Header: The Aurora City Council made policy committee appointments
AURORA | Policy committee appointments for city council were announced, and although all policy is approved by the entire city council, the new appointments can hint at how next year will look.
“One of the main responsibilities of the mayor pro tem is assigning council members to policy committees,” Councilmember Alison Coombs said.
Coombs, who was also just appointed mayor pro tem, announced the different appointments Dec.18 on her mayor pro tem Facebook page, along with citing the multiple considerations she weighed when making the decisions.
“I did my best to be fair and reasonable in assigning members, and I hope everyone gets opportunities to work on issues that are of interest to them through their committee assignments,” Coombs wrote in the statement.
The assignments are among the first official acts of a city council that flipped control from Republicans to Democrats after the Nov. 4 Election.
One of the most-watched policy committees, Public Safety, which oversees police and fire legislation and operations, is now governed by two Democrats and a Republican. Under the previous city council, Democrats were shut out of the committee.
Coombs said she started by assigning members to committees they asked to be on, then she said she aimed to balance “new ideas from incoming members with the institutional knowledge of incumbents who have previously served on particular committees.”
She said she also wanted to balance ward and at-large representation.
“As one might expect, some committees did not have significant interest from council members, while others had more interest than seats on the committee,” she said in the statement. “Members were assigned to committees with low interest based on who was still unassigned after more competitive committees were full.”
Council committees field legislation and review staff progress on tasks, but committees cannot block legislation.
“It is worth noting that no committee has the ability to stop a policy from moving forward,” Coombs said. “They are an initial opportunity for discussion, feedback and staff information regarding policy proposals.”
The committee assignments:
Federal, State and Intergovernmental Relations: Angela Lawson is chairperson, Alli Jackson is vice chairperson and Amy Wiles is a member.
Housing, Neighborhood Services and Redevelopment: Alli Jackson is the chairperson, Angela Lawson is the vice chairperson and Gianina Horton is a member.
Management and Finance: Ruben Medina is the chairperson, Curtis Gardner is the vice chairperson and Françoise Bergan is a member.
Planning and Economic Development: Amy Wiles is the chairperson, Françoise Bergan is the vice chairperson and Alli Jackson is a member.
Parks, Foundations and Quality of Life: Stephanie Hancock is the chairperson, Ruben Medina is the vice chairperson and Curtis Gardner is a member.
Public Relations, Communications, Tourism, Libraries, Boards, Commissions and Citizen Groups: Curtis Gardner is chairperson, Gianina Horton is vice chairperson and Stephanie Hancock is a member.
Public Safety, Courts and Civil Service: Rob Andrews is the chairperson, Stephanie Hancock is the vice chairperson and Ruben Medina is a member.
Transportation, Airports and Public Works: Gianina Horton is the chairperson, Amy Wiles is the vice chairperson and Rob Andrews is a member.
Water: Françoise Bergan is the chairperson, Rob Andrews is a vice chairperson and Angela Lawson is a member.