Commissioner Baker’s departure leaves us all with many, many questions
Statement from Alderman Bob Donovan - January 16, 2018
As the Common Council begins to explore the width and breadth of the Milwaukee Health Department’s failure to properly notify thousands of families that their children had elevated levels of lead in their blood, one date will be foremost in my mind: December 28, 2017.
On that date, Mr. Benjamin James, a health department employee, e-mailed all fifteen members of the Common Council and Mayor Barrett expressing his concerns about the way lead testing was being conducted and the results reported. His concerns were taken seriously enough that then-Commissioner Bevan Baker sent a widely-distributed e-mail that same day — December 28 — offering assurances that the matter was being investigated.
And for months now, Alderman Tony Zielinski has had to fight a seemingly unending battle to get a resolution through the Public Safety and Health Committee dealing with this issue. Even once it was adopted, he continued to say that little was being done to implement its requirements.
Add all this to the reports of employees leaving the department in large numbers and the impression given is of an agency in disarray.
Commissioner Baker has resigned. The idea, however, that all this dysfunction can be placed at the feet of one man is absurd. Others must be held to account and will be.
In the end, though, the commissioner of the health department is an office in the cabinet of this City’s mayor. Surely the Mayor has an obligation to know what is working and is not in those departments under his care. And, if the Commissioner’s resignation on January 11 be taken as an end-point, more should have been said and done in the two full weeks from the release of Mr. James’ e-mail.
NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. It has not been verified for its accuracy or completeness.
More about the Lead Crisis
- IRS Rules that Homeowners Won’t Have to Pay Additional Taxes for Subsidized Replacement of Lead Pipes - Milwaukee Water Works - Feb 29th, 2024
- Milwaukee Makes It Far Easier To Replace Your Lead Service Line - Jeramey Jannene - Dec 18th, 2023
- Congresswoman Gwen Moore Praises Biden Administration Effort to Remove Lead Pipes in 10 Years - U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore - Nov 30th, 2023
- Biden-Harris Administration Announces Partnership with 10 Wisconsin Communities to Accelerate Lead Service Line Replacement as Part of Investing in America Agenda - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency - Nov 2nd, 2023
- Evers, DNR Announce $402 Million Funding to Improve Local Drinking Water - Henry Redman - Oct 24th, 2023
- How EPA’s Proposed Lead Dust Rules Would Impact Wisconsin - Farrah Anderson - Aug 30th, 2023
- City Regulators Can Require Fixing of Lead Hazards — If They Can Find Landlords - Farrah Anderson - Aug 29th, 2023
- MPS Hopeful New Filters Will Keep Water Safe - Evan Casey - Aug 29th, 2023
- City Seeks Firm To Manage Its Accelerating Lead Pipe Replacements - Jeramey Jannene - Aug 9th, 2023
- City Hall: City Unveils Latest Lead Lateral Plan - Jeramey Jannene - May 24th, 2023
Read more about Lead Crisis here