Health Dept. deputy put on leave
Investigation focuses on ‘potential misconduct’
A top Milwaukee Health Department staffer was put on paid administrative leave Friday, pending an investigation.
Claire Evers, deputy commissioner of environmental health, has been with the city since July 2010 and currently makes $112,626 annually, according to the city. She was appointed to the role by former Commissioner Jeanette Kowalik on May 17, 2020.
In the position, Evers’ duties have included overseeing enforcement of the city’s COVID-19 health orders in addition to lead program enforcement.
Evers told the Journal Sentinel in a Facebook message that she had not been told what the potential misconduct is, adding, “I haven’t even had so much as a ‘talking to’ in my career.”
Department of Employee Relations Director Makda Fessahaye said the investigation was into “potential misconduct.” She said she could not provide additional details, and there is not a timeline within which the investigation will take place.
“The department has nothing to add other than to say Claire Evers is on administrative leave,” city spokesman Jeff Fleming said in an email to the Journal Sentinel. “There are other individuals in the Division of Consumer Environmental Health who are stepping up to handle the workload.”
Evers said she has accepted a reinstatement to her position as Consumer Environmental Health Division director effective after April 9. It was not clear how the investigation, and its outcome, would affect her reinstatement to the position she held before she was appointed deputy.
The revelation is the latest shakeup in the Health Department since Commissioner Kirsten Johnson came on the job at the beginning of March.
Evers’ placement on administrative leave follows Johnson’s firing of two top staffers — Lilliann Paine and Griselle Torres, who were serving as chief of staff and the deputy commissioner of policy, innovation and engagement.
Myra Edwards will become chief of staff on April 12. Bailey Murph will become deputy commissioner of policy, innovation and engagement on Monday.
In a memo to Health Department staff, Johnson wrote that Evers would no longer serve as deputy commissioner of environmental health effective April 9 and that she is on leave. Johnson will soon announce a new deputy commissioner of environmental health, she wrote.
“My vision is to build a unified leadership team to carry the Milwaukee Health Department forward, strategically, to address the pandemic, growing health disparities, racism, lead poisoning, infant mortality, violence, mental
health, access to care, housing instability and more,” she wrote in the memo. “I want to do this work together. To do so we need to rebuild the foundation of the health department while honoring the great work that has been done.”
Evers is protected by civil service rules because she previously held a civil service position at the city as Consumer Environmental Health Division director, Fessahaye said. Technically, it’s considered taking a leave of absence to take an appointed position such as a deputy, she said.
Evers said she was told on Friday that her deputy position was expiring as of April 9. She said Johnson told her it was because she wanted to select her own team.
Evers said she’s proud of the work she’s done at the department and grateful for the people she’s worked with.
“I wish for nothing more than for the controversy and chaos at the Health Department to end so the caring and dedicated folks at MHD can have stability and peace while doing the important work they do,” she wrote.
The Health Department has seen a series of commissioners and staffing changes in recent years.
It was the focus of controversy in early 2018 when news broke that the department failed to follow up and provide services to the families of thousands of children who had tested positive for lead. Then-Commissioner Bevan Baker was ousted as a result of the scandal.
Milwaukee Board of Health President Ruthie Burich-Weatherly said of the staffing changes under Johnson that any new leader has the ability to structure a leadership team as they see fit.
She said the board has not received any complaints from the staffers who have been let go or put on leave.
“I certainly support her in making the changes that she sees necessary,” Burich-Weatherly said. “The Milwaukee Health Department has an enormous task on its hands and it’s been through it in the last couple of years . ... And I think it’s important for a leader to be decisive and to make changes that they see fit and move forward.”
She anticipated Johnson would touch on the changes at Thursday evening’s Board of Health meeting.
Kowalik, who left the department in the fall to take a job in Washington, D.C., said how people are dismissed from their roles and the timing of those changes can affect careers and reputations. She described Evers, Paine and Torres as “stellar.”
She said Evers was a “rising star” who had been key to helping turn the department’s lead program around, preparing for the Democratic National Convention and managing the Consumer Environmental Health Division.
“It’s obvious that new leadership has the ability to build their team,” she said. “It’s the way that you go about it and understanding and acknowledging that the department is not healed. There’s still a lot of trauma that’s still active there, so very swift, sudden changes can undo a lot of the work that has been done and also create an environment of distrust that will be a setback in trying to build efforts moving forward.”