Efforts were somewhat stymied during the 2024 General Assembly session, but Arlington County Civic Federation leaders are getting an early start on 2025 when it comes to proposed changes to Arlington’s governance structure.
The organization will host a forum on possible changes on Monday, Aug. 19 at 7 p.m. in the County Board room on the third floor of the Ellen Bozman Government Center, 2100 Clarendon Blvd.
The meeting “is designed to reignite the discourse in advance of the fall political season,” Civic Federation president John Ford said. He encouraged the “passionate and curious” to attend.
For several years, a Civic Federation task force worked on a package of proposed county-governance changes. The package was ratified more than a year ago, albeit not without a level of opposition that took proponents by surprise.
The package calls on expanding the County Board and School Board from five to at least seven members, having board chairs serve more than the current one-year stints and changing the current every-year nature of local-government elections. Those who brought the package to life shied away from a number of options, including moving from at-large to district-based elections, having an elected-by-the-public chairman and seeking city status.
Del. Patrick Hope (D-Arlington) introduced General Assembly legislation earlier this year to empower Arlington officials to implement some of the proposed changes. But some county leaders, notably County Board Chairman Libby Garvey and several of her colleagues, were hostile to his efforts, saying the broader community had not vetted it. And the Civic Federation, while generally supportive of Hope’s legislation, also voiced the desire that any changes be held via a public vote, not action by elected officials.
Given the drama, it’s perhaps no surprise that Hope’s bill was punted to the 2025 session.
As part of discussions held during the legislative session, Hope believed Arlington government officials had made a commitment to host community forums on the topic. But in June, the government said it would provide the Civic Federation space to hold a forum but have no formal role in it.
From Reconstruction in the 1870s until the early 1930s, a three-member, district-based Board of Supervisors held legislative, executive and quasi-judicial autonomy in the community. Following authorization from the General Assembly, voters approved a switch to a five-member, at-large County Board that provided oversight of an appointed county manager.
