The District of Columbia’s Water and Sewer Authority’s board of directors voted Friday to remove CEO David Gadis after months of criticism surrounding his handling of a January sewage spill that released more than 240 million gallons of raw wastewater into the Potomac River.

The decision came one day after the district’s leading mayoral candidates, socialist Janeese Lewis George and centrist Kenyan McDuffie, disagreed at a Thursday night debate about whether or not Gadis should be fired.