The Arlington County Board held its annual Organizational Meeting Tuesday, January 7, 2025, electing Takis Karantonis as Board Chair and Matt de Ferranti as Vice-Chair. The Board also approved the meeting schedule and procedures for the year and appointed many residents to serve in its Commissions and Advisory Group system.
Chair Karantonis is an economist and urban planner with more than 25 years of urban and regional planning experience. He was first elected to the County Board in a special election on July 7, 2020, to fill the seat vacated by the late Board Member Erik Gutshall and then was re-elected on November 2, 2021.
New Year Remarks and Priorities
Chair Karantonis reflected on the recent accomplishments of the Board, including how Arlington has become a national reference for how to manage growth, and how to address housing, transportation, and economic development issues while also improving quality of life. He listed his seven main priorities for the year:
“I cannot be grateful enough for the trust, confidence, and, frankly, for the collegiality and friendship of my colleagues,” said Chair Karantonis. “If there is something I learned to admire and treasure about our County Board it is that no matter what difference of view or opinion may divide us, we always have Arlington in common. And this means that we care deeply about all our constituents”
Board members also provided individual remarks on their goals and strategies for 2025. The following excerpts reflect portions of individual remarks and priorities, and full remarks are available on the County Board’s bio webpage:
Vice-chair Matt de Ferranti remarked that for the first three months of 2025, the Board will be grappling with a difficult budget cycle. "Later in January, we will learn if the decrease in the value of our office property base will lead to the County Manager’s projection of a $30 or a $40 million deficit,” said de Ferranti. “As we face the difficult choices commensurate with these difficult budget projections, we must prioritize the services and targeted investments that our residents need the most and we must be fiscally responsible.”
Board member Maureen Coffey began by sharing her goal of “controlling the controllables” to prioritize issues the Board can directly address. “We know that the two greatest challenges facing our community are cost of living and mental health. 2024 saw the 2nd lowest number of housing construction starts of the last 10 years, and while we’ve completed a significant number of new developments over the last two years, we have by no measure met our housing needs,” said Coffey. “These are investments that have to happen now because they reflect threats to our neighbors’ well-being and survival right now.”
Board member Susan Cunningham shared progress in 2024 on youth mental health, affordable housing and transparency. Cunningham’s 2025 focus is on county and community resilience, noting “The well-being of all 240,000 Arlingtonians is priority number one.” In addition, she stated “we will deepen our climate mitigation and adaptation” and “focus on fiscal tradeoffs, strengthening our organization, and improving customer service.” Noting President Jimmy Carter’s funeral this week, Cunningham said, “President and Rosalynn Carter would remind us to reach across differences and be the community we mean to be. I look forward to doing just that, working with each of you to build a resilient, connected, and thriving Arlington.”
Newly-elected Board member Julius D. “JD” Spain, Sr. delivered his first remarks from the dais, renewing his promise to engage every resident, regardless of neighborhood or socioeconomic status. He continued by noting that public safety, a top priority for him, was the cornerstone of community aspirations. “Every Arlingtonian deserves to feel secure, irrespective of race, age, disability, gender, or sexual orientation. Neighborhoods like Green Valley have waited decades—too long—for action on safety concerns. Reckless behavior disrupting our neighborhoods is unacceptable, and I will push for sound, decisive leadership to address these issues.”
Watch the 2025 County Board Organizational Meeting or read full individual Board member remarks on priorities for the New Year on the County Board webpage.
Open Door Mondays
The Chair also announced that the Board will be adding new opportunities for in-person engagement with the Board, including holding some Open Door Mondays (ODM) in-person at different locations across Arlington. ODM is an informal opportunity for Arlingtonians to chat one-on-one or in small groups with a County Board member.
In 2025, Arlingtonians will have the option to attend either virtual or in-person sessions. In general, virtual ODM sessions will run from 7 to 8:30 PM for the first three Mondays of each month. In general, in-person ODM sessions will run from 6 to 8 PM on the fourth Monday of each month. ODMs will not occur on County Holidays, nor in the months of August and December.
Advisory Group Designations and Regional Appointments
The County Board designated over 20 Arlingtonians to serve as Chairs and Co-Chairs in the Board’s advisory group and commissions. County Board members were also appointed to serve as liaisons between the Board and individual commissions. The advisory group and commission system is a crucial resource to the Arlington County Board, as hundreds of volunteer commissioners work with County staff and the community to provide input to the Arlington County Board on a variety of issues throughout the year.
The Board also appointed individual Board members to represent Arlington on a number of regional bodies. These include: the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission (NVTC), the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority (NVTA), the Virginia Municipal League (VML), and the Washington Metropolitan Councils of Governments (WMCOG) and its independent policy boards and committees.