After more than 12 hours, the Madison Common Council voted to terminate the employment of Independent Monitor Aeiramique Glass by a vote of 14-6.
The motion passed without debate because the meeting had lasted until nearly 7 am, when the Municipal Court needed the room. After nearly seven hours of public testimony, four hours of questions from alders to staff, and two failed motions to recess the meeting and consider the resolution Thursday, council Vice President Carmella Glenn moved to call the question, and the vote was taken.
Glenn and Alders Julia Matthews, Ellen Zhang, Barbara Harrington-McKinney, Davey Mayer and Devine Nzegwu voted no.
Mayor Satya Rhodes Conway said 140 people had registered to speak on the resolution, introduced by Alder Will Ochowicz on October 6. Public testimony on the resolution got underway at 7:30 pm Tuesday and lasted until about 4 am Wednesday. All but three people spoke in opposition to the resolution.
Council President Sabrina Madison moved to recess the meeting to Thursday at that point, prompting boos and catcalls from community memnbers still assembled in the chamber. After several other alders expressed a desire to soldier on, Madison withdrew the motion, and alders questioned staff for nearly three more hours.
Alders focused on a number of complaints contained in the “employment review” issued last week by City Attorney Michael Haas.
One such complaint was a meeting with Madison Police Chief John Patterson that Glass canceled. Patterson said he and Glass met monthly for most of her tenure, and that some were canceled due to scheduling conflicts or illness, including one that he canceled due to a dental issue. Alder Julia Matthews noted that only one meeting that Glass canceled due to illness was highlighted in Haas’s “employment review.”
Other alders focused on contracting rules and procedures, as Glass has been accused of not following proper City procedures to hire experts and attorneys. Asked by Council Vice President Carmella Glenn, City Attorney Michael Haas pointed to Glass’s retention of an attorney to represent the Office of the Independent Monitor to subpoena records from the Madison Police Department. Haas said every attorney is required to have a written contract, and that any contract with the city must be vetted by a number of city departments. He also pointed to the hiring of forensic pathologist Dr. Victor Weedn to provide an independent review of the autopsy of Richard Lee Johnson, who died in police custody in 2024. Weedn’s fee would have been under the $25,000 threshold to require a contract, but Haas said Weedn told him he had a written contract, and Haas said that contract was not properly approved.
Other questions related to the revelation yesterday that Glass had shared privileged records with Glenn. Glass said she felt she had to share some emails between the City Attorney’s Office and Madison Police Department to combat the “lies” being told about her.
Others asked about the process for hiring the permanent Independent Police Monitor, which was one of Glass’s primary responsibilities when she was appointed. Glass said she reports to the Police Civilian Oversight Board, which has not yet crafted a permanent job description.
“I can not post a job description that does not exist,” she said.
She also said human resources staff and PCOB members had discussed possibilities for Glass to stay in the job permanently, including recusing herself from the hiring process to apply or to be directly appointed to the role. Glass said she made it clear she would not apply in a competitive process but would be open to a direct appointment, and that she would stay in the interim role for as long as necessary to ensure a transition to a permanent monitor.
“I love y’all, but I never intended to stay,” she said.
Haas said no ordinance or hiring process documentation provides any means for a “direct appointment” without a compeititive job posting and hiring process. “I don’t know where that idea came from,” he said.
Common Council Chief of Staff Karen Kapusta-Pofahl now takes over management of the OIM, but told the Council that she will not conduct investigations, and will look to hire an investigator if needed while the search for a permanent monitor continues.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
