Barbara Odom-Wesley is proud of the legacy she’s created as a city council member in Arlington.
The outgoing representative for District 8, ineligible for reelection under the city’s term limits, said the work she’s done to support equity and diversity in the city makes her proud.
“As a city, we did advance in eliminating disparities and making sure that everybody in the city has equal opportunity,” Odom-Wesley said. “I think you can tell the difference between now and 2019 when I got on the council.”
With the race for her replacement on council heads to a runoff, Odom-Wesley will continue serving until June.
During her time on council, Odom-Wesley has been known for her advocacy for minority communities and low-income families and for not shying away from questions on tough topics like racial profiling and health in the city.
Odom-Wesley, the daughter of Elzie Odom, the city’s first Black mayor, said she hopes her time on council will be remembered for positive impacts.
“The saddest would be if folks say I did not make a difference, but I believe I was a voice, I am the voice for people who typically don't have their voices heard in the room,” she said. “I think I have heightened awareness among the current council members, as well as among our staff, for the value of inclusiveness and diversity.”
During her time on council, Odom-Wesley said she’s supported efforts to address homelessness in the city “in a more humanitarian light” and advanced opportunities for minority-owned businesses in the city.
Odom-Wesley said when she joined the council less than 1% of contracts with the city went to minority-owned businesses and now that’s at around 7%.
Her father, Elzie Odom, was the city’s first Black mayor. As one of two Black women on the council, she said supporting minority businesses and working to eliminate disparities in the city have been a passion for her.
She said the city has seen some of the progress she’d helped champion rolled back because of federal rules on diversity, equity and inclusion. One area was the city’s anti-discrimination protections for LGBTQ people in Arlington, which was removed over fear of losing grant money.
Odom-Wesley voted consistently to support reinstating those rights, which city staff worried could impact Arlington’s ability to support low-income housing through federal grants.
The formation of Arlington’s Unity Council is one area she feels the city has made significant progress. She said that council, made up of community members appointed by the council, was a diverse and accurate representation of the city’s population.
Created in 2020 following the killing of George Floyd, the Unity Council worked for 18 months to create 80 recommendations for improvements in areas like housing, health, social justice, education, economic development, workforce training and policing.
“I'm really proud to say that our city has implemented almost all of those recommendations that came out of the Unity Council,” she said.
Before joining the council, Odom-Wesley spent 50 years in health information management, 42 of which were also spent as a professor. Health care is one area she wishes she’d been able to accomplish more.
Looking at health indicators including diabetes, hypertension, infant mortality and maternal mortality has been troubling.
“The numbers really haven't moved much since I've been on council when it comes to health indicators,” Odom-Wesley said. “We need to invest some more resources and take a look at that and see what we can do.”
She hopes the council will make that a top priority even when she leaves her seat.
Paying council members more for their time in office needs to be addressed, too, she said.
Council members in Arlington are currently paid $200 a month while the mayor receives $250.
She and other council members have said serving on council is more than a full-time job — it’s not just going to council meetings and work sessions, but serving on commissions, meeting with constituents, hosting town halls and doing deep-dive research into issues on the council’s agendas.
It’s not something she’s done for money, but Odom-Wesley said the lack of pay does severely limit who can take on the responsibility, largely to people who can afford to serve on council largely to those who are either wealthy enough to live without regular paychecks or are retired.
The council needs diversity in the ages and economic groups represented, she said.
“I think our council should be representative of the demographics of our city and most people are in the workforce,” she said. “They're working and you need to be working just to earn a living. But those voices need to be heard.”
Pay for council members in Arlington can only be changed by amending the city’s charter. That requires the question to be placed on a ballot and can only be done once every two years.
Odom-Wesley's suggestion in November 2024, ahead of the most recent charter election, was not to give the council a pay raise at that time but to alter it or remove it from the charter so future councils could adjust pay and make the job accessible to a more diverse group.
“When you're retired, everybody's going to be 65 or older and we need to have some other voices at the table, and various socioeconomic levels,” she said. “If you're independently wealthy, then it doesn't matter that you're not going to get paid. But then we need to have the working families represented on our council as well.”
That suggestion didn’t gain enough steam in 2024 and 2025, but Odom-Wesley hopes the discussion will continue when the next charter election comes around next year.
When her time on council ends in June, Odom-Wesley said her political career will end, too.
She’s already planned a cruise around the Greek isles, where her husband will celebrate his 80th birthday, and intends to enjoy a slower pace to life.
She’ll continue to stay involved in the city, offering advice and advocating for issues she thinks are important, but won’t seek future office and doesn’t intend to join any boards or commissions.
A return to academia isn’t out of the question, either.
“I just need a slower pace than I've had on council,” Odom-Wesley said. “It’s a lot, but it’s been good. It’s been good work and as I said, it has been my honor to serve in this capacity, and we'll just see what the Lord does next.”
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