Common Council prioritizes televising Fire and Police Commission meetings

The Milwaukee Common Council today approved a motion by immediate adoption that prioritizes Fire and Police Commission meetings among the lineup of programming on City Channel 25. Beginning immediately, regular FPC meetings will be carried live on City Channel 25, as long as they don’t conflict with Common Council meetings, committee meetings or regularly-scheduled Mayoral budget hearings.

The resolution was sponsored by Alderwoman Milele A. Coggs, and co-sponsored by Aldermen Willie C. Wade, Ashanti Hamilton and José G. Pérez. Recent events have stirred the public interest in viewing FPC meetings, and the measure’s sponsors have been calling for the meetings to be televised live for several months. Their calls culminated in today’s legislation.

Under state law, the FPC has the sole statutory authority to hire or fire the Police Chief and the Fire Chief. The measure’s sponsors believe strongly that citizens should have the opportunity to easily view live telecasts of FPC proceedings so they can be aware of the discussions taking place and any decisions that are made.

“Today’s resolution will enable residents to plug into Fire and Police Commission proceedings in real time,” Alderwoman Coggs said. “It is our sincere hope that televising FPC meetings will aid residents in staying informed, and go a long way toward creating transparency and accountability.”

The first meeting of the FPC that will be televised will take place Thursday, October 18 at 5:30 p.m. Meetings can also be streamed online at city.milwaukee.gov/Channel25.

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.