In early October, Mayor Muriel Bowser relieved Rebecca Katz of her job as the Public Records Administrator, manager of the DC Archives. The termination was unexpected and not publicly announced.
We immediately reached out to the supervisor of the Public Records Administrator, Secretary of DC, Kimberly Bassett. As this email reaches you in the middle of November, we have not heard back from the Secretary or anyone in the Mayor’s office.
Once again, we face a complete lack of transparency. We do not know why the Mayor is replacing Katz, we do not know who is the acting manager, and we do not know what the timeline is for her replacement. We were unable to locate a job posting for the position on DCHR or Excepted Service pages.
Coming just months after the abrupt departure of another employee, the Archives and the Office of Public Records is critically under-staffed during the process of cataloguing its assets in anticipation of an eventual move. It would be an outrage if it turns out that Katz was asked to take the fall for years of neglect, introducing even more instability to the tiny agency.
Worse, the Council is in no position to provide oversight, with less than two months remaining in Brandon Todd’s term, and no indication of who will take over the Committee on Government Operations, which oversees the DC Archives and the Secretary.
Avoiding murky situations like this is a major reason to make the DC Archives an independent agency, accountable to a board, itself accountable to the Council.
Ask for answers
We encourage you to email the Mayor (muriel.bowser@dc.gov), DC Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (pmendelson@dccouncil.us), and your own councilmember to:
Express concern about the lack of transparency surrounding the abrupt termination of the Public Records Administrator.
Ask when the Public Records Administrator position will be filled.
Support independence as a way of increasing accountability.
Feel free also to post about it to social media, and tell your friends!
Who will run the DC Archives now?
Can you please post Kimberly Bassett's email address so advocates can contact her for answers as well?