Last month, Arlington County that it had appointed a new ombudsman for residents.
, who previously served as assistant director in Arlington鈥檚 Dept. of Human Services, now works out of the County Manager鈥檚 office with the title 鈥淩esident Ombudsman and Director, Constituent Services.鈥�
Sharpe鈥檚 role is not to be confused with that of the county鈥檚 , who was and advocates on behalf of local businesses within the county government.
We asked Sharpe about the job and what he hopes to accomplish for Arlington residents.
ARLnow: What do you want聽to accomplish in your new position?
Sharpe: 鈥淚 hope to advocate on behalf of the Arlington residents, in terms of how the county board interacts with the rest of the county. I want to try to increase efficiency, make everything move a little smoother.鈥�
There are already options for residents to report potholes and maintenance issues, to express opinions to the County Board, etc.聽Why add this position if there鈥檚 already a mechanism for most kinds of complaints?
鈥淭he Resident Ombudsman is not a new position. It鈥檚 a twist on an existing constituent services position in the County Manager鈥檚 office. The position was largely internal previously and was not promoted as a resident resource.鈥�
鈥淭he intent is to create another option. If I can free up the County Board鈥檚 time, they can focus on other things, I鈥檓 helping to increase efficiency. Sometimes the information is already out there, I want to make it easy to find.鈥�
Could you speak out and publicly advocate for certain things to get done, as a newspaper ombudsman might, or is this mostly about getting things done internally?
鈥淚t鈥檚 more internal, I can鈥檛 see myself being critical in a public manner. If I get a resident complaint that I can solve, I don鈥檛 see a need to publicly make a statement.鈥�
What local聽problems might you handle that aren鈥檛 otherwise being taken care of effectively now?
鈥淲e get a lot of complaints about things like utility providers. We try to work these issues out with, say, Washington Gas. Recently we had a complaint about a home being built in an untimely manner, we worked with the builder to solve this.鈥�
鈥淚鈥檓 also well-positioned to identify trends. I鈥檓 a big believer in continuous improvement. The most rewarding part of the job is seeing an individual resident complaint turn into a process improvement that benefits all residents.鈥�
Are there cases where contacting you isn鈥檛 the most efficient way to take care of a problem?
鈥淩esidents with straightforward service requests or questions will get best results through resources like the or the 聽[form],聽which is also available as a mobile app for iOS and Android.鈥�
鈥淭he Resident Ombudsman role comes into play when residents don鈥檛 get good customer service or have trouble navigating County government. If someone hits聽 a roadblock, that鈥檚 where I come in.鈥�
Any last thoughts?
鈥淭he one thing I would like to stress is that as a resident for 13 years, is that I have seen progress in the county government. The County Board has been very responsive.鈥�
Sharpe be reached via email聽or at 703-228-1762.
