Incumbents fill small slate of Reston Community Center board candidates

This year’s contest to fill the Reston Community Center Board of Governors should be a straightforward affair.

RCC announced this morning (Monday) that just three people — all of them incumbents — filed for candidacy in its 2021 Preference Poll, which will help determine three seats on the nine-member board that develops policy, programming, and the budget for the community center.

William G. Bouie, Lisa Sechrest-Ehrhardt, and Richard Stillson are running for reelection with their three-year terms expiring this year.

According to RCC, its memorandum of understanding with Fairfax County requires that the agency conduct the preference poll annually regardless of the number of candidates. The poll is open to all Small District 5 residents.

Voting will begin on Sept. 10 after a candidate forum at RCC Hunters Woods (2310 Colts Neck Road) at 6:30 p.m. the previous day. Ballots can be returned by mail until 5 p.m. on Sept. 30, while online and in-person voting will be open until 5 p.m. on Oct. 1.

Board members will be officially appointed by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors after the poll.

Brief profiles of the three candidates and excerpts from their submitted statements are below. The full candidate statements can be found on the RCC website.

William G. Bouie

An RCC board member since 2003, Bouie also serves as the current chairman of the Fairfax County Park Authority Board of Directors, where he represents Hunter Mill District. He is the vice chairman for Public Art Reston and has won two Best of Reston awards for his community service.

“I enjoy working with Restonians, to learn about their needs, and wants, and to strive to make RCC a place for all,” Bouie wrote. “I will continue to work with the residents and the County to ensure consistency of programming, and to engage the business community so that they receive the inherent value in working with the Community Center and its programs as Reston grows.”

Lisa Sechrest-Ehrhardt

Sechrest-Ehrhardt has lived in Reston for 46 years and worked for RCC before becoming a board member in 2012. As an RCC employee, she planned and implemented social, cultural, and educational programs, though she is also a professional social worker and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion consultant.

“My professional and personal experience will contribute to the social, cultural, and educational environment provided by RCC,” she said. “The goal of my community involvement and my desire to serve on the RCC Board of Governors is to ensure that all Reston residents are included in and benefit from the great programs and events RCC offers.”

Richard Stillson

This is Stillson’s first reelection bid after he was first voted on the board in 2018. A 49-year Reston resident, he was the first chairman of Reston Association’s Lakes Committee and the first president of the local citizens’ advocacy group Reston 2020. He also teaches at the Reston campus of George Mason University’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute.

“It is crucial that the Community Center use its current strength to continue to initiate new programs and events to help rebuild the community,” Stillson wrote. “This importantly includes the new residents in the growing transit corridor who do not have the history of building our town from scratch and may know little about RCC. We must expand our programs outside the RCC facilities and improve our communications about our offerings.”