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Aurora City Council policy committee to survey boards and commissions on consolidation, staff support
Summary
The committee directed staff to solicit input from city boards and commissions on potential consolidation, overlapping duties and staff time, and to return with recommendations; staff also previewed planned 2025 reports including library master plans, Aurora Fox and the Veterans Affairs Commission.
Members of the Aurora City Council policy committee directed city staff to reach out to boards and commissions for feedback on whether advisory bodies should be combined or restructured to reduce overlap and ease staff burdens.
Jason Bachelor, a city staff member, told the committee the outreach would be transparent and would seek views on whether advisory boards “are serving the function that Council is looking for,” noting possible overlap and redundancy among several boards. "We want to work together with the members of those boards or commissions and the stakeholders, just to make sure that we have something that meets council's needs," Bachelor said.
The request follows a staff review that flagged vacancies, overlapping missions and the number and size of some boards as potential drivers for consolidation. Council Member Gardner emphasized staff time as a central concern, saying combining certain boards could ease scheduling burdens and “help with recruiting and attendance.” Gardner pressed that staff time should be part of the committee's considerations.
Staff described the immediate next steps: prepare a survey and other outreach tools to gather feedback from boards and commissions, consolidate responses along with staff observations, and return to the committee with recommendations. "What we would do is reach out to the boards or commissions, get that feedback, and then come back to council with that feedback and some recommendations about what we're seeing from a staff perspective," Bachelor said.
Committee members and staff also reviewed the committee's 2024 work and previewed 2025 items expected to return to the policy committee. Laura (last name not specified) summarized 2024 annual reports and presentations that came before the committee, including the Veterans Affairs Commission, Human Relations Commission, Aurora Youth Commission, Commission for Older Adults, Cultural Affairs Commission, Art and Public Places Commission, and the Aurora Public Library Board. Staff noted presentations planned for 2025: the Aurora Public Library strategic plan, a capital/master plan for library and cultural services facilities, the Aurora Fox annual report and the Veterans Affairs Commission annual report.
The committee discussed coordination on tourism and marketing outreach. Kim Stewart, who provided annual marketing updates in 2024, said she was available to present and recommended a joint presentation with Visit Aurora to clarify where tourism-specific efforts and city marketing efforts overlap.
The committee set the next meeting for Feb. 19 and directed staff to move forward with outreach and a consolidated report back to the policy committee. No formal vote or ordinance was taken during the discussion.
