AURORA | The dais is once again full during Aurora City Council meetings. Jim Twombly was sworn in at the beginning of the Monday evening meeting.
Twombly, the former city manager of Tulsa, Oklahoma, thanked city council members for choosing him for the position. He was chosen from a list of four finalists who emerged from an applicant pool of more than 150, according to the city.
Jason Batchelor, an assistant city manager, served in the position after former City Manager Skip Noe retired in November. Aurora runs under a council-manager form of government. City council makes policy and overall spending decisions. The city manager is responsible for most hiring and operation of the city.
Council members also approved two ballot questions for the November ballot: One, a wording update for a question asking voters whether to keep the city’s photo red-light program, and the other a question that asks voters to decide potential changes in retirement benefits in what has become a face-off between the city and the Aurora Police Association.
Council members already approved the photo red-light question earlier this summer, lawmakers Monday night agreed to expand the question to allow for information regarding the process of how tickets are issued and where the revenue goes.
Unlike in Denver and other Colorado municipalities that have photo red-light programs, Aurora reviews each photo before a citation is issued. Additionally, the revenue is used to help fund a handful of non-profit organizations in the city, mostly youth and homelessness services.
Lawmakers spent more than an hour fine-tuning a police union question the city charter requires. City law stipulates that since the police union and city council have reached a stalemate on negotiating union contract changes, voters must now be the arbiters.
The dispute centers on the union wanting to switch from a locally-controlled defined contribution retirement plan, called the MPPA plan, to a statewide defined benefit plan, the FPPA plan, which comprises 200 other Colorado public safety agencies, including the Aurora Fire Department.
A city council report was published earlier this month recommending the police department stick to the MPPA plan, but that the city increase pay and time off for some employees. While the city agreed to the recommendations, the union didn’t. The charter dictates the decision now go to voters.
The question will ask voters if the union offer should be implemented rather than the city’s recommendation.
Council member Allison Hiltz said she questions the findings from the report because it cites the American Legislative Exchange Council — a right-leaning policy organization that tends to object to defined-benefit plans — a handful of times in the 80-plus sources used in the report.
Hiltz said she supports allowing the union to choose its pension plan.
Bob Wesner, president of the Aurora Police Association, said during the meeting that council members who vote to put the question on the ballot send a message to police officers in the city that they aren’t supported by elected city officials.
Council members Johnny Watson, Angela Lawson and Francoise Bergan each said that wasn’t the case, and that the issue is more complicated than simply supporting the police department — because they all do.
Council member Dave Gruber highlighted the control the city would lose if the union associated with the FPPA plan. The report said the FPPA plan could force the city to contribute more money, and “increased employer contributions could result in ‘cuts to other, non-public safety programs and services.’”
