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Washington Town Council considers applications for treasurer

by | Oct 11, 2025

The Washington Town Council met Oct. 6 to announce its candidates for interim treasurer. (Photo/Ireland Hayes)

The Washington Town Council hosted a three-minute meeting Monday to announce two candidates for interim treasurer — Deborah Harris and Maria Darie. 

Both applied after treasurer Gail Swift moved out of the town this summer and the position became vacant. 

Monday’s meeting was held — ahead of a vote next week — to make public the applicants and their materials, as required by law, and to allow comments from the council and public. No one from the council or public spoke. 

Harris, who serves as chair of the town’s Architectural Review Board (ARB), owns the Gay Street Inn with her husband, councilmember Drew Beard. In her application, Harris wrote that she has over 17 years of professional consulting experience, and that a large part of her role has been budget oversight and financial management. She added that she has “extensive experience” working with local governments and understands Virginia law well. 

“Since moving to Washington in April 2017, I’ve been an active and engaged member of the community,” Harris wrote in her application letter. “I’m eager to contribute my skills and experience in service of the place I proudly call home.”

If Harris were elected treasurer, she and her husband Beard would be allowed to serve on the council at the same time, according to Town Administrator Barbara Batson, though Harris would have to step down from the ARB.

Darie, who lives on Harris Hollow Road, is chief financial officer (CFO) of AVID Center, a national education nonprofit. She said in her application that she has over two decades in financial, accounting and nonprofit management experience. Previously, she served as CFO and director of finance at The Education Trust, and held senior financial positions at the Bipartisan Policy Center and other national organizations. 

“I am detail-oriented, organized and committed to ensuring transparency, accuracy and accountability in managing public funds,” she wrote. “I would be honored to bring my skills, experience and dedication to serve the Town of Washington.”

The council will vote to choose a new treasurer at its meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 14. 

Author

  • Ireland Hayes

    Ireland joined Foothills Forum as a full-time reporter in 2023 after graduating from the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication with a degree in journalism and minor in music. As a student, she gained valuable experience in reporter and editor positions at The Red & Black, an award-winning student newspaper, and contributed to Grady Newsource and the Athens Banner-Herald. She spent three years as an editorial assistant at Georgia Magazine, UGA’s quarterly alumni publication, and interned with The Bitter Southerner.
    Growing up in a small town in Southeast Georgia, Ireland developed a deep appreciation for rural communities and the unique stories they have to tell. She completed undergraduate research on news deserts, ghost papers and the ways rural communities in Georgia are being forced to adapt to a lack of local news. This research further sparked her interest in a career contributing to the preservation of local and rural news.
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By Ireland Hayes

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Ireland joined Foothills Forum as a full-time reporter in 2023 after graduating from the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication with a degree in journalism and minor in music. As a student, she gained valuable experience in reporter and editor positions at The Red & Black, an award-winning student newspaper, and contributed to Grady Newsource and the Athens Banner-Herald. She spent three years as an editorial assistant at Georgia Magazine, UGA’s quarterly alumni publication, and interned with The Bitter Southerner. Growing up in a small town in Southeast Georgia, Ireland developed a deep appreciation for rural communities and the unique stories they have to tell. She completed undergraduate research on news deserts, ghost papers and the ways rural communities in Georgia are being forced to adapt to a lack of local news. This research further sparked her interest in a career contributing to the preservation of local and rural news.