Photo by Eric Gilliland.

Despite public outrage with the reasoning, Council Chair Kwame Brown’s decision to reassign Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6) off the Council’s Committee and Public Works and Transportation passed by a 12-1 vote this afternoon. Wells was the lone objector.

In his introduction to the bill, Brown said that the reshuffling of Council chairmanships made in December 2010 — which will see Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3) chair Public Works, Transportation and the Environment, Muriel Bowser (D-Ward 4) chair Government Operations, Vincent Orange (D-At-Large) chairing a new Small Business Development committee and Wells moving to Libraries, Parks and Recreation — will “effectively consolidate areas of similar interest” and a “unique opportunity” which arose after the election of Orange in April.

“The D.C. council must be responsive to the climate of change,” Brown said, noting that Wells had done a “phenomenal job” chairing the Public Works and Transportation committee.

Wells, who will oversee the city’s Office of Planning as part of his new position, objected to what he called a “highly unusual action for the chair [and a] highly unusual precedent for the Council.” Wells called the swap “reckless” and said that the appointment of Bowser as the new voting member on the WMATA Board of Directors “sets us back up to a year.”

With the vote taken, here’s the rundown of who’s chairing what:

Filed Under: committees, council, kwame brown, libraries, metro, parks, politics, tommy wells, transportation, wmata,