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This year, Fairfax County increased juvenile justice training for cadets in the Criminal Justice Academy preparing to serve the community. The Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court teamed up with the Police Department to hold a four-hour juvenile justice training course for the first time. In the past, cadets spent one hour in juvenile justice training. The new enhanced training included four modules teaching future officers: 

1. The purpose and intent of the Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court.
2. How to work with families during intake.
3. The Alternative Accountability Program and community-based diversion for low level offenders. 
4. Understanding adolescent brain development.

Fairfax County is a national leader in juvenile justice reform with multiple initiatives focused on diverting youth from the juvenile justice system while still holding them accountable for their actions. Using a restorative justice model with rehabilitation as the primary goal has led to lower recidivism. First- time offenders who go through the Alternative Accountability Program are less likely to re-offend with only three percent re-offending after 12 months compared to 13 percent re-offending if they are arrested through the traditional intake process.

“The Fairfax County Police Department is a key partner to the Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court as we transform the juvenile justice system to better serve the community," says Hon. Thomas P. Sotelo, chief judge, Fairfax County Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court. "Police officers are often the first experience a young person may have with the justice system, and the officer’s approach can have a huge impact in preventing the young person from offending again. This new enhanced training goes beyond teaching the structure of the court and includes a comprehensive look at working with families, community-based diversion and adolescent brain development. The goal is to reduce recidivism, ensure a brighter future for young people and a safer community for everyone. The court looks forward to its continued collaboration with FCPD to institutionalize training in the academy and to build up continual training opportunities for veteran police officers.”

Understanding the county’s approach to juvenile justice and rehabilitation will be a key part to officers’ success as they serve and protect the community. The current recruit class of 41 cadets will complete training on Dec.16. Once cadets graduate, they can serve the Fairfax County Police Department, the Fairfax County Sheriff's Office, or the towns of Herndon and Vienna Police Departments.
 

This year’s James M. Scott Exceptional Design Awards recipients are being recognized for their commitment to design excellence that enhances the experience for people visiting each site. The winners represent works of architecture that combine green building practices with outstanding site design and landscaping.

The honor award went to Shalom Baranes Associates for The Boro, owned by Kettler and The Meridian Group. The awards jury liked the mixed-use property because it centered pedestrian space as a key part of the overall project.

The merit award went to the BKV Group for the Woodlawn Fire Station 24 Replacement. The awards jury felt the contemporary design of the fire station was well-integrated into the neighborhood.

Fairfax County established the Exceptional Design Awards in 1984 to recognize achievement in the total design of a building and its site. The awards aim to raise awareness of outstanding planning and design projects among design professionals and the general public. The design awards program is sponsored by the Board of Supervisors and administered by the Department of Planning and Development in cooperation with the Architectural Review Board and the Northern Virginia Chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

Awards are granted in three categories: honor, merit and honorable mention. A jury of design professionals, including architects, selected the winners.

Matt Thompson has been appointed Director of Court Services for the Fairfax County Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court (JDRDC), effective Monday, Oct. 25. Thompson succeeds Bob Bermingham, who served in the role for 11 years. 

Thompson has been Assistant Court Services Unit Director for JDRDC’s Probation Services since July 2016. He began his career with Fairfax County in 1997 when he was hired as a probation officer assigned to the Fairfax County Juvenile Detention Center. He later moved from residential services to community-based services, taking the role of probation officer with the North County Probation Unit in 2004. He was promoted to unit director in 2010.

Throughout his career Thompson has demonstrated a passion for working with children, adults and families in need of court intervention. His vast experience, knowledge and leadership have resulted in significant enhancements to how court services are equitably delivered and accessed. In his previous position, Thompson led the development and implementation of multiple system reforms including the nationally recognized Alternative Accountability Program, the JDRDC Mediation Program, the Assessment Services Unit, Adult Pre-Trial Services, the Bifurcation Hearing Process and the successful application of evidence-based practices at major system decision points.

The Director of Court Services oversees a budget of approximately $28 million dollars and over 330 positions. Under the direction of the Deputy County Executive for Health, Housing and Human Services, the director leads, plans and directs a variety of programs designed to promote the well-being of individuals of all ages and abilities, families and communities. The director works in collaboration with the Fairfax County Juvenile and Domestic Relations judiciary, Fairfax County Public Schools, Fairfax County Police Department and other Health and Human Services agencies in strategic work associated with providing community safety, justice and rehabilitation; facilitating community engagement to identify areas of need; and enhancing capacity for community safety.

Thompson holds a bachelor’s degree in government from the University of Virginia. In 2017 he completed the Senior Executive Institute program at the University of Virginia/Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service. He also earned Certified Public Manager accreditation from the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments in 2020.

Thompson will receive an annual salary of $157,500.

Fairfax County’s Zoning Ordinance Modernization project, known as zMOD, received the American Planning Association (APA) Virginia Chapter’s Commonwealth Plan of the Year Award. The award honors the best planning document of the year, which includes outstanding planning processes, vision, implementation strategies and innovative approaches. 

The zMOD project, which began in 2018, was led by the Department of Planning and Development. Committed to conducting widespread public outreach, county staff held more than 100 meetings both in person and virtually over the course of three years to directly engage the community.

Approved by the Board of Supervisors on March 23, 2021, zMOD updated the 42-year-old Zoning Ordinance in order to make it easier to understand and navigate; to update and modernize land uses; and to create simpler, more general zoning use categories. In addition, the Zoning Ordinance was made more user friendly by reducing redundancies in the text and by using language and graphics that are easy to understand. These combined efforts cut the size of the Zoning Ordinance in half.

“I’m so proud of what we were able to accomplish in zMOD,” said Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeffery C. McKay. “It was a years-long process that incorporated extensive community outreach and feedback. Through that, we created an ordinance that both makes our zoning policies more accessible, streamlined, and equitable as we move towards land use policies that work towards our environmental sustainability and housing affordability goals.”

In conjunction with the new Zoning Ordinance going into effect on July 1, 2021, a new platform for the Zoning Ordinance was launched to help everyone access zoning regulations. The format provides a robust search capacity and hyperlinks and is accessible on multiple platforms.

The modernized Zoning Ordinance is available on the zMOD webpage. More information about the Commonwealth Plan of the Year Award is available on the APA's website.

Five county employees were recognized with the A. Heath Onthank Award for Merit, the highest honor awarded by the county to its employees, at the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 5.

The award honors the memory of Colonel A. Heath Onthank, the first chairman of the Fairfax County Civil Service Commission (1957-1962) and guiding force of the county’s career merit system. The Onthank Award recognizes accomplishments of outstanding worth by merit system county employees and some eligible school system employee. 

Honorees are:

Colin Brody, Health Department - As public health emergency management assistant coordinator, Brody helped coordinate the Health Department’s emergency response to the COVID-19 pandemic, serving as liaison officer to government and community stakeholders and as primary mass vaccination campaign coordinator, overseeing the administration of 1.4 million vaccinations. Brody offered lifesaving, accurate and timely information, in a role that required him to be available 24/7 for more than a year. His tireless work undoubtedly saved lives.

Emma Gutzler, Department of Public Works and Environmental Services – Gutzler won two significant financial awards for Fairfax County and held a successful event dedicated both to improving the lives of individuals experiencing homelessness and improving water quality. Operation Stream Shield employs homeless residents to remove litter and invasive plants from county streams and stream valleys. Gutzler’s event raised $2,000, and through her leadership and guidance the county received a $4 million Stormwater Local Assistance Fund grant, the maximum amount awarded.

Shannon McKeon, Health Department - McKeon successfully led the Logistics Section of the Health Department’s COVID-19 response in 2020. This role is known as one of the most challenging and demanding in incident management. The demands during this 18-month response are unimaginable by any except those who worked tirelessly seven days a week for the duration of the response. McKeon identified solutions, developed tools and led her team through rigorous, stressful work with fun, positivity, camaraderie and creativity.

Foram Shah, Department of Family Services - Shah demonstrated exceptional leadership during the pandemic as part of the Public Assistance and Employment Services Division of the Department of Family Services. From anticipating and addressing the remote work needs of her division in the early days of the pandemic to ushering in new technology including creating a tool to track public assistance request trends, Shah took initiative, showed leadership and was devoted and persistent in developing solutions to ensure that the division’s employees didn’t miss a beat in serving members of the community in desperate need of support.

Laura Yager, Sheriff’s Office - Yager identified the need for a Medication Assisted Treatment program to assist offenders with opioid use disorder through their withdrawal phase while incarcerated and reduce the risk of overdose and re-offense upon release. Through her vision and leadership, including securing grants, attending and providing trainings, updating standard operating procedures and more, the Sheriff’s Office has implemented a program that is already yielding early signs of success, with several examples of positive outcomes for participants.

The Fairfax County Department of Tax Administration earned recertification for meeting the highest standards for tax appraisal and assessment practice.

It is one of only 57 assessment offices in North America to achieve a Certificate of Excellence in Assessment Administration from the International Association of Assessing Officers. The department is also the only county assessment office in Virginia to hold this certification.

“This certification marks Fairfax County as the best in class when it comes to assessing taxes equitably and efficiently, following the industry’s highest standards,” said Fairfax County Chairman Jeffrey McKay. “It’s a testament to the county’s ongoing commitment to fair and transparent assessments, and I am proud that Fairfax County ranks as one of the few in North America and the only county in Virginia to hold this prestigious certification.”

To achieve the certification, the department conducted a rigorous one-year self-evaluation, and the county’s practices were then judged by an independent panel of tax assessment professionals. The evaluation examined everything from the county’s land and property valuation methods to data and cybersecurity standards.

The county originally earned its certification in 2015, and this year it completed the recertification process that is required every five years.

The International Association of Assessing Officers is a nonprofit, educational and research association. It is comprised of more than 8,000 members worldwide from governments, businesses and academic institutions who are interested in the administration of property taxes.

For more information, contact the Department of Tax Administration at 703-222-8234, TTY 711.

Christina Jackson was appointed Fairfax County’s chief financial officer (CFO) by the Board of Supervisors at its meeting today, Tuesday, July 27. Jackson, director of the county’s Department of Management and Budget (DMB), succeeds Joe Mondoro, who is retiring after 26 years with the county, the last six as CFO. Jackson’s appointment is effective Monday, Sept. 13.

Jackson, who will continue in her role as DMB director, has worked for Fairfax County for nearly 18 years and served as DMB’s deputy director prior to her appointment as director in 2019. She began as a budget analyst in 2003.

As CFO, Jackson will lead county financial management and budget operations and oversee the departments of Tax Administration, Finance and Procurement and Material Management.  She also serves as a liaison with the county’s Office of the Internal Auditor and the Retirement Administration Agency.

As director, Jackson oversees the agency responsible for coordination of the county's annual budget process, which includes the financial forecast, development of budget guidelines, review of agency and program requests, presentation of recommendations to the county executive and preparation of the multi-billion-dollar budget plan. DMB also manages bond sales and special financings, leads the coordination and development of the county’s Capital Improvement Program, and is currently helping to manage over $600 million received in federal stimulus funds. Fairfax County’s is the largest municipal budget in Virginia and is larger than some state budgets.

Jackson has a master’s in public affairs from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and a bachelor’s in public policy studies from Duke University. She will receive an annual salary of $210,000.

Christopher S. Herrington will begin his appointment as director of the Department of Public Works and Environmental Services (DPWES), effective Monday, July 12. He succeeds Randy Bartlett, who retired last month. 

Herrington has over 25 years of local government experience with the City of Austin, Texas. He served as the assistant director for the Watershed Protection Department and as Austin’s senior environmental policy officer, advising public officials, city departments and the public on a wide variety of development projects. He also served as staff liaison to the Environmental Committee.   

Herrington began his career as an intern with the City of Austin and advanced through several roles with the Watershed Protection Department before being promoted to assistant director. Austin’s Watershed Protection Department is a municipal stormwater management utility that focuses on reducing flood risk, restoring degraded stream systems, and protecting water quality throughout the city. While serving as Austin’s senior environmental policy officer, Herrington worked to ensure that the protection of Austin’s natural resources and residents received the highest priority in all public and private development. 

“I’m so excited to join the Fairfax County team. It wasn’t an easy decision for us to leave Austin and move halfway across the country, or for me to leave my City of Austin family after 25 years of service,” said Herrington. “But at our first visit we knew we’d found our new home. My professional life has been dedicated to delivering high quality public service and I’m honored to now serve the people of Fairfax.”

Herrington’s experience includes urban development, strategic planning, capital project delivery, integrated water resource planning, watershed restoration, urban forest management, land conservation, wastewater management, community climate plan implementation and intergovernmental relations. He has also been involved in major projects including regional land conservation planning, the design of a flood diversion tunnel in downtown Austin, permitting the new Tesla Gigafactory and revising wastewater permitting regulations for the State of Texas.  He has a dual background in ecology and engineering and has authored numerous publications on water quality and the environment.

DPWES builds and maintains safe, reliable infrastructure that improves public health and provides a high quality of life for residents. The department’s four business areas are: Solid Waste Management, Capital Facilities, Wastewater Management and Stormwater Management. These divisions work together to create and preserve sustainable communities.

Herrington has a Bachelor of Science in Biology and a Master of Science in Civil Engineering, both from the University of Texas at Austin. He will receive an annual salary of $180,000.

A new historical marker recognizing Ona Judge, the African-American woman who fled enslavement by the Washington household and escaped to freedom, will be unveiled at a ceremony at Mount Vernon on Juneteenth—Saturday, June 19—at 10 a.m., hosted by Mount Vernon District Supervisor Dan Storck.

The event will feature guest speakers including Virginia Secretary of Education Atif Qarni and Dr. Erica Armstrong Dunbar, author of “Never Caught: The Washingtons' Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge.”

Judge’s story was nominated for recognition with a historical marker by the students in Maura Keaney’s fifth grade class at Laurel Ridge Elementary School. The class wrote nomination letters as part of Gov. Ralph Northam’s Black History Month Historical Marker Contest. They will attend the ceremony along with Keaney.

According to the Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington at Mount Vernon, Ona Judge, often called Oney by the Washingtons, was born at Mount Vernon in around 1774. She was the daughter of Betty, an enslaved seamstress living on Mansion House Farm, and Andrew Judge, a white English tailor whom Washington had hired. She fled the Washington home in Philadelphia in 1796 as they prepared to return to Virginia, eventually making her way to New Hampshire. She went on to marry and start a family, evading several attempts to recapture her over the years.

Attendees of the unveiling are also welcome to attend a noon presentation of “Freedom Skies” by Brenda Parker, Mount Vernon Character Interpreter & African American Interpretation & Special Projects Coordinator. “Freedom Skies” is a narrative reflecting the experiences of four of those freed after George Washington’s death. Told through story and song, is uses the gospel hymn “I’ll Fly Away” to bind together the stories of Frank and Lucy Lee, Caroline Branham, and Sambo Anderson on Manumission Day—January 1, 1801—when Martha Washington freed her late husband’s slaves.

“Freedom Skies” and the Lives Bound Together: Slavery at George Washington’s Mount Vernon exhibition are both free with general admission to Mount Vernon.

 The marker unveiling ceremony will be streamed live on Facebook.