The Arlington County Board has announced plans to dismiss all current members of the Human Rights Commission.
Following months of mounting tension, the County Board plans to revise the commission’s charter and clarify members’ duties. Commissioners who wish to stay would have to reapply for the role “with an explicit understanding of the HRC’s clarified duties and responsibilities,” Board Chair Libby Garvey said in an email yesterday (Thursday).
Specifically, Garvey said, the Board plans to amend the Human Rights Ordinance by further defining its scope, revising the “Prohibited Acts” section, and restructuring the body founded in 1993 to better define its roles and responsibilities.
Board members plan to publicly consider the proposed changes at a special meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 27.
“The changes proposed are meant to clarify the HRC’s focus and align the Commission’s work with the Board’s expectations,” Garvey said in the email. “Some of the HRC’s actions this year have indicated to the Board a need for additional clarity regarding what powers and responsibilities lie with the Human Rights Commission, the Human Rights Office and its Executive Director, and the Arlington County Board.”
The Board’s decision follows a dispute over a letter commissioners sent to the U.S. Department of Justice in February, requesting an inquiry into possible human and civil rights violations at the Arlington County Jail.
Earlier this year, ARLnow reported that the Arlington County Sheriff’s Office was the subject of criticism from both staff and inmates who were pushing for better conditions. Sources alleged substandard healthcare practices and chronic understaffing that they said led to mismanagement and excessive confinement.
Two deaths were reported at the Arlington County Jail in 2023, prompting heightened attention and efforts to update health check protocols at the lockup. Over the past nine years, nine inmates have died there, many of them homeless or booked on “nuisance” crimes such as trespassing.
The Human Rights Commission contacted the DOJ arguing that jail conditions could put inmates “at risk of death and severe harm.” But the County Board quickly issued a separate letter to the DOJ, disavowing the commission’s actions and contending that members had overstepped their authority by sending the letter without Board approval.
The Gazette Leader reported last week that tensions between the County Board and the commission have further deteriorated, with commission members voicing frustration over the Board’s decision not to reappoint long-time member Roland Watkins.
Commissioners claim the Board is attempting to “silence” dissenting voices, especially in the wake of the recent dispute over the DOJ letter.
David Barrera, communications and policy manager to the County Board, told ARLnow in a statement that the proposed changes “are meant to clarify the HRC’s focus and align the Commission’s work with the Board’s expectations.”
“Some of the HRC’s actions this year have indicated to the Board a need for additional clarity regarding what powers and responsibilities lie with the Human Rights Commission, the Human Rights Office and its Executive Director, and the Arlington County Board. Making these changes sooner, rather than later, will ensure this commission operates with clear direction as soon as possible,” he said.
Barrera noted that the disbanding of the HRC is part of a broader strategy to “strengthen” Arlington’s commission system. This strategy includes revising the commission handbook, enhancing online participation, recruiting new members and promoting inclusivity through a demographic survey.
Garvey noted in her email that plans to disband the commission are rooted in “some of the HRC’s actions this year.”
“Because the HRC will be operating under a clarified set of expectations—expectations that likely are different from what members currently assume or had assumed when they originally applied to the commission—the Board has determined that it would be best to reconstitute the HRC,” she said.
