In December 2022, the COG Board selected Clark Mercer as the organization's new Executive Director, the sixth chief executive since COG’s founding in 1957. Mercer began serving in his official capacity at COG in January 2023, during what is already shaping up to be a pivotal time for the region.
Robert McCartney: As listeners know, the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, or COG, sponsors this podcast. But people sometimes ask me, "What exactly does COG do?" It's a fair question because the answer is, well, nuanced COG doesn't make the final decisions on important issues, like transportation, housing, and economic and racial equity. But it does play a major part in setting the direction for the region on those topics. This is a good moment to explore and discuss COG's role because the agency just picked a new executive director for the first time in 10 years. He is Clark Mercer, who previously served as Chief of staff to Virginia's former governor, Ralph Northam. Mercer will lead COG's team of more than 120 policy experts and other staff. They in turn serve the agency's board of elected officials, who do set policy in their counties in municipalities. He describes part of COG's role this way.
Clark Mercer: I mean, I think COG, when you ask folks, it has a very, very strong reputation as an entity that has staff that are incredibly bright. They know transportation. They know housing. They know some of our environmental work, water work better than anybody. And they have a very good reputation for being objective players in these debates and providing facts and data that people can use, and our jurisdictions do use, in their long-term planning and in their policy discussions.
Robert McCartney: Mercer went on to say COG can do more to frame the discussions.
Clark Mercer: There's a spectrum between providing good, strong objective data and making policy decisions. And so COG does not make policy decisions. We're not a policymaking body. I mean, our transportation planning board does make some policy decisions, but on the whole, we influence those decisions. And I think we could probably do a little bit more, in terms of what are the options and alternatives, if you care about affordable housing or care about transit. Or how do we lower our carbon emissions? Here are the facts, but here are also the options that you're going to have to consider if you want to move the needle on those issues. And I think we can probably move across that spectrum a bit more and not encroach on becoming political or making decisions for folks.
Robert McCartney: Welcome Think Regionally, a monthly podcast on D.C. area issues. I'm your host, Robert McCartney. I began my interview with Mercer by asking him about his past experiences with the Greater Washington Metro region.
Robert McCartney: Let's start by talking a little about your personal background as you arrive at COG. When you worked in Richmond as chief of staff to the governor, you must have been involved in a lot of stuff regarding the D.C. metro region. How did your work there affect and compare to your new responsibilities here?
Clark Mercer: Yeah, well before I moved to Richmond, I grew up in, born and raised in the D.C. area in Alexandria, and worked professionally in Alexandria, Northern Virginia and D.C. So I've been in the Richmond area for the past 12 years. And a number of the topics that we tackled overlapped with D.C. and Maryland Metro funding, back in '18, and getting dedicated funding for WMATA was something I was heavily involved in. On rail, there was an opportunity with both CSX and Norfolk Southern for the first time ever to purchase right-away from those companies and put a multi-billion-dollar plan on the table to rebuild Long Bridge.
Robert McCartney: Mercer also was involved in major economic development projects.
Clark Mercer: And the most notable was Amazon HQ2. And obviously, we were proud to win that, but just as proud... About 75% of the incentives that are provided to Amazon are actually investing in people and infrastructure, so in Metro and affordable housing. And particularly on affordable housing, that's something Maryland and D.C. we're strong advocates for. After that commitment, amazon opened the Housing Equity Fund and has done even more.
Robert McCartney: Looking ahead, funding for the WMATA transit system will be a major challenge for Mercer and COG Board Chair Kate Stewart.
Robert McCartney: You and Kate Stewart also have said that COG needs to help the region address WMATA's projected financial troubles. They're forecasting a $750-million operating deficit in the next budget cycle. COG played a role in getting dedicated funding several years ago. Well, how do you see its role in filling this gap, which is much larger?
Clark Mercer: I mean, COG historically played a role in getting Metro set up as an entity. When there was a need for a safety commission, the FTA and the state DOTs came to COG and asked for their assistance. So we have been intertwined with WMATA since its inception. If we need to have a discussion about governance of WMATA and funding for WMATA, so that it can have sustainable funding moving forward. And then obviously, that's way easier said than done. But the events of COVID, and the fiscal situation that I think WMATA's finding itself in, lends itself to having this discussion. Whether folks are kind of ready for it or not, there's going to be a discussion.
Robert McCartney: That debate is likely to include proposals to update the WMATA compact, or governing document, to give the transit system a new stream of reliable funding. Mercer warned that that's far from easy.
Clark Mercer: It is difficult for WMATA. It has many bosses: the Commonwealth of Virginia, state of Maryland, District of Columbia, and the federal government. And if you open that up and want to change something, all of those entities need to agree to it, down to where the period is. And I can tell you, working in '18 to get that dedicated funding, it's not easy, and the stars have to align.
Robert McCartney: Turning to another priority, Mercer said COG should help the region's various jurisdictions produce more affordable housing. He has firsthand experience with the market as he returns to live in the area.
Clark Mercer: I come from Alexandria, where the average single family home price is approaching a million dollars. In Arlington, it's north of a million dollars.
Robert McCartney: You're personally affected.
Clark Mercer: Oh, I am. I have two grandparents. One was Air Force, and one was entry level GS, and they could both buy homes, have them built in Alexandria in the 1940s. Those folks that are that level of government today, they have to move 30, 40, 50 miles outside the region to build a home.
Robert McCartney: Mercer described COG's role in addressing the challenge.
Clark Mercer: Yeah, I mean, if you say affordable housing is a priority and you opine in your problem statement that we have a problem in this region on affordable housing, and we want to fix it and solve it. We want to provide a certain number of housing units, for example. We can provide the data on where those housing units are, where they're not, what the gap is in terms of multi-family housing. But they're going to be some tough decisions that have to be made. I think we could probably, putting pressure is not the right word, but elevate the conversation more strongly so that those decisions are made.
Robert McCartney: Mercer recently spoke to the Transportation Planning Board at COG. In his comments, he shared that there were nuances among the jurisdictions on how to pursue some housing goals, specifically trying to build 75,000 additional units in the region in the next decade.
Robert McCartney: And you said it was important to have open and honest discussions about these policies. What would those discussions look like, do you think?
Clark Mercer: When I was interviewing for the position, and just kind of talking about my approach to working with a board and decision makers, healthy and honest debate is a good thing. We put an item up for board consideration. Obviously, getting unanimous vote is great. You always want to get folks to vote in the way that you hope they will. But unanimous votes aren't in and of themselves the goal. It's to have some discussion and some debate. And I'm okay if we have something where not everyone's voting the same way.
Robert McCartney: Mercer highlighted action in Arlington, which recently voted to allow multi-family buildings in neighborhoods previously zoned only for single family residences.
Clark Mercer: So, I give Arlington credit for having that debate. I think more of our jurisdictions need to be discussing that. But it's going to lead to some uncomfortable discussions, and we have to be okay with that. What I've seen in government and politics in the last 10, 15 years, we've gotten away from having kind of open, honest, healthy debate. And it's okay for us to disagree; it doesn't mean you're a bad person. But now if we disagree, it seems to be the protocol is to go, "Oh, there's something wrong with you." And certainly with housing, zoning's a big piece of that.
Robert McCartney: Another factor that could reshape the housing market, not to mention commuting patterns, is the dramatic increase in the number of people working from home.
Robert McCartney: I mean, you're taking over leadership here in a watershed moment. In the aftermath of COVID, it looks like there's going to be a permanent increase in remote work. So what special challenges do you see for COG in terms of dealing with that? And what should COG's role be, for instance, in dealing with the federal government, regarding remote work policy, which affects this region so much?
Clark Mercer: We have to be vulnerable and recognize that the world has changed and that some degree of hybrid and flexibility is a good thing. I've got two young kids, and returning semblance of quality of life to folks where they can take care of some things that they need to by working hybrid is a good thing. In government, there is a tendency for the pendulum to swing pretty violently from one side to the other. And I think the notion that you can do everything completely remote, particularly in government, is probably not right. It needs to be some hybrid type of posture.
Robert McCartney: The stakes are large, especially for the district, which has seen a sharp drop in people commuting downtown for work. Mercer sees opportunity and a real need for federal and regional partnership on this issue.
Clark Mercer: We can debate and discuss the pros and cons and how you manage it all you want. 220,000 less folks showing up to the District every day has had a dramatic effect on the District and the region. And for the last decade in Virginia, one of the processes that I was familiar was the Base Realignment and Closure Commission that the Defense Department undertakes. And communities are put on notice that they may have a facility close. They're allowed and expected to advocate for themselves. And ultimately, there's a vote in Congress. And if that facility in Virginia... The one that I worked with was Fort Monroe, which is in Hampton. If it closes, there are offices within Department of defense, whose whole job is to provide both financial resources and assistance to that community to help it envision what it wants to be post-closure. So this is 220,000 people overnight. I think COG's role is to bring stakeholders in D.C. together with the Biden administration and have a little bit more of a proactive look at what can be done to assist the district as it thinks through its future.
Robert McCartney: Let's talk about the environment. I know there's big initiative by COG to sort of promote development of infrastructure for electric cars, electric automobiles. What other kinds of things are going on?
Clark Mercer: We've got some work to do on electric vehicles and charging stations and infrastructure. That's one of those topics where localities are all getting money to deploy charging stations. But what's the rhyme or reason for where they go? How do you protect them against cyberattacks? How do you put them in locations where people feel safe going to them? How do you make sure that they're in all areas of our region, not just the affluent areas? And so what's that master plan look like? And so the localities came to COG to ask us to put together a master plan for the EV network, which we're doing.
Robert McCartney: Another top COG priority right now is promoting economic and racial equity within the region. To accomplish that, it has identified so-called equity emphasis areas. They are census tracks comprising about a third of the region's population with disproportionately high numbers of low-income residents and/or racial minorities. You and the new board chair, Kate Stewart, have called for progress on economic development, especially in the equity emphasis areas. How do you see COG's role?
Clark Mercer: Well, I'm a couple meetings in to being the executive director. But I'll tell you the first couple meetings, we've had some good discussion and debate about equity in terms of economic development. And what that means is making sure there's good jobs across the region. And there was a discussion at the last meeting, not just a job, but a good job with room for advancement and professional development. And some of the questions that I have been asking is I think trying to drive economic development to the equity emphasis areas conceptually makes a lot of sense. We need to make sure that our economic developers and our economic development arms in our counties and cities are bought into that and are advocating for that. We need to make sure that we're not the only ones advocating for the equity emphasis areas. And one of the challenges, frankly, is, if you're running economic development, and fill in whatever county or city, and you have the opportunity to get a company to locate in an affluent area of your county, or they're looking at an equity emphasis area in another county, well, you're going to advocate for the county that you work for. So that's a challenge. And that gets back to opportunities and challenges for the region.
Robert McCartney: Mercer wants to be sure businesses talk to COG and hear about the importance of equity, when they're considering investing in the region.
Clark Mercer: If I am Company X, and I'm coming to the D.C. area, and I'm visiting with a couple counties, is COG on my radar screen to come sit down with? And if it's not, who is telling the story of what the leaders in this region want to see? We need to inject ourselves into the conversation, so that people hear this and they understand it, but not overstep, because we're not economic developers. We're not doing the job of the economic... And we've got the Greater Washington Partnership and Washington Board Trade, other groups who have pieces of this. But what piece does COG have? And I think it's telling the story of what this region wants to see in the next 10, 20, 30 years. And I do think we've got responsible corporate citizens that want to do good and want to be helpful. And when you come to an area, it's a one-stop shop here to meet 24 elected officials representing the entire region. That's kind of a no-brainer to come by a board meeting to introduce yourself. And that's where we can be mindful that this is where we're looking to drive growth and economic development.
Robert McCartney: As our interview ended, I couldn't resist asking Mercer to talk about one part of his background. That's a world away from government service: oyster farming.
Clark Mercer: Yeah, my dad's side of the family, they were oyster farmers and menhaden fishermen in the Northern Neck. So oysters were always something that I knew about. My granddad, when he retired from the Air Force, moved back down to Montrose, Virginia, Glebe Harbor. And I'd go down and spend a week with him. At that point, he was oystering again in his retirement. And we would do a big oyster roast every year, two or three thousand oysters and shuck them and roast them. And in 2008, 2009, a buddy of mine, who later became our secretary of natural resources for the state and is now an assistant secretary of the interior, we started an oyster company in Cape Charles, Virginia. And then at the time, it was a popular thing. It was kind of like breweries. People were starting them left and right. But I would drive down on Wednesdays and pull oysters out of cages... We'd float them. It's called aquaculture. It's a little bit cleaner way to do that than growing them on the bottom and package them and sell them to restaurants in D.C. And we did that for about a year, a year and a half.
Robert McCartney: He and his friend still do it sometimes for fun. Now is the time where I share some of my own thoughts. I found an important theme of this interview to be Mercer's interest in using COG's expertise and role in framing issues to nudge the region forward to meet its own proclaimed goals. That was very much in line with what Board Chair Stewart told me in the January podcast, where she said she wanted 2023 to be a year of "accelerated action" for the agency. As Mercer acknowledged at several points, this could generate some controversy. There isn't uniform agreement on how best to address some challenging issues, such as WMATA funding, affordable housing, and reducing carbon emissions. The good news is that the region's elected officials, for the most part, share the same views on what the goals should be, partly thanks to years of consensus building at COG. Mercer said that was a big difference from his previous experience dealing with the Virginia General Assembly, where the spectrum of opinion was much wider.
Clark Mercer: Richmond, whether it was affordable housing or healthcare, we would spend a lot of time making the case that those are important topics that need to be addressed, and Medicaid expansion being a big one, a five-year effort to make that case. Here, the members, it takes less convincing on some of these topics that they're important. They agree that affordable housing's important, transit's important, equitable economic development's important, and more kind of, "Okay, now that we agree that that's important, how do we accomplish that goal?" And that's just as complicated as trying to get them on board with the goal itself.
Robert McCartney: I hope you've enjoyed this podcast. We welcome your feedback. Please email comments to thinkregionally@mwcog.org. This podcast is produced by Lindsey Martin and Steve Kania. This is your host Robert McCartney, urging everyone to think regionally.