Alderwoman Nikiya Dodd to resign, 5 Common Council seats empty

MILWAUKEE - There's another empty seat on the Milwaukee Common Council. President Jose Perez told FOX6 News Alderwoman Nikiya Dodd will resign by the end of November.

Her departure means even more Milwaukeeans have no voice on the Council.

Through promotion, misconduct or personal decisions, five of the city's 15 aldermanic seats are now empty.

Leaders at City Hall said they're doing what they can to fix that, but it's the timing of it all that has one expert suggesting Milwaukee should seek a policy change to ensure this doesn't happen again.

Dodd has been missing from meetings for more than a month. Now, Dodd plans to resign by the end of November according to Common Council President Jose Perez.

"She said she would be moving on from the Council to dedicate more time to her health and family," said Perez, who said he would reassign all of her committee assignments.

Her resignation adds to the list of open seats on the Council just this year.

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"I can't be any more proud of my colleagues," said Perez. "Everything that I've asked them to do, stepping up on committees, they've done."

Ashanti Hamilton left Ward 1 to lead the Office of Violence Prevention.

Cavalier Johnson jumped from Ward 2 to mayor.

Nik Kovac moved from Ward 3 to be the mayor's budget director.

In Ward 9, a Milwaukee County judge ordered Chantia Lewis out of office after she was convicted of misconduct in it.

"This is a real freak situation that you'd have one-third of a legislative body to be absent," said Mordecai Lee, UW-Milwaukee professor.

Census data from 2020 show a little more than 154,000 people live in those four wards. Adding Dodd's Ward 5 ups the total to more than 189,000, meaning one-third of Milwaukee currently has no representative on the Council.

Lee said the city needs continuity, especially with budget cuts looming.

"A budget is when a government decides this is more important than that, and this is gonna get more money than that and so it's really important to have a full membership or as much of a full membership as you can to make a budget decision," said Lee.

Dodd didn't respond to FOX6's requests for comment Tuesday.

Two alders will be elected Nov. 8, but the other three seats won't be filled until spring 2023. That's why Lee said the city should consider a policy change to allow the appointment of an interim alder until those elections can happen.