Aurora has been setting the pace lately for local government in the metro area – and setting an example for its next-door neighbor, Denver. With a back-to-basics city council majority at the helm since last November’s election, Aurora City Hall has turned away from the previous council’s tilting at windmills and refocused on giving residents real value for their tax dollars.

The encouraging change has been most notable in the renewed resolve by the state’s No. 3 city to fight back at the crime wave that has been crippling much of Colorado. The state is ranked first in the country for auto theft, and Aurora has weathered some of the worst of it. Fed up with a soft-on-crime legislature, the new council moved ahead on its own and enacted a mandatory minimum sentence of 60 days for all car thefts in the city. It’s a solid step.

The council also has trained its sights on a different kind of public hazard – red tape and unnecessary regulations at City Hall. They slowly undermine the local economy through a war of attrition on the private sector.

Shortly after taking office last fall, at-large Aurora City Councilman Dustin Zvonek proposed a “Red Tape Roundup” commission. He sketched out its mission in a commentary in The Gazette, noting its goal would be to “survey our city’s businesses and leading industries to understand what hurdles the city is putting in their way to grow and expand.”

“What rules, regulations and city processes are hindering job creation that are also unnecessary or duplicative?” Zvonek asked.

It’s a question seldom pondered by local government; Zvonek and the council deserve credit for bringing it up. And it appears the quest already is yielding some dividends.

A new page on Aurora City Hall’s website – https://www.auroragov.org/business_services/aurora__here_for_business – lets taxpayers track the progress of the city in lowering unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles. Among the recent strides cited on the “Aurora: Here for Business” page are that the city has implemented an expedited review process to get projects underway more quickly for pad site-ready developments; City Hall is reorganizing its Public Works Department to consolidate staff and services for greater efficiency, and the city has eliminated the extension fee on temporary certificates of occupancy for single-family, multi-family and commercial permits, saving contractors hundreds of dollars per certificate.

The page also notes policy shifts by the city’s elected lawmakers on council. For example, the council recently voted to repeal a 65-year-old prohibition on ice cream trucks in the city. That will let vendors operate with a general business license from Aurora. It will mean more license revenue for the city as well as more economic opportunity for small-scale entrepreneurs. It’ll also mean more ice cream for Aurorans on sultry summer afternoons.

Of course, Aurora isn’t the only city in the metro area that has resolved to serve job creators and other taxpayers more effectively and efficiently. There’s credit to go around for efforts by other municipalities to streamline their bureaucracies. But Aurora’s turnabout in just a year is particularly noteworthy under a refreshed city council that is working closely with pro-growth-and-prosperity Mayor Mike Coffman to restore economic vitality and opportunity.

Rank-and-file Denver voters – whose council is ever tilting at windmills of its own rather than addressing basic quality of life in the state’s largest city – may want to pay heed.

Denver Gazette Editorial Board