Curtis Gardner-City Council Newsletter

Aurora City Council Newsletter

 
Welcome to my periodic newsletter where I'll keep you up-to-date with what's going on with Aurora City Council - what we've voted on, what we've studied and more.

What a year 2021 has been! As we wind down the year, I want to wish everyone a Happy Holidays! Make sure to spend some time with friends and family - and don't forget our first responders and others that can't always be with family this time of year.
 
Additionally, I want to extend my thoughts & prayers to those that have been impacted by the shootings we have seen in our community in recent weeks. The continued violence in our city is alarming and anyone that isn't concerned must not be paying attention. We continue to have the lives of young people ripped apart and we should never become numb to that. I don't have all the answers to what is a complex and complicated problem-one we didn't get into overnight.
 
The Aurora community needs healing, and we need all hands on deck to address the youth violence epidemic. To make sure we reach our young people, we need those closest to them to be more involved-parents, pastors and community leaders. There are concrete steps we can take, such as increased mental health services and increased youth programming. However, politicians won't solve this problem-our young people need positive, life-affirming influence in their daily lives.
 
Here are a few updates from the City:

Attention, Aurora youth! Looking for fun and safe ways to spend your winter break? "Recharge Your Batteries" with new and existing programs and events offered by the city and some of our partners, from free recreation center visits to New Year's Eve parties. It's all being led by the Aurora Youth Violence Prevention Program. 
 
For a complete list of activities, visit the calendar at AuroraGov.org/EmpoweringYouth.

This featured job is the City Clerk Analyst position for our City Clerk’s Office. This office is committed to providing excellent customer service to our diverse community through communication, trust, professionalism, respect and accountability. Under the general direction of the City Clerk, the City Clerk Analyst is responsible for a variety of high-level administrative and technical duties. 
 
For more information about this position, including salary, visit AuroraGov.org/Jobs.

The city of Aurora's next opportunities for
e-cycling for Aurora residents and nonresidents are Dec. 27 to 31 and Jan. 3 to 8.
 
The city’s e-cycling events are happening at Techno Rescue—the city’s e-cycling partner—to better serve the community and provide access to as many residents as possible. The facility at 3251 Lewiston St., Suite 10, will be open from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday (closed Sundays and Jan. 1 for New Year’s Day). Business customers are not eligible for these events.
 
For more information including additional fees, visit AuroraGov.org/Recycle.

The city is required to balance its budget every year, and 2022 is no different. This year's budget of $983 million provides a sound financial plan to provide funding for the best possible municipal services. While strong revenue growth allowed the city to address a variety of critical items, the significant number of competing priorities provides challenges that will need to be tackled in the coming years. Given the uncertainty of the ongoing pandemic, the revenue projections for 2022 were based on a cautious growth scenario to allow for fluctuations in consumer confidence and spending.
 
To view the 2022 budget document, visit AuroraGov.org/Budget.

Clockwise from top left: Aurora FF Local 1290's Big John at the Southlands Christmas Parade; Riding with Santa in Big John; with CMs Hiltz & Johnston at their last meeting; Speaking to a group of Boy Scouts about Aurora issues

Here are a few items of note from our last few City Council meetings:
 
November 22 Council Meeting
1. City Council ratified the Attorney General's consent decree. This document, a result of past investigations, requires the City to meet certain benchmarks and conduct certain training in the coming years. This agreement will be monitored by a County Court judge for compliance.
2. After months and months of work, my ordinance to allow industrial-type businesses to install battery powered fences came to the floor. These fences will allow them to protect their merchandise and keep their facilities safe. This ordinance passed 10-0.
 
December 13 Study Session
1. I brought forward an ordinance dedicating $3m of ARPA money to create a Business Security Grant Program. This program will allow our businesses to work with Aurora Police Department to make needed security upgrades to curb the significant increase in retail theft we are seeing. This resolution moved forward with a vote of 6-5.
2. We received a briefing on the efforts of the newly created Youth Violence Prevention Program. This presentation was obviously very timely with the events our city has seen over the last several weeks.
3. CM Zvonek brought forward a proposal to create a Red Tape Round-Up Ad Hoc committee. This committee, temporary in nature, would work with the local business and non-profit community to find ways we can make it easier to do "business" with the City. I was glad this moved forward.

Please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions:
 
Email: cgardner@auroragov.org
Cell (text or VM): 720-505-4312
 
Please visit my website at curtisforaurora.com/subscribe to sign up for future updates. Also, please forward this to anyone you think might be interested.
 
Curtis 

Follow Curtis on City Council!