The Aurora City Council postponed its effort Monday to determine who will fill the temporary council vacancy to represent Ward Two after Councilwoman Nicole Johnston resigned. The postponement came after 14 rounds of voting resulted in repeated 5-5 ties.

During the meeting council members Alison Coombs, Allison Hiltz, Angela Lawson, Juan Marcano and Crystal Murillo voted for Democratic candidate Ryan Ross. Council members Francoise Bergan, Marsha Berzins, Curtis Gardner, Dave Gruber and Mayor Mike Coffman voted for Republican candidate Steve Sundberg.

In addition to Ross and Sundberg, the council also considered and interviewed four other candidates who applied to fill the position: Robert O’Riley, Robert Hamilton, Jessica Giammalvo and Luke Kodanko.

The council debated the issue for over an hour and a half Monday night, with most arguments boiling down to the whether or not the candidate who is selected to fill the vacancy needs to politically align with Johnston.

“I believe that it is important that the person that we appoint reflects the values of the person who was duly elected by the constituents of Ward Two,” Marcano said. “Based on our questioning, my estimation is that Dr. Ryan Ross is the closest we will get to that.”

“Ward Two has changed drastically in the last few years,” Bergan said in response. “Their No. 1 priority right now is crime and what we’re doing about it. Also, nobody is Nicole Johnston. … I don’t think we should be trying to equate someone who is running with the person who has left.”

In addition, the fact that Sundberg is also running to represent Ward Two in the general election in November was brought up by several council members, with many saying appointing him to the temporary vacancy would give him an unfair advantage over other Ward Two candidates.

“Folks are trying to appoint to a seat and give the incumbency advantage to a person who they already donated to his campaign and held events for,” Coombs said. “It seems to me that some folks want to put their thumbs on the scale for an upcoming election, rather than make sure folks have good representation right now through November.”

The vote to fill the vacancy was pushed to the next regular council meeting on July 12 with a 7-3 vote, after three previous votes to postpone failed 5-5.

Under the city charter, the council must fill the vacancy by July 29 – 45 days after Johnston’s departure. A criminal complaint could be filed against the council if it violates the charter by failing to fill the position, said a city attorney during the meeting.

However, Bergan disagreed with the attorney’s interpretation of the charter, claiming the council does not have to fill the vacancy if it cannot come to a majority vote. The city attorney’s office said it will submit a written opinion during the July 12 meeting on whether or not the council must fill the vacancy.

The city attorney’s office will also submit an opinion on whether or not the council can pass the decision on to the voters in November, as the Westminster City Council did earlier this month when it failed to decide who would fill its vacancy after 99 rounds of voting.

Johnston, elected in 2017, resigned on June 14 to begin a new job and move her children closer to their father. Johnston is a progressive Democrat who was part of a wave of new candidates that transformed the historically conservative council to a relatively even split – with five council members leaning to the right and five leaning left.

Without Johnston, the council has three Republican members (Gruber, Berzins and Bergan), four Democratic members (Hiltz, Murillo, Marcano and Coombs) and two unaffiliated members (Gardner, who loosely identifies as libertarian, and Lawson, a former Republican).

Because of the council’s current split, the candidate who fills the Ward Two vacancy has the potential to make or break key council proposals in the near future. For example, Coffman’s urban camping ban that the council is expected to vote on next month.

During candidate interviews Wednesday, Ross said he would not support the measure and Sundberg said he would support the measure. Johnston was a vocal opponent of the proposed camping ban.

The partisanship of the vacancy decision was not lost on council members, with several of the Democratic members accusing their Republican colleagues of making a power grab for the council position. Marcano went as far as to say the Republicans were staging “a political coup through a vacancy.”

“We all know what this is about. It’s a political situation,” said Lawson, who typically leans right but voted in support of Democratic candidate Ross. “One person is one party and one is another, instead of actually looking at it from a holistic standpoint of who actually answered the questions.”

Gardner, who voted for Republican Sundberg, admitted he was basing his support on political affiliation; however, he said all of the council members were doing it and called the Democratic council members “hypocritical.”

“All 10 of us are being partisan,” Gardner said. “We are in a partisan position. We’re politicians and it comes with the territory. Frankly, I think it’s kind of ridiculous to keep saying that.”

Sundberg is the manager and operator of a family-owned bar and grill called Legends of Aurora. He told The Denver Gazette he wants to create a unified and business-friendly City Council.

Sundberg brings over 20 years of experience serving on nonprofit boards including the Parks & Recreation Advisory Board, Leadership Aurora Board, Pickens Technical College Culinary Advisory Board and Colorado Restaurant Association Mile High Chapter Board.

Ross is a well-known community activist currently serving as CEO of the Urban Leadership Foundation of Colorado and associate vice chancellor for student affairs, equity and inclusion of the Colorado Community College System.

In his application, Ross said he wants to bring his values of fairness, justice and equity to the City Council. He recently facilitated the city’s police reform task force.

If selected on July 12, the chosen candidate will be sworn in on July 26. Their term will last until the general election in November.