BY FREDA MIKLIN
GOVERNMENTAL REPORTER
At some point in their lives, most Americans experience frustration with the nuances of government rules. But they assume that longtime elected officials don’t get tripped up on those rules. That is not always the case.
It is public knowledge that Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman, who held state office from 1989 to 2008 and was a Member of Congress from 2009 to 2019, was behind the effort to ask the voters of his city to consider changing its municipal government from a council/manager form to a mayor/council type, which would eliminate the city manager and place significant authority for the day-to-day management of the government in the hands of the mayor, with oversight by the city council. The overriding arguments in favor of each option is that the mayor is elected, therefore accountable to the residents of the city via the ballot or, in extreme situations, the possibility of recall; whereas, a city manager is ostensibly a professional manager without a political agenda.
Mayor Coffman was forthright about his involvement once petitions were turned in. Those petitions were later deemed sufficient to put the measure on the November ballot.
The citizen-initiated referendum also contained language that would change term limits for Aurora’s mayor and city council from the current 12 years to eight. After the city clerk certified that sufficient valid signatures had been submitted to get the initiative on the ballot, some Aurora residents made public statements that they were only told the ballot measure addressed term limits, not the change in the form of government.
Reportedly, 21 people who signed the petitions officially protested that they were not given correct information about the initiative when they signed, Those protests have not all been fully adjudicated. The election calendar requires all protests to be resolved before September 8, when the referendum must be certified to the Arapahoe County Clerk. Since proponents of the initiative cannot be assured that that deadline will be met, they have announced that they will withdraw the measure and will try again in 2025.
Mayor Coffman was first elected to the office he currently holds in 2019. Under existing rules, he is eligible for two more four-year terms and has announced his intention to run for re-election in November. Only current City Council Member Juan Marcano has been certified as a candidate for Aurora mayor as of this writing, however there is still time to turn in nominating petitions, which require signatures from 100 registered Aurora voters. Rob Lee Andrews, president and CEO of Community Works, an organization that helps people find employment, has also announced that he intends to run for mayor of Aurora but is likewise not yet certified.
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