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The chief engineer who served as acting architect of the Capitol following the scandal about a year ago plans to return to his old position as soon as this week, according to three people familiar with the matter.
Chere Rexroat was fired in February 2023 after President Joe Biden fired the agency’s former leader, J. Brett Blanton, over a series of violations. ) took over the top job.
In the following months, Rexroth fired five top aides who subsequently filed discrimination complaints against the agency, depicting bitter office conflicts among the agency’s leadership.
Rep. Joseph D. Morelle, D-N.Y., ranking member of the House Administration Committee, said she had done an outstanding job as acting AOC.
“I think she’s really strengthened and stabilized an organization that was obviously facing some challenges,” Morrell said. “I think she wanted to go back to her job as an engineer. I think from her perspective, she did what she wanted to do. It was time to get back to what she was doing.”
Rexroat leads the AOC, which oversees the 570-acre Capitol Complex site and 18.4 million square feet of buildings, directing the Cannon House office building renovation project and implementing many projects beyond January. January 6, 2021, security improvements.
For the past year, Rexroat has served as both Acting AOC and Chief Engineer. As chief engineer, she oversees major projects such as home construction, historic preservation and engineering planning.
Sources familiar with the interview process said the new acting leader will serve until a more permanent leader is chosen, a process that will wrap up within the next two months.
Morell said he expected the AOC selection process to be completed “in the coming weeks.”
This is the first time Congress has used its new powers to hire an AOC leader, who was previously nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate.
After Blanton was fired, Congress passed a measure allowing congressional committees to decide by majority vote who should run the agency. The committee is composed of the Speaker and House Minority Leader, the Senate Majority and Minority Leader, the chairs and ranking members of the Senate Rules Committee, the House Administration Committee, and the House and Senate Appropriations Committees.
Blanton, who was appointed to a 10-year term by former President Donald Trump in 2019, was removed from his position as AOC after the inspector general reported alleged ethics violations.
They include Blanton costing taxpayers nearly $14,000 for abusing a government-issued vehicle that was used only for work-to-home travel; leading a prohibited tour of the Capitol while the building was closed to the public during the COVID-19 pandemic. private tour; the report said, and falsely claimed to be a law enforcement officer.
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