McLean Committee Awaits Report on $30,000 Taxpayer Survey

A McLean Community Center board committee is waiting for a complete report on a $30,000 taxpayer survey conducted late in 2010.

The board's Communications Committee received the raw findings from the survey in April then asked for a detailed analysis/report of the findings.

"Things have fallen into a mini-abyss," Risa Sanders told the Communications Committee on Tuesday night. Sanders is the former chair of the committee and arranged the $30,000 taxpayer-funded, sole-source contract with Professor James Witte of the Sociology Department at George Mason University.

Board member Craig Richardson became chair in June. Sanders remains as a member.

"We are all looking forward to the report," Sanders said. She told the committee that the report was delayed because Witte was depending on graduate students.

Witte did not respond to our inquiries about the status of the report and the reasons for the delay.

Witte directed the telephone and Internet survey late last year of a small sample of residents who pay property taxes to finance the center. He presented selected findings of the survey to the committee in April. Those findings showed that a majority liked the McLean Community Center, but a much lower percentage actually use it.

The survey results were based on responses from 22 percent of the less than 800 people called, said Witte, director of the Center for Social Science Research. But the results were statistically valid.

Witte presented the selected results of the survey to the Communications Committee on April 11 when it was headed by Sanders. Sanders refused to release the complete findings of the survey to taxpayers.*

McLean Patch filed a Freedom of Information request to make the complete data available to neighbors. That request was granted the following week.*

Tuesday night, Richardson also discussed plans for “How can we more effectively communicate to the people in McLean what we’re up to.”

In June, a former officer of the McLean Citizens Association and the president of one of McLean's best-known homeowners associations asked McLean Community Center Board members, including Richardson and Sanders,  to give taxpayers more information about the MCC budget, which includes a $12 million surplus accumulated by the board, contracts and agendas.

The list presented by Bill Denk, former MCA treasurer and president of the El Nido Homeowners Association, included a copy of the MCC budget and a single sheet summarizing the budget and the balances.

McLean residents live in a special tax district and pay additional taxes to support the community center. Denk suggested adding a map showing the district's boundaries and a copy of the Memorandum of Understanding that explains how MCC operates as an agency of Fairfax County government. (The board reports to the Board of Supervisors through the Dranesville supervisor.)

Denk said he made the request because he went to the MCC website and coudn't find these items and others.

Richardson made no direct mention of Denk's suggestions for more effectively communicating with taxpayers at Tuesday night's meeting.

*Neighbors can request their own copy of the data. You can e-mail Sanders at risasanders@mcleancenter.org. Or Sabrina Anwah at Sabrina.Anwah@fairfaxcounty.gov, who is the Freedom of Information Officer for the Community Center.