Board tables revised MOA for Kathy Hutchins/Southgate community center; seeks proportional RA representation

Fairfax County staff and community council leaders presented proposed revisions to the memorandum of agreement (MOA) governing the Kathy Hutchins (Southgate) Community Center at the March 13 Reston Association board meeting. The board discussed changes intended to move the center’s advisory council off the county’s Boards, Authorities and Commissions (BAC) status into a resident council structure tied to a nonprofit “Friends of Southgate” organization.

Karen Demihango, the county staff supervisor for the center, said the existing MOA had been in place more than 20 years and that BAC status imposes restrictions—public‑meeting notice, membership onboarding limits and fundraising constraints—that limit volunteers’ flexibility. A representative of the resident council said combining the advisory council and the Friends nonprofit into a single resident council would streamline meetings and fundraising while keeping most membership drawn from RA members.

Board members pressed staff about language the board believed should lock in “proportional representation” for RA members on the new resident council. Director Travis Johnson said he expected roughly three RA appointees under the intended model but noted the draft MOA did not specify numerical proportionality. County staff said the precise resident‑council size and proportionality would be settled in the council’s bylaws and that staff would add clarification language on proportional representation to the MOA draft.

After discussion the board voted to table the item until after executive session to allow staff and counsel to review contractual details; the motion to table passed on a voice vote with members recorded as in favor, opposed and abstaining per the meeting record. At the meeting’s end the board later moved to defer formal consideration of the Friends of Southgate/Kathy Hutchins MOA revisions to no later than May 2025; that deferral passed 8‑1‑0.

Ending: County staff, the resident council chair and RA staff will continue redrafting the MOA language to add proportional RA representation and to return the revised document for board consideration no later than May 2025.