Draft - August 2025 Meeting Minutes
- hcalogin
- Aug 18
- 4 min read
Draft - HCA Meeting Minutes August 7, 2025
Zoom meeting attendees: 13
Officers:
· Dorothy Edwards, President
· Michelle Arsenault, Secretary
· Mark Rogers, Treasurer
Meeting called to order @19:32 (7:33 pm).
§ Review of Minutes from June 2025 - minutes can be found on the HCA website
https://www.huntingtononline.org/single-post/draft-june-2025-meeting-minutes June meeting minutes were approved unanimously.
§ Treasurer’s Report (Mark Rogers).
o HCA member dues are normally due in January or on a rolling basis, which will be prorated. $12:00/year. https://www.huntingtononline.org/join-hca. Please consider supporting our small volunteer organization.
§ There are nineteen active members. If you would like to know your status, reach out to Mark. Thinking about moving to a system where everyone pays dues in January. Will prorate depending on when people joined.
§ Mark will review the bylaws and come to next meeting with a plan.
§ Balance as of July 31 is 1336.30. Expenditures per year include MVC membership (490.40), Gmail account (87.00), website (204.00), domain name (25.00), and annual state corporation fee (25.00). The website was recently renewed, but next time we may use a different, less expensive company. Ray suggested an alternative such as Bluehost. Dorothy will do some exploration in the next few months as well.
§ With only 19 members, we will run a 270.00 deficit.
§ The treasurer’s report was approved unanimously
o Liz promoted increasing membership as a solution to the deficit. She noted that we all got flyers in our mailboxes today, which Dorothy delivered.
o Linda suggested a discount for new members of 10.00 instead of 12.00/year.
o Members shared various ideas to increase membership such as reaching out to the condos and apartments. Jason mentioned a one-time sponsorship from local businesses.
§ Committee and Other Reports
MVCCA (Mount Vernon Council of Citizens’ Associations, Inc.) If you are interested in volunteering, please go to the MVCCA website www.mvcca.org for more information. Committees are always looking for volunteers!
§ MVCCA is the umbrella organization for the Mount Vernon District. Represents all community associations to the county and Supervisor Storck’s office.
o Environment and Recreation (E & R) - Mark Rogers. Mark has not gotten any communication from the Committee yet. Dorothy will remind them. The next meeting is August 25.
o Planning and Zoning (P & Z) - Ray Novitske. Ray was not able to attend the last meeting, nor was Jason. No August meeting.
o Public Safety and Transportation Committee (PS & T) - Jason Zaragoza, and Mark Rogers (Alt). Jason was not able to attend the last meeting. The road diet is officially cancelled. VDOT’s objections were bureaucratic, as they didn’t like the proposed changes. VDOT wants Fairfax County to submit a capital improvement plan. Since the road diet will not commence, they are proceeding with repaving Huntington Ave soon. According to Supervisor Storck’s office, the city bike racks will be installed soon (next week) at both upper and lower metro.
o Education Committee - Anya, Tyler Austria. Tyler received a message from Education Committee Chair, so is in touch with his new committee. Not much on the last agenda - just tracking school redistricting plans. There is no August meeting, but the Chair is moving the September meeting to end of August.
o Budget and Finance. No representative. No committee at this time.
o Stormwater Subcommittee - Alan Ruof. Clarified this is a Subcommittee. No report.
· Presidents Report - Dorothy Edwards
o Happy to see new faces/names on the call. She is one quarter of the way through the neighborhood leaving flyers in mailboxes.
o Because of the HCA we have a direct line to Supervisor Storck.
o No August Mount Vernon Council meeting.
o The HCA hosted National Night Out August 5 at the Huntington Community Center. It was well attended, and there was a bluegrass band (King Street Bluegrass), face painting, food, and basketball. The Community Center encourages the neighborhood to use the space more. Please reach out to Dorothy if you have ideas for community events. She does!
o Update from the Supervisor's office: They are looking for public input for the renovation of the Mount Vernon Governmental Center. You can take the community survey here.
o Zoning ordinance amendment – large-scale battery energy storage systems (BESS). https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/planningcommission/sites/planningcommission/files/Assets/Documents/PDF/Infrastructure/06122025%20PCIC-BESS%20ZOA%20Staff%20Summary%20and%20Draft%20Text-ADA.pdf
o New HCA Instagram: Another way to stay up to date on community events, meetings, issues, etc. It will be the same info that HCA shares on its website and in the newsletter, but adds one more way to stay connected! @huntingtoncommunity
o Vice President position is vacant, and we will hold elections in November to fill it. Members who have paid dues can vote.
· HCA Community Member Time (if you would like to discuss a specific topic, please email Dorothy Edwards, HCA president prior to the meeting at president@huntingtononline.org.
o Jamie promoted the orchard at the top of Blaine Dr. Lots of figs. Some pears left. Come pick!
o Ryan noted that Fairfax County is giving away free trees to community homeowners associations.
o Fairfax Releaf non-profit also gives away trees to homeowners. Native trees, bushes, shrubs. They distribute them in Spring/Fall.
o Environmental green planting. At the East end of Riverview terrace there are two strip gardens with herbs to share. Please help yourself. Also enjoy the jokes and sayings. Tyler asked about growing one himself and asked if he needed permission to do so. No permission necessary.
o The group talked about forming a website/marketing outreach subcommittee to work on the website.
o Michelle asked if others got the notice from Washington Gas about raising customer rates to cover a shortfall due to a warmer-than-normal winter last winter. Since Washington gas has a monopoly there is no recourse for customers to complain.
o Washington gas contractors replaced gas lines on the West end of Riverview and gave no notice and no follow up. Washington gas indicated that the road would be repaved in 30 days.
o Dorothy would like to invite apartment/condo managers and local business owners to the HCA meetings to promote community and relationships.
o Carly, who is new to the area, asked about problems that the Huntington Community Association is trying to address, and whether there is a centralized location where someone can find information.
o Jamie offered to share some photos for the Instagram page.
§ The meeting was adjourned at 20:31.