MILWAUKEE, Wis. – By a 3-2 vote, the Milwaukee Common Council’s Public Safety and Health Committee advanced the appointment of Karin Tyler to director of the City’s Department of Community Wellness and Safety April 10.
It marks the second time Tyler’s appointment is being sent to the full Council, following their move last month to push the matter back to committee amid some alders’ concerns about her ability to lead the department, as well as why the department did not receive any state violence prevention grant funding.
Alderman Scott Spiker and Alderwoman Sharlen Moore voted against Tyler’s appointment moving forward during the committee hearing, while fellow committee members Peter Burgelis, Mark Chambers, and Laressa Taylor voted in the affirmative. Spiker had previously voted against Tyler’s nomination at the March 12 Public Safety and Health Committee hearing, while Moore had abstained from voting one way or another.
The department (DCWS) was not among the entities that received a portion of nearly $15 million in grant awards from the Wisconsin OVP March 23.
“That was a huge red flag and something certainly worth drilling down about,” said Spiker at the time. “Certainly somebody operating in the number two position as operations [director]…They cannot be absolved of any responsibility there. I don’t think that’s legitimate.”
Former DCWS director Adam Procell led the state OVP grant application process, according to Tyler. “I assisted in writing the budget, but it wasn’t my concept for sure,” she said when asked about her role in the writing of the applications.
At the April 10 hearing, Spiker openly questioned whether the department would survive long-term given previous American Rescue Plan Act funding must be spent by the end of this year; of the department’s $5.1 million budget for 2026, around $2.8 million is allotted to all grants it receives APRA or otherwise.
Tyler’s time with DCWS goes back to 2017 when she started her role as the Family Injury and Violence Prevention Coordinator for the then-named Office of Violence Prevention. Prior to that, she spent nearly a decade as the Disease Intervention Specialist for the City’s Health Department.
Tyler was also one of the three finalists for the director’s job in 2025 before Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson went with Procell, which drew the ire of some Council members. Procell would tender his resignation January 29 after City Attorney Evan Goyke determined his status as a convicted felon rendered him ineligible to serve as the director of a City department. As part of the City budget process, the Council included an amendment making the then-Office of Community Wellness and Safety its own department.
Tyler also spoke April 10 on the prior committee agenda item related to DCWS and the Milwaukee Police Department’s response to a recent “teen takeover” at Moody Park March 30. During questioning, Moore questioned whether Tyler had communicated to the full Council at all regarding department policies or plans while holding the interim position, which Tyler admitted she had not. The funding matter was the only question Moore brought up to Tyler, even though the alderwoman directly questioned Tyler’s ability to lead during the prior Council discussion on her appointment March 24.
“I have some grave concerns in regards to the appointment’s ability to run a department, specifically after the individual has been looked over several times,” said Moore at the time.
RELATED: How Milwaukee Police handle ‘teen takeovers’
Other alders expressed empathy towards Tyler for the situation she is in, particularly José Pérez.
“I believe you’re a victim of a flawed process,” Pérez said to Tyler during the hearing.
The full Council will reconsider Tyler’s appointment at their next meeting this month, which is scheduled for April 21.
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