Aurora lawmakers meet virtually Monday amid pending lawsuit — vape shops, referenda and shrooms on the agenda

AURORA | Aurora lawmakers will meet “virtually” Monday night, the result of a procedural throw-down between a majority of the city council and a group of officer-involved shooting protesters who’ve attended and disrupted the meetings for more than a year.

On tonight’s agenda are potential ballot question referenda and a discussion about whether to ban or restrict vape shops and prohibiting the sale of  faux-psilocybin products and some drug paraphernalia.

Last week, a prominent and regular spokesperson for a group of protesters seeking legal action against an Aurora police officer who fatally shot a Black man during his 2024 arrest filed a lawsuit against the city, saying recent council actions have robbed her of rights to free speech.

“For far too long, Aurora’s City Council has employed tactics of erasure and demonization to suppress those who dare to speak out, to demand justice and to envision accountability as something more than rhetoric,” Midian Shofner said in a statement. “That era must come to an end.”

For months, Schofner and others have appeared at city council meetings, demanding the city fire Aurora SWAT officer Michael Dieck, who fatally shot Kilyn Lewis during his arrest at an Aurora apartment last year. 

An outside police investigative team and a former district attorney both said that Dieck’s actions were not criminal in shooting Lewis. Aurora Police Chief Todd Chamberlain said Dieck’s actions did not violate APD policy.

The lawsuit, filed by the civil rights law firm Newman McNulty, aims to overturn a new ban on the ability of the public to address city council members at meetings. The lawsuit includes a motion for a preliminary injunction to restore that public comment immediately, according to the statement sent by the firm.

Shofner alleges the ban is a direct retaliation for her activism.

City Attorney Pete Schulte said that he had not been served or notified about the lawsuit. City, state and federal offices and courts were closed Thursday in honor of Juneteenth.

“We can’t comment on litigation we haven’t seen,” Schulte said. “But if there is a lawsuit, the city will strongly defend it.”

It’s unclear when and which court would hear Shofner’s request for a restraining order against the city, which could impact a meeting scheduled for Monday.

“The architects of the ban on public comment, specifically Danielle Jurinsky and Mike Coffman, are thin-skinned hypocrites who are the first to cry, ‘I’ve been canceled’ when someone calls them out for their vile and baseless political attacks, but waste no time engaging in actual censorship by using their government authority to retaliate against Black women speaking truth to power,” lawyer Andy McNulty said in a statement.

The lawsuit follows the city council’s June 9 vote to eliminate public comment at council meetings, and in-person meetings entirely, until a separate wrongful-death lawsuit filed by Lewis’ family is resolved. The city council’s decision to ban public comment until the lawsuit is resolved could mean years without allowing public comment during city council meetings. 

After the vote by council, to make all meetings virtual, Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman wrote in a post on Facebook defending the new rule, which included a photo of Shofner speaking at a previous meeting. Her attorneys allege that his post and the ban on public comment target her right to free speech.

It’s unclear whether the protest group lawyers will seek court action to address Monday night’s meeting.

During Monday’s agenda, Aurora lawmakers are considering asking voters to approve a host of city charter amendments with proponents saying they would modernize outdated provisions, improve clarity and promote fairness.

If all are approved by city council, the measures would appear on the November ballot.

The proposed changes encompass a range of topics, from gender-neutral language to council vacancies and term limits. 

One of the proposed measures would update city charter with gender-neutral language. 

Schulte said that his staff carefully reviewed all 20 pages of the charter and identified each section containing gender-specific terms. These would be updated without altering the intent or meaning of any provision.

“The question is, should those articles, or several of them, hereby be amended to replace gender gender-specific language and gender neutral terms that promote clarity, equality, and consistency, without changing the meaning or intent of any charter provision,” Schulte said.

Another proposal would address how vacancies on city council are filled, depending on the timing of the vacancy. The city council may appoint a qualified person to serve for up to two years, or call a special or regular election, which would add clarity to when appointments versus elections are used, Schulte said. This would influence when or if a council member will step down, and whether the rest of city council can reappoint. 

Currently, the charter requires the city manager to live within city limits. A proposed amendment would eliminate that requirement, giving the city council discretion to decide residency conditions at the time of appointment. Schulte said this was intended to change what he said is an archaic rule, Schulte said. 

“That would be a decision for council to make upon making the appointment, versus having a requirement in the charter,” Schulte said. 

Another proposed amendment would remove a ban that prohibits elected city officials from holding another elected public office. It would allow voters to decide if a person can serve in more than one part-time elected position, Schulte said. This would not apply to full-time roles such as a county commissioner due to constitutional restrictions. “I don’t love the idea of people serving in the legislature and council or legislature and school board,” Councilmember Alison Coombs said.

One proposed referendum would change how future raises for city lawmakers and the mayor are pitched and approved. The proposal would eliminate the requirement for council members to vote on their own raises, instead tying salaries to benchmarks such as those of state legislators or county commissioners, Schulte said.  “In my 17 years, we’ve only gone to voters once or twice to update salaries,” Batchelor said.

He said that every year, the city council receives the lesser of inflation or the rate of raises employees receive, which operates almost as a ratchet effect, and over time, he found that the city is not keeping up with the needed raises for council members.

“It would be the people voting to make the changes,” Councilmember Alison Coombs said. Mayor Mike Coffman said he opposed the amendment.

The final proposal clarifies term limits for ward and at-large council members. Currently, the charter does not distinguish between the two as separate offices, requiring a councilmember to “take a break” between serving a term in a ward and serving one at-large after reaching term limits.

Councilmember Francois Bergan said it was simply “eliminating the break.”

This change would allow a council member who has served 12 years in a ward seat to immediately run for an at-large seat without a break, Schulte said. The mayor position is already set up in this way, allowing a ward or at-large council member to run for mayor after serving 12 years in their previous position.  If voters approve it, ward and at-large term limits would be considered separate. If not, the current charter remains, Schulte said. 

“That would help us understand moving forward, what the voters think,” Schulte said.

Another measure for discussion Monday would enact a six-month moratorium on allowing new cigarette stores, vape and smoke shops. Stipulating that the products sold created a public and individual health hazard, the goal of the proposal is to suspend new licenses and then study potential legislation, such as outright bans or restrictions on the industry. Denver currently bans some vape products, such as flavored vapes. 

Another measure would target the widespread sale of some unregulated “drug paraphernalia and unregulated psychoactive products frequently found in vape stores, smoke shops, convenience stores, and liquor stores across the city.”

Substances advertised as “legal” mood and energy enhancers that contain unregulated hallucinogenic mushrooms or products that contain THC from hemp are some of the substances that could be banned for sale in the city. Paraphernalia includes balloons and other items that facilitate the inhalation of nitrous oxide as well as pipes created for smoking meth and crack.