September 21 - 27, 2023
Fa lls Chur c h, V i r g i ni a • ww w. fc np. c om • Fr ee
Fou n d e d 1991 • Vol. XXXIII No. 32
The City of Falls Church’s Independent, Locally-Owned Newspaper of Record, Serving N. Virginia
Shields’ Shakeup Adds 2 New Deputies
F.C. AREA SKATING PHENOM
F.C. City Hall’s First Big Changes in a Decade by Nicholas F. Benton
Falls Church News-Press
The biggest shakeup at the City of Falls Church’s City Hall ln better than a decade was executed by City Manager Wyatt Shields this week, but unlike cases in the distant past, this one includes no firings but two key new hires in a bloodless reorganization aimed at enhancing City Hall’s capacity to serve the public in accelerated times. Shields announced the two new hires will come into leadership roles just beneath him as assistant city managers. Jenny Carroll, the current director of the Mary Riley Styles public library, and Andy Young, the City’s current Environmental Sustainability Coordinator, have been hired to be deputy city managers. Carroll will oversee five departments of the City, the library, information technology, Human Resources, Housing and Human Services and Recreation
and Parks. Young will oversee two departments, Public Works, and Community Planning and Economic Development Services (CPEDS). Meanwhile, Cindy Mester, the stalwart and ubiquitous deputy city manager for 18 years, will become the Director of Community Relations and Legislative Affairs, focusing on federal and state partners in grant opportunities and working with community group partnerships. With Carroll’s new position, Marshall Webster, a 22-year employee of the City and current Library Adult Services Supervisor, will become the interim library director. The new changes will go into effect this Monday. They were first announced in an online confab with key City department heads this past Monday and Shields has been engaged in an full-court effort to inform all
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F.C. Area’s Budding Super Star Figure Skater Shines by Lynn Rutherford
Who is this skater, crisply executing staccato steps, hitting musical crescendos with finesse and finishing nearly every movement? He looks familiar, but he’s not the self-proclaimed “quad god.” That was last season. From now on, you can just call the Falls Church area’s Ilia Malinin a well-rounded skater. The 300 or so spectators gathered for the Autumn Classic International in Montreal, Quebec last week saw the unveiling of
Malinin 2.0 — a sleeker, more mature version of the jumping phenom who landed the sport’s first-ever quadruple axel, captured the 2023 U.S. title and gained a world bronze medal. The lifelong Northern Virginia native won his opening event of the 2023-2024 season with 281. 68 points, a resounding 44 points over the field. “I started having a lot of successful things last season,” Malinin, 18, said after his free skate in Montreal last Saturday.
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U.S. CHAMPION ILIA MALININ performs his winning short program at the Autumn Classic International in Montreal, Quebec last Friday. (Photo: Courtesy of Skate Canada)