Committee recommends reappointing Aldrete as director of Fire and Police Commission

Milwaukee’s Fire and Police Commission, long plagued by high staff turnover, received a boost for continuity Thursday.

By a 3-2 vote, the city’s Public Safety and Health Committee recommended the reappointment of Griselda Aldrete as the executive director of the FPC, the civilian oversight board of the city’s fire and police departments.

It’s a position that’s been occupied by three people over the last two years, including Aldrete, who began the job last fall. But the recommendation came after a grueling four-hour discussion with Aldrete that left two Common Council members — Khalif Rainey and Chantia Lewis — wanting more time to gather information.

The item will now go before the full Common Council.

Aldrete fielded questions about a range of issues, but by far the most pressing subject was the working environment she’s created in the offices of the FPC.

In her first year as executive director, Aldrete has consistently been plagued by allegations of micromanagement and creating a toxic work environment that’s alienated trusted city employees and driven at least two of them to resign from the FPC.

The FPC is one of the oldest and most powerful civilian oversight boards of police and fire departments in the country. The commission's responsibilities include recruiting and testing police and fire employees for hiring and promotion.

The executive director is nominated by Mayor Tom Barrett and confirmed by the Common Council.

During Thursday’s discussion, three common council members, one FPC commissioner and one current employee of the FPC either expressed concerns about Aldrete’s management of the office or outright criticized her for it.

Speaking during the public comment period, FPC Commissioner Everett Cocroft said the office has been home to “a lot of turnover, a lot of animosity” since Aldrete began as executive director in September 2019. He raised concerns about why a staff psychologist was terminated and said commissioners have been “totally cut off” from the rest of the staff.

Cocroft said Aldrete has recently shown improvement as a manager but still called for a change at the executive director position.

Additionally, Arvis Williams, a longtime city employee who joined the FPC staff just three months ago as a staffing services manager, submitted a letter to the committee saying the work environment is rife with “retaliation, professional demoralization” and overall hostility and toxicity.

It echoes similar letters written by longtime FPC employees who resigned in September and December of 2019 after Aldrete began as executive director.

“Usually where there’s smoke there’s a little bit of fire,” Ald. Milele Coggs said.

She and Lewis both said they’ve been contacted by multiple past and current employees about a miserable work environment.

In the past, city officials have defended Aldrete, saying she is new to the position and the FPC has long been plagued by high staff turnover and structural issues prior to her arrival. On Thursday, Aldrete acknowledged she could have handled things differently over the last year, but said, “change is hard.”

“There was a lot of things I walked into in September 2019 that I felt needed to change,” she said.

An audit conducted by the city’s inspector general released in May raised several concerns about the FPC’s functionality. But the report ultimately ruled it was performing effectively under Aldrete and appeared to shift blame for the issues away from her.

The audit, which was finished in March after seven months of Aldrete on the job, concluded she had not yet had the opportunity to fully understand her role and restructure the office.

Milwaukee Fire Chief Mark Rohlfing, FPC Commissioner Raymond Robakowski and State Rep. Marisabel Cabrera, a former FPC commissioner, also spoke in support of Aldrete during public comment.

Cabrera called Aldrete’s first year “rocky” but said “each time, without fail” past executive directors experienced growing pains. Cabrera worked with four executive directors in the six years she spent on the commission, she said.

Committee approves measure about police acquiring military-grade equipment

By a 3-2 vote, the committee on Thursday also passed a resolution that would require police to obtain approval from the Common Council before it tries to purchase any militaristic or crowd-control equipment.

The measure, which will now go before the Common Council, passed despite Assistant Police Chief Michael Brunson saying it could compromise public safety during a sustained, days-long period of unrest in the city.

In such a scenario, he said, if the police had to resupply on certain equipment to control unrest, the delay created by first seeking council approval could be detrimental to safety in the city.

He called the resolution “misguided and problematic.”

Coggs, who sponsored the resolution, called that interpretation “inflammatory” and said City Hall has well-established systems in place for the council to convene under emergency circumstances. She said the resolution provides the public with transparency and a say in the type of equipment police use to control crowds.

Alds. Lewis and Marina Dimitrijevic joined Coggs in voting in favor of the resolution. Alds. Mark Borkowski and Scott Spiker voted against it.

Contact Elliot Hughes at elliot.hughes@jrn.com or 414-704-8958. Follow him on Twitter @elliothughes12.