AURORA | There are two candidates vying for the Ward II City Council seat, currently held by incumbent Steve Sundberg.

Encompassing northeast Aurora, the ward includes vast open tracts, massive new developments and a bevy of older neighborhoods.

Councilmember Sundberg, running for a second term, brings a great deal of controversy to the race linked to widely publicized news about allegations of sexually inappropriate comments made to city staffers, as well as a nationally controversial episode involving racially and culturally offensive Facebook videos Sundberg made as tavern advertisements during the pandemic.

The Sentinel’s city council ward election reports comes from reports of issues that make the city council dais and recent questions posed to candidates. Major issues include public safety, police reform, affordable housing and homelessness.

Aurora is currently under a consent decree imposed by Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser in 2021. It was the result of investigations into allegations of the Aurora Police Department’s excessive use of force and discriminatory practices, particularly against people of color. Triggered in part by the 2019 death of Elijah McClain, who died at the hands of police and rescuers after being stopped, unarmed, the decree mandates broad reforms in training, accountability, use-of-force policies, data systems and community engagement.

This year, four people have died so far in police-involved shootings, and three were unarmed. Critics have concerns about whether the city is making changes to the police department quickly enough and whether the city should implement an independent police oversight structure, a long-standing issue that has regularly drawn resistance from police and police allies. 

Homelessness is also a compelling issue for many voters in Aurora, amid the city’s two-year-old camping ban, which was upheld by a Supreme Court decision last year. For about three years, the city has increasingly made the ban more restrictive. Although the city is not required to offer shelter for the homeless people, while ticketing homeless scofflaws, the city is about to open the Aurora Regional Navigation Campus. That center will offer a three-tier “work-first” approach to homelessness. Some shelter services will be available to anyone on a space-available basis. But transitional housing and some other services will be provided only to those who enter addiction programs and agree to work. The idea has been controversial because almost all national, credible studies point to the greatest short-term and long-term success for permanent housing and rehabilitation being linked to some variation of  “Housing First” policies. Candidates were asked whether they would keep the policies as they are or make changes.

Other questions concerned affordable housing and how candidates might utilize policy or their position as a city council member to create more affordable and workforce housing for groups of all income levels. 

Ward II – Two candidates for northeast Aurora

Steve Sundberg

Republican Steve Sundberg is a longtime Aurora resident who owns and operates Legends of Aurora Sports Grill. He is the Ward II incumbent running for his second term. He describes himself as pro-small business, and he has worked on public safety legislation and initiatives aimed at reducing homelessness.

Sundberg did not respond to repeated requests for interviews for this report.

He has said during campaign appearances and in his campaign literature that he will focus on public safety, local business, affordable housing and reducing homelessness, if reelected. 

Sundberg is also a father and husband. He met his wife, who is from Rwanda, while building homes with Habitat for Humanity abroad, according to his campaign website. 

As a city lawmaker, he has sponsored legislation discouraging panhandling and has regularly backed his council votes with rhetoric focusing on a “tough-on-crime” approach, as well as a “tough love” approach, to homelessness. 

Sundberg has supported city legislation linked to the Aurora Mental Health’s Acute Care Campus, and has connected stakeholders to collaborate on the city’s soon-to-be-open Regional Navigation Campus and advocates for affordable housing projects, including being a proponent of a permanent supportive housing, 43-unit Aurora Housing Authority mental health care bed-space facility, according to his informational webpage. He has sponsored legislation addressing Aurora water policy and a focus on long-term water security.

Sundberg has advocated for infrastructure investment in Ward II and has represented Aurora at key regional board meetings, as stated on his webpage. He spearheaded the expansion of the Aurora Police Department’s Homeless Abatement Relocation Team (HART), a police department initiative that requires unhoused individuals to relocate or face ticketing or jail time unless they utilize the city’s resources. 

Sundberg has also faced widely publicized controversies since taking office in 2021, much like his close council ally, Councilmember Danielle Jurinsky. 

In 2022, allegations against Sundberg for sexual harassment and inappropriate comments at city hall surfaced. According to previous Sentinel reporting, investigators confirmed that Sundberg made remarks in the presence of city staff that were deemed sexual in nature.

The Aurora City Council withheld disclosure under Colorado’s public records law relating to sexual harassment investigations.

A Sentinel investigation, however, revealed that Sundberg made inappropriate comments to staff in 2021 because he was in “a nervous and challenging situation in which I blurted out a joke or a story which was about a prank.”

During a December 2021 meeting that included city staff members, attendees had commented on a COVID mask that he was wearing. He said he replied with a “joke or story” about wearing a mask over his genitals.

“I related a prank that was played on a really good friend of mine where I wore a large mask as a loincloth and gave it to my friend,” he said. “As the last word came out of my mouth, I knew it wasn’t fitting. I wasn’t trying to be lewd or offensive.”

Sundberg’s account was said to be consistent with the information included in the Sentinel report, which concluded that the council member “made an inappropriate comment about the size of his mask in relation to his genitals.”

“Upon completing that, I realized it was an inappropriate thing to say,” he said in the previous reporting. “I do genuinely care about other people and how I treat them, so I am meeting with a couple of staff tomorrow to apologize, have a crucial conversation about that and move on with important city business.”

The only action ultimately taken was the apology.

There were other, less substantiated accusations of sexual harassment as well, including Sundberg making a joke about whether he is allowed to file receipts from the strip club and allegedly looking an employee up and down in an inappropriate manner. 

Another scandal came from the earlier days of the COVID-19 pandemic when “racist” videos surfaced from Sundberg’s Facebook, with his joking about different stereotypes of different groups of people. 

After the videos surfaced, Sundberg said the series of videos was intended to drive business to his restaurant, Legends of Aurora Sports Grill, during the pandemic, by performing mocking impressions of various ethnic people.

He later apologized, saying they were not intended to be racist, nor did he consider them racist. He apologized to those who were offended, not for making the videos. 

A massive backlash from regional minority community leaders disagreed, resulting in calls for his resignation from the city council.

The 2022 article focused on Facebook videos of Sundberg performing a variety of stereotypical impressions of various ethnic groups in promotional skits for his business. The scandal that followed at the Sentinel exposed the videos received national media coverage.

In one video, Sundberg wears a turban and robe, exclaiming “haram” after being offered bacon. In another, he dons a Mexican blanket serving as a poncho and mimics a Mexican accent, making racist trope jokes about an employee. Other videos include Sundberg imitating Asian and German accents in skits, which are criticized for perpetuating offensive stereotypes. One video depicts Sundberg and a black Man at a urinal, with Sundberg making racist trope comments about the man’s genitals. 

Community leaders said the videos undermined trust in Aurora, a city known for its diversity, where 21.8% of residents identify as foreign-born, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, and more than a quarter of the city, 30.7%, identify as Hispanic or Latino. Around 15.8% of Aurorans are Black, 6.0% are Asian, and 15.6% are two or more races. 

In January 2025, Sundberg contacted the Sentinel, saying he noticed his election website domain had been purchased after he allowed it to expire, and the purchaser had the website page link back to the Sentinel article about Sundberg’s videos. Sundberg accused the Sentinel of taking control of his domain and having it rerouted back to the article.

Sentinel Editor Dave Perry said the Sentinel had nothing to do with the website and informed Sundberg that someone had purchased his domain name and rerouted it themselves. Website records did not make clear who purchased and now controls the website URL.

Meet Steve Sundberg

Steve Sundberg, a Republican, is a longtime Aurora resident who owns and operates Legends of Aurora Sports Grill. He is the Ward II incumbent running for his second term. Sundberg describes himself as pro-small business and has worked on public safety legislation and reducing homelessness, according to his campaign website.

He sponsored panhandling education signage to discourage panhandling and has taken a tough-on-crime approach, as well as a “tough love” approach, to homelessness. 

Sundberg’s campaign website said he will continue to focus on public safety, local business, affordable housing and reducing homelessness.

Steve Sundberg Q&A

Did not respond to requests to participate in the candidate Q&A

The lighter side of Steve Sundberg

Did not respond to requests to participate in the candidate Q&A

Amy Wiles

Democrat Amy Wiles is a longtime Aurora resident and is actively involved in community-driven groups. 

She said she is not a politician, but a community member focused on improving Aurora’s neighborhoods. Wiles said she believes in community engagement, volunteering and giving back.

The majority of her campaign has been spent focusing on advocating for the repair of aging infrastructure, improving street conditions, expanding youth opportunities and addressing food insecurity in parts of East Aurora that she says remain “food deserts.”

Professionally, Wiles works in health care and operates a photography business, balancing her career with a growing portfolio of civic involvement. She serves as a City of Aurora Human Relations Commissioner, as chairperson, and is a member of the Community Advisory Council for the Aurora Police Department’s Consent Decree, a role that has significantly shaped her platform on public safety and police-community relations.

Wiles’ approach to policing supports expanding Aurora’s community policing teams to include more officers walking beats, talking with residents, attending more events and connecting with youth.

“All the things that our Community Policing Team does, we would just need to expand it,” Wiles said.

She also wanted to explore the city’s co-responder model to see how it can be expanded, either through partnerships with nonprofits or other groups, or by hiring more mental health support, trained officers, or mental health professionals. She said she would want to advocate for more strategic, “common sense” deployment of police resources, and the police need more support to address mental health issues and substance abuse calls.

“Sometimes just seeing an officer can escalate somebody who is already having mental health challenges,” Wiles said. 

Although she mentioned the challenge of hiring professionals for an independent oversight model with a looming budget deficit in Aurora, Wiles suggested finding volunteers to create an oversight board, and then having the city pay for the volunteers’ training to evaluate police oversight. 

“We could have the community team, who is there to help give feedback, to help provide comments to the police, to help review any shootings or any use of force that they may need to look at,” Wiles said.

Making racial bias training more frequent and creating implicit bias training would also be a preferred addition, Wiles said. 

“The reality is, the de-escalation training that we’re currently using is not effective,” Wiles said. “These trainings need to be refreshed and re-offered on a yearly basis, not just okay, you did it once in the academy, and now you’re done.”

When addressing homelessness, Wiles said she opposes the camping bans and said that in many cases, criminalizing homelessness perpetuates the cycle by making it harder for people to access jobs and services.

“Cities that have implemented camping bans actually have an increase in homelessness,” she said. “You’re potentially setting people up to stay in that cycle of homelessness and incarceration.”

Wiles said she also strongly prefers the “housing first” approach over the “work first” approach to addressing homelessness, because it prioritizes providing stable housing as the foundation for addressing other issues, such as employment, mental health, and substance use. She said that studies show the approach typically saves the city money on jail, detox and Emergency Medical Service costs while reducing homelessness.

​​She also discussed additions to the Navigation Campus, such as specialized, longer-term options, such as tiny-home villages for veterans, which can be built through partnerships between nonprofits and developers.

Her other views on making housing more accessible for residents throughout the city include increasing housing affordability for young professionals, teachers, and local workers who are all priced out of the city by maintaining or incentivizing developers to set aside a percentage of new units as affordable. 

She suggested a diverse mix of housing types, including patio homes, townhouses, and smaller homes, rather than focusing solely on large single-family homes. Wiles said she also wanted to explore workforce housing options through a partnership with the public schools for teachers and public safety employees. 

Infrastructure, besides housing, was a big part of Wiles’ campaign. Ward II lacks adequate roads, traffic lights, retail, public transportation, parks, recreation centers and libraries, she said. She hopes to foster community by developing infrastructure that builds communities, by leveraging the ward’s undeveloped land for thoughtful, balanced growth that addresses both housing and community needs.

“Throwing a bunch of houses in an open lot or an open space isn’t the solution to our problems. It’s not just enough,” Wiles said.  “You have to look at the entire approach, and that means looking at those mixed-income communities, making sure that the roads and the streets are adequate, making sure the traffic lights are adequate, making sure that there is development nearby, so that people can live and shop and have entertainment within a reasonable distance of their home.”

Meet Amy Wiles

Amy Wiles, a Democrat, is a longtime Aurora resident and is actively involved in community-driven groups, working in healthcare in Aurora. 

She said she is not a politician, but a community member focused on improving Aurora’s neighborhoods, according to her campaign website.  Wiles said she believes in community engagement, volunteering and giving back.

Wiles previously served in groups including Women in Business. She is also a Leadership Aurora Graduate and serves as a City of Aurora Human Relations Commissioner, chairperson and a member of the Community Advisory Council for the Aurora Police Department Consent Decree.

Wiles is a volunteer with Special Olympics Colorado and previously volunteered with Brent’s Place, Homes for Our Troops and as a Big Sister. 

Wiles said she plans to focus on infrastructure, streets, youth and food deserts.

Amy Wiles Q&A

Amy Wiles -DEM

Q: Why should Aurora voters choose you as their next at-large representative?

I’m a 25-year resident of Aurora, an advocate for our community, and someone who believes in the power of service and connection. Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of serving our city in many ways — as Chair of the Human Relations Commission, a volunteer on the Community Advisory Council for the Aurora Police Department Consent Decree, and a graduate of Leadership Aurora. I also volunteer regularly with the Special Olympics, and occasionally with Homes for Our Troops and Brent’s Place. These experiences have shown me the strength, resilience, and diversity of our city — and they’ve inspired me to run for office. I am a mom, a small business owner and know the value of hard work, creativity and I don’t run from tough conversations.   Our community deserves leaders who are focused on what the community needs, working across party lines for the betterment of the city and not what special interests or their own personal political goals dictate. 

Q:  What will be your top three legislative priorities if elected?

1. Infrastructure: Our city needs their infrastructure needs addressed.  From potholes to lack of adequate streets for certain communities and missing traffic signals which have led to serious accidents including several fatalities.  A city cannot grow responsibly without the infrastructure it needs to be a functional community. 

2. Economic Development: In Ward 2 there is a need for retail, including grocery stores.  We need to attract new businesses and encourage our own locally owned small businesses to open in the new areas of ward 2 to address the existing food desert. 

3. Public Safety: This is a broad topic as it includes the lack of police presence in the newer areas of ward 2 which is leading to long wait times, the increased youth violence rates as well as ongoing APD shootings of unarmed community members.  

Q:  What critical issue in your ward would you champion as a city lawmaker? 

My primary focus would be addressing critical infrastructure gaps across the city, with particular attention to Eastern Ward 2. The current condition of our roads, combined with the lack of traffic signals and calming measures, has not only contributed to an increase in accidents but also led to prolonged travel times and congestion for residents.

In addition to transportation infrastructure, there is a need for community amenities such as recreation centers and libraries. Ward 2, home to nearly 30,000 residents, currently lacks access to grocery stores, recreation centers and libraries, which significantly limits opportunities for education, engagement, and wellness.

Finally, public safety infrastructure must be strengthened and gaps addressed. Several areas remain underserved due to the absence of nearby police stations and an insufficient number of fire stations, which compromises emergency response times and overall community safety. 

Q: What sort of working relationship do you want to develop with council members who don’t share your political views?

We are adults and should behave that way, which means even if we don’t agree we should be able to talk respectfully and come together for the best option for the good of the city.  I would hope that we can work together, stop the name calling and insults and work to address the issues within the city. The community elects leaders to solve problems not create them.  

Q: Do you think the issue of homelessness in Aurora has improved with recent changes? If you could implement a program, what would it be?

No, I don’t think the current approach is working.  The council has made decisions that have cost taxpayers’ money without much return and in fact have cost more money than the program has generated (ie Give Real Change campaign).    Studies have proven a housing first approach is more effective and provides the opportunity for long-term change.  In a housing first method- 88% of people remain housed after 5 years, whereas in a treatment first method only 47% remain housed.  The long-term success of a program to address homelessness must be the housing first method, which is inline with nationwide best practices.  Housing first also costs less for the city (and taxpayers) when it comes to ER visits, jail time etc. 

Q: To discourage criminal behavior, should the city invest more in social programs (education, job training, etc.), or should it invest more in policing and impose tougher criminal penalties?

I believe we need a combination of approaches.  For our youth we need to provide more opportunities for engagement and activity- ward 2 for example with almost 30,000 people having zero recreation centers or libraries for youth which can often lead to property crime, vehicle theft and other issues.  In addition to providing activities, we also should look at a restorative justice model when crimes occur. 

Additional foot/car patrols would also decrease the instances of these crimes; there are areas of ward 2 where you don’t see any police officers unless there is a level 1 crime.  This lack of presence allows people to commit these vehicle thefts without fear of arrest.   I also think the PAR officers should be in the community offering tips and strategies on how to protect homes/cars against this type of crime (i.e. providing steering wheel locks or other deterrents).  

I also think the penalties should require more community service.  While yes, some people need to go to jail, housing people in jail for crimes like petty shoplifting often cause the taxpayers more money in the long run.  The current council passed an ordinance that anyone who shoplifts items over $250 serves a mandatory three-day jail sentence- this is incredibly expensive for tax payers and hasn’t been show in nationwide studies to be effective. 

Q: After the death of Elijah McClain and other incidents of excessive police force, Aurora’s Police Department agreed to implement a list of reforms to address what the Colorado Attorney General’s Office described as a pattern of racially-biased policing and excessive force. How much progress have Aurora police made toward reform? Have calls for reform gone too far, or are they not ambitious enough?

I don’t believe the APD has made enough progress towards addressing the ongoing issues that caused the need for the consent decree.  Because I am on the community advisory council and we were required to sign an NDA, I’m going to stay at a high level with my answer.   I believe we need to hire an independent monitor, and they should have a permanent civilian review board to ensure the changes are not only made but followed in the long term.  I also believe we need greater transparency when it comes to the investigative process for these shootings which includes support for the families, answers without personal biases being provided timely to the family and the media.  

I believe Aurora needs a community policing model, with more officers patrolling and engaging in the community before issues occur.  The community team over at APD does a great job building those relationships and this needs to be expanded with more officers and interactions.  We also need more co-responders to assist when community members are in a mental health crisis- this would avoid some of the shootings we’ve seen happen recently of unarmed men who have been killed.

It’s also shown that foot patrols and community engagement lead to a 30% decrease in crime, and increased trust, reduced fear and enhanced cooperation with officers which is what the City of Aurora needs for long term public safety.  

Q: Aurora is grappling with a shortage of affordable housing, with some state officials seeing a need for thousands of additional affordable units to meet demand. What specific steps would you like to see the city take to expand its inventory of affordable housing, or is this an issue best dictated by market forces?

The lack of affordable housing in Aurora will take a variety of solutions to address.  We should partner with developers to include more affordable/attainable options as they build new communities.  This includes smaller footprint options (patio homes/townhomes etc.) which allow for a denser development and additional pathways to home ownership for community members including young professionals who cannot afford to call Aurora home. 

We also should look at incentives to turn existing vacant buildings into alternative housing, With the increase of work from home jobs post covid, there has been an abundance of empty office buildings that could potentially be turned into small affordable apartment homes.  

I would love to see tiny house community options as well- there have been instances of small veteran communities built to provide housing and support for veterans that have been very successful that we should evaluate. 

I believe we also need to evaluate options for workforce housing.  Our entry level teachers, fire fighters, police etc. often cannot afford to live in the communities they serve.  I believe we should evaluate programs to use workforce housing to make these options available to them.  

We also need to learn from other successful programs and implement them here in Aurora. From zoning changes to data driven housing dashboards we need to implement best practices from similar sized cities across the country and apply them to our city. 

Q: Grade the performance of President Donald Trump: A, B, C, D, or F.

 I would give him an F. 

Q: Grade the performance of Gov. Jared Polis: A, B, C, D, or F.

I think he’s earned a C.

The lighter side of Amy Wiles

•  If you had a superpower, what would it be? I think it would be flying!  I could avoid sitting in all the stopped traffic due to our poor infrastructure in ward 2 and it would allow me to travel for free to all the countries I can’t wait to visit.  It’s a win-win!

•  Did you have any New Year’s resolutions? What were they? No, I tend to forget I even made the resolutions within a few weeks because life ends up happening.  

•  What was the last movie you watched?  Elio with my granddaughter.  

•  What is your least favorite household chore?  Folding laundry!  At this point why can’t the dryer fold it for me. The Jetsons promised me all these innovations as a kid and yet I’m still folding laundry.  

•  What fun fact about you would most surprise people who know you? I read really fast- the last time I was tested I read over 350 words per  minute.