File Photo by Gabriel Christus/Aurora Sentinel
AURORA | The Aurora City Council approved a measure Monday that would transfer control of the city’s court administrator from the city council to the city manager’s office.
Under the Aurora Charter, the court administrator currently reports directly to the city council, one of only four positions. The administrator leads the city’s court administration office.
The ordinance was approved on first reading Monday by a seven-to-three vote, with council members Danielle Jurinsky, Steve Sundberg and Amsalu Kassaw opposed.
The ordinance said the change is intended to “streamline operations and align with best practices.” The administrator’s pay and benefits will still ultimately be set by city council, and staffing will remain tied to the city’s annual budget process.
Almost every other department in the city is placed under the city manager’s office, including the Aurora Police Department. Officials stated that the court system’s move was intended to create better oversight and to align the department more closely with the rest of the city’s departments.
This move followed a Management and Policy Finance Committee meeting in July, which raised a plethora of unanswered questions after an audit of the court administration office.
During the July meeting, City Auditor Michelle Crawford said that a review had previously identified significant technological weaknesses and poor cash handling practices.
In July, it was also reported that detention staff had adopted a policy using a triplicate receipt book and drop safe for cash bonds.
Councilmember Curtis Gardner said he was concerned about an outdated system and asked why Aurora, the nation’s 49th largest city, continues to rely on outdated tools.
“I am curious as to why we are still using outdated, unreliable technology like a triplicate receipt book for detention receipts,” Gardner said, who previously managed a local credit union. “Books can get lost. There are a multitude of different things that can happen to them.”
At the Aug. 7 Management and Finance Policy Committee, Crawford reported progress on Court Administration reforms, including new policies for detention cash handling and case management.
“Implemented in the last 30 days is the policies and procedures for detention and case management, which suggest cashing checks and card tampering as well,” Crawford said.
Crawford said that there were still unresolved issues with a formal vending machine vendor contract, system reports and broader financial system controls.
During the meeting, Candice Atkinson, the court administrator, told the committee and city council members that the court is working to install Clover payment devices, which are integrated with the city’s Teller and Workday systems, to improve reporting and audit trails.
She said that many reports already existed in the system but had to be converted to PDF format by the court’s IT staff so that they could be requested and printed on demand by the auditor’s office.
Councilmember Françoise Bergan asked Atkinson whether she had been able to find a third-party financial system audit, which the committee requested in the July meeting. Atkinson said she had reached out to four but was still waiting to hear back from any of them.
Kyle Peterson, senior programmer analyst for Aurora, informed the council members that while some processes remain manual, the city’s new Workday financial platform, combined with the Teller cashiering system, should provide enhanced reporting and audit trails going forward.
“Teller in the middle does provide a lot of the reports that we’re looking for,” Peterson said.
Peterson said that integration with Wells Fargo devices and kiosk payment options is also underway.
“We were hoping to implement, possibly, some kiosks and some more ways for people to make payments,” Peterson said. “This whole process hasn’t really been looked at for a long time. It was mostly kind of manual, and so I’m working with all the appropriate groups to try and get something set up and hopefully get this all streamlined.”
The measure must win a second round of city council approval votes before it can take effect.
Ms Atkinson is in way over her head. Smart to move the city courts under the city manager and the city IT department.
I am curious how Council can change this Charter designation with an ordinance. It seems to me the City recently undertook a Charter review at the behest of Councilmember Coombs who was concerned with gender neutral language. Perhaps during that review they might have had time to address this designation. Absent having done so it is very questionable that this ordinance comports with the Charter
Oh Charlie Richardson, as the former city attorney when the charter section was passed, you should already know. The charter provision specifically allows the city council to pass an ordinance to direct the court administrator to be managed by “another entity or person.” So no charter change required. Cheers!
Wrong. The apointment and removal power can be delegated from Council elsewhere, not management or control of that Office.