Aurora’s “strong mayor” ballot initiative faces an uncertain future, even after Mayor Mike Coffman, one of the initiative’s proponents, easily defeated a challenge to his reelection bid.

“At this point, we have not made a decision if we will be moving forward with this,” Natela Manuntseva, who speaks for the strong mayor campaign, told The Denver Gazette.

Manuntseva said that decision will likely come before the end of the year.

This year’s aborted initiative sought to change Aurora’s current “council-manager” system to a “strong mayor” form of governance, similar to Denver, Colorado Springs and Pueblo. In a council-mayor form of government, or a “strong mayor” system, the city manager position is eliminated and the mayor becomes the executive in charge of running the city.

“Strong mayors” typically prepare the budget, hold veto powers and appoint key department heads, among other duties.

Critics earlier accused the “yes” camp of being disingenuous by emphasizing the proposal’s term limits, presumably because that concept is generally popular. Critics also framed the proposal as being pushed by unknown entities whose funding sources were obscured.

Supporters, meanwhile, cast opponents as powers that seek to maintain the status quo, which they argued has not been as responsive or as directly accountable to city residents as a “strong mayor system.” They also said that checks and balances in a “strong mayor” system are more efficient – because mayors routinely face elections or even a recall.

Proponents blamed critics for the measure’s failure to make it to the ballot this year. In particular, they said opponents managed to delay the process “just long enough” for the initiative to miss a critical deadline for the county clerks to get it on this year’s ballot.

Proponents didn’t specify which deadline the measure missed.

The proposal, which councilmembers oppose, fueled heated discussions at City Hall.

On several occasions, Coffman pointed to Aurora’s growth to argue for the proposal, saying the city needs a change in its structure. Coffman said the city manager form of government worked well when Aurora was a smaller city. 

But, he said, that’s no longer the case.

Aurora is one of Colorado’s fastest-growing cities. In 2018, the city had 374,154 residents. By 2022, that number had jumped to 398,018. In 2023, the city’s population stood at 399,913.

Along with Aurora’s growth came big-city problems, notably crime and homelessness.

The number of homeless people in Aurora has fluctuated over the years. The lowest stood at 357 in 2018; the highest was 612 in 2022. In the latest snapshot of Colorado’s homeless population, the city saw a decrease – to 572 this year.

The city also suffers from the perception of rampant crime, driven in part by high-profile cases. Between June 21 and Sept. 23 this year, Aurora authorities recorded 45 shootings.

“Now that we have the urban challenges of race, poverty and crime, I don’t think it fits,” Coffman said in pushing for the strong mayor idea. “I think you need an elected official that is directly accountable to the residents of the city. We don’t have a leader that can help move a vision forward.”

The current system is working “great” for councilmembers, but not for the people of Aurora, Coffman said.

Councilmember Juan Marcano, who lost to Coffman in the mayor’s race last week, had accused Coffman of lacking in transparency in putting the “strong mayor” initiative forward.

“That is your primary responsibility is to get folks together and to establish some kind of consensus and common ground and move folks forward,” Marcano earlier told Coffman. “You failed to do that and I don’t see how empowering your office is going to change that. In fact, it’s just likely going to make it a hell of a lot worse.”

Marcano also said Coffman failed to conduct the necessary work to make the change. For Colorado Springs, the councilmember said, the change was a “multi-year process” that included examining budgetary and legal effects.

“This is a very costly initiative that could potentially really be disruptive to city services,” Marcano said. “We have not had any of that thorough investigation or analysis here.”

That tension spilled over into other areas. 

Shortly after the council adopted a resolution opposing the “strong mayor” proposal, the council shot down Coffman’s economic development proposal.