Loudoun Chairman Likely To Get Powers Back

A former aide to Loudoun County Chairman Scott K. York said that York must be the happiest man in the country today.

That's because tomorrow York could become a powerful player in the region. At the first official meeting of the new Loudoun County Board of Supervisors, the board is likely to return to York a host of powers that were stripped from him from the previous board.

York, 50, chuckled when told about the happiest man comment. "I'll just say this," he said. "I am more optimistic about the meeting [Thursday] than I have been about any meeting in the past four years."

Four years ago, an unfriendly Republican majority stripped York of some of his key powers as one of their very first acts. One year, the vice chairman even delivered the state-of-the-county address, York said. "Essentially what they did was screw the voters," York said, noting that the chairman is elected countywide while the vice chairman is elected in one of the county's eight districts.

In November, four of the six Republicans lost re-election. Tomorrow, the new Democratic-led board is expected to overwhelmingly reverse course and give York back the powers he lost. In addition, the four new supervisors share York's concern about the county's explosive population growth over the past decaade, giving York more clout on growth and development, the county's main political flashpoint.

This is York's fourth term on the board and his third as chairman, making him Northern Virginia's longest serving chairman.

By Sandhya Somashekhar |  January 2, 2008; 4:58 PM ET  | Category:  Loudoun County , Sandhya Somashekhar
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