Businesses Urge Supervisors to Run County Full Time

Chamber Cites Vast Size of Jurisdiction

Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.) suggested that Fairfax government could be modeled on Montgomery's. (Lauren Victoria Burke/ftwp - Lauren Victoria Burke/ftwp)

Fairfax County has 1.1 million people, the country's 12th-largest school district, the region's largest mall and a hub of multinational corporations filling more office space than in San Diego or Pittsburgh.

But its elected representatives work part time as they oversee a $5.5 billion budget, each serving 115,000 constituents.

Now the county's largest, most influential business group says it's time Fairfax gets representation befitting its size: a full-time, professional Board of Supervisors.

"As much as we relish the tradition of the citizen-legislator, the fact is that they are full-time supervisors," said William D. Lecos, executive director of the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce, which proposed the change at a budget hearing this week. "It's one thing to be the Bland County Board of Supervisors with a population of 16,000. It's another thing to manage the largest jurisdiction in the state."

Beneath the surface of the chamber's recommendation is a debate that has been bubbling quietly as Fairfax has grown into a behemoth -- whether the county's form of government has the accountability needed for a jurisdiction its size.

U.S. Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.), a former Fairfax board chairman, called the idea the beginning of a "healthy debate to have at this stage in the county's growth." But he said that if Fairfax wants to examine how government truly serves its residents, it should go much further and consider modeling itself after Montgomery and Prince George's counties, with a full-time, elected county executive who is accountable to voters.

"In my judgment, that is where they ought to be," Davis said. "You know where the buck stops. It solves the problem of accountability. Right now, decision-making is diffused between 10 people."

Some proponents of a change said the chamber's suggestion is a good start. Although the board sets policy and direction for the county, the government of 12,000 workers in hundreds of agencies is run day-to-day by a powerful executive who is appointed, not elected, leaving a buffer between voters and their elected officials.

"Clearly, if you're full time, then the only thing you'll be doing is the business of governing," said Supervisor Gerald Hyland (D-Mount Vernon), who said he has little time to devote to his outside law practice. "That does make you 100 percent accountable."

Lecos said a full-time system would draw a larger pool of qualified candidates to an office that many potential public servants don't consider because they could not support a family on a supervisor's salary. Three supervisors faced no opposition in 2003.

A full-time board also would remove any appearances of conflicts of interest between a supervisor's county work and outside employment, Lecos said.

The state -- and every county and city in Virginia except Richmond -- is governed by part-time lawmakers. It's the Jeffersonian ideal of a politician who is not above the people he represents.