Metro Board Seat Will Go to Brown

Gray Offers Reorganization Proposals

D.C. Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray will replace council member Marion Barry on the Metro board of directors with newly elected Michael A. Brown, who will be sworn in Jan. 2.

Barry (D-Ward 8), who has the worst attendance record of the 12 Metro board members, said this year that he wanted to step down from his post as an alternate member to focus on his council duties. He attended 11 meetings out of more than 180 held in four years. Though Barry cannot vote at full board meetings, he can vote at committee meetings where important decisions are made.

The Metro board switch is among several changes Gray (D) proposed to council members yesterday to reorganize the legislative body for the two-year session that begins next month. The council will vote on his proposals for appointments and committee assignments Jan. 2.

"There's more movement than I think people were expecting," he said.

Shuffling was necessary with the pending departure of longtime council member Carol Schwartz (R-At Large), who oversaw the Committee on Workforce Development and Government Operations, Gray said. She was defeated by Brown, who as a freshman will not head a committee but will serve on the Metro board.

Many of the agencies monitored by Schwartz's committee will now be spread among several others, Gray said.

For example, Barry's current committee, Housing and Urban Affairs, will be recast as Housing and Workforce Development.

Gray is also reappointing council member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1) to the Metro board. Graham, who has been on the Metro board since 1999, is vice chairman, and the reappointment will clear the way for him to become chairman -- a powerful regional position.

Graham is chairman of the council Committee on Public Works and Environment. But Gray wants to place all environmental issues under a reworked committee, called Government Operations and Environment, which will be headed by council member Mary M. Cheh (D-Ward 3). Graham's committee will be renamed Public Works and Transportation.

"It's going to require a lot more of his time to be the Metro chair," Gray said.

Cheh heads the Committee on Public Services and Consumer Affairs, of which council member Muriel Bowser (D-Ward 4) will be chairman.

Bowser and council member Yvette M. Alexander (D-Ward 7) were elected in special contests to fill unexpired terms last year, so they did not get committee assignments. They were reelected to four-year terms in November. Alexander will head a new Committee on Aging and Community Affairs.