Barrett’s pick to lead Fire and Police Commission gets community backing
Following a tough reception from community members last week, Mayor Tom Barrett’s nominee for Fire and Police Commission executive director faced a committee of the Common Council Monday.
Ultimately, the Public Safety and Health Committee voted 3-1, with one abstention, to recommend Griselda Aldrete’s appointment. The full Common Council is expected to vote on her nomination Tuesday.
Many community members who attended the two-hour meeting spoke in support of her work and her character, while members of the committee noted her qualifications.
But there was also criticism, including of her answers at community meetings last week and the process by which she was nominated.
A motion by Ald. Chantia Lewis to wait to vote on her nomination until the Common Council reconvenes in September failed. The measure was meant to allow time for Aldrete to meet with community groups that had expressed concerns they didn’t have a chance to get to know her in the weeks since her nomination was announced.
Aldrete, president and CEO of the Hispanic Professionals of Greater Milwaukee since October 2012, told the committee that a common thread in her career is giving a voice to people who feel unheard, misunderstood and oppressed.
“My background has prepared me to represent and appreciate all communities in Milwaukee,” she said, highlighting her background in law and criminology and in leadership positions.
She said her goal is to build community trust in the Fire and Police Commission and be a bridgebuilder.
She called for educating the community about the Fire and Police Commission’s role and powers.
The Fire and Police Commission executive director runs daily operations and is a key adviser for the commission, which is responsible for hiring and firing the Milwaukee police chief and addressing major disciplinary cases.
Aldrete also said she believed the process for selecting and vetting potential commissioners and the executive director should be improved.
The Common Council voted down Barrett’s last two nominees to the Fire and Police Commission, Denise Bartlett and William Gielow, in processes Lewis characterized Monday as a spectacle.
Ald. Nikiya Dodd pressed Aldrete on her own nomination, asking if there was an application process.
Aldrete acknowledged there was an application process but that she did not participate in it.
City spokesman Jeff Fleming said it’s important to note that this is not a civil service position but rather a mayor’s cabinet appointment.
He said the Department of Employee Relations sought applications for the position, and more than a dozen people responded.
“Every candidate who applied was considered,” he said. “There were numerous interviews that were done, and Griselda Aldrete rose to the top of the field.”
Dodd, who cast the lone vote against the nomination recommendation, told Aldrete that this position in the political arena wouldn’t be like what’s she’s experienced in the nonprofit world.