AURORA | Aurora City Council members will ask voters this November to allow up to 45 days to fill a vacancy on council instead of 30 days, council members agreed at a meeting June 10.
The change was proposed by members of the council’s Management and Finance Committee, who said 30 days is too short and creates scheduling problems for council members.
Council members settled on 45 days after a majority of council members passed on the initial proposal of a 60-day window. Two months is too long for Aurora residents not to be represented by a council member, said Councilwoman Molly Markert.
“That’s purely for our convenience … it’s wrong to put our convenience ahead of people that needed to be represented,” she said.
Councilwoman Debi Hunter-Holen agreed.
“Sixty days it too long, I don’t care who is gone, that’s too long to not have representation,” she said.
Current rules require that city council members appoint a new council member to fill a vacancy seat within 30 days.
The most recent council appointment was in October 2012, when Sally Mounier was appointed to fill the Ward I seat vacated by Melissa Miller.