AURORA | After months of heated council meetings with outbursts and lack of decorum from members of the public, Aurora City Council have imposed new restrictions for public comment.
Two city council members, Stephanie Hancock and Danielle Jurinsky, were successful in limiting open comment from the public, even allowing the city council to shut down meetings and make them virtual.
“We’re not trying to eliminate public invited to be heard,” Hancock said. “What we’re asking is for respect and decorum, which continually is violated here.”
For months, much of the meetings have been dominated by, and even taken over by, regular protesters and commenters regarding the police-shooting death of Kilyn Lewis in May. The city council, however, has been berated on occasion regarding the Gaza War, the city’s homelessness policies, crime crackdowns policies on immigration.
Commenting public has sometimes been profane, launching ad hominem attacks and refusing to give up the microphone after allotted time at the mike has lapsed.
The initial proposal from Hancock was to allow public comment only at the end of meetings to prevent disruption. She also proposed that the Council be allowed to close meetings to the public and go virtual if attendees are deemed to be lacking decorum.
If the meeting were shut down, the original proposal also gave members of the public only ten minutes to vacate city hall before facing arrest.
One member of the public who spoke against the resolution, Aaron Futrell, said it was ridiculous that the council would consider arresting members of the public for not leaving within 10 minutes.
“Trying to shut up the public and telling us that we’re going to be arrested because we’ve peaceably assembled and are protecting our First Amendment right, I’m laughing at that,” he said.
Councilmember Crystal Murillo said it is difficult to ask the public for decorum when council members cannot be civil with each other.
“If y’all have been watching long enough, you know that this council is not about respect,” Murillo said. “If you’re not in the majority, this council has been vicious; personal attacks that don’t get decorum called on, straight-up lies to the media about what’s happening in our city. There’s no concern for the truth or respect.”
Murillo said she saw the move as a progressive slide toward excluding the public from the city legislative process.
“We keep removing you all’s opportunity to say and to speak to our elected officials,” she said. “I’m not OK with that.”
Murillo said she also had concerns about the move being made too cumbersome and turning the public away. To be able to address the city council, Hancock’s proposal required identification to prove residency, and a time limit to sign up sometimes hours before the meeting started, in order to be allowed to speak.
Murillo proposed an amendment to allow the public to sign up online with a 1 p.m. deadline that City Clerk Kadee Rodriguez agreed to design and implement.
Councilmember Alison Coombs agreed with Murillo, reminding the rest of the council members that when she started, public comment was unlimited and could last hours. She thinks it should be the public’s right to voice opinions to their elected officials.
With amendments, the resolution passed and will direct the city manager to close the meetings to the public if disruptions jeopardize the council’s ability to conduct business, and then meeting will go virtual. The time limit to vacate was taken out since circumstances could always vary, according to City Attorney Pete Schulte. Still, the measure would allow city officials to force the public out of the building.
Councilmember Françoise Bergan amended part of the resolution that proposed moving all of the public to the end of the meeting.
She instead proposed 30 minutes for Aurora residents only at the beginning and 30 minutes at the end of meetings for all public comment. She also proposed reducing the time to speak from three minutes to two minutes.
Bergan and Murillo’s amendments were approved, and the resolution passed, allowing the 30-minute times before and after, with two minutes to speak, and the public will now be able to sign up online until 1 p.m. the day of the meeting. The deadline to sign up in person will stay the same, allowing people to sign up until right before the meeting.
The measure does not affect public hearings associated with legislation.
This comment is what is laughable; “Trying to shut up the public and telling us that we’re going to be arrested because we’ve peaceably assembled and are protecting our First Amendment right, I’m laughing at that,”. These people are preventing the City Council from performing their jobs by being disruptive to the operation. They are anything but peaceably assembling. You want to peaceably assemble and protest the actions of the City Council, do it outside!!
I believe the City Council should shut down all meetings to the public until the public can demonstrate they can let the business of the Aurora government progress. This type of behavior would not be allowed at the State Capitol or at the US Capitol, so why should it be allowed in city hall. I think the threat of arrest is perfectly legitimate so the City Council can get back to business as usual; Danielle Jurinsky and Alison Coombs yelling at each other!
It’s not like they really listen or care about what people say anyway. Make Aurora Great Again, vote them all out in the next election.
Bear in mind that the Aurora City Council represents ALL Aurorans, not just those that show up to have a tantrum and cause trouble.
My concern is Council members not showing up. Gardner seems to be a “sometimes” attendee Garywhether it’s a Monday night Council meeting or an AtLarge meeting. If the public can’t talk at Council meetings, and Council members don’t show, how are they representing us or how do they know what our concerns are? Time for a few new Council members!
Problem is, this council got voted in just like trump did with anger.
They are ruling with anger, just as trump has and will.
Until ‘the people’ feel the anger directed against themselves, nothing will change. They will continue to put these politicians in office in hopes of revenge against perceived wrongs or their own paranoia (ie: LGBTQ)(Religion) including trying to force their own ideas of moriality unto the rest of us.
Not a lot of fun getting your own “liberating tolerance” shoved down your throat, is it?
Homie, Anderson and Mayor Coffman wanted to tangle at the last council meeting. The one, stating to end the tension at council meetings. City Halls’ – Mike Coffman vs BLMs’ – The Land Whale.
https://sentinelcolorado.com/metro/aurora-mayor-dismisses-criticism-after-heated-exchange-with-ex-denver-school-board-member/
This council with the exception of a few are joke and should be voted out. It’s disgusting how much they disregard the public, yes the protestors are peaceful, disruptive when we feel the council is not listening which is a majority of the time, yes but if we weren’t protesting you wouldn’t know what’s going on with the council and they would be able to be slick like they were at the study session reintroducing red light camera under another name that we the voters rejected that’s how this council operates if you want to have blinders on to the truth that’s on you.
Hire more cops! Crack down on the speeders. Ticket or tow the cars with fake tags, no tags, expired tags. The streets are unsafe especially for Seniors. The lack of enforcement raises car insurance. DO SOMETHING NOW.