(The Center Square) – Madison's Police Civilian Oversight Board continues to show signs of issues.

Last week, the board’s chair resigned, and now the board itself is looking to hire a lawyer to fight the city.

Maia Pearson resigned at last week's meeting. She is the latest resignation on the Police Civilian Oversight Board after Madison's Independent Police Monitor Robin Copley resigned last year, citing post-traumatic stress.

"In 2021, I was diagnosed with CPTSD, incurred by

years of regular indirect yet in-depth exposure to graphic and violent police incidents. In the spring of 2024, I was diagnosed with PTSD while hospitalized for attempting to end my life. I received treatment for my CPTSD years before I applied for this position and believed I could continue this line of work. A year of events preceding my medical leave traumatized me in new and private ways," she wrote in her resignation letter.

Pearson has not said why she resigned, but she is facing criminal charges.

Dane County prosecutors have charged her with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest following her arrest near the State Capitol last year. She was a passenger in a car where the driver drove over some traffic cones.

Pearson's exit isn't the only problem for the Police Civilian Oversight Board, however.

The board last week inquired about hiring an outside attorney to press a legal challenge to what some board members say is city of Madison meddling.

Madison's city attorney says there's nothing in city rules that allowed the board to hire its own attorney, but there's no word if the board will try.

All of this comes as Madison's new, interim Independent police monitor could lose her job.

Madison's city council is expected to consider a proposal on Tuesday that could fire Aeiramique Glass.

Glass was hired in December to help find and hire a new police monitor, but a recent audit showed that she has done almost nothing to accomplish that task.

Glass is also accused of ignoring Madison's city rules for budgeting, and there are complaints of her performance on the job.

Madison Alder Will Ochowicz said "the council is focused on is the performance of the monitor and her failure to fulfill her job responsibilities to find the permanent monitor."