Council approves leader for Fire and Police Commission
The Common Council on Tuesday approved Mayor Tom Barrett’s nominee for executive director of the Fire and Police Commission, despite lingering concerns about whether community groups had enough time to meet with her.
“I think we’d be very, very hardpressed to find another candidate as qualified as she is,” Ald. Mark Borkowski said of nominee Griselda Aldrete.
He called her résumé “outstanding” and said she brings a combination of skills needed for the position. She has an uncanny ability to understand people, he said.
Aldrete has been president and CEO of the Hispanic Professionals of Greater Milwaukee since October 2012.
Her nomination was announced at the beginning of July, and Tuesday’s meeting was the last time the council meets until September. When a cabinet vacancy comes up, the mayor has 90 days to make an appointment and the council then has 45 days to vote on that nomination.
Ten aldermen voted in favor of Aldrete’s appointment while Ald. Robert Bauman voted against the nomination and Alds. Milele Coggs, Khalif Rainey and Chantia Lewis abstained.
Bauman said the need to find a new executive director has been known for months, after it came to light that La Keisha Butler was leaving the position to move out of state. Her last day was June 28.
“The mayor, the administration has had plenty of advanced notice to commence a search process, to allow for a full vetting,” Bauman said. He noted that several prominent organizations representing communities of color asked that the vote be delayed to allow them more time to vet Aldrete and learn more about her points of view on critical issues.
The Coalition for a People’s Sheriff said in a statement Tuesday that its members were disappointed with the Common Council’s decision not to delay the vote.
“We believed that this was necessary so that members of the community could have more time to get to know the nominee and see for themselves how she will interact with the community,” the group said in the statement. “We believed it was also necessary to truly hear her ideas and philosophies around specific issues that affect communities of color.”
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.
A plan to spend almost $4 million to improve the pedestrian connection between downtown and the Third Ward and $100,000 on public infrastructure improvements to Pompeii Square also passed the council Tuesday.