In the latest sign of trouble for the Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee this summer, the host committee announced Thursday that it is cutting its staff by more than half by reassigning some employees and laying off others.

The Milwaukee 2020 Host Committee — the nonprofit tasked with raising $70 million for the event and recruiting thousands of volunteers — said it will slash its total staff from 31 to 14 employees.

Eleven staffers have been offered positions with either the 2020 Democratic National Convention Committee or as organizers for the party. That committee is responsible for planning and running the convention itself.

Six host committee employees have been laid off. Committee officials did not identify those individuals, who they said will receive health insurance through August.

“The entire nation is facing the unprecedented challenge of responding to the coronavirus pandemic, and unfortunately, the Milwaukee 2020 Host Committee is no different," said Raquel Filmanowicz, CEO of the host committee. "In this climate of uncertainty, we must adjust our plans to match the new reality we’re facing as a nation."

Filmanowicz said her team "remains steadfast" in its commitment to hold the Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee this August.

Joe Solmonese, CEO of the Democratic National Convention Committee, said his organization will do what it can to help while these changes take place.

"We are committed to doing everything we can to support the employees who are transitioning as the host committee makes adjustments to continue their important work in light of this unprecedented global pandemic," Solmonese said in a statement.

Solmonese said recently that the host committee has raised about half of the $70 million needed to host the convention.

Thursday's announcement marks the latest hurdle faced by those trying to organize the massive Milwaukee event.

Earlier this month, Democratic officials announced that they were moving the convention from July to the week of Aug.17 over concerns of the coronavirus pandemic. The hope was that the extra time would allow the global pandemic to abate and for the party to conduct a robust event in Milwaukee.

Still, that marked a dramatic shift for Democrats, who had spent months planning to hold the event at Fiserv Forum on July 13-16 and attract up to 50,000 people to Milwaukee.

Former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, said more recently that the 2020 national convention might need to be done virtually because of coronavirus concerns.

"Well, we're going to have to do a convention — may have to do a virtual convention," Biden said. "I think we should be thinking about that right now."

Then this week, former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, the Democratic National Committee chairman from 2001 to 2005, said he considered it "very unlikely" there would be a convention in Milwaukee this summer.

McAuliffe, who oversaw the 2000 Democratic convention, called on Democrats to consider "creative" alternatives to a traditional convention. He said he has been in talks with current DNC Chairman Tom Perez about contingency plans for the August event.

"The TV networks are going to give you the equal time that you would have at the convention, so come up with something clever around the country to do it to get the same media exposure," McAuliffe told Susan Page of USA TODAY. "You can build, obviously, a stage anywhere you want, but there are a lot of creative (things) that you need to do."

As for the host committee itself, the board fired its former president, Liz Gilbert, and her chief of staff, Adam Alonso, in February amid allegations of a toxic work environment.

A group of female senior staffers at the host committee had complained of a "toxic and insular" work environment and that the two top managers discouraged "honest feedback and discourse."

Two others who have worked with the host committee also expressed workplace concerns to the Journal Sentinel.

Gilbert and Alonso denied the allegations. The host committee board hired a law firm to look into the allegations but never released the final report.

Filmanowicz and Paula Penebaker, former chief executive officer of the YWCA Southeast Wisconsin, were named as the new leaders of the host committee.

Contact Daniel Bice at (414) 224-2135 or dbice@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter @DanielBice or on Facebook at fb.me/daniel.bice.