AURORA | Aurora city lawmakers approved a minor change Monday night to the one person at the lectern rule, but the resolution mainly remained the same.
Councilmember Françoise Bergan said she discussed the new ordinance with City Attorney Pete Schulte, and the city is removing the physical disabilities language that was added during the last meeting. Instead, they added a clause that addresses Americans with Disabilities Act compliance.
“That is why I’m bringing it back, by removing that portion, but yet putting it in the whereas clause,” she said. “When we do amendments on the fly, it gets really difficult.”
The resolution passed with council members Crystal Murillo and Ruben Medina opposing the entirety of the rule. The change will limit speakers to one person at a time at the lectern in the “council well” unless they have a child with them.
“We are not going to violate the ADA,” Schulte said. “It was just impossible to get all the different variations in the actual rule itself.”
The city council has struggled with protesters linked to the death of Lewis for almost a year.
Lewis was fatally shot May 23, 2024, by an Aurora SWAT officer during Lewis’ arrest at an Aurora apartment complex. The arrest was linked to attempted murder charges in Denver. Arapahoe County prosecutors said SWAT Officer Michael Dieck did not break any laws during the shooting. Aurora Police Chief Todd Chamberlain said internal investigations revealed Chamberlain did not break any police policies during the shooting. As police were yelling at Lewis to surrender during the parking-lot confrontation, Dieck fired at Lewis as he was raising his arms and hands. Lewis was holding a cell phone in his hand, and Dieck told investigators he thought it was a gun.
Since then, friends, family members and activists have protested during, before and after Aurora city council meetings, sometimes shutting them down and spending hours speaking to or in front of the city council.
City lawmakers have increasingly restricted how the public addresses the city council without specifically targeting the Lewis coalition of about a dozen regular participants.
The resolution tonight initially had a section prohibiting cameras or any other recording device in the “well” of the council chambers and obstructing views in the audience with tripods live-streaming during the “public invited to be heard” session before the council meeting. It would have also restricted the media from photographing in the area, but Councilmember Francoise Bergan, the measure’s sponsor, decided to delete that section.
“It was a bit confusing as the intention was not to preclude a speaker from videotaping or taking a photo,” she said in an email to the Sentinel before the meeting.
City Attorney Pete Schulte described the “well” of the chamber as the floor space between the front row of the auditorium seating and the dais where city council members sit.
The part of the proposal that passed will allow only one person at a time at the lectern on the council floor when the public is addressing the council at the dais.
Last month, MiDian Schofner, one of the regular Lewis protesters, invited people to stand with her at the lectern. The group stood together in the “well” throughout the public listening session. The group has similarly moved onto the council floor numerous times over the past 10 months.