Arlington County has selected a contractor to provide research into change-of-government options, with a preliminary report expected in October.
Denver-based National Civic League has been awarded a contract totaling $25,000, David Barrera, communications manager for the County Board office, told ARLnow.
“We are on track as planned,” Barrera said.
The contractor is being tasked with developing background and possible governance-change scenarios. A final report is expected in November, with County Board review in December.
From there, Board members will likely empanel a community task force to vet options for changes to the governance structure used by Arlington for nearly 95 years.
Possible changes include:
- Expanding the Board from the current five seats to seven or more
- Moving from at-large to district-based representation or a hybrid of the two
- Grouping elections into an every-other-year cycle, rather than the current arrangement where at least one seat is on the ballot every November
- Electing a Board chair separately rather than having the position rotate among members annually
- Amending the relationship between the elected Board and appointed county manager
At a presentation last month, County Attorney Ryan Samuel seemed to rule out another possibility — converting to city status — as there is a statewide moratorium on creating new cities in place until 2032.
The current timetable would make it improbable for changes to be presented to the General Assembly prior to the 2028 legislative session. Board members twice — last December and this June — pushed back the schedule of procedural steps for getting any requests to the legislature.
Legislation to permit Arlington to make certain governance changes passed the General Assembly in 2025, but was vetoed by then-Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R). No similar measure was introduced in the 2026 session.
The National Civic League traces its roots to its founding in 1894 as the National Municipal League. Its organizers gathered to address “incompetence, inefficiency, patronage and corruption in local governments,” according to the organization’s website.
Arlington County’s current governance structure came into being in 1932, following action by the General Assembly at the request of county leaders and voters.
At the time, having a five-member, at-large County Board devoted to policy and overseeing an appointed county manager was viewed as cutting-edge governance. But in recent years, advocates for change — led by the Arlington County Civic Federation — have pushed for considering alterations.
They point, among other factors, to a county population that has grown from about 26,000 in 1930 to 240,000 today.
Between 1870 and the end of 1931, the county was overseen by a three-member Board of Supervisors, elected in districts and holding legislative, executive and even quasi-judicial powers in what, until World War I, was a largely rural community with a number of semi-independent enclaves within it.
