Council gives staff direction to consolidate and trim boards and commissions; several items to be broken out for separate votes

City staff told the Aurora City Council on May 19 that they will prepare ordinance drafts to reorganize and in some cases eliminate or consolidate several boards and commissions. Council offered general consensus on multiple consolidations and requested separate consideration of a few commissions.

Jason, a staff lead on boards and commissions work, said staff will prepare ordinances to reflect council direction and bring them to the June council meeting. The package includes a staff recommendation to eliminate the Independent Review Board (which staff described as duplicative of civilian oversight functions), consolidate Art in Public Places, the Aurora Fox and the Cultural Affairs Commission into one cultural services board, and consolidate the Golf Advisory, Open Space Advisory, and Parks & Recreation commissions into a single parks and open-space commission with subcommittees.

Council members expressed support for several consolidations but asked that certain items be broken out for individual votes or returned with more information. Council member Majorski supported consolidating arts boards but urged attention to the Aurora Fox Theater’s financial impact. Staff recommended making the Oil and Gas Commission quarterly rather than eliminating it; council consensus favored quarterly meetings.

Members directed staff to break out the Human Relations Commission, Veterans Affairs Commission, and Youth Commission so council can vote separately on those items and review additional information. On the Human Relations Commission, some council members advocated elimination while others objected; staff noted the commission’s current functions include reviewing discrimination and accessibility matters and that some responsibilities could be handled by an ADA coordinator or other city offices. Council requested that if a board is dissolved staff explain how the public would be routed to the appropriate city contact (for example, an ADA coordinator) and how recruitment and outreach would be handled.

On youth representation, staff and council discussed replacing a standalone Youth Commission with appointed youth seats on existing boards and commissions to provide hands-on experience and create a pipeline of future volunteers. Some council members objected to dissolving a dedicated youth-only space and asked for safeguards so youth voices would still be meaningful; council asked staff to draft a proposal specifying whether youth seats would be voting or nonvoting and how scheduling and training would be handled. Council also asked staff to separate the Veterans Affairs Commission item to allow more research on the commission’s current functions and county-level veteran services.

Jason said staff will return consolidated ordinance language for council review, break out items where requested for separate votes, and include a cleanup ordinance to standardize board and commission language across the municipal code. The staff-led ordinance package is expected to appear on a future June agenda for formal action.