26 ex-health staffers urge aldermen to name new leader
More than two dozen former Milwaukee Health Department staffers are calling for the Common Council to confirm Jeanette Kowalik as the new leader of the troubled agency.
Twenty-six former staffers sent a letter to aldermen Monday urging them to take action as quickly as possible to confirm Kowalik, who was picked by Mayor Tom Barrett in July to serve as the city’s health commissioner.
The struggling department has been without a permanent leader since January, when former commissioner Bevan Baker was ousted over problems with the city’s program aimed at preventing lead poisoning among Milwaukee children.
Patricia McManus has been serving as interim commissioner since February.
“Protecting the health and well-being of Milwaukee residents urgently requires the immediate confirmation of Dr. Kowalik,” they wrote. “We urge you to consider this an opportunity to move forward with a fresh perspective to counterbalance the negativity and loss of trust from the Milwaukee community and stakeholders due to unfortunate events in the recent past.”
The Health Department has been struggling with its Lead Poisoning Prevention Program, as well as others. The Journal Sentinel has reported on problems with Milwaukee’s cancer screening programs, family planning, and sexually transmitted infection testing.
The former staffers mentioned some of those problems in their letter, adding that they wanted to express their “sense of urgency” and “unequivocal support” for Kowalik.
“Under the leadership of Dr. Kowalik, we believe that the MHD can again return to the effective, high-quality, outcomes-driven organization that it was years ago, as evidenced by the numerous awards that were bestowed upon it,” the former staffers wrote.
The Common Council is expected to vote next week on whether Kowalik will become the next health commissioner.
Common Council President Ashanti Hamilton urged Barrett to delay naming a new leader for the troubled agency in July, when he asked the mayor to “temporarily withdraw” his nomination of Kowalik.
That was shortly after McManus told aldermen she needed more time to try to fix problems at the department
But Barrett moved forward with the appointment, saying he hoped they would “be able to work something out.”
“I am hopeful that they will take it up and that they will confirm her next week,” Barrett said Monday in an interview with the Journal Sentinel. “I think she has been very well-received.”
Kowalik, a former Health Department employee who now works for a Washington, D.C.-based public health nonprofit group, was one of two finalists for the job announced in June.
The mayor added Kowalik has been in attending events in the community.
“She is doing everything she can in terms of outreach to let them know, and let the community know, that she wants to hit the ground running,” Barrett said.