OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Milwaukee Judiciary & Legislation Committee Meeting - April 13, 2026

Common Council — Monday, April 13, 2026
BodyMilwaukee, Wisconsin
SessionCommon Council
DateMonday, April 13, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 3:24:23

Transcript — Verbatim
0:00

Good morning.

0:02

Welcome to judiciary and legislation.

0:04

I'm the Chair Artoman DeAndre Jackson to my right, Artoman Les Westmoreland.

0:10

To his right, Otterman Bob Bauman to my left.

0:13

We have Ottawa McPratt and President Otterman Perez.

0:17

None of this is possible with our staff of citizens, Joanna Ortiz, and City Attorney.

0:23

Over there, of course.

0:24

I ignore so Bob rules that we move out of order.

0:31

Item 11, they'd be it before us, 251901 communication from the Equal Rights Commission regarding the 2025 annual report.

0:41

Good morning, Mr.

0:42

Chair and members of the committee.

1:00

So instead of a PowerPoint on the screen, we'll we'll go by the PowerPoint in the booklet, if that's okay.

1:08

So to begin with, if we'll move on to uh page three, you'll see the mission of the Equal Rights Commission, and that is to promote and protect equality, equity, and human rights through education, enforcement, and community engagement.

1:24

And our guiding star, of course, is chapter 109 of the city ordinances.

1:30

We're citizen-led, uh appointed by uh each one of us, 11 appointed by the mayor, and then approved and uh confirmed by common counsel for three year terms.

1:41

Um we'll keep moving.

1:44

Uh you'll see this is the 2025 version annual report.

1:49

So these are members that are listed uh uh as of 2025.

1:54

I have the privilege of chairing uh the commission.

1:57

I'm also joined today by Commissioner Jessica Bowling and then our uh staff uh from the uh department of office, it used to be the office of equity and inclusion, but what is it now?

2:08

Department of Compliance and Engagement.

2:10

And Ramona Ramos uh is here with us today.

2:14

So we're we're excited to have uh the team, part of the team here with us.

2:19

So part of uh the 2025 accomplishments was building out uh the commission.

2:24

Uh we went from uh 7 to 11 and we uh member number of members uh in the code of ordinances establishes the 11.

2:34

We were able to in 2025 um also um bring on Paul Smith, L.

2:42

Halo, Ray Johnson, Alexandria Stauback.

2:46

Also in a staff build out, we brought in uh the equal rights specialist.

2:52

That position was open for quite some time.

2:55

Uh and then because uh Alder Woman Pratt was a previous uh equal rights specialist uh with the commission, and we were so uh we were so proud that uh now uh you're uh uh able to take that work here at the Common Council and you've seen it firsthand and we appreciate that.

3:13

Um and then um Romana Ramos coming on board as the equal rights uh complaints liaison to handle complaints.

3:22

Um to the meat of it in 2025 was a civil rights uh complaint process, and um we're charged with monitoring and investigating.

3:34

So I don't know if some of you recall I had uh asked for an opinion from the city attorney on shall receive complaints, and uh the city attorney opined and said yes, we are um we are um the commission that must receive uh discrimination complaints based on protected classes listed in chapter 109.

3:57

And with that, we were able then to move forward with uh staff and get out into the community and have conversations with the community and let them know firsthand what we're doing and the protected classes.

4:11

So we have several protected classes, many of them are mirrored uh or the same as the federal government and the state government, uh, but we have additional protected classes like hairstyle, um which is which is one we've led with here in the city of Milwaukee.

4:27

Um in addition to that, we have three areas um public accommodation, housing, and employment uh that are protected through the Equal Rights Commission, and specifically by chapter 109.

4:41

Um I'm gonna get back into the complaints in just a moment.

4:45

Um, but I want to just uh let you know that we were out in the community.

4:49

Uh our International Human Rights Day, our eighth annual event uh took place this year, uh, which was an exciting opportunity to get into the community and have those conversations.

5:00

We also um held public hearings, one on facial recognition technology and looked at the potential discrimination because of that particular technology, and uh we had a transgender violence and protections hearing.

5:14

Um we also uh um the commission met 12 times for full commission meetings throughout the year.

5:21

Um we did um provide the results to uh the common council and the mayor on the facial recognition technology on the uh LGBT violence uh hearing we have established an LGBTQ ad hoc committee to look more closely into it and to provide a report by the end of the year uh to then share with common counsel in the mayor's office.

5:48

Uh also we've we've been out in the community in other events from Pride Fest, Juneteenth, Bronzeville, um, Mexican Fiesta, Silver City Festival, Puerto Rican Festival, uh, and Milwaukee among New Year.

6:01

Um, and and part of that was getting in there in the community and having those conversations and letting them know exactly what we were doing and what we're doing.

6:10

I know we're Ramona Ramos led a lot of those events, got us out of the community.

6:15

Commissioners were also out in the community, and for many uh they didn't realize, first of all, that they had the protections in place in the city.

6:23

And um what this did was bring attention to what we do, and what we saw was an increase in the civil rights complaint complaints that were coming in.

6:35

If you go to page 12 in the booklet, you'll see that the complaints did come in again based on employment housing and public accommodations.

6:43

Uh a bit of a breakdown on um the complaints that did come in, and and not only complaints, what we found is people were looking for remedies in the city for a lot of things.

6:55

And they felt that the Equal Rights Commission was the place and the people to call because there's a sense of trust.

7:02

And even if they needed something that another department could handle, they came to us and we were able to refer them and refer them to the appropriate channels, the appropriate departments, the appropriate people.

7:13

And sometimes we had we referred to the state and we referred to the federal government to meet their needs.

7:19

So we've been a clearinghouse for people's complaints or needs that are out in the communities, and if you can see the most active zip codes were 53209-06, 5325, 53215.

7:34

And in the on the next page, there is a heat map of complaints.

7:38

I think it's also inserted in the um in the larger version that you can see I'm holding up.

7:45

Uh, and that is the complaints uh based on all domanti districts.

7:49

Uh so we've broken it down that way in a heat map as well.

7:53

Um so these are these are just the complaints, not all that has been referred uh to different departments and uh other agencies uh throughout.

8:05

So Ramona, do you want to just touch on on the complaints and in that in that process?

8:12

Sure.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Procurement and Contracts█████████████████████████████████████████████54%
Pending Litigation██████████████17%
Racial Equity████████10%
Legislative Updates█████6%
Police Procedures████5%
Affordable Housing███4%
Public Housing███3%
Community Engagement█1%
Summary of Proceedings

Milwaukee Judiciary & Legislation Committee Meeting - April 13, 2026

The Judiciary & Legislation Committee of the City of Milwaukee convened on Monday, April 13, 2026 at 9:03 AM and adjourned at 12:38 PM, with all five members present (Chair DiAndre Jackson, Vice-Chair Lamont Westmoreland, Robert J. Bauman, Andrea M. Pratt, and Jose G. Perez). The committee considered 22 agenda items, including nine claims and appeals, an annual report from the Equal Rights Commission, several tax and assessment matters, legislative updates, two contracts for legal services, and three lawsuit settlements discussed in closed session. Notable actions included the denial of most claims, a $200 settlement for a property damage appeal, and split votes on two legal service contracts.

Claim and Appeal Items (Items 1–10)

  • Item 1 – Rocio Perez Caballero: Second-time no-show. Moved by Ald. Pratt for disallowance and indefinite postponement. Adopted 5-0.
  • Item 2 – Shelton King, Jr.: First-time appearance. Moved by Ald. Westmoreland to hold to call of the chair. Adopted 5-0.
  • Item 3 – James and Iyanura Lindsey: Claimant James Lindsey stated a tree limb fell on February 11, 2025 damage his fence; he reported the tree to neighborhood services multiple times but the city had no record. Assistant City Attorney acknowledged the incident but recommended denial, stating prior service requests were for a different address. The committee amended the resolution to settle for $200 (moved by Ald. Bauman) and then recommended adoption of the amended settlement. Both motions passed 5-0.
  • Item 4 – Donald Arenson: Claimant Lori Sheely (MWW) and Mr. & Mrs. Arenson appeared. The claim involved basement flooding from a water main break. City attorney recommended denial because response was timely and no negligence. Ald. Bauman moved disallowance. Passed 5-0.
  • Item 5 – Brittany Hudson: Second-time no-show. Moved by Ald. Westmoreland for disallowance. Passed 5-0.
  • Item 6 – Denise Waheed: Claimant Denise Waheed, Asst. City Attorney Kevin Todt, and MPD James Lewis appeared. Ms. Waheed alleged MPD breached doors to her rental property during a response to a reported sexual assault and firearm discharge; she claimed $6,611.13 for repairs. City attorney and MPD argued the entry was reasonable under exigent circumstances and that the victim changed her story, preventing a warrant. Ald. Bauman moved disallowance. Vote: 3 ayes (Pratt, Westmoreland, Bauman), 0 noes, 2 abstentions (Jackson, Perez). Motion carried.
  • Item 7 – Derek Brown: Second-time non-appearance despite prior excuse. Moved by Ald. Pratt for disallowance. Passed 5-0.
  • Item 8 – Santana Stingley (by Atty. Krista LaFave): Claimant appeared with counsel. Claim for $75,000 for personal injuries during an arrest on May 7, 2024; city recommended denial citing no negligence. Ald. Bauman moved disallowance. Passed 5-0.
  • Item 9 – Megdalia Szczerbaty: First appearance. Moved by Ald. Westmoreland to hold to call of the chair. Passed 5-0.
  • Item 10 – Julian Woodruff: First appearance. Moved by Ald. Pratt to hold to call of the chair. Passed 5-0.

Equal Rights Commission 2025 Annual Report (Item 11 – 251901)

Commission Chair Tony Snell Rodriguez, Complaints Liaison Ramona Ramos, and Commissioner Jessica Boling presented the report. Key highlights:

  • The commission expanded from 7 to 11 members, hired an equal rights specialist and a complaints liaison.
  • In 2025, the commission received 45 civil rights complaints (top categories: employment, housing, public accommodations) but made zero probable cause findings because Chapter 109 of city ordinances limits the ERC’s jurisdiction to areas not covered by state or federal agencies.
  • Community outreach included 12 full commission meetings, International Human Rights Day, and hearings on facial recognition technology and transgender violence.
  • Most active zip codes: 53209, 53206, 53215, 53205, 53208, 53204, 53212, 53210, 53218, 53216.
  • Committee members expressed concern that the ERC’s hands are tied; Ald. Bauman noted that despite having enforcement tools (up to $5,000 forfeitures), none have been used due to jurisdictional limits.
  • The commission plans to ask the Common Council to amend Chapter 109 to expand jurisdiction, starting with housing (including source of income protections for housing voucher holders), and to clarify that source of income includes vouchers.
  • The communication was recommended for placing on file by Ald. Pratt. Passed 5-0.

Court Administrator Metrics (Item 12 – 251433 Substitute)

Sponsored by Ald. Dimitrijevic. She was not present at the start; the item was initially held, then later brought back and held to a future meeting at her request. Ald. Westmoreland moved to hold. Passed 5-0.

Tax and Assessment Items (Items 13–16, 14 held)

  • Item 13 – 252008 (cancelling taxes): Commissioner of Assessments Nicole Larson and Deputy Commissioner Ryan Ranger explained two settlements on 2025 appeals (a Cape Cod property and an office property) resulting from revised appraisals. Ald. Westmoreland moved adoption. Passed 5-0.
  • Item 14 – 251696 (2026 assessments): Sponsored by Ald. Coggs, who joined the meeting. She requested holding the item until the May 4 committee meeting, as 2026 assessments have not yet been published. Ald. Coggs noted the assessment publication and objection deadline (third Monday in May). Moved to hold. Passed 5-0.
  • Item 15 – 252097 (cross-appeal – tax key 355-0431-117): Commissioner Larson described a manufacturing property assessed by the state; the owner appealed and the city seeks to cross-appeal to protect its interests. Ald. Pratt moved adoption. Passed 5-0.
  • Item 16 – 252098 (cross-appeal – tax key 356-0312-111): Same situation, same property owner. Ald. Perez moved adoption. Passed 5-0.

Legislative Updates (Item 17 – 241692)

Justin Morales (Legislative Affairs), Calvin Lee (Legislative Affairs), and Katie Eager (Intergovernmental Relations) reported on the end of the state legislative session. Key updates:

  • A DACA-related bill passed on the final Senate day after being thought unlikely; thanks to Sen. Tim Carpenter and others.
  • Several housing bills passed, including modifications to the historic rehabilitation tax credit, extension of TID closure periods from one to two years (doubling affordable housing funds), low-income housing tax credit modifications, and the workforce housing loan program.
  • The “truth in planning” bill requiring comprehensive plan and zoning alignment includes a three-year rollout; Milwaukee is largely compliant.
  • The state has a billion-dollar surplus with potential spending negotiations ongoing.
  • Ald. Jackson noted a real-world impact: an affordable housing project in his district (Walker’s Point) lost about 50 units due to previous rules before the legislative fixes.
  • The communication was held to call of the chair (Ald. Bauman motion). Passed 5-0.

Legal Services Contracts (Items 18–19)

  • Item 18 – 251883 (Grzeca Law Group – visa for Emergency Communications employee): Ald. Bauman moved to place on file; motion failed 2-3 (aye: Westmoreland, Bauman; no: Jackson, Pratt, Perez). Ald. Perez then moved adoption; passed 3-2 (aye: Jackson, Pratt, Perez; no: Westmoreland, Bauman).
  • Item 19 – 251910 (software licensing audit legal services): Ald. Bauman moved to place on file; motion failed 1-4 (aye: Bauman only). Ald. Pratt moved adoption; passed 4-1 (aye: Jackson, Westmoreland, Pratt, Perez; no: Bauman).

Lawsuit Settlements (Items 20–22) – Closed Session

The committee convened in closed session under Wis. Stat. § 19.85(1)(g) to confer with the city attorney on litigation. After returning to open session:

  • Item 20 – 251996 (875 East 1, LLC et al. v. City of Milwaukee): City attorney recommended approval. Ald. Westmoreland moved adoption. Passed 5-0.
  • Item 21 – 252037 (Steven Kaywood v. City of Milwaukee, Case No. 23-CV-1644): City attorney recommended approval. Ald. Pratt moved adoption. Passed 4-1 (aye: Jackson, Westmoreland, Pratt, Bauman; no: Perez). Ald. Perez then moved reconsideration; reconsideration was noted but no further action recorded.
  • Item 22 – 252049 (Josephine Purpora claim): City attorney recommended approval. Ald. Bauman moved adoption. Passed 5-0.

Key Outcomes

  • Claims denied/disallowed: Items 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 (all with disallowance & indefinite postponement).
  • Claim settled: Item 3 (Lindsey) amended to $200 and recommended for adoption.
  • Claims held: Items 2, 9, 10 (to call of chair).
  • Communications placed on file: Item 11 (Equal Rights Commission annual report).
  • Communications/resolutions held: Items 12 (court metrics), 14 (2026 assessments – to May 4), 17 (legislative updates – to call).
  • Resolutions adopted: Items 13 (tax cancellations), 15 & 16 (cross-appeals), 18 (Grzeca Law Group contract), 19 (software audit contract), 20, 21, 22 (lawsuit settlements).
  • Split votes: Items 6 (3-0-2), 18 (first motion 2-3; second 3-2), 19 (first motion 1-4; second 4-1), 21 (4-1).
  • Next steps: Denied claimants may file in state court after receiving formal notice from the Common Council (meeting April 21, 2026). The ERC plans to propose an amendment to Chapter 109 to expand housing jurisdiction.

Meeting Transcript

Good morning. Welcome to judiciary and legislation. I'm the Chair Artoman DeAndre Jackson to my right, Artoman Les Westmoreland. To his right, Otterman Bob Bauman to my left. We have Ottawa McPratt and President Otterman Perez. None of this is possible with our staff of citizens, Joanna Ortiz, and City Attorney. Over there, of course. I ignore so Bob rules that we move out of order. Item 11, they'd be it before us, 251901 communication from the Equal Rights Commission regarding the 2025 annual report. Good morning, Mr. Chair and members of the committee. So instead of a PowerPoint on the screen, we'll we'll go by the PowerPoint in the booklet, if that's okay. So to begin with, if we'll move on to uh page three, you'll see the mission of the Equal Rights Commission, and that is to promote and protect equality, equity, and human rights through education, enforcement, and community engagement. And our guiding star, of course, is chapter 109 of the city ordinances. We're citizen-led, uh appointed by uh each one of us, 11 appointed by the mayor, and then approved and uh confirmed by common counsel for three year terms. Um we'll keep moving. Uh you'll see this is the 2025 version annual report. So these are members that are listed uh uh as of 2025. I have the privilege of chairing uh the commission. I'm also joined today by Commissioner Jessica Bowling and then our uh staff uh from the uh department of office, it used to be the office of equity and inclusion, but what is it now? Department of Compliance and Engagement. And Ramona Ramos uh is here with us today. So we're we're excited to have uh the team, part of the team here with us. So part of uh the 2025 accomplishments was building out uh the commission. Uh we went from uh 7 to 11 and we uh member number of members uh in the code of ordinances establishes the 11. We were able to in 2025 um also um bring on Paul Smith, L. Halo, Ray Johnson, Alexandria Stauback. Also in a staff build out, we brought in uh the equal rights specialist. That position was open for quite some time. Uh and then because uh Alder Woman Pratt was a previous uh equal rights specialist uh with the commission, and we were so uh we were so proud that uh now uh you're uh uh able to take that work here at the Common Council and you've seen it firsthand and we appreciate that. Um and then um Romana Ramos coming on board as the equal rights uh complaints liaison to handle complaints. Um to the meat of it in 2025 was a civil rights uh complaint process, and um we're charged with monitoring and investigating. So I don't know if some of you recall I had uh asked for an opinion from the city attorney on shall receive complaints, and uh the city attorney opined and said yes, we are um we are um the commission that must receive uh discrimination complaints based on protected classes listed in chapter 109. And with that, we were able then to move forward with uh staff and get out into the community and have conversations with the community and let them know firsthand what we're doing and the protected classes. So we have several protected classes, many of them are mirrored uh or the same as the federal government and the state government, uh, but we have additional protected classes like hairstyle, um which is which is one we've led with here in the city of Milwaukee. Um in addition to that, we have three areas um public accommodation, housing, and employment uh that are protected through the Equal Rights Commission, and specifically by chapter 109. Um I'm gonna get back into the complaints in just a moment. Um, but I want to just uh let you know that we were out in the community. Uh our International Human Rights Day, our eighth annual event uh took place this year, uh, which was an exciting opportunity to get into the community and have those conversations. We also um held public hearings, one on facial recognition technology and looked at the potential discrimination because of that particular technology, and uh we had a transgender violence and protections hearing. Um we also uh um the commission met 12 times for full commission meetings throughout the year. Um we did um provide the results to uh the common council and the mayor on the facial recognition technology on the uh LGBT violence uh hearing we have established an LGBTQ ad hoc committee to look more closely into it and to provide a report by the end of the year uh to then share with common counsel in the mayor's office. Uh also we've we've been out in the community in other events from Pride Fest, Juneteenth, Bronzeville, um, Mexican Fiesta, Silver City Festival, Puerto Rican Festival, uh, and Milwaukee among New Year. Um, and and part of that was getting in there in the community and having those conversations and letting them know exactly what we were doing and what we're doing. I know we're Ramona Ramos led a lot of those events, got us out of the community. Commissioners were also out in the community, and for many uh they didn't realize, first of all, that they had the protections in place in the city. And um what this did was bring attention to what we do, and what we saw was an increase in the civil rights complaint complaints that were coming in. If you go to page 12 in the booklet, you'll see that the complaints did come in again based on employment housing and public accommodations. Uh a bit of a breakdown on um the complaints that did come in, and and not only complaints, what we found is people were looking for remedies in the city for a lot of things. And they felt that the Equal Rights Commission was the place and the people to call because there's a sense of trust.

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