During its Jan. 6 legislative meeting, the D.C. Council briefly acknowledged the fifth anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Council members also deliberated and voted on a slew of bills, including those concerning: the posthumous recognition of Ward 7 community leader John Fitzgerald Cotten; the theft of public benefits; home purchase assistance for transit workers; and a proposed contract for janitorial services at the University of the District of Columbia.
Council members conducted this business with former Ward 1 D.C. Councilmember Frank Smith sitting in Room 500. He and the few others caught a glimpse of the business at hand for 2026.
There’s much to read in this edition of The Washington Informer’s Collins D.C. Council Report, including: the aftermath of Kenyan McDuffie’s resignation from the council; the controversy surrounding public charter school board appointments; the establishment of a Congress Heights business improvement district; and the council’s attempt to circumvent a revised federal vaccination schedule change.
Readers of this report should be on the lookout of future reporting around what will be an action-packed election year. I’m talking about profiles galore about several of the candidates vying for congressional seats and an office in the John A. Wilson building, whether mayoral or legislative.
Council Members, Past and Present, Weigh In on Process to Replace McDuffie
As of Jan. 5, Kenyan McDuffie is no longer an at-large council member. While constituents await what’s anticipated to be the launch of his mayoral bid, D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) is in the midst of a process to select McDuffie’s interim replacement.
This person, who will come from a field of more than 30 candidates, will serve in the independent at-large council member role until a June special election, as outlined in the D.C. Home Rule charter. Though Mendelson has yet to reveal the names of those who threw their hat in the ring, he told reporters that the council will conduct a vote on those he nominates for the position.
“What I’m looking for is somebody who is knowledgeable about the government,” Mendelson said during a Monday morning press conference. “I would like to say expert on budgets since that’s the primary business that we will have, but it’s kind of hard to find somebody who’s an expert on a budget who’s not currently on the Council.”
Mendelson then revealed that he’s explored the possibility of going in another direction.
“I have thought about the value of somebody who is outside the government, like [a] fresh and bold and new face,” he said. “On the other hand, somebody who’s fresh and bold and new face doesn’t have a lot of familiarity with the government, and so therefore, that’s a challenge.”
In the days since McDuffie announced his resignation, a bevy of names have surfaced as possible contenders for the at-large seat. Sources close to The Informer say that Elissa Silverman and a handful of other former council members count among that number.
Silverman, who lost her seat to McDuffie in 2022, confirmed just as much, telling The Informer that she reached out to Mendelson on Nov. 14, just weeks before D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser revealed she wouldn’t run for a fourth term. If selected, Silverman said she wants to continue championing causes that are near and dear to her heart.
“We need our kids in school,” Silverman told The Informer. “We need to work with the chancellor to bring truancy from 1 in 3 to zero. And certainly making sure we have housing that working families can afford. And being able to work and retire here. We need to make it work.”
In making her case for the interim at-large council seat, Silverman cited her intimate understanding of what commonfolk are enduring these days. The former council member revealed that she’s without healthcare, telling The Informer that not even the most affordable of the local healthcare plans could protect her from monthly healthcare costs of $1,300.
“I know what it’s like to have uncertainty in this job market, having to pay astronomical health insurance costs,” Silverman said. “I bring the experience that [the] interim job requires. You’re gonna jump right into oversight and budget season, and you want somebody with the skills to deal with a challenging budget and someone who knows what it’s like. That brings me a certain empathy.”
If it’s up to the other 11 members of the council, the selection process for the interim at-large council member will be a bit more inclusive. During the latter part of the council’s breakfast meeting on Tuesday, council members, none of whom apparently know the names on Mendelson’s list, weighed in on how they would like the process to take shape.
Soon after Mendelson expressed apprehension about revealing the candidates, D.C. Councilmember Zachary Parker (D-Ward 5) pointed out that, per the D.C. Home Rule charter, the selection of an interim at-large council member is a process that should include the entire council. Parker later told The Informer that the council should explore the possibility of employing a process similar to what the D.C. Board of Elections will facilitate later this year.
“I have talked with the chairman,” Parker told The Informer. “I have recommended to him that he should put forth multiple candidates and maybe even use ranked choice voting as a means to select a future candidate. But the headline for me is that this process should be transparent, democratic, and fair, because it will have huge implications for the council.”
On Tuesday morning, D.C. Councilmember Matt Frumin (D-Ward 3) suggested the process wraps up by Jan. 20. D.C. Councilmember Janeese Lewis George (D-Ward 4) requested the development of criteria and while D.C. Councilmember Brianne Nadeau (D-Ward 1) suggested that prospective replacements submit applications and address conflicts of interest.
Nadeau would later speak to The Informer about the need for transparency.
“Although I generally advocate that the public should be able to know everything, there may be reasons people don’t want their names circulated,” Nadeau said. “So if we focus on the process itself, ensuring that there’s criteria that is being considered, that we all get to have access to the applications. So [it’s about] creating an actual application, not just a list of names, [so] that we can build consensus together and not just be presented with a name.”
Lewis George echoed those sentiments, telling The Informer that constituents deserve as much information as possible about candidates, especially since that person will be knee deep in oversight and budget deliberations this year.
“Obviously, no matter what, there’s going to be a political aspect to this because this is the first time in the history of the D.C. council that the council is selecting a person,” Lewis George said. “There’s no way you can take politics out of the situation, but what you can do is create a fair and equitable process and let people decide.”
Wendell Felder Aims for Business Committee Chairmanship
Also on Mendelson’s plate is the restructuring of council committees.
With McDuffie no longer in the fold, there’s no one to chair the council’s Committee on Business and Economic Development.
On Tuesday, Mendelson mulled splitting the committee.
“My thinking is to minimally disrupt the existing committee structure,” Mendelson told reporters on Monday. “So I guess what I’m saying is don’t expect a lot of change there, other than the fact that something has to happen with the Committee on Business and Economic Development.”
However, there’s at least one person— D.C. Councilmember Wendell Felder (D-Ward 7)— who wants to sit at the helm of the council’s Committee on Business and Economic Development. During the latter part of Tuesday’s council breakfast, he hinted at his hunger for more.
Felder, whose experience includes stints with the Office of the City Administrator and the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development, told The Informer that he has the experience and know-how to fill McDuffie’s shoes.
“If you take my prior work experience,” Felder said, “coupled with what is needed to move Ward 7 forward, and just securing the largest development deal in the District’s history with the RFK development, I think that if I have an opportunity to chair that committee, that will really give Ward 7 the attention and wrangle in the proper agencies to really jumpstart our local economy, create more opportunities for smaller local businesses, and most importantly, create jobs for everyday Ward 7 families.”
For Felder however, it’s much bigger than agency oversight. At a time when neither he nor D.C. Councilmember Trayon White (D-Ward 8) have committee chairmanship, Felder said it’s time for communities east of the Anacostia River to have more leverage.
“Right now it’s a vacuum,” Felder told The Informer. “It’s shown during the budget process. By having an opportunity to chair this economic development committee, what it does is it allows us to work closely with our council colleagues and kind of bargain and negotiate to get things that we need, not only for Ward 7, but east of the river.”
In the interim, as Mendelson decides how to continue the work of the Committee on Business and Economic Development, McDuffie’s staff will be absorbed into the chairman’s office. As John A. Wilson Building insiders recall, those who worked under another council member faced a similar fate not too long ago.
“That’s been my practice with Councilmember Trayon White, Councilmember Jack Evans, Councilmember Vincent Orange, Councilmember Kwame Brown… and Councilmember Barry,” Mendelson told reporters on Monday. “Council members are their own personnel authority for their staff, so when the council member is no longer on the council, the staff is technically unemployed instantly, and that’s a bit unfair to the staff to give them time to look for other opportunities.”
Amid Public Charter School Board Reshuffling, Ousted President Speaks While D.C. Council Member Issues a Challenge to the Local Oversight Body
During its Jan. 6 legislative meeting, the council unanimously approved the reappointment of Carisa Stanley Beatty to the D.C. Public Charter School Board (DCPCSB).
The council also approved the appointments of Maura Marino, Michelle Yan, and Antonio Williams— each of whom are replacing former board members Nick Rodriguez, Dwight Davis and Shantelle Wright, respectively. Though a couple of council members expressed concerns about Marino’s ties to the nonprofit City Fund, her nomination went through without a hitch.
However, questions continue to linger about Wright, who served as DCPCSB president until recently. As reported by The 51st’s Martin Austermuhle, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser removed Wright from the oversight body last month, just months after reappointing her.
A Bowser spokesperson declined to comment on the “personnel matter. In a statement Wright sent to The Informer through her attorney, she reflected on her tenure, but not the circumstances around her removal.
“Serving on the D.C. Public Charter School Board was a meaningful continuation of my long-standing commitment to D.C. families and communities,” Wright said. “Education has always been, and will continue to be, central to my work because I understand firsthand its power to open doors and transform lives—particularly for those who have historically had the least access to opportunity.”
During the council’s Tuesday breakfast meeting, Mendelson, responding to an inquiry by D.C. Councilmember Christina Henderson (I-At large), revealed that the mayor was “displeased” with Wright. He went on to suggest that the removal of Wright, who he described as a “controversial figure” in the District’s public charter sector, didn’t cause waves.
Mendelson would later expound on that statement while speaking to The Informer.
“There was a lot of, I was getting a lot of criticism about her from the charter sector community,” Mendelson said. “I think the mayor was hearing the same criticism. In any event, the mayor makes these appointments and she has the prerogative, as I understand it under the law, to remove somebody she appoints. And that’s what she did, and I’ve not heard any complaint from the charter sector.”
Williams, a parent and lifelong D.C. resident, is now slated to stand in Wright’s place. Currently, he serves as director of external affairs and governmental affairs at Comcast Corporation. Former roles include board membership at the now-shuttered Democracy Preparatory Academy Public Charter School.
In a statement to The Informer, Williams pledged to do well by public charter school students, a group that accounts for nearly half of the District’s school-aged population. He expressed a desire to ensure that public charter schools “remain innovative, equitable, and exceptional.”
“D.C has made remarkable progress over the past two decades, becoming the fastest-improving urban school district in the nation. It’s also true that too many students still aren’t reaching their full potential,” Williams said. “At DCPCSB, we can build on that progress by ensuring choice is paired with accountability. As a member of DCPCSB I will ensure that schools have clear goals, are held to high standards, and that decisive action is taken when schools fall short.”
With performance oversight season on the horizon, some council members, like Ward 3’s Frumin, want to inquire further about how the public charter school board will mitigate the effects of more than a decade of public charter school proliferation.
During the Committee of the Whole meeting that preceded Tuesday’s legislative meeting, Frumin and D.C. Councilmember Brianne Nadeau (D-Ward 1) voted “present” in the committee print for the package of DCPCSB appointments. With the District’s birth rates anticipated to decline, and portions of the District having more public charter schools than others, Frumin questioned how the DCPCSB would go about adjusting the sector’s place in the District’s education ecosystem.
“The charter board needs to see how it fits inside of the overall landscape of our education system, not simply as advocates for a movement and growth in the charter sector. I want a charter board that is very sensitive to that issue,” Frumin told The Informer on Tuesday morning. “I know it’s a little bit controversial, but I think it’s really important that we wrap our arms around how the two sectors fit together, because we’re spending an enormous amount of money, and to the extent that we have significant inefficiencies because we have lots of schools with low enrollments, and so the cost per student is higher, we’re ill-serving our families and our communities.”
Soul of the City Business Improvement District to Begin Operating Sooner Than Expected
The D.C. Council unanimously approved the Soul of the City Business Improvement District Emergency Amendment Act of 2026. The emergency legislation allows for the immediate operation of the Soul of the City Business Improvement District (BID) in Congress Heights.
This emergency legislation, which accompanies a bill of a similar name, allows for the collection of tax revenue from participating Congress Heights businesses in time for the Soul of the City BID’s launch in April, instead of October.
As Congress Heights Partnership president Monica Ray explained, business owners and community members of Congress Heights, Bellevue, and Washington Highlands can’t wait to reap the benefits of a BID. That’s 177 properties, a third of which are residential properties and the rest small businesses and nonprofits.
“These owners have come together and said [they] want a BID, and the government should not be the logjam in the process,” Ray told The Informer. “The difference between getting the emergency today so that we can hit the tax bill cycle for April is critically important for us to ramp up in the spring. If it doesn’t happen today,…we lose nearly a year of operation in a community that desperately needs partnership, collaboration, and common planning.”
BIDs, managed and certified through the Department of Small and Local Business Development, are self-taxing districts through which property owners enhance commercial areas. The taxes, collected by the District, come from a surcharge on real property tax liability. They are returned to the nonprofit managing each BID.
Businesses and property owners have control over BIDs and the disbursement of funds.
Soul of the City BID joins a dozen other BIDs in the District, one of which, Anacostia BID, is also located exclusively east of the Anacostia River. In October, D.C. Councilmember Trayon White (D-Ward 8) and then-D.C. Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie (I-At large) introduced the Soul of the City Business Improvement District Amendment Act of 2025.
The council approved the legislation on Tuesday during its first reading. They also approved legislation to expand the Anacostia BID.
Moments before those legislative milestones, Ward 8 D.C. Councilmember White and Mendelson collaborated on an amendment that represented a compromise with the D.C. Office of the Chief Financial Officer, which initially stood against the Soul of the City Business Improvement District’s April establishment.
Ward 8 Councilmember White heralded the passage of the emergency legislation as a step closer to equitable development in Ward 8.
“We want equity in our community,” he said. “We’ve passed the conversation talking about equality. We need to make sure we can grow our business corridor, have safer, cleaner streets in our community. So, this is one of the many efforts to do it.”
Ray, who testified before the council’s Committee on Business and Economic Development in support of Soul of the City BID, commended the council for its quick action.
“It might be inconvenient, but it’s not impossible,” Ray told The Informer, “and we have [a] precedent where they’ve actually done similar timelines in other parts of the city. So, if you can do it in Friendship Heights, you can do it in Congress Heights.”
The District Does Its Part During a Nationwide Flu Surge
On its second reading, the D.C. Council unanimously approved the Community Health Amendment Act. D.C. Councilmember Trayon White (D-Ward 8), who requested the legislation’s transfer to the non-consent agenda, voted “present.”
The Community Health Amendment Act, approved one day after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) release of a new vaccine schedule, authorizes District healthcare providers to order and administer immunizations recommended by medical and public health organizations deemed by the D.C. Health director as competent.
“What makes this bill so important is it gives us the ability to be able to continue with our public health recommendations at a time where the scientific strength of the federal government is questionable,” Henderson told The Informer. “The CDC basically told parents not to give kids a vaccine for RSV, which is a respiratory disease. At the same time, RSV and [the] flu is spiking across the country.”
The CDC’s new vaccine schedule, which doesn’t align with recommendations by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, recommends that children receive vaccines for 11 viruses, instead of 18, including COVID-19. This development took place amid a flu surge that, since Thanksgiving, has been overwhelming hospitals across the U.S., and even killing children.
Federal health officials said the changes, which brings the U.S. on par with Denmark, aims to quell public skepticism about vaccinations that carried over from the pandemic. Henderson, who introduced the bill with eight council colleagues, faced similar opposition from Ward 8 Councilmember White, who, since the legislation’s first reading, expressed concerns about doctors overriding the will of District parents.
White said his unease stems from legislation the council approved at the height of the pandemic to allow for the vaccination of youth 11 years and older without parental consent.
“Different children have different health issues, different parents have different religious beliefs, things like that,” White said. “So, I think we should always empower parents to be parents. We shouldn’t take the rights away from parents.”
To that point, Henderson said that her legislation has nothing to do with parental consent.
“I understand that folks have views in terms of vaccine hesitancy and otherwise, but this legislation doesn’t require anybody to do it,” Henderson said. “It simply ensures that the District does not have lots of barriers to folks who desire to be vaccinated, to be able to get vaccinated, matching us with our neighbors, Maryland and Virginia, who are gonna move similar regulations.”