AURORA | Two city council members are seeking their colleagues’ support to fill Aurora’s mayor pro tem vacancy.
Curtis Gardner and Steve Sundberg have submitted their names to replace Dustin Zvonek, who resigned from the council at the end of October.
Aurora’s mayor pro tem is limited to running meetings when the mayor is absent, and to make appointments to council committees and appoint committee chairs at the end of every year.
Photo by PHILIP B. POSTON/Sentinel Colorado
Gardner, an executive with Waste Management, is a non-affiliated moderate at-large member who in a letter to his colleagues emphasized his “collaboration and organizational skills.”
“I think I’m a unifying voice and can help fill a leadership vacuum that we have on the council,” he told the Sentinel Monday.
Council committees don’t have the power to table legislation. Any council member can sidestep them when proposing city bills. Still Gardner said, “Whoever leads a committee has a bully pulpit to control the agenda and decide who speaks and doesn’t speak, so I think who’s in that role matters.”
Gardner said he has felt “uncomfortable” with city council sometimes overstepping its role in recent years, especially in public safety matters. He attributes the fact that recently appointed Police Chief Todd Chamberlain is the seventh person to head Aurora’s beleaguered police department in five years speaks to “a certain degree of micromanagement” by members.
Sundberg, a conservative Republican who operates a local family bar and grill and represents northeastern Aurora’s Ward II, urged his colleagues to appoint him mayor pro tem because of his balance of “calm, reliability and a positive, approachable demeanor.” “My ability to remain objective and level headed in challenging situations ensures I can contribute thoughtfully to our discussions and decisions,” he wrote.
Any other council member seeking the pro tem appointment has until Nov. 15 to submit written notification. The 11-member council will vote on position Dec. 2.
In the meantime, five people have applied to fill Zvonek’s at-large council seat until the city’s next municipal election in November 2025.
Registered candidates are:
Javier Chavez, a senior planner for the State of Colorado Dept. of Personnel Administration
Perry Jowsey, executive director of the Colorado Chapter of the National Bleeding Disorders Foundation
Amsalu Kassaw, a human rights activist at Ethiopian American Civic Council
Eric Mulder, an Army veteran, small business owner and Forward Party candidate for state House in Aurora this year.
Matthew Snider, an IT director for a metro law firm and former Democratic Aurora candidate for state Senate
Other members of the public interested in that appointment have until Nov. 13 to submit applications.
Current council members will decide that day which candidates will be interviewed at an extended City Council meeting Dec. 2. They will then hold a meet-and-greet event the week of Dec. 9 for the public to ask candidates questions and register their comments about applicants. A vacancy vote among council members is scheduled for Dec. 16.
Check your headline. Don’t you mean Gardner, Sundberg….?
Nice catch and thanks. The shortened version was shortened wrong.
Well, this should be interesting. We all know Curtis Gardner is one of the only adults in the room. Clearly, Jurinsky will try to bully her way to the outcome that best suits her – let’s see if Council will stand up to her finally. Sundberg, while a nice guy, isn’t a leader.