This week marks the 10-year anniversary of Mark Schwartz becoming Arlington’s county manager on a permanent basis.
Schwartz had been appointed to the role in an acting capacity in July 2015, and County Board members announced on Jan. 8, 2016 that they had decided to make the position permanent.
The arrangement was set to be made official on Jan. 23, 2016, but a massive blizzard caused the meeting, and the contract vote, to be delayed several days.
Libby Garvey was serving as Board chair in 2016. Contacted this week, she said Schwartz’s tenure has proved the selection was the right one.
“Arlington is lucky to have Mark as its manager,” Garvey, now retired, told ARLnow. “In my 28 years of elected service, he is among the most talented and wise staff with whom I have worked.”
In addition to Garvey, Board members at the time included John Vihstadt, Christian Dorsey, Katie Cristol and Jay Fisette.
Schwartz succeeded Barbara Donnellan, who had served from 2010-15. Like Donnellan, Schwartz was selected from within the government ranks.
He joined the county government in 2005 and served progressively as deputy chief financial officer, director of the Department of Management and Finance and deputy county manager.
Garvey said having a steady hand at the helm is important as the county continues to grapple with major local issues and the impact of Trump administration policies on the community.
“I’m glad he is leading the Arlington County staff during this chaotic and difficult time,” she said.
Schwartz is the 12th county manager since Arlington adopted its current form of government in 1932. For the 60 years prior, the county had been governed by a three-member Board of Supervisors that controlled the hiring of all government personnel.
At the Jan. 13 meeting of the Arlington County Civic Federation, the future of the county manager position was discussed as part of a broader discussion on potential changes to county governance.
At that meeting, Board member Julius “J.D.” Spain Sr. disputed some civic leaders’ claims that the five-member Board has become subservient to Schwartz and his staff.
“There’s a lot of folks who believe the county manager’s office has too much influence, and the County Board just rubber-stamps things. I want to dispel that myth,” Spain said.
A month before — Dec. 9 — Schwartz made his annual appearance before the Civic Federation. He, too, said the idea that he and his staff are pulling strings behind the scenes “just really isn’t the case.” Asked about his views on change-of-government proposals, Schwartz suggested he would await further developments.
“I really, truly am agnostic on that,” he said.
But at the same time, Schwartz said the current arrangement, in which Board members decide policy and the county manager implements it, is working well.
“Having an elected county manager would undercut the Board; having the Board play a role in appointing the staff is something I would have a problem with,” Schwartz said.
Schwartz currently ranks fourth in longevity among county managers. In addition to Donnellan, his predecessors were Roy Braden (1932-36), Frank Hanrahan (1936-47), A.T. Lundberg (1947-62), Bert Johnson (1962-76), W. Vernon Ford (1976-81), Larry Brown (1982-87), Anton Gardner (1982-87), William Donahue (1998-2001), Ron Carlee (2001-09) and Michael Brown (2010).
The county manager serves at the pleasure of County Board members and needs to maintain the support of at least a majority of the five.
“At the end of the day, I need to be held accountable for the performance of the people I hire,” Schwartz said. “If [Board members] don’t like it, then three of them can tell me to take a hike.”
The last manager forced out due to conflicts with the Board was Brown, who had been recruited from Savannah, Ga., but lasted less than a year before he departed.
Schwartz has lived in Arlington since 1985. He is a graduate of Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania School of Law. Before joining the county government, Schwartz worked for the U.S. Office of Management and Budget for 12 years.
