Former Aurora city attorney Charlie Richardson has filed a lawsuit to alter Mayor Mike Coffman's strong mayor proposal before it hits the November ballot.
Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman is closer to seeing his efforts to push the city into a strong-mayor government come to fruition.over Colorado's third biggest city just met its biggest match.
Coffman's proposal would ditch the city manager position — currently occupied by an interim, Jason Batchelor — in favor of giving the mayor the power of appointing and managing the city administration, according toRichardson — who ironically was an interim city manager for Aurora from 1996 to 1997 — is the lone plaintiff listed in the lawsuit, though it also lists several attorneys for Richardson, including Mark Grueskin as the one who filed the suit.
Aurora lawyer and former city councilman Charlie Richardson is suing to make sure voters know the details of an upcoming ballot measure.The effort to put the strong mayor proposal on the ballot started with the Term Limits and Empowering the Mayor for a Better Aurora campaign. Opponents have said that the name of the group is intended to mislead voters about its real intention of strengthening the mayor.
Richardson blasts the proposal as a"classic example of a big, big" violation of the single subject rule — a Colorado law banning ballot measures that propose multiple, unrelated questions. With the lawsuit, he is demanding that the courts step in to give the ballot proposal an accurate name that clarifies how it aims to add powers to the mayor's office. He also wants the courts to determine that it is breaking state law and city code by trying to change unrelated policies.
The union Aurora Fire Fighters Local 129 were the first group to urge Richardson to look at Coffman's strong mayor proposal. It and the Aurora Police Association have both come out in opposition of the strong mayor proposal, which would give the mayor a heavier hand in how both the Aurora Police Department and Aurora Fire Rescue are run, more control over their budget and the power to pick who runs both departments.
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