“I faced a lot of opposition. I was a new leader with new ideas,” says Griselda Aldrete, who withdrew her name from consideration to be reappointed as executive director of the Fire and Police Commission. (Photo by Edgar Mendez)
After a stormy 11 months in office, Griselda Aldrete says she’s walking away on her own terms.
The outgoing executive director of the Fire and Police Commission, who has been a lightning rod for controversy, said in an interview with NNS that she’s proud of her tenure.
“I came in with the bold attitude of being willing to make changes,” she said last week. “In my tenure, I was always a professional, and I’ve been diligent about empowering my staff.”
Aldrete, the first Latina to lead the commission, which oversees all aspects of Milwaukee Fire Department and Milwaukee Police Department operations, said she had the votes to be reappointed.
Yet she withdrew her name from consideration the day before a decision from the Common Council was scheduled on July 7.
“The climate at City Hall today sadly puts a premium on political point-scoring and conflict,” she wrote in her resignation letter to Mayor Tom Barrett, members of the Common Council and members of the Fire and Police Commission. “This state of affairs presages a confirmation hearing based on spectacle, not merit.”
Aldrete, who was nominated by Barrett in July 2019, has faced a steady stream of criticism from her staff as well as community leaders.
Longtime FPC investigator Cheryl Patane resigned in December and wrote a scathing letter taking Aldrete, among others, to task for allegedly creating a hostile work environment and for “demonstrating a frightening ignorance of FPC operations.”
Then there was the ACLU’s “stop-and-frisk” lawsuit against the city, which placed pressure on the FPC to improve oversight of the police department, meet regularly with the Community Collaborative Committee and improve hiring processes, among other tasks.
Others accused her of failing to meet regularly with community leaders, a criticism that preceded her confirmation as executive director in August.
“It’s imperative that the Fire and Police Commission be directly connected to the community and not rely on others to find out what the real concerns are in our city,” said Jarrett English, during the second of two contentious community listening sessions held by Aldrete before her appointment was approved by the Common Council.
English, at the time a lead organizer for the ACLU who still is involved in community issues, said Aldrete missed several deadlines of the ACLU mandate; hamstrung the FPC by tearing down its structure and losing key employees; and failed to have the experience needed for the role.
‘A new leader with new ideas’
Aldrete said her critics are entitled to their opinions. New leaders, she argues, especially those willing to shake the cage, are not always enthusiastically greeted.
“I faced a lot of opposition. I was a new leader with new ideas,” she said.
Aldrete argued during the Public Health and Safety Committee hearing in June that she’s reached out to many in the community and has worked diligently to meet with them and get their input despite the challenges presented by COVID-19.
She said much of the criticism she’s faced preceded not only her but also the tenure of her predecessor, La Keisha Butler.
Although she’s been working from Day One to address the challenges, Aldrete said she and her team were never given a fair shot.
“People always wanted to focus on who was leaving rather than who was showing up every day,” she said. “Politics or not, we have a really strong team that has been working hard for a year, and I’m proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish.”
Aldrete, a former nonprofit leader with an extensive background in criminal justice who holds a law degree from Marquette University, said she came in as executive director feeling prepared to lead. Yet, like anyone else, she had things she needed to learn.
“We shouldn’t demonize people for learning or chastise them for making a mistake because they’re learning,” she said. “I think when we’re dealing with systemic issues, it’s easy to point the finger at one person.”
The future of the FPC
Whoever takes her place will inherit a commission beset with problems, including staff turnover, internal turmoil and the actions of FPC Chairman Steven DeVougas, whom the Milwaukee Ethics Board recently voted unanimously to investigate over alleged ethics codes violations related to his legal representation of prominent developer Kalan Haywood in late 2019.
Haywood was accused of sexual assault and questioned by police at Sojourner Family Peace Center with DeVougas present. He has not been charged with a crime.
In her resignation letter, Aldrete touted her successes. Among them were the investigation of police officer Michael Mattioli, whom the FPC referred disciplinary charges against related to the death of Joel Acevedo in April. Acevedo died after being held in a chokehold by Mattioli, who was off-duty and hosting a party at his house while the stay-at-home order was in effect.
In her letter, Aldrete pointed to other successes, including the investigation of a leaked video involving DeVougas and Haywood; reforming the standard operating procedures for “use of force” by police; and creating the foundation for complying with the ACLU settlement.
Most recently, Aldrete served in the oversight role of the FPC’s six-month review of the job performance of Chief Alfonso Morales, who was given 11 directives he needs to follow to keep his job.
The focus of her remaining time as executive director will be on conducting promotional examinations to fill vacancies for detective, lieutenant and sergeant positions, a process she said hasn’t occurred since 2016; ensuring complaints of citizens are filed and properly addressed; and continuing to comply with the ACLU settlement. Failure to do so could result in renewed legal action from the ACLU in the coming months.
As for how long she will remain at the helm and what she’ll do next, Aldrete said she was taking things day by day.
“I’m leaving it open,” she said. “I think the universe always conspires to bring good things to good people.”
Ms. Aldrete withdrew her name from nomination — she did not resign.
I contacted the City Clerk, Jim Owczarski about this:
“Is the Mayor under any time constraint to bring forward a new candidate for the cabinet level position of FPC Executive Director now that Ms. Aldrete has withdrawn herself from consideration? She has agreed to serve until a new FPC Executive Director is appointed — how long a time period might that be?”
And his reply via email was:
“Yes and no.
The Mayor has 90 days from the date of a vacancy to name an individual. The CC then has 45 days to act on that individual.
There’s two questions in play here:
1. The Mayor did, initially, submit a name within the 90 days. The candidate then withdrew before the CC’s time expired. We know the office is vacant, but now:
a. Does the Mayor get a “new” 90 days? Dated from the date of the withdrawal? This seems the most reasonable interpretation, but this is not clear.
b. Is the Mayor still under the original 90 days Seems unlikely and – purely administratively – unreasonable.
c. Is there now no “clock”? This seems unlikely but – just reading the statute — it’s not clear that there isn’t.
2. So, worst case for the Mayor (b), he’s late because his original 90 days are up. What then? The City Attorney has opined that we don’t know. We know he’s not incompliance with the statute. Does someone swear out a writ of mandamus? If they did, what would be the remedy?
I believe you can herein see my confession of uncertainty.”
I contacted the Mayor, FPC and Common Council regarding this question and got back the following response from one of the Alders:
“There is no timetable so far as I know. Under state law the incumbent can continue to serve as ED until her replacement is nominated and confirmed. As a practical matter she can serve indefinitely unless 1) she resigns; 2) the mayor fires her; or 3) the mayor nominates and new candidate and the council confirms that candidate. Withdrawing her name from nomination is the not same as resigning. And why would she resign; she is earning $140,000.”
The Mayor has failed to reappoint Commissioner Anna Wilson to the FPC, and, even though her term expired in 2017, she continues to serve. He could play the same game here with the FPC Executive Director.
“…said she had the votes to be reappointed.”
This is news! There’s probably no way to prove or disprove this statement absent interviewing every Alder, but logic would lean me to believe enough votes were not there; why else withdraw yet not immediately resign unless the votes weren’t there? The environment is toxic, yet not toxic enough to simply resign?
“New leaders, she argues, especially those willing to shake the cage, are not always enthusiastically greeted.
“I faced a lot of opposition. I was a new leader with new ideas,” she said.”
What were the new ideas? What cage-shaking occurred? I know of none; I find these to be empty quotes of political-speak. The police and fire departments subject to FPC oversight were obviously not feeling any cage-shaking; they enthusiastically (and uncharacteristically) supported the Director. The only people “in opposition” that I can think of were people who strongly supported the fundamental mission of the FPC and who hoped it could live up to its promise.
“She said much of the criticism she’s faced preceded not only her but also the tenure of her predecessor, La Keisha Butler.”
Like what? There are certainly institutional critiques that have been longstanding, but there were also critiques specifically regarding Director Aldrete.
“People always wanted to focus on who was leaving rather than who was showing up every day”
That’s because the staff turnover was shocking and unprecedented. While Director Aldrete has attempted to paint the staff that resigned and were fired as “the problem” and as people who couldn’t handle her “bold leadership”, nothing could be further from the truth.
“We shouldn’t demonize people for learning or chastise them for making a mistake because they’re learning,”
Speaking from my vantage point, nobody seemed to have a problem with a new Director taking time to learn. In fact, the critique was the opposite – that Director Aldrete actively avoided learning about the work of the institution and discounted the experience and wisdom of the staff that was available to help her learn.
“I think when we’re dealing with systemic issues, it’s easy to point the finger at one person.”
I find that the critiques have been quite clear when differentiating between systemic issues and individual issues. I don’t know of any critique aimed at Director Aldrete individually that would be better aimed at the system. What are they?
“In her resignation letter Aldrete touted her successes. Among them were the investigation of police officer Michael Mattioli, whom the FPC referred disciplinary charges against related to the death of Joel Acevedo in April.”
Much of what are billed as successes are simply the basic things that one does while performing the role of Executive Director. Is a bus driver “successful” at the completion of a route, or is that just the nature of the job?
The Mattioli investigation, in contrast, is certainly unique but the jury is still out on the wisdom of that decision. If news reports are correct the MPD had essentially finished the investigation and Chief Morales was days away from making a disciplinary decision when the FPC jumped in. Now Mattioli continues to be paid and the FPC has yet to schedule a trial. How much longer will he get paid? Will whatever discipline the FPC renders hold up on appeal to Circuit Court? We’ll see.
“Aldrete pointed to other successes, including the investigation of a leaked video involving DeVougas and Haywood; reforming the standard operating procedures for “use of force” by police; and creating the foundation for complying with the ACLU settlement.”
Mel Johnson’s investigation into the leaked video was a bust – how much money did taxpayers pay him to not even figure out who leaked it or find any MPD rule violations at all!?
The Use of Force SOP has been revised a number of times over the years – no big deal. The Executive Director generally has very little to do with those matters – the MPD drafts the changes they want, FPC staff researches the proposed changes, and the Board of Commissioners debates and amends/approves the changes. Was this time around different somehow?
The foundations for the ACLU settlement are really dictated by the budget office. Had the administration put money towards compliance earlier, the foundation would have been laid earlier. It’s not like the main foundational needs weren’t obvious: hire some auditors! Everyone who took time to understand the agreement knew that in 2018. And I don’t know that the auditors are actually even hired yet…
“The focus of her remaining time as executive director will be on conducting promotional examinations to fill vacancies for detective, lieutenant and sergeant positions, a process she said hasn’t occurred since 2016…”
This, again, is dictated by the budget office. It’s not as if these promotional exams didn’t occur because nobody thought they should or nobody had the skill to make it happen. It’s because money wasn’t budgeted for it. They only did now out of sheer desperation because the lists are extremely depleted if not empty. Saving money in years past created the current promotional crisis and there was finally literally no choice available except to spend the money and hold the exams. That does not deserve a round of applause…