Ward 2 Councilmember and WMATA board chairman Jack Evans enters an elevator after issuing a “blanket statement of an apology” in March.

Rachel Kurzius / DCist

The Metro Board was slated to hold a closed session on Tuesday to discuss an ethics investigation into the board’s chair, Jack Evans. But now, that session has been postponed, reports WTOP, and replaced with a closed session for the Metro Board Ethics Committee.

The ethics committee’s Tuesday meeting was convened by First Vice Chair Clarence Crawford to discuss “litigation, investigations and other legal matters requiring the provision of legal advice or consultation with counsel and staff members,” according to the WMATA website. The Board of Directors are slated to meet on Thursday morning in private to further discuss those matters, per WMATA.

Board members told WTOP they had been expecting any potential disciplinary action against Evans to have been undertaken during this Tuesday meeting, until the schedule changed. It’s unclear why the switch occurred.

Metro’s investigation into Evans, who also serves as the councilmember in Ward 2, was prompted by business proposals he sent from his government email address to private firms, in which he pitched his roles as both Metro Board chair and councilmember to “strategize with someone looking to do business locally.” Those emails were first published by the Washington Post.

“In accordance with the Code of Ethics for Members of the WMATA Board of Directors, the Board has requested that the Ethics Officer review the matter regarding the Chair reported in the Washington Post,” the Metro Board said in a statement in March. The Metro Board code of ethics bans members from using their positions for personal enrichment.

Evans’ colleagues on the D.C. Council voted in March to reprimand him and strip him of some of his oversight responsibilities as the chair of the Finance Committee, though he remains in charge of the powerful committee.

Evans also faces a federal inquiry into his relationship with a digital sign company, the scope of which appears to have expanded based on subpoenas sent to the entire D.C. Council. The findings from that investigation remain under wraps for now.

Despite the last-minute scheduling switch from the Metro Board, Evans walked into the agency’s headquarters on Tuesday morning with a lawyer, reports WTOP.