Council rejects Barrett’s renomination of Wilson to FPC.
The Milwaukee Common Council rejected Mayor Tom Barrett’s reappointment of Ann Wilson to the city’s Fire and Police Commission on a 9-6 vote Tuesday.
The vote came after an investigative report from Milwaukee Inspector General Ronda Kohlheim that found the commission did not adhere to state law, city attorney opinions and its own rule in its decision in August to remove former Police Chief Alfonso Morales.
Wilson will continue to serve until Barrett nominates someone else and that person is approved by the Common Council.
When that might happen is unclear.
“She will continue to serve for the time being,” Jeff Fleming, spokesman for the mayor’s office, said in an email.
The first step, he said, is to find a new commissioner to fill the seat left open by the resignation of embattled commissioner and former commission Chairman Steven DeVougas.
Council President Cavalier Johnson and Alds. Robert Bauman, JoCasta Zamarripa, Chantia Lewis, Michael Murphy, Mark Borkowski, José Perez, Scott Spiker and Marina Dimitrijevic voted to reject Wilson’s renomination.
Alds. Ashanti Hamilton, Nik Kovac, Nikiya Dodd, Milele Coggs, Khalif Rainey and Russell Stamper II voted in favor of her nomination.
Before the vote, Hamilton called Wilson “a great public servant” and said she has attempted to do many of the things council members have asked of those on the Fire and Police Commission.
“Sometimes those decisions haven’t been easy and sometimes they weren’t given the best advice,” Hamilton said.
But she has tried to give the community a voice on the commission “with grace and with independence,” he said. She has exemplified the qualities the council has sought in the commission, he said.
The powerful civilian commission has oversight responsibilities over the city’s police and fire departments.
Wilson was the first commission member whose renomination came up after the commission’s decision on Morales, which a judge found was based on a process that was “fundamentally flawed.”
Even as he renominated Wilson to another five-year term, Barrett has said residents should expect “changes” as positions on the board come open.