This weekend’s Arlington County Board meeting has been postponed.
It’s a rare step during unprecedented times. The announcement was made today less than 48 hours before the Saturday morning meeting.
In a press release, County Board Chair Libby Garvey said all items on the agenda are being deferred a week and the meeting will now be held on Saturday, April 25. The Board’s Tuesday recessed meeting is also being postponed by a week, and is now set for April 28.
The reason for the delay: to allow the state legislature to act to make it legal to hold meetings virtually.
“We have items that need to be taken up in our April meeting, but that do not, under current Virginia law, qualify to be taken up virtually. We have been assured that the Virginia legislature will vote to allow local governments to meet virtually for all business during the coronavirus when it meets next week on April 22,” Garvey explained. “Therefore, we decided that it would be good to delay our meeting by a week to enable the Regular and Recessed sessions to occur virtually, which is in the best interests of everyone’s health. We regret any inconvenience this change causes.”
The full county press release about the rescheduling is below.
Arlington County Board Chair Libby Garvey announced today that the County Board plans to defer all items on its April 18 Board Meeting Agenda for a week, until after the General Assembly’s April 22 veto session. Legislators are reconvening to act on amendments and vetoes sent down by Gov. Ralph Northam, including an item that clarifies and confirms the authority of public bodies to meet virtually during emergency declarations.
“We have items that need to be taken up in our April meeting, but that do not, under current Virginia law, qualify to be taken up virtually. We have been assured that the Virginia legislature will vote to allow local governments to meet virtually for all business during the coronavirus when it meets next week on April 22. Therefore, we decided that it would be good to delay our meeting by a week to enable the Regular and Recessed sessions to occur virtually, which is in the best interests of everyone’s health. We regret any inconvenience this change causes.”
Regular Meeting set for Sat., April 25, Recessed for Tues., April 28
The Board will convene its meeting virtually on April 18 at 8:30 am to take a vote to defer all agenda items originally scheduled for the April 18 Meeting to 8:30 a.m. Saturday, April 25, and to defer all agenda items on the April Recessed Meeting, originally scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, April 21, to Tuesday, April 28, starting at 3 p.m.
The April Board Meeting agendas and staff reports are available on the County website.
Public comment
The County Board will meet virtually on both April 25 and April 28 and will take no in-person public comment. The Board will publish procedures for virtual public testimony on the County Board website once they are finalized.
The public may email comments on April agenda items for the Board’s consideration until Friday, April 24, 2020, for the April 25 Regular Meeting and until Monday, April 27, 2020, for the April 28 Recessed Meeting, to: [email protected]