Milwaukee council dispute taken up at committee after alderwoman says Black women sidelined

The Milwaukee Common Council's most powerful committee Monday recommended against changing council rules to require that each member be assigned to at least two committees ― a vote that followed an alderwoman's allegation that Black women on the council were being sidelined.

Ald. Andrea Pratt said Monday that her appointment to solely one committee by Common Council President José G. Pérez is out of step with past council practice. She sponsored the legislation that was before the Steering and Rules Committee on Monday.

"While we have been assured this decision was a deliberative one done in consultation with other members, it falls tragically short of being equitable," she told the Steering and Rules Committee, which is made up of the chairs of the other seven council committees and the council president.

Pérez was re-elected to serve as council president on April 16 with 10 of the council members backing him and the remaining five backing Ald. Milele Coggs. The new council now has the most African Americans (eight), the most women (six) and the most openly LGBTQ members (two) in its history.

On April 26, Pérez released the committee appointments that list the council members assigned to each committee, including the chair and vice-chair.

In a statement three days later titled, "Back of the Bus," Pratt slammed the committee assignments, saying all four Black women on the council were shut out of committee leadership.

"While the Council now boasts the highest number of Black women ever, there is no Black woman serving as either chair or vice chair on any of the seven standing committees," she wrote.

"This is especially egregious when understanding that the second most senior member of the Council is a Black woman, who served as chair of both the Finance and Personnel Committee and the Licenses Committee for years," Pratt wrote, referencing Coggs.

She called her own appointment to only one committee ― Licenses ― "an additional affront."

Ald. Mark Chambers Jr. also received two committee assignments and no assignment to chair or vice-chair a committee. He, along with the council's four Black women, voted for Coggs and were not appointed to chair or vice-chair positions.

That's not the full story, though.

Pratt is to be appointed the vice-chair of the Judiciary and Legislation Committee in six months, a position to which Pérez has currently assigned himself, he said at Monday's meeting.

"There has been a serious misunderstanding between Alderwoman Pratt and I," Pérez said at the meeting. "I still have every intention after some onboarding to make her vice-chair of JudLeg in six months."

He moved to place the legislation on file, which would prevent it from going into effect if that committee recommendation is backed by the full council at its meeting on May 21. Seven committee members backed Pérez's motion while Ald. Russell W. Stamper II did not.

Pratt afterward told the Journal Sentinel that with 15 members and seven committees, each member should be on at least two committees.

Coggs was offered the chair of the Judiciary and Legislation Committee but declined it.

"I regret yet understand and respect your decision not to serve as the chair of the Judiciary and Legislation Committee this cycle," Pérez wrote to Coggs in an April 26 email released in response to an open records request. "This does not diminish my regard for your leadership or my belief that your knowledge and experience would have been an excellent fit for that body."

Coggs responded that she had been approached for the position after "many members also declined" and asked if he was also emailing them to create a record of the conversation.

"I am sure it is difficult to place members on committees and as I explained to you, I am experienced enough to know where my knowledge and talents are best utilized and Judicial & Legislative Committee is not it," she wrote. "To be clear our prior conversation did not eliminate your ability to attempt to find a more fitting chairmanship or vice-chairmanship for me."

Coggs, who appeared remotely during the meeting, afterward said that the council has an opportunity with Pratt's legislation to make guidelines for the future "so that things are more fair and equitable."

She largely directed questions about the chair position she was offered to her email exchange with Pérez but did say she had wanted to continue chairing the Licenses Committee. The committee, she said, gives her an opportunity to use her law and business degrees while working with the community.

Pérez said afterward that he had put the best people in place to "move the city forward," including with Pratt as vice-chair.

Pérez said he needed time with himself as vice chair to onboard new Ald. DiAndre Jackson, who was appointed chair of the Judiciary and Legislation Committee.

Alison Dirr can be reached at adirr@jrn.com.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee council committee hears dispute over Black women leadership