July 16, 2023 11:35a
(WGTD)---Kenosha County’s Racial & Ethnic Equity Commission has gotten bogged down again.
Last year it was a series of member resignations.
Last week the sole topic of a special meeting was whether an internal county government employee award should be renamed.
This week commission members are expected to rehash a 2020 county board resolution that declared racism to be a public health crisis. The committee is scheduled to meet Thursday evening at the Kenosha County Center.
Also up for discussion… a continuation of last week’s topic of whether the name of Jennie Tunkieicz, chief of staff for former Kenosha County Executive Jim Kreuser, should be removed from an annual award that’s given to a county employee for accomplishments in promoting diversity and equity.
Speaking from the audience at last week’s meeting, Yolanda Adams said it’s a topic that’s not germane to the panel’s task. "I would have to say that to take away the name of an award when the Tunkieicz name was put on that award is just not what this commission was tasked to do in this community," she said.
Adams should know. She was part of the group that laid the foundation for the formation of the commission.
Last week’s meeting featured a shouting match between Commission Chair Xavier Solis and panel member Andy Berg. It occurred after citizen-speaker Ray Roberts was cut-off. Video from the meeting is on WGTD’s Facebook page.
Solis and Roberts have a history. Solis represented controversial blogger Kevin Mathewson in a defamation lawsuit against Roberts that concluded just hours before the commission met. The jury ruled that Roberts’ social media comments about Mathewson did not rise to the level of defamation.
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