Milwaukee violence prevention director Adam Procell resigns after legal review of felony restrictions for department heads

Resignation set for Feb. 11 after city attorney review

Milwaukee’s top violence-prevention administrator, Adam Procell, is scheduled to leave his post on Feb. 11, ending a five-month tenure leading the city’s Office of Community Wellness and Safety. City leaders said the departure follows a legal determination that Procell’s prior felony conviction makes him ineligible to serve as the head of a city department.

Procell was appointed in August 2025 to direct the city’s violence-prevention work, which includes conflict intervention efforts and support services for people impacted by violence. At a City Hall news conference in late January, Mayor Cavalier Johnson said the issue was identified after a change in how the office is structured in city government.

How a budget restructure triggered the eligibility question

The Common Council’s 2026 budget actions converted the Office of Community Wellness and Safety into a standalone city department. City officials said that shift altered the legal status of the role, placing it within the category of department leadership subject to state constitutional restrictions on office-holding by individuals with certain convictions.

Wisconsin’s Constitution, Article XIII, Section 3, bars people convicted of a felony from holding an “office of trust, profit or honor” in the state unless they have been pardoned. City leaders said they had limited time to evaluate options once the legal issue was identified, because Procell’s resignation would take effect within two weeks of his announcement.

Procell’s background and the pardon timeline

Procell has publicly discussed a homicide conviction stemming from an offense committed when he was 15 years old. City officials said he was paroled in 2018. State eligibility standards for a gubernatorial pardon require at least five years since completion of all confinement and supervised release, along with other conditions. Based on the parole date provided by city leaders, that timeline was cited as a barrier to an immediate pardon-based remedy.

City leaders weigh limited pathways forward

Some officials discussed whether the city could change the office’s structure again to avoid the department-head restriction. Others argued that reversing the change would undercut the policy intent of creating a department-level entity with clearer governance and accountability. The mayor rejected the idea of moving Procell into a deputy role as a workaround, describing it as a demotion rather than a solution.

Karin Tyler was named to serve as interim leader after Procell’s departure. Tyler previously served in an interim capacity and was a finalist for the director position before Procell was selected.

Broader context: stability and oversight

The Office of Community Wellness and Safety has faced persistent leadership turnover in recent years, and the city has previously scrutinized administrative performance in the unit, including payment-processing concerns identified during a prior director’s tenure. Procell’s resignation adds another transition point for a department tasked with coordinating non-law-enforcement strategies intended to prevent violence and reduce retaliation.

• Effective date of resignation: Feb. 11, 2026

• Key legal issue: Wisconsin Constitution eligibility limits for people with felony convictions unless pardoned

• Interim leadership: Karin Tyler

Milwaukee’s next steps will depend on how city leaders balance the department’s newly elevated structure with constitutional constraints governing who may legally lead it.