Convention boss Marty Brooks wasn’t fired during the most recent board meeting of the Wisconsin Center District – where Brooks is president and CEO.
But board members discussed potential litigation apparently tied to Brooks’ possible departure from the district, a public agency which operates downtown Milwaukee’s Baird Center, UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena, and Miller High Life Theatre.
Board members largely declined to comment because they met on May 26 in closed session – allowed under Wisconsin’s Open Meetings Act to discuss litigation.
The session lasted about an hour and didn’t result in open session action. Another closed session will be scheduled, Milwaukee County Comptroller Liz Sumner, a board member, told reporters.
Meanwhile, Brooks continues to serve as president and CEO, said Kimberly Kane, district spokeswoman. She called it “a fluid situation.”
Board discussions have included a review of Brooks’ contract. It details circumstances which allow firing him with cause.
Brooks, whose base salary is $410,000, is being criticized by some board members in the wake of a report which recommended a new convention center hotel.
That report by consulting firm Hunden Partners, issued in January, said Milwaukee is losing conventions to competing cities because it doesn’t have enough hotel rooms tied to Baird Center.
A district board committee studied the report and recommended the district consider developing the hotel as a long-term strategic option.
But the board at its May 15 meeting declined to vote on whether to formally adopt that recommendation. Some board members said the Hunden report was supposed to create a district master plan, and not focus on a potential hotel.
The board then entered a closed session to discuss a personnel matter. Sources later told the Milwaukee Journal that Brooks was at risk of losing his job.
Brooks’ departure would come after roughly a decade in that position, and following Baird Center’s 2024 expansion.
His three-year contract expires on Jan. 20, 2028.
According to the contract, Brooks can be fired with cause for various reasons, including fraud, dishonesty, negligence, and misrepresentation to the board.
Other grounds include an act of moral turpitude; not performing duties to the board’s reasonable satisfaction, and failing to follow a board directive.
The contract says firing Brooks without cause will bring him some cash.
That amounts to his remaining base salary, which rises to $445,000 during the contract’s third year, or a six-month severance package that includes the sum of health care benefits; 50% of his base compensation for the year in which he’s fired, and accrued but unused vacation benefits.
The contract also can be terminated by mutual agreement, or by Brooks’ retirement.
The Hunden report suggests a 650-room hotel and other development could replace the the Miller High Life Theatre, with a skywalk spanning West Kilbourn Avenue to Baird Center.
Critics say the Hunden report is flawed. That includes executives from downtown hotel operator Marcus Corp. who say a new hotel would hurt existing hotels competing in a weak market.
Brooks also has faced another recent issue.
Common Council President Jose Pérez, a district board member, in November accused Brooks of inappropriately touching him.
The incident was investigated as a sexual assault, but no charges were filed in the case. Brooks denied the accusation, and he remained on the job after the district’s internal investigation ended in March.
Tom Daykin can be emailed at tdaykin@jrn.com and followed on Instagram, Bluesky, X and Facebook.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Here’s how Baird Center boss Brooks could be fired, and a possible payout
Reporting by Tom Daykin, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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