NewsBreak Original

An outspoken critic of the Denver City Council has moved to Aurora and is running for council there. Brandy Majors speaks almost every week during public comment period of the Denver City Council meetings. A fierce advocate for the homeless and formerly homeless herself, she mostly criticizes the council for sweeping encampments.

The Aurora City Council already has adopted a resolution endorsing a city manager-city council form of government. Now the body may also pass a resolution opposing a strong mayor form of government.

A law proposed by Aurora Mayor Pro Tem Curtis Gardner to require honesty from people who gather signatures for petitions has cleared its first hurdle. The council advanced the proposal Monday at a study session to a regular meeting. Gardner wants to outlaw using “deceptive practices” in the collection of signatures for ballot measures. The ordinance defines deceptive practices as “representations, omissions or practices that mislead or are likely to mislead a person to obtain their signature.”

(Aurora, Colo.) Aurora Mayor Pro Tem Curtis Gardner wants to crack down on people who collect signatures for petitions who aren’t honest. The Aurora City Council will consider Gardner’s proposed law at their study session Monday. The ordinance considers unlawful “deceptive practices … representations omissions or practices that mislead or are likely to mislead a person to obtain their signature.”

(Aurora, Colo.) The Aurora City Council rejected during a study session Monday council member Angela Lawson’s proposal that members of the dais become full-time employees of the city with full-time salaries.

(Aurora, Colo.) The Aurora City Council will discuss a ballot measure during its study session Monday that would ask voters to increase the salaries of City Council members. In fact, the recommendation from city staff is that the salaries be more than tripled to $67,889 from $20,063 currently. Aurora is the third-largest city in Colorado with almost 390,000 residents in 2021. By comparison, Denver City Council members make more than $100,000 annually.

The Aurora City Council will consider during a study session Monday restricting RVs to parking only 24 hours on a public-street in a seven-day period. “Currently Aurora allows a recreational vehicle to park on a public right-of-way for up to five days,” according to a memo from the City Attorney’s Office to the council. “This ordinance reduces the five days to twenty-four hours during any seven day period to be as strict as Denver’s ordinances.” RVs and campers in violation of the ordinance will be towed and impounded.

(Aurora, Colo.) Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman again visited Colorado Springs last week for ideas on clearing homeless encampments. Aurora would like to build a homeless campus but is waiting on funding from the state. Coffman and others on the Aurora City Council have said they would like to model a new homeless facility after the Colorado Springs Rescue Mission.

(Aurora, Colo.) Aurora’s prairie dogs are not out of the woods yet. Despite the City Council giving initial approval during a study session last week for an ordinance to protect prairie dogs, the body did not vote on the law during its regular meeting Monday.

The Aurora City Council gave initial approval Monday to outlawing urinating and defecating in public and living in a house without running water. The new laws stem from a home in the fourth ward that became overrun with squatters, according to council member Juan Marcano. Council member Danielle Jurinsky sponsored the bill to ban urinating and defecating in public. It specifically bans relieving oneself in a yard be it yours or someone else’s.

(Aurora, Colo.) Though it can sometimes be difficult to tell where Denver ends and Aurora begins, the two cities have starkly different forms of government. The Aurora City Council on Monday will consider a resolution that affirms its city manager form of governance. City managers are non-partisan employees who serve at the pleasure of the City Council. They are responsible for the operations of the city.

The Aurora City Council saluted Denver Mayor Michael Hancock Monday by adopting a resolution noting his accomplishments. “Mayor Hancock collaborated with the City of Aurora and fellow metro area elected officials on many issues of shared importance including public safety, homelessness and housing, equity, and economic development,” the resolution reads.

All but one member of the Aurora City Council voted Monday to ban TikTok from being downloaded to or accessed by city devices. Council member Alison Coombs cast the lone “no” vote. She said the resolution reeked of politics.

Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman’s proposal to repeal motions to end debate didn’t get much support Monday. Only City Councilmembers Juan Marcano, Ruben Medina and Karina Murillo, all Democrats, voted for the proposal. The measure included a tinge of irony in that Republicans mostly have used the tool to shut down debate on issues, known as call for the question. But Coffman is a Republican himself.

(Aurora, Colo.) Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman’s proposal to end the call for the question drew several detractors Monday but he advanced it to a regular council meeting for a vote anyway.

(Aurora, Colo.) Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman and Councilmember Juan Marcano, both candidates for Aurora’s top office, want to give the democratic process a shot in the arm. Coffman will introduce legislation during a study session Monday that would repeal the “Call for the question” during council meetings. Call for the question allows the council to vote on whether to continue debate on a particular issue or to proceed with a final vote. The Republican majority has used the tool to shut down debate.

(Aurora, Colo.) In partisan Aurora, the Republican majority often uses “call for the question” to shut down debate during City Council meetings. But now the mayor, who also is a Republican, wants to end the practice. “Call for the question” means taking a vote on whether to end discussion on a topic. If a majority approves a call for the question, council members stop debating the issue and vote on it.

(Aurora, Colo.) The Aurora City Council will consider Monday adopting a resolution of support for the LGBTQ community. The resolution, sponsored by Councilmember Crystal Murillo, comes just days after a gunman opened fire at a Colorado Springs gay club, killing 5 and injuring at least 25 others. “While progress has been made towards acceptance and equality, members of the LGBTQIA+ community continue to face discrimination, intolerance, and hate-motivated attacks,” the resolution states. “We must remain vigilant in deterring oppression and discrimination against people based on sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation.”

(Aurora, Colo.) The Aurora City Council voted down a resolution by the mayor Monday that would have required council approval for international travel by council members at taxpayers' expense.

(Aurora, Colo.) Thanks to a City Council determined to cut red tape for Aurora businesses, ice cream trucks may be allowed in the city again. The City Council approved the first reading of an ordinance that repeals a decades-old ban on ice cream trucks. It still must be approved a second time at the next council meeting to become law.