Monica Avila
County Executive Joe Parisi says Reyes in her new role will help administer a number of upcoming projects, including development of the department's 2024 budget.
Dane County Executive Joe Parisi named Gloria Reyes co-deputy director of the county’s human services department Tuesday, less than a week after the county board overwhelmingly rejected Rep. Shelia Stubbs’ nomination for the department’s top job. In a May 9 email to county board supervisors, Parisi says Reyes would work with Astra Iheukumere, the department’s current interim director, “to ensure county government's largest agency has the administrative support required to coordinate a number of upcoming projects, including development of the department's 2024 budget.”
In his email, Parisi says Reyes, who ran for Madison mayor earlier this year and is a former Madison school board president, would serve while the county starts its recruitment process for a new director over from scratch. “In the wake of what just unfolded, attracting top-tier candidates through an immediate recruitment will be challenging. This process needs room to breathe,” says Parisi. “In the coming weeks, my administration will discuss options for how to overcome this challenge with various recruitment firms and re-engage in another national search based on their objective recommendations.”
The appointment instantly irked Supv. Yogesh Chawla, who last week said he welcomed Parisi’s comments calling for a pause and “a reset for healing.”
“Joe Parisi was not serious about a reset and healing process. He knows Reyes was very active in the confirmation process testifying at numerous meetings and had very pointed and inaccurate criticism of the county board,” Chawla tells Isthmus.
“Parisi is not concerned about what is best for the most vulnerable residents of the county served by the human services department and is simply interested in escalating a political game that it seems that he himself is only playing,” he adds.
As previously reported, Stubbs’ confirmation process exposed an ongoing rift between supervisors and Parisi.
At the May 5 board meeting where supervisors rejected Stubbs’ nomination, Reyes said that “the entire community has witnessed a dysfunctional process that has been based on personality, lack of respect, and political allegiance. It’s unfortunate we haven’t focused on Shelia’s lived experience, deep roots in this community, [and] over 20 years of budget experience."
In a phone call, Parisi tells Isthmus that he appointed Reyes co-deputy director because Iheukumere currently performs both her previous role and the interim director role, and “it’s important we bring in some temporary capacity.”
Parisi rejects Chawla’s characterization that he is not serious about healing and says he does not see Reyes’ appointment as disruptive to a cooling-off period. “I want to let people get back to work while we reboot the hiring process,” says Parisi. “The board had some harsh criticism of me last week too, but I’m willing to move past that and move forward for the department. As far as things that were said in the past, the board has always welcomed [county] employees coming forward to share their views.”
As for Reyes’ specific area of focus, Parisi says, “We’ll be meeting and working out some of the details, who will be overseeing which divisions. That will be worked out over the next couple of weeks.”
In his email, Parisi touts Reyes’ accomplishments: “Gloria oversaw human services programming in her role as Madison deputy mayor, and worked closely with our county team. Gloria has also been active in neighborhood community centers and with organizations like Centro Hispano, and has formerly served as executive director of Briarpatch which Dane County has partnered with to great effect through the years.”
