Statement to the RA Board of Directors

Re the Use of Executive Session

To Negotiate the Tetra Independent Review Draft Contract
Terry Maynard, Co-Chair, Reston 20/20 Committee
December 7, 2016

Good evening. Im Terry Maynard, speaking on behalf of the Reston 20/20 Committee.
The Boards plan this evening to negotiate contract arrangements with Mediaworld in secret is
the latest example of this Boards refusal to be transparent on key community issues. While the
Board has a legal right to do so, Mediaworld President Sridhar Ganesan has said he is willing to
discuss the contract in open session this evening. Our understanding is that he actually
proposed the open session.
So why not?
Given the circumstances, there is no legitimate business reason not to discuss the draft contract
in open session. What does the RA Board have to hide?
The only reason to keep your discussions secret are your prejudices against Mediaworld, by the
far the most qualified and least expensive bidder to carry out this task. Your concern can only
be that Mediaworld will actually be effective in identifying the specifics behind your mishandling
of RAs purchase and renovation of Tetra.
We know that members of the Board, the CEO, and RAs attorney have worked systematically
to undermine the Boards public selection of Mediaworld to carry out this contract by proposing
a highly restrictive contract with Mediaworld and so far being unwilling to negotiate any
meaningful changes.
The issue now is whether the Board is going to implement its own publicly recorded contract
selection decision in an open process or be led by its overpaid attorney to either impose
impossibly restrictive contract terms on Mediaworld or reject Mediaworld all together, all in
secret. To say this is unethical would be generous. It reeks of personal self-serving, paranoia,
and the whitewashing of shoddy, if not unethical, work. It has nothing to do with making better
decisions or making Reston a better community.
Without going into detail, over the last two years, the RA Board and staff have wasted over $2
million of RA members money on Tetra through massive secrecy, ineptitude, and deception.
Restonians deserve a detailed explanation of what has transpired, recommendations for a
better way to handle such situations in the future, and a holding to account of those specifically
responsible for these major breakdowns.
Meeting in secret tonight to negotiate with Mediaworld will only add another chapter to the
legacy of failure of this Board and RA staff on Tetra.
Reston 20/20 recommends that:

The Board should proceed in open session tonight;

If the Board chooses to proceed in executive session, Board members opposed to that
decision should boycott the secret session and rejoin the meeting only when the
conspirators re-assemble in public;

The Board should reach a contract arrangement with Mediaworld that ensures its ability
to carry out a meaningful independent review without inappropriate constraints or undue
personal risks, and

RA should publicly disclose the full terms any agreement reached with Mediaworld or
any other contractor on the Tetra review.

To do otherwise will only further undermine Restonians sinking confidence in the competence
and legitimacy of RAs leadership and its Board.