County Exec David Crowley fires official tied to health benefits lapse

Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley’s office announced Monday that an employee tied to the lapse of the county’s health care contract, putting benefits at risk for thousands of employees and retirees, has been terminated.

County supervisors were blindsided last week when they learned that one of the county’s largest contracts – one that provides healthcare and pharmacy benefits – lapsed at the end of 2025.

With many questions and few answers, supervisors on the county’s finance committee called for more information from Crowley’s administration as they worked under the gun to find a way to ensure coverage was not suspended and to determine who was to blame for the error.

Crowley’s office declined to identify the official in question, but a timeline released by the audit services division names Human Resources benefits director Tony Maze as handling the contract talks with United Healthcare. Maze addressed supervisors about the situation at last week’s finance committee meeting.

Crowley officials say no employees or retirees were without coverage

At a special joint committee meeting held on Feb. 2 with members of the county’s finance and personnel committees, county officials, including the county’s Office of Corporation Counsel, assured supervisors that employees and retirees were never without coverage. The meeting was called to consider a contract extension despite gaps in the county’s vetting process.

Milwaukee County has more than 5,100 participants enrolled in its health care plan at the start of 2026, including 3,232 active employees.

Despite their reassurance, questions still swirl, and supervisors have called for further investigations into what had been described as a “catastrophic risk.”

According to a statement from Crowley, the official responsible no longer worked for the county as of Feb. 2.

“I strongly believe in transparency and accountability. When mistakes are made, it’s important to seek out the facts and identify solutions to the problem at hand,” said the statement from Crowley, who is also a Democratic candidate for governor. “While employees currently have active healthcare coverage, this contract approval is needed for Milwaukee County to control costs and continue to provide healthcare benefits to thousands of employees and their families.”

Governor candidates criticize Crowley

Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, a rival in the Democratic field for governor, criticized Crowley for what she described as a “breakdown in leadership” over the lapsed contract.

“I think it is scary and unfortunate that that happened, and it means that there’s been a breakdown in leadership, that that is something that could happen,” Rodriguez told reporters at a news conference in Madison.

U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, the lone Republican in the field, criticized Crowley’s oversight of a critical function of managing a large workforce.

“If @DavidCCrowley can’t run a county, how is he going to run a state?” Tiffany said Feb. 1 in a post on X.

A spokesman for Crowley did not immediately respond to the comments.

Maze is the latest Crowley administration official to depart under a cloud of controversy within the last year.

Last summer, Donna Brown-Martin, executive director of the Milwaukee County Department of Administration, and the Milwaukee County Transit System’s then-Interim President and CEO Julie Esch resigned in quick succession after officials were sucker punched by a multi-million dollar deficit for MCTS. The surprise resulted in an audit of the department.

“It is only appropriate that we’re having this meeting on Groundhog Day, because I feel like we’ve lived through this before and we keep living through it again and again,” said Supervisor Steven Shea, alluding to the MCTS scandal that rocked the county in the lead up to budget season late last year.

Almost every supervisor who spoke at the Feb. 2 special joint hearing said they’d been fielding calls from county employees all weekend, hearing concerns about their access to healthcare.

William G. Davidson, deputy corporation counsel for the county, said the real risk is that the county might have to cover out-of-network pricing, which would cost the county a lot more money than the previously negotiated rates.

For now, supervisors must weigh whether they move forward with the current contract with United Healthcare and have asked for additional information about the contract, including the request for proposal process and a stronger fiscal review of the contract and its cost to the county.

Jeremy Lucas, policy director of Milwaukee County, said the administration would provide the board with a fiscal analysis of the contract. 

Despite the looming questions, the county’s finance committee voted to approve the contract. Supervisors Shawn Rolland, Willie Johnson Jr., Anne O’Connor and Juan Miguel Martinez voted in favor of its approval. Supervisors Sequenna Taylor and Justin Bielinski voted “no.”

The contract, a five-year extension, will go before the full County Board of Supervisors for a vote on Feb. 5.

Bielinski lamented the fast-tracked contract approval.

“We are operating in a healthcare system that is sick. It is a cartel. It is evil. It is inefficient. It is not something that should have to be operating under,” he said. “We shouldn’t have to be putting through this contract at gunpoint with this giant health insurance company.”

(This story was updated to add new information.)

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