AURORA | Two important city commissions have openings coming up soon, and one has five applicants vying for one seat.
Both the Planning and Zoning Commission and the Civil Service Commission, which oversees the police and fire departments’ hiring, promotions and discipline, have seats opening up.
The Civil Service Commission has one opening in February, when Commissioner Barbara Shannon Bannister’s term ends. She is not requesting a reappointment, and the only candidate applying so far for her position is Laura Maher.
Maher is the director of client relations for Psychological Dimensions, a position that has caused her to work closely with the city for years, according to Maher’s applications. She has lived in Aurora for 12 years and is a Denver native.
The Planning and Zoning Commission has two open seats with only one person applying for reappointment, Commissioner Melvin Bush. Bush served two terms and was approved by city council to serve a third term.
For the second seat opening, the city council will hold public interviews with the five applicants, Robin Becker, Mariel Coughlin, Nicholas Richardson, Allison Spink and recent city council candidate in Ward I, Stephen Elkins.
Chukwubuike Aghaji applied but has only lived in Aurora for one month, and did not qualify.
Becker is a senior campus planner for the State of Colorado Auraria Higher Education Center and has previously worked as a town and city planner in Estes Park and Golden.
Coughlin is an assistant project manager for Bryan Construction and has previously worked as a field and office project engineer, according to her application.
Richardson is a senior software engineer for RTX and previously worked as a senior software engineer for Lockheed Martin and ConMed, according to his application.
Spink is the owner and principal accountant at The Holistic Accountant and previously was the director of accounting at Project 44, Inc., and as the vice president and corporate controller at Angi, Inc., according to her application.
Elkins is a product development manager at Prime Data Centers and previously worked as a senior and associate city planner, and as an associate development project administrator for the City and County of Denver, according to his application.
Both commissions will follow the same timeline for deadlines and interviews. The deadline for applications for Planning and Zoning is Jan. 2, 2026, and the deadline for Council Members to submit rankings is Jan. 8, 2026.
City council will determine the candidates to be interviewed Jan. 12, 2026, and interviews for candidates will be during the Study Session Jan. 26, 2026. Final appointments will be made Feb. 29, 2026.
With a “new” City Council they may consider a new path for the Civil Service Commission that I have known for over 30 years after reviewing it while on the CABC. Eliminate it and save the millions of dollars now spent annually to run it.
The Commissions job can be easily done by the Fire and Police Departments with a minimal increase in those budgets. No one seems to want to review this as it would require a Charter Amendment. With City budget problems, someone should check this out rather than continue to seek applicants.