Before Arlington moves to change its form of government, it needs to educate more residents on what the current structure is and why reforms might be needed, one County Board member believes.
“Walk down a street in Ballston, Columbia Pike, anywhere — most folks will look at you like a deer in the headlights” when governance is brought up, Julius “J.D.” Spain, Sr., said at the Jan. 13 Arlington County Civic Federation meeting.
“Most people don’t know” how Arlington is governed, Spain told federation delegates, noting that he gets asked who serves as the county’s mayor — a position that has never existed.
Still, Spain, who is the biggest supporter on the Board for moving forward on governance-change discussions, said he thinks more residents are beginning to pay attention.
“In the last 90 days, there are a lot of people who got tuned in,” he said.
His Board colleague Susan Cunningham agreed that there is some degree of growing interest in the governance topic. While much of the discussion of the topic during 2025 was among “truly only the insiders,” Cunningham told ARLnow she sees more people becoming engaged as time goes on.
Last month, Board members voted to postpone a decision on creating a task force on governance changes until at least July. Among topics likely to be considered by any task force:
- Whether the county should convert to city status
- If the governing body should be expanded from its current five members
- Whether the current election cycle, where at least one seat is on the ballot every year, should be amended
- If voters should separately elect a Board chair
- Whether changes to the relationship between the County Board and county manager are needed
- What impacts any changes would have on the School Board and constitutional officers, including treasurer and commissioner of revenue
- Whether any changes should require voter approval in a referendum
Arlington’s current governance form dates to the early 1930s, when the three-member Board of Supervisors was abolished and replaced with a five-member County Board and appointed county manager. Because Arlington’s governance structure was authorized by the General Assembly, legislative approval would be needed for many changes.
“We can always get legislative fixes in Richmond,” Civic Federation president Nicholas Giacobbe said.
But that can prove complicated: Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) last year vetoed a measure from Del. Patrick Hope (D-1) giving Arlington some autonomy on governance, and some County Board members and powerful Sen. Barbara Favola (D-40) have expressed concern about trying again before the local process plays out.
It was the Civic Federation that more than 95 years ago began pressing for a modern governance structure. The same body also has been leading the charge to change that system to reflect a 21st-century Arlington.
Among those supporting consideration of changes is Civic Federation delegate Michael Beer. At the Jan. 13 forum, he said the current process of a board chairmanship that rotates among members annually leaves Arlington with no clearly defined elected head.
Having that leadership would allow Arlington “to hit above its weight” on regional issues, Beer said.
“What goes on around us influences us,” he said.
As 2025 closed, a clear split among current Board members had emerged on the issue. Spain was eager to move forward with consideration of changes, while Cunningham and Maureen Coffey were leery, with Takis Karantonis and Matt de Ferranti in the middle.
In their December action setting benchmarks on the way to further consideration in the summer, Board members named Spain and Cunningham to coordinate the efforts.
While he did not get the timetable initially sought, Spain said months of preparation before considering the matter again will be useful.
“We need to have a very deliberate and measured approach,” he told Civic Federation delegates. “I believe we’re going to get there.”
But sitting next to him at the meeting, Cunningham reaffirmed her past comments that it might be more sensible to try and improve the current governance structure before creating a new one.
“It’s not necessarily that the form [of government] is broken,” Cunningham said.
Despite potential flaws, the current system “has served us very, very well,” she said.
Exactly how many Arlingtonians will start paying attention in coming months is an open question. On issues ranging from the Columbia Pike streetcar to Missing Middle zoning, Arlington history has been riddled with cases where insiders have discussed issues at length, only to have many in the community tune in late in the process — often demanding to know why they hadn’t heard about the controversial topics earlier.
Though still a skeptic on governance changes, Cunningham said getting information to the public sooner rather than later represents a wise strategy.
Even if many ultimately will have no interest in the governance-change effort, “it doesn’t mean we can’t try” to get the word out, she said.
“We will make it more accessible if people want to participate,” Cunningham said.
