Supervisor candidate Jimenez: missing in action on the Planning Commission

Mason District supervisor candidate Andres Jimenez is a member of the Fairfax County Planning Commission, yet he attended far fewer meetings than any other commissioner and rarely speaks when he does show up.

That's the conclusion of a report by Mason District residents George Waters, Larry Golfer, and Carole Bausell. They conducted a comprehensive analysis of Jimenez's attendance record based on discussions with county staff, data obtained under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, and watching hours of video of meetings.

Jimenez was appointed an at-large member of the Planning Commission by the Board of Supervisors in January 2020.

He is one of four candidates running in the Democratic Primary, along with Jeremy Allen, Steve Lee, and Reid Voss. The primary is June 20. Early voting in person begins June 10 at the Mason Government Center and Thomas Jefferson Library.

An absent planning commissioner

"Andres Jimenez has stated that he is the best candidate because his experience on the Fairfax County Planning Commission and subsequent knowledge of county government will allow him to hit the ground running," the report by Waters, Golfer, and Bausell states. [All three support Voss.]

"That might be true if he in fact had ever done anything or meaningfully participated on the Planning Commission," their report says. "In watching occasional PC meetings or committee meetings of the PC, we rarely saw him speak, if he was even present."

"This piqued our curiosity, so we undertook a comprehensive study of Mr. Jimenez's participation at both commission and committee meetings. The results were, to be blunt, rather shocking, especially considering this is a paid position," they said.

Related story: Reid Voss is hiding his Republican background

They found Jimenez attended fewer full Planning Commission meetings than any other commissioner. As a result, he missed discussions and votes on important land use issues.

Much of the work done by the Planning Commission is done by committees. Each commissioner can request to serve on as many committees as they want.

Jimenez serves on just three – Environment, Parks, and Policy Plan. That's the least of any other commissioner. He is also the only one who decided not to serve as an alternate on any other committees.

In comparison, Timothy Sergeant (at-large) is a member or alternate on 13 committees. Philip Niedzielski-Eichner (Providence), John Ulfelder (Dranesville), and Mary Cortina (Braddock) are on nine.

Minimal participation on committees

"Not only was Mr. Jimenez absent from more full commission meetings than any other commissioner, but his attendance at committee meetings was a distant dead last," the report states.

Since Jimenez was appointed, the committees met 62 times. The most active members of the Planning Commission have attended between 47 and 55 of those meetings. Jimenez only attended 11.

Since Jimenez’ campaign for supervisor highlights his background as an environmentalist, the report finds it noteworthy that he missed four of the six Environment Committee meetings held during his term. He also missed one of the two Environment Committee meetings held jointly with another committee.

He was even absent on March 8, 2023, when he was elected chair of the Environment Committee.

Committee meetings are important because they "provide an invaluable platform for collaborative decision-making and ensuring effective planning and development strategies," the report states.

At those meetings, commissioners learn about proposed development projects, zoning changes, and land use plans, which equips them to make informed decisions aligned with the needs and aspirations of community members.

Land use discussions missed

Commissioners often attend the meetings of committees even if they’re not a member of that committee. That's most often in the case of the two most important committees, the Capital Improvement Program (CIP) Committee and the Land Use Program Review Committee.

The CIP Committee oversees the four-year CIP that guides the development of public facilities and makes recommendations on bond referendums. Jimenez attended just two of that committee's five meetings in 2020, and none in 2021, 2022, or 2023.

In 2020, Jimenez attended three of the five meetings held by the Land Use Program Review Committee. He attended zero committee meetings in 2021, one of the five meetings held last year, and zero in 2023.

The most active commissioners, Sargeant, Cortina, and Niedzielski-Eichner, each attending 18 of the 19 Land Use Program Review Committee meetings over the last four years, and Candace Bennett (at large) and Ulfelder each attended 17.

In addition, Jimenez did not attend any of the 18 meetings held during his time as commissioner held by the Schools, Urban Development, Policy and Procedures, Transportation, or Housing committees.

The report suggests Jimenez's lack of participation in Planning Commission meetings raises concerns about his commitment to Mason District if he is elected supervisor.

It should also be noted that Jimenez, who lives close to Justice High School, didn't attend any of the many community meetings about the school addition or the controversial county proposal to build a parking lot in Justice Park.

Annandale Today has reached out to Jimenez for comment and has so far not received a response.

Voss hit piece, who's running on being the only candidate to attend a (single) Justice Park meeting.

This speaks volumes, I hope voters are paying attention! This investigating is way better than the opinion half true smear post on the other candidate, Voss. Go AT. We need a leader that will be working hard, Jimenez is clearly not that guy.

Worth mentioning that George Waters, Larry Golfer, and Carole Bausell have all donated to Reid Voss

No kidding! I’m shocked! Truly.

Who cares, why was this worth mentioning? All the canidates receive funds and support from various individuals and entities. I’m certain that we can hang the other candidates for taking financial contributions from people and organizations we may not like.

Those folks mentioned in Michael Shallant's post above are all good people and active contributing members of our greater Mason community. Shame on Michael for roasting these individuals. Maybe Michael and Susie can do something useful and worth mentioning in lieu of trashing their Mason neighbors???

Good morning Vax. Here's a tip for you.

You need to up your game in detecting sarcasm. I understand I may not be the wittiest person since Groucho Marx, but still, I’m not always going to include /sarc to make it obvious.

If you like party hacks, he is your man. He is piggy backing on democratic party members’ endorsements to push him through this election. His reputation for being active in committee meetings is horrendous. And then he pushes on this video with Jane Fonda……really! We need crime stoppers not flirtatious stunts with movie starts.

Shame on you BoS and Gerry Connolly. I am pleased that Penny Gross has not endorsed this con man.

Good morning Honest.

Let's be honest, considering how much criticism Penny Gross has received, especially over the late stages of her tenure, her endorsement might well be considered the political equivalent of the kiss of death.

More importantly, your calling Andres Jimenez, a "con man" is slanderous.

The irony is that the candidate you support, Reid Voss, can legitimately be called a "con man" as he blatantly lies about his commitment to the Democratic Party while his entire life in politics, such as it is, has been in lockstep with the Republican Party, and yes, even the MAGAs.

Voss may claim he is repulsed by Donald Trump and the haters who support him; but Voss’ big community initiative was to fight to keep our local High School named in honor of a Confederate Officer who fought so People of Color would continue to be the property, the slaves, of white people.

If that is not the actions of a person who is in alignment with the extremist MAGAs, I don't know what is. Oh wait, I do know. Slandering a Latino by calling him a Con Man.

Who is the "Con Man"? Reid Voss is the Con Man.

Voss was a Republican before he was a Democrat. Jimenez was essentially MIA from the Planning Commission. This leaves us with Allen and Lee, who are at least actual Democrats.

Go Steve Lee!!! Get someone who is actually invested and a big part of Annandale!

Hope he wins

Does this article/report state the number of the full Planning Commission meetings that have occured since Mr. Jimenez was appointed and how many of those he has attended ? The mention and counting of committee meetings (many of which he is not even appointed to) is confusing at best.

Can the entire report be hyperlinked here by the AT publisher ?

In 2023 the Fairfax County Planning Commission (FCPC) has met 19 times on the following months and dates, 1/11; 1/25; 2/1; 2/8; 2/15; 3/1; 3/2; 3/8; 3/9; 3/15; 3/23; 3/29; 3/30; 4/19; 4/26; 5/3; 5/10; 5/17; and 5/24 for a total of 19 meetings so far this year. Andres Jimenez was absent for 6 of those 19 meetings, missing 31.6% of the meetings or almost one-third. His absentee rate the previous year was only slightly lower. This year five of the Commissioners had perfect 100% attendance rates and four others had rates of 90% or higher.

Since his appointment in 2020 through today, the Land Use Planning Review (LUPR) Committee of the FCPC has met 18 times. Mr. Jimenez did not attend 14 of those 18 meetings, or a non-attendance rate of 78%. During his tenure, the Capitol Improvement Committee (CIP) has met 13 times. Mr. Jimenez did not attend 11 of those 13, a non-attendance rate of 85%, including missing every single meeting of the important CIP committee during 2021, 2022 and 2023. During his tenure there have been 8 meetings of the Environment Committee (two of which were joint meetings with another committee of the FCPC). He missed 5 of those 8 meetings for an absentee rate of 63% on a committee for which he has been the chairman. During his entire time on the Commission, he has not attended a single one of the 18 total meetings convened by Schools, Urban Development, Policy and Procedures, Transportation and Housing committees. In response to your point about committee appointments, please consider the following. First, note how many committees he requested to be on (such requests are routinely granted) compared to other Commissioners who take their positions seriously. Jimenez asked to serve on only two committees, one of which has never met, and he was assigned to the Policy Plan Committee as are all Commissioners. The most active Commissioners serve on between 8 and 13 committees including those they volunteered to be Alternates on. Jimenez did not ask to be an Alternate on a single other committee. Second, Commissioners often attend committee meetings they are not seated on. The following Commissioners are not on the CIP Committee yet, of the referenced 13 CIP meetings, Carter attended 12, Bennett, Ulfelder and Lagana attended 10, Clarke attended 9, and Spain attended 7.

I don't know if Mr. Jimenez's absence from Commission and Committee meetings qualifies as malfeasance or not. I do know that it certainly disqualifies him as being someone who should be elevated to the Board of Supervisors.

Facts are facts and there is no hiding from these. The report is backed up by two appendices with information from the Planning Commission (PC) and 26 pages of spreadsheets showing every Commissioner, every committee and date on which each committee met. When you miss 28% of full Commission meetings as Andres Jimenez has done this year, and pass up the opportunity to attend Committee meetings — not attending 82% of all Committee meetings of the PC over three and half years, including 85% of the CIP Committee, 78% of Land Use Planning and 63% of the Environment Committee meetings — you are doing a great disservice to the constituents and taxpayers of Fairfax County and you sure as heck don't deserve to be elevated to Board of Supervisors!

Not the "Not the vaxedmax guy"

Who cares if Voss was a republican. Measure him on his credentials and what he has done for Lake Barcroft and what his plan is for improving Mason District.

Many of you are bent on voting pure democratic. Ask yourselves what have the democrats done for Mason? The answer is not much. We continue to be low on the pecking order and on the funding distribution of County funds compared to the other eight Districts. Mason carries a large concentration of low income resident with less funding and more needs. We continue to have higher crime rates, poor performing schools, unsafe roadways, poor representation with VDOT, loss of middle income residents and an increasing numbers of poor residents, higher taxes that are not in proportion to the return to our community in Mason District, and a downslide in our quality of life.

Could care less if Reid Voss belonged to chartreuse party. He will be doer and not a baby sitter or a yes man plebe for the democratic party establishment.

The problem Vax, is that it is quite obvious that Voss, and you, are not interested in representing the interests of the low income and poor residents of Mason District you refer to.

No, it's quite obvious that neither you nor Voss are interested in improving the lives of those among us who are less fortunate, who are poor.

Your, and Voss’ agenda, is to further increase the property values in this area, NOT support affordable housing, and price out the low income and poor from being able to live in Mason District.

No deal.

Well, here are a few curious things about this story:

1. It extensively references an alleged "report" without a single link to such report. Is it posted anywhere? Nor are there any links to the sources referenced for others to double check any of the claims made. It seems we are just supposed to trust, but NOT verify.2. There is no mention of the fact that George Waters has publicly endorsed a rival candidate, Reid Voss.

Yet we are supposed to accept alleged figures drawn from this "report" as if it were some sort of unbiased document from a legitimate source? Sure, Jan.

By contrast, Reid Voss has hidden his own past experience working for federal, state and local officeholders and candidates – perhaps because all 4 of the positions that we know of were for Republicans? Blue Virginia's pieces exposing Reid Voss's extensive Republican resume includes links proving all of this (https://bluevirginia.us/2023/04/in-fairfax-county-a-republican-in-democrats-clothing, https://bluevirginia.us/2023/05/a-republican-in-democrats-clothing-part-ii-reid-voss-continues-to-mislead-voters-about-his-gop-identity, https://bluevirginia.us/2023/04/a-tale-of-two-republicans-turned-democrats).

Also easy to prove, since it's on the Web, is the bizarre manifesto that Reid Voss co-authored to stop the former JEB Stuart High School from removing the Confederate general's name from the school – which, among other things, claimed that the Confederates were NOT white supremacists, the Civil War was not primarily about slavery, and the Confederate army was in fact surprisingly diverse. (https://www.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/pdf/Subcommittee%201%20Report%202.pdf)

No need to simply trust what I’m saying – read the original sources and draw your own conclusions.

I don't know if this was added after, but I do see a note in the article that "all 3 support Voss." While it is fair to lament the lack of linking to data, the mere presence of a "hit piece" on Andres here honestly shouldn't be unexpected since Ellie has also published hit pieces that target Voss. Everything is just evening out :-).

The line that Voss is trying to "hide" his previous time as a republican seems weird to me. He has talked to it in debates, on blog articles, and elsewhere. I don't get the sense he is hiding from it. And honestly, the mere fact that someone used to support the other side really shouldn't be disqualifying. A hell of a lot of people have switched and now consider themselves democrats because of what has happened since tea party and trump. I would hope the democratic party would not exclude such switchers from being involved and wanting to contribute their voices to their party.

To me, the much more recent advocacy against the stuart name change is the most damning thing about Voss, and I appreciate you sharing that manifesto link. That manifesto is rife with statements and values that are very un-democratic and are at odds with what Voss has said recently about why he opposed the name change.

In the end, this race is going to come down to (for me):– whose vision for mason most excites and aligns with yours– who do you trust most to execute on that vision– who do you trust to uphold democratic values when needed in face of relentless assault

This x 1000.

The manifesto is hard to get past. I get it, you want to keep the name because of whatever reason, but all of the sudden these folks( of which Voss signed his name) are historians claiming to have researched and found "facts" or at best interpretations that Jeb Stuart wasn't a secessionist or slaveholder, and all these reasons he was "good" in the sense of deserving to keep in name on the high school.

If one is willing to put their name on such a wretched and obvious piece of basically propaganda, I have trouble reconciling that action with the notion that this person will stand up for what they believe in, because I can't understand how anyone could honestly come to believe in what is in that document. And definitely don't want someone who believes that representing me in the government.

My household will be likely voting for Steve Lee.

I’ve been saying it the whole time – Steve Lee is the right candidate to represent Mason. He is experienced in development and interested in securing investment in our community. Republican liar Voss can kick it and Jimenez can go be lazy elsewhere

Steve Lee has not knocked on my door. Don't know anything about him, although from the blog's piece he does sound like a contender. But from what I heard and read, Voss gets in the weeds and can bring smart commercial investment to areas like Bailey's that has been in a rut for decades.

Kindler, or maybe Jimenez camp.. You are a one trick pony. Your entire campaign is about attacking Voss for working for Tom Davis 20 years ago.. He shared it with me and a friend even said Tom Davis acknowledged that he hired Voss and that Voss worked for him less than 2 years. All of your other accusations are exhausting. If the Jimenez campaign is resting on the fact that Voss works with others they/you are in trouble. Move on.. I’m going to support the guy that shows up, Voss was at my door, at my civic association and gets things done. Jimenez never showed up, he didn't even splurge for at table at Taste of Annandale. Jimenez is banking on people that don't care about our neighborhood.

Not Vax, if Reid Voss "gets things done" why did he fail in his effort to keep the local High School named in honor of a Confederate General?

Because he is out of touch and too extreme for Mason District. That's why.

But you want us to believe he is a mini version of real estate developer Trump; and is going to bring the next coming of the Mosaic District to Mason? MiniTrump.

Dear Susie Q:

The child in the room has spoken foolishly again. Bringing up Trump and the confederate flag is so low and pretty desperate. Is that all you got? Perhaps you are too young and have no historical content to tap into. But as Michelle Obama says when they go low, we go high. Well in her last interview, she was so pissed off about Trump that she went low as I will do in this post.

First you need to get off your skateboard and grow up. Left of center democrats have pretty much destroyed many cities to the point of no return: Detroit (struggling to come back), Trenton and Newark and many other cities that are gasping for air like Chicago. In the 1960's through the 1970's NYC burned feverishly for the city could not provide enough electricity causing two major blackouts that left the city vulnerable to vultures. Brooklyn and the Bronx took the biggest hits. The city was run at that time by left of center democrats: John Lindsey, Abe Beam, David Dinkins and Al Sharpton (the nonsense rhetoric machine) all had a hand in taking a thriving city to the brink of bankruptcy by pushing the middle class out of the outer boroughs to the suburbs. And more recently Bill De Blasio and Eric Adams left of center democratic mayors continue in this vein. To this day, the city misses Mayor Bloomberg who steadied the tiller to keep the ship from veering left or right of center.

Marion Barry destroyed Washington DC until a skilled city manager (center democrat) Anthony Williams who was appointed by congress and later elected to clean up three terms of Barry's poor leadership.

So, take your little boy Jimenez and yourself back to day care and go play with puzzles for that may be all the both of you may be capable of doing at this time. BTW, yes it takes higher property values that trigger higher taxes to assist the low-income poor that struggle. So argument just got debunked. Your left of center candidate will do the opposite while he dances to the Jane Fonda workout video!

Sorry, the Confederate flag is hardly a non-sequitur, since Reid Voss opposed ridding our neighborhood of JEB Stuart.

As to the rest of this–wow. Thanks, Ellie, for not moderating this post. We all needed to see just who vax2 is.

Reid Voss met wih some of us in our neighborhood. Fir the record, i wouldn't vote for a republican for dog catcher in the current environment. He addressed all the dings on him in a rational way. His opposition to changing the name of jeb stuart was because the cost of that was originally proposed to be paid by the school, an expensive proposition. The manifesto writers just put anyone who was opposed to the name change on the published document. Voss does not agree with it.

And regarding supporting low income citizens, he had lots of ideas using existing fairfax county resources to help all mason residents.

Did Jimenez take a page from the Republican George Santos book of scamming people!

I still say that Jeremy Allen is the right person to represent Mason District. He has already stepped in and helped residents in the Bren Mar area oppose a data center, plus he is dedicated to being a full time Supervisor and listening to residents.

I still say that Jeremy Allen is the right person to be Supervisor of Mason District. He has already stepped in and help prevent a data center near the Bren Mar area. Also, he is dedicated to being a full time Supervisor and thinks that Supervisors should listen to and work with residents. A novel concept in this day and age.

Pretty sad that the foundation of the Jimenez platform is built on his "service" on the planning commission, but he is the least involved participant on that team. M.I.A.

How many meetings will he miss as supervisor? He's already shown he is unelectable after he was defeated by Kay Kory. Time to move on.

Voss is unacceptable.Jeremy Allen had problems understanding what my problem was. Was not listeningJimenez was unable to respond to two emails I sent with questions about his positions.

Above are not like Penny who was always responsive.

GO STEVE LEE YOU WON MY VOTE

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