Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-09-30

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persons.
A few. short puffs on his ever
present pipe is about his only
demonstratable sign Of an
noyance. A situation that brings
outlaws from others present,
elicits only q mild chuckle from
Mr.. Massey.
AIOOf from Politics
Some people consider the
ACKNOWLEDGMENT executive
is aloof. But the door Of his
ONCE is always open and
he gives freely of his time to
individuals who bring their
problems to him. He regularly
speaks to civic groups. setting q
record Of q speaking engage
ment almost every night during
the 1rst two years in office.
Although his father was q
politician for many years, Mr..
Massey manages to stay out Of
politics. How he does it in q
county like Fairfax amazes his
associates.
II don't consider anything
I'm concerned with as politics.
] try to look on 1t as q business
relationship" he said.
Mr.. Massey got into munic-
ipal work as q young engineer,
just graduated from Virginia
Polytechnic Institute. At so. he
Is one Of the highest paid men
in the business. His $4,000 q
year salary is the highest among
county administrators in the
Washington Metropolitan Area.
Mr.. Massey can count on
easily at least q dozen fields
in which growing Fairfax
County has problems.
Sewers . Key Problem
Storm drainage is q multi
million dollar question under
study. The county grew rapidly
without requirements for in
etallation of storm sewers by
subdividers. Regulations are
now on the books but there's
the problem Of correcting the
old problems.
A 5-year program Of INSTALL
ing sanitary sewers began under
Mr.. Massey and is nearing its
end. Most Of the sewers are in
the eastern. suburban area Of
the county. II the county's
FreehilI coming amendment is
thrown out by the Virginia SUI
preme Court Of Appeals, the
county will be faced with the
problem of providing sewers in
the western area.
Water has been a big prob
lem and recently the Board Of
Supervisors set up an author
ity" to handle the job Of pro-
viding an integrated system.
1.-THE situation almost demands
that an integrated system with
uniform rates be established"
said Mr.. Massey.
Mr.. Massey sees annexation
and incorporation as a major
threat" to orderly planning in
the county. Neighboring juris-
dictions, especially Falls
Church, have their eye on Sec
tions Of county territory and
Virginia law makes annexation
an easy proposition. Many
densely-built up areas want
services faster than they can
be provided by the county and
they threaten to incorporate
into towns and cities in an at
tempt to get them.
Calls Tax Rise Conservative
Mr.. Massey said he thinks
the tax increase since he be-
came executive "is conserva-
tive considering what we are
getting" The property tax
rate. major source of revenue.
has increased from S2.65 to
1925 per 500 property evalua-
ton.
Further tax hikes on prop
erty are foreseen by Mr.. Massey
unless other sources Of revenue
are found.
Despite the problems, Mr..
Massey has found his Job very
rewarding." He would have TO
find it rewarding to spend so
much time at it-some days
from Z am. to II pm.
After hammering out solu-
tions to county problems at the
ofnce. Mr.. Massey "loves to
hammer" at home in his work.
shop.
One of his first "do-it-your.
self" jobs was a cradle. He
started it before his first
daughter was born but didn't
get 1t finished until the second
child came along. He says ne