WECA Elects New Officers

The West End Citizen’s Association elected new officers at its annual meeting on Thursday. They are: 

• President: Noreen Bryan.
• Vice President: Vicki McMullen.
• Corresponding Secretary: Jacques Gelin.
• Treasurer: Dennis Cain.
• Recording Secretary: Jan Balkam.

The run-up to the election included and of how the civic organization operates.

“A small group is engaging in an outrageous attempt to hijack a neighborhood association in the service of commercial special interests and their narrow political agenda,” read the latter post, by West End residents Brian and Carla Shipley.

Theresa Defino authored the former post, which endorsed a slate of candidates challenging candidates on a slate posted on WECA’s Web site.

She posted a comment below the Shipley post, calling it “false.”

“It is neither ‘outrageous’ nor a ‘hijack’ to present an alternative slate,” Defino wrote. “It is perfectly allowable under the bylaws to present an alternative slate and has occurred in the past.”

The Shipley post’s reference to “commercial special interests” was an apparent reference to the issues of whether the should be allowed to build a parking lot on a site next to the home in the West End.

The council voted earlier this year not to allow the home to build the lot. .

Patch reader “s. t. bowman” commented that three of the four people on the slate backed by Defino have been “prominent lobbyists” for Pumphrey.

“If your slate were to be elected, it would be like a hostile takeover of WECA by a private company, in order to further its own business interests,” bowman wrote.

Marian Hall, the vice presidential candidate on the slate backed by Defino, called bowman’s comment “blatantly antidemocratic, short sighted, narrow minded,” adding that, “Robin Corridon, resident of Rockville & WECA, has the right to support such a worthy business.”

Defino argued that the election was “not about a parking lot or about Pumphrey's."

"WECA members were split on the parking lot, so this is a non-starter," she wrote. "To call any of them ‘prominent lobbyists’ or ‘lobbyists’ is just plain silly.”

Outgoing WECA President Susan Prince posted several comments below the Shipley post that explained how the civic organization publicized meeting agendas, used its email listserv to disseminate information and decided when to take a position on issues before the City Council.

None of the candidates endorsed in Defino’s post won election.