Herndon has received two proposals to run its controversial day labor center, according to a town spokeswoman, the first signals of interest for a project that had until now failed to attract potential operators.
The town received the bids Friday, the same day the second request for proposals had closed, according to Herndon spokeswoman Anne Curtis. She declined to name the groups or release the details of their proposals.
The town had sent out a similar request in January that garnered no responses.
The bids represent a step forward for the town council, which wants to dramatically change the nature of the center on Sterling Road by requiring the new operator to check the immigration status of the workers. The move is part of a larger mission by the new council to crack down on illegal immigrants in the small Fairfax County town.
“Basically, I think the whole council is looking for an operator that will check for legal presence,” Council Member Connie Haines Hutchinson said.
The day labor center dragged Herndon into the national immigration debate two years ago and is widely believed to be responsible for the ouster of the majority of the council and mayor last year.
The former council had approved the project in 2005 to consolidate workers who had previously gathered next to a convenience store. Council Member J. Harlon Reece, the council’s sole opponent of seeking a new operator for the site, said he feared checking immigration status would scatter the workers back out into the community.
“I support the idea, but at the town level, my primary concern is quality of life in our town, and I don’t want these folks en mass out on the street again,” he said. “Because it really was a public nuisance and it was a public safety issue.”
The current operator, Reston Interfaith, plans to run the center until the council directs otherwise. An agreement that allows the site to exist expires in September.
