It could now be 2027 before any community task force is empaneled to consider structural changes to county governance.
A timetable put in place last December suggested that a task force could be appointed sometime in the second half of 2026. But getting past a number of procedural steps has taken longer than anticipated, County Board members were told at their June 17 meeting.
As a result, if a community panel is to be created, it likely wouldn’t be until December at the earliest. That’s about a year later than some advocates for change had sought.
Board member Julius “JD” Spain, Sr., who supports moving forward on governance-change discussions, said delays shouldn’t be taken as a lack of commitment.
“Show a level of patience,” Spain advised supporters of governance changes. He said Board members were “keeping an open mind and moving forward.”
The next step in the process will be choosing an “external research partner” to provide background information as governance-change discussions move forward.
“We received a few proposals. We’re in the process of reviewing them,” said Mason Kushnir, clerk to the County Board.
Plans call for the firm ultimately selected to issue a preliminary report by late October and a finished report by late November, with Board discussion in December.
Susan Cunningham said county officials “did endeavor to go out very aggressively” to find a partner for preliminary information-gathering. But because many relevant specialists are academics who have summers off, the current timetable is the best that could be done, Cunningham said.
Spain and Cunningham have been tapped by their colleagues to help coordinate governance-change efforts among staff and the community.
Discussion of governance changes began with the Arlington County Civic Federation. Options on the table include:
- Expanding the current County Board and School Board beyond five members
- Electing a County Board chair separately from other Board members and potentially expanding the chair’s powers
- Having some or all Board members elected in districts rather than at-large
- Moving away from the current process where every year brings at least one County Board and School Board election
Briefly touched on at the meeting was the possibility of converting from county to city status. With the notable exception of former County Board member Jay Fisette, who has championed that idea, it has not been a large part of the governance-change conversation.
County Attorney Ryan Samuel told Board members his staff has been working to prepare background information on the legal technicalities any governance change might require.
“We’ve done a comprehensive review of the Code of Virginia. We’ve done a comprehensive review of all the other forms of government in Virginia,” Samuel said.
The county attorney is expected to detail the findings in July.
Any major changes to Arlington’s governance structure likely would require buy-in from the General Assembly and governor. A voter referendum to enact any changes is possible, as well.
At a June 3 Arlington County Democratic Committee candidate forum, the three Democrats vying in the Aug. 4 Democratic County Board primary each favored some changes to the current governance system, which has been in place for nearly 95 years. County Board Chair Matt de Ferranti is among those vying in the primary.
From 1870 to 1932, Arlington was governed by a three-member Board of Supervisors elected by districts spanning the northern, central and southern parts of the county. Supervisors held executive, legislative and quasi-judicial powers.
With the once rural county having grown to 26,000 residents by 1930, organizations such as the Civic Federation successfully lobbied the General Assembly to authorize a governance change.
In 1932, the first five-member, at-large County Board was elected. Members then selected Arlington’s first county manager, Roy Braden, delegating to him day-to-day operational authority.
Braden, who served about four years, was the first of Arlington’s 12 county managers to date. The current manager, Mark Schwartz, has been in the post for a decade.
Spain told ARLnow that he is confident there will be progress shown by the end of the year.
“We’re not going to kick the can down the road,” he said.
