To the editor: Under the county-manager form of government approved for Arlington by the General Assembly in 1930 and then authorized by the county electorate, Arlington’s county manager has been hired by a five-member County Board, whose members are elected at-large for four-year terms.
When Arlington’s current governance model was established, it was a sparsely populated, in places rural, county, and now we are a booming metropolis of 240,000 people.
For some years, there has been discussion about adjusting or overhauling our form of government to meet the challenges of an increasingly diverse population and relentless densification. Most recently, Del. Patrick Hope’s proposed legislation (HB 1225) will “till the government soil, so new seed can be planted.”
The bill gives Arlington the permission for, but does not mandate, direct election of a County Board chair, changing the size of the County Board and electing members from districts.
Arlington County Civic Federation board chair Adam Henderson, a strong proponent of the measure, described the changes proposed in the bill as “fostering parity for Arlington in local-jurisdiction authority [rather than Arlington doing its own thing], thus allowing us to contemplate changes in our form of government and other areas of local government responsibility [like other local governments have the authority to do].”
“It is an opportunity for Arlington residents to have a greater say in how they are governed and is in keeping with the federation’s 108-year record of advocacy for responsible, responsive, accountable and transparent government,” Henderson said.
Let’s move on this governance adjustment and eventual overhaul cooperatively, inclusively and, most importantly, expeditiously. Arlington needs new and improved governance and must not continue to “kick the can” while continuing to envision, as we have for years, what Arlington will look like five, 10 or 25 years from now and what governance model, by then, will work best.
Mark Riley, Arlington
