching the four-term service of Carol DeLong in the 1980s. DeLong, who along with her husband Chet, remains active in local politics and is the mother-in-law of current Council member Phil Duncan. Given how well the current City Council has been function-
ing together in the last period (all three incumbents ran for reelection in November and all three won), there is also no reason to believe that anyone on the Council is in the mood to change up their choice for vice mayor, either, meaning Marybeth Connelly will likely be given another two years in that role. January will shift into high gear shortly after the Monday meeting whose agenda is limited to electing the mayor and vice mayor, and a work session on proposed changes to the natural resources chapter of the City’s Comprehensive Plan. City Manager Wyatt Shields is expected to provide the Council with an update on a proposed
DAVID TARTER is expected to be reelected mayor of the City of Falls Church next Monday. (Courtesy Photo)
Fiscal Year 2020 City operations budget amendment to address the rising estimated costs for the renovation and expansion of the Mary Riley Styles Public Library. It is expected that by midmonth, a “guaranteed maximum price” (GMP) for the effort will be forthcoming from the chosen architectural-engineering firm of BKV Group, Inc. and then at its Jan. 27 meeting, the Council will entertain a budget amendment to either meet, or not, the GMP. With some budget surpluses derived from better-than-expected performances in the FY19 operating budget and a delayed debt service payment on the $125 million new high school bond, the pro-library advocates will be urging the Council to approve the GMP so the project, approved by voters in a bond referendum in 2017, can begin. Plans are already made for a temporary relocation of the library to the now-vacated classroom trailers at the Thomas Jefferson Elementary School site on S. Oak. Also this month, the Council is expecting receipt of the detailed site plan for the 10.3 acre West End Development Project with its seven buildings and wide promenade through the middle of the site. The Council was given an advance look by developers EYA,
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STATE DEL. MARCUS SIMON (left) discussed the upcoming Richmond legislative session with Falls Church’s venerable Dick McCall (right) and others at Ireland’s Four Provinces Monday. McCall, former president of the Citizens for a Better City, was once chief of staff for the head of the U.S. Agency for International Development. (Photo: News-Press)
A Richmond Session Like No Other to Convene Next Week by Nicholas F. Benton
Falls Church News-Press
A legislative session like none other in the history of the Commonwealth of Virginia will commence next week in Richmond. Already, Democrats submitted more than 260 bills for consideration in the upcoming session, with many more expected before the swearings in and gavels for the new session next Wednesday. With the results from November’s statewide legislative
elections bringing clear majorities to the Democrats in both the House of Delegates and State Senate in Richmond, combined with their command of the governor’s office, a veritable plethora of progressive legislation is expected to pass over the next two months and be signed into law by Gov. Ralph Northam. It’s been 20 years since the Democrats have had this kind of control in Richmond, but more realistically, those with the kind of progressive values of the cur-
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Inside This Week Fairfax Schools to Allow Time Off for Protests
Mason Boys Win 1, Lose 2 In Holiday Tourney
See News Briefs, page 9
See Sports, page 17
Starting Jan. 27, Fairfax County Public Schools will permit students in seventh through 12th grades one excused absence each school year for loosely defined “civic engagement activities,” a spokesperson announced this week.
The high of a victory was sandwiched in between two losses for George Mason High School’s boys basketball team during last week’s Joe Cascio Holiday Classic.
Index
Editorial........................................................ 6 Letters..................................................... 6, 8 News & Notes.....................................10–11 Comment............................................12–13 Business News..........................................15 Sports........................................................17 Calendar.............................................18–19 Classified Ads............................................20 Comics, Sudoku & Crossword..................21 Crime Report.............................................22 Critter Corner.............................................22