Another Colorado city is facing controversy with the mayoral system

Aurora could join Pueblo, Denver and Colorado Springs as one of the few cities in Colorado with a strong mayor system if voters there pass an initiative on the November ballot.

The measure has exposed fresh divisions between the Aurora City Council and the mayor over how Colorado's third-largest city should be led.

Aurora’s city council on Monday unanimously passed a resolution opposing the proposed ballot measure to transform its municipal government, as reported by Denver-area media outlets.

One council member accused Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman of “lacking in transparency” when putting the initiative together, according to the Denver Gazette. But Coffman has said that the city’s government should change as Aurora continues to grow.

Coffman donated $10,000 in favor of the initiative. That campaign also received $144,000 of “in-kind” services from Colorado Dawn, a Republican-leaning dark money group based in Colorado Springs, the Aurora Sentinel reported.

How Aurora's case compares to Pueblo

Puebloans voted in 2017 to amend the city charter to a “strong mayor” system. Before that change, executive and legislative powers were controlled by city council. However, under the current form of government, council handles legislative matters and the mayor is in charge of executive decisions.

Many other cities in Colorado have mayors — some are directly elected by the people and others are selected among city councilors. But they have less jurisdiction than the three mayors leading some of the Front Range’s biggest cities.

Aurora has had — and will continue to have — an elected mayor. The mayoral election is scheduled for this November.

A group of people seeking to amend Pueblo’s city charter again in 2023, effectively reverting to a council-city manager style of government, were unsuccessful, but the fight was messy.

Pueblo Mayor Nick Gradisar asked the city attorney, Dan Kogovsek, to resign after he improperly advised city staff and petitioners about how many signatures they needed to collect. Petitioners were told they needed to collect approximately half as many signatures as is actually required under state law.

The majority of Pueblo city councilors also rebuked an attempt to directly place the question on the ballot in June.

Attorney representing Aurora also did work in Pueblo

According to the Aurora Sentinel, three people who were asked to sign the strong mayor petition filed a lawsuit earlier this month in Arapahoe County District Court.

The lawsuit claims that the language in the ballot question is misleading and does not adhere to local and state laws.

The attorney representing the listed plaintiff, Mark Grueskin, has already dealt with a “strong mayor” controversy earlier this year.  Grueskin was also hired by the city of Pueblo to consult with staff when anti-mayor organizers, backed by Councilor Lori Winner, were threatening a lawsuit.

Winner said that she decided against pursuing the legal fight any further because of the high cost of litigation.

Anna Lynn Winfrey covers politics for the Pueblo Chieftain. She can be reached at awinfrey@gannett.com or on Twitter, @annalynnfrey. Please support local news at subscribe.chieftain.com.

This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Aurora, Colorado is facing controversy with the mayoral system