Fairfax County announced it will terminate its contract with a nonprofit group running Herndon’s day labor site, leaving the town with a ticking clock to approve a new operator or possibly shut down the controversial facility.
The county recently had moved to renew its agreement to fund Reston Interfaith’s operation of the center, which was established two years ago to consolidate day laborers into a single location and link them with employers.
Shortly after, Herndon Vice Mayor Dennis Husch accused the county of interference by renewing that agreement while the town was seeking a new operator, one that would check the legal status of the workers.
County Executive Anthony Griffin, in an Aug. 3 letter to Herndon’s acting town manager, said the contract would be terminated by Sept. 6, which likely gives the town only one month to bring in a new operator or face leaving the day-labor center without anyone to run it.
The decision was “based on recent public comments from members of the Herndon Town Council accusing the county of interfering with the Town’s sovereignty and the Town Council’s own solicitation for services outside the county’s existing contractual relationship,” Griffin wrote.
But Husch said the council never asked for the funding agreement to be terminated.
“The contract they have with Reston Interfaith says the county can extend the contract, they did that unilaterally, never telling the town,” he said. “Now we got another unilateral action saying, ‘Well, if you don’t like it, we’ll just take our toys and go home.’ ”
The Herndon council, a large part of which was voted into office last year opposing the day labor center, is set to vote Aug. 14 on whether to renew the site’s permit. They could also vote that day on approving a proposal from Dennis “Butch” Baughan, who gave the sole proposal for the new operator job.
