Thursday, August 02, 2007

Fort Belvoir mayoral program seeks volunteers

A Mayoral Open House was held at the Vernondale Neighborhood Center July 26.  The meeting was the first since the restructuring of the mayoral program.

“We are restructuring the Fort Belvoir mayoral program,” said Faithleen Henderson, Fort Belvoir Volunteer Corps Manager.  “We want to make sure that the residents here on Belvoir are aware of the restructuring.”

Henderson mentioned that stricter policies for selecting mayors would be part of the new restructuring.

“We are looking for individuals who have community activity skills,” said Henderson.  “We are looking for people who are good working with people and good relating with people.  We’re looking for folks that have a real interest in wanting to make our neighborhoods here at Belvoir the best they can possibly be.”

Under the restructuring, a resume will be required for each mayoral application.

“Anyone who would like to be a part of the mayoral program will have to submit a resume,” said Henderson.  “A basic resume, nothing complicated.  We want to know whether or not they have been active at another installation with community activities.  We think that it is important if you’ve been part of a mayoral program at another installation, because you can then bring what you’ve learned from other areas to where we are now to help us as we restructure.”

Patty Brempell, investment manager for Pinnacle, was on hand at the meeting to address any concerns that Fort Belvoir community residents may have had.

“We’re trying to get more people interested in acting as mayors,” said Brempell.  “That’s what we need right now.  There’s only like three or four people involved in the program, so we need more participation from residents who are willing to participate.  We’re inviting all of the residents who would like to be mayors and find out a little bit more about the program.  That’s what this first meeting is.  Hopefully, we’ll get people who will say they might like to be a mayor or, if they don’t want to be a mayor, they’ll say ‘no but I’m glad to know that this program is here and I’ll know who to talk to get information.’ “

According to Brempell, the open house is the first in an ongoing series of meetings that Pinnacle plans on using to distribute information to members of the Fort Belvoir housing communities.

“Part of our role is going to be to distribute information,” said Brempell.  “Because it is hard for one person to get all of the information out.  We send things out on a regular basis, so we’ll just stuff their things into our own packets.  We will also be sharing information.  A lot of times the mayors will do a newsletter.  We also do a newsletter, so we thought we should have some sort of reciprocity.  We’ll have a property management column in their newsletter and then they’ll have a mayor column in ours.”

Brempell stated that she wants the mayor meetings to become fun events that will also serve as social functions.

“We’ll act as facilitators,” said Brempell.  “We will offer a meeting place each month and hopefully make it more of a social event for the people who are out there giving back to the residents.  We want to make it a fun thing to do, so we’ll have refreshments and things like that.”

Maj. Christopher S. Butler, Fort Belvoir Director of Emergency Services, mentioned how valuable the village mayors will be to the military police.

“As a mayor, the more credibility you have with the population in your area, the more you will enhance what we are able to do, said Butler.  “If you know all of the people in your housing area, if you get out and talk to them and you know what each one of their concerns are, then they see you as a person that will voice their concerns and bring their concerns to the table.  You will have enabled yourself to be a resolution-maker.”

Members of the Fort Belvoir Community that participated in the meeting gained a lot of valuable knowledge.

“I think it’s a great start,” said Navy Lt. Bradford Jordan, who lives in Lewis Heights and works in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations in Crystal City.  “I was a little surprised that more people didn’t come out.  As soon as I heard about the opportunity, I was excited about the possibility of community service.  I’d like to get out and meet a lot more people.  I’ve noticed that people don’t really interact outside of their own houses too much.  I would like to see that change.  This is a great base.  I have been here six months and I only know one of my neighbors.”