MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Adam Procell, Mayor Cavalier Johnson's outside pick to lead the Milwaukee Office of Community Wellness and Safety, is out as director.

Mayor Johnson announced the change at a news conference Friday, January 30, at City Hall.

The move is the result of a recent legal interpretation of the office. Article 13 of the Wisconsin Constitution reads: "No person convicted of a felony, in any court within the United States… shall be eligible to any office of trust, profit or honor in this state unless pardoned of the conviction."

Previously, the OCWS was housed in the city's Department of Administration. But last fall it was established as its own department. A city official told us that now means the state law applies to the director of the OCWS, according to an interpretation made by City Attorney Evan Goyke this week.

Procell is a convicted felon and therefore ineligible to serve under that interpretation.

Mayor Cavalier Johnson appointed Procell director August 18, 2025. When he was 15, Procell was sentenced to life in prison for a gang-related homicide. He was eventually released after serving nearly ten years in prison.

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When he was appointed director last August, he introduced himself by saying, "My name is Adam Procell, and three days after I turned 15 years old, I made the worst decision a human could make, and that decision cost Robert [Bruce] his life."

At the time, Johnson said Procell "brings a lot of value to a position like this, and that's exactly what Adam brings to this, to this opportunity."

But several members of the common council took issue with the process. Three other people were announced as finalists for the position. On July 21 and 22, those three participated in two community town hall meetings, addressing questions from the public.

But less than a month later, Johnson nominated Procell.

During the city budgeting process last fall, the Common Council voted to move the OCWS out of the Department of Administration, establishing the OCWS as its own department. Alderman Scott Spiker led that effort.

During a Finance & Personnel Committee hearing Oct. 31, Spiker said, "We obviously know what happened with the naming of the OCWS director. There was a public process, there were three final candidates. The mayor decided after two public hearings on it to go in a different direction and name none of them. Instead name a fourth person who got no vetting at all."

Spiker took issue with Johnson appointing Procell without Council input. "If there's a future where we, or any council, wants to have a say in who that director is, the confirmation authority is the ultimate check."

In that hearing, the city's Director of the Department of Administration, Preston Cole, said, "Adam's wonderful, nicest man I ever met. Good thought leader, people love him." Cole added later, "We're lucky to have him."

No members brought up the issue of Procell's eligibility to serve if the OCWS were made into its own department.

Mayor Johnson vetoed that amendment and several others on November 7. But on November 25, the Common Council unanimously overrode that veto with a 15-0 vote, enshrining the OCWS as its own department.

This is a developing story that will be updated with new information.