Aurora voters to decide, will city be run by mayor, or faceless bureaucrat?

Aug 14, 2023

Should taxpayers have the power to hold the person responsible who is directly in charge of supervising the daily operations of a city by voting them in or out office every four years?

Or, should cities be run by a city manager hired by a dozen council members and the mayor and held responsible only to them?

That’s the critical decision facing Aurora voters this November on a ballot measure that gives them the choice of continuing under the city manager system.

Or, they could switch to the mayor-council system of governance in which the mayor acts as the CEO with the administrative authority to appoint and dismiss department heads and submit the budget to council.

Large metropolitan cities like Colorado Springs, Denver, and Pueblo already operate under the mayor-council system, and supporters say Aurora has grown so dramatically that it is past ready for the switch.

Critics argue that consolidating all that power into one person’s hands will lead to corruption and nepotism.

We would argue that all that power is already consolidated into the hands of a faceless bureaucrat, whom the public has no way to hold accountable except to vote out half the council and the mayor in one election, and the other half when they’re up four years later for reelection.

When the mayor runs the city instead of a city manager, the mayor is directly held responsible every election to the voters whose money the city is spending.

But you won’t hear that from the establishment metro media, which is more worried about whether current Mayor Mike Coffman supports or backs the measure.

It’s a matter of trust and transparency, they demand, along with Coffman’s opponent for reelection, City Councilman Juan Marcano.

Coffman does support the measure. It’s no big secret because his $10,000  donation to the cause is a matter of public record.

Coffman says the issue shouldn’t be which candidate supports or opposes the measure, which won’t take effect until a new mayor is elected.

What’s important is whether this system of government is the right fit for Aurora, and whether voters want to hold the person making all of the decisions responsible.

After making that decision, voters can then focus on who they want to be mayor for the next four years.

With any luck, it sure as Hell won’t be that wretched socialist Democrat Marcano.

PeakNation™ will recall that when Marcano does not get his way on city council, he’s been known to have bizarre meltdowns and starts spouting wild conspiracies.

Meanwhile, a lawsuit has been filed against the measure.

Interestingly, no one in the media is asking whether Marcano is behind that effort or supports it.

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