MILWAUKEE – An email sent overnight by Milwaukee County Supervisor Steve F. Taylor to County Executive David Crowley that copied numerous County officials and members of the media, sharply criticizes the administration’s handling of the County’s healthcare contract and calls for increased transparency and accountability.
The email, sent at 1:48 a.m. Friday and titled “Healthcare Debacle,” characterizes the County Board’s recent meeting as “painful and something that was not of our making,” and asserts that the Board has faced repeated controversies without adequate information or oversight. According to Taylor:
“In the past 7 months, the Board has had to deal with two controversies (MCTS & Healthcare) which have major implications for the residents of Milwaukee County,” Taylor wrote. “In both cases, they were presented to us past the point of no return… In both cases, there was a lack of oversight and leadership. This has become a pattern, and it is unacceptable.”
Taylor went on to call for “full transparency” surrounding the healthcare contract process, stating:
“If that means more individuals lose their job than so be it.” He further criticized materials previously provided to the Board, writing that “the timelines that have been presented so far are rank amateur at best.”
In the email, Taylor requested that the administration compile a comprehensive record of the healthcare contract process for review by the County Board’s Finance Committee.
“I am asking the administration to create a file to be presented to Finance Committee in March,” Taylor wrote. “We need to see everything to get a full understanding of what went wrong. From this presentation the Board will determine how to proceed.”
Taylor also urged greater public accountability from County Executive Crowley, writing,
“You have been the face of Milwaukee County the past six years; you need to be the face on this issue. Press releases and sending staff to committee meeting doesn’t cut it in my opinion… true leadership and accountability happen inside the walls of the courthouse.”
The email was sent following formal County Board approval of the healthcare contract (13-5). Supervisor Taylor voted no on renewing the five-year contract with UnitedHealthcare.
