Aurora City Council looks at preventing Aurora Reservoir closure for special events

After some Aurora City Council members complained about Aurora Reservoir being closed for Aurora Pride 2024, the council Monday will consider an ordinance preventing it from being shut to the public for special events or private organization rentals.

When the council considered its funding for the event in July — which was cut from the $15,000 request to $7,500 — Councilmember Stephanie Hancock said it's not fair to close the whole reservoir for one organization. The Out Front Foundation hosted Aurora Pride on Aug. 3.

"So the public can have access to the parks they pay their taxes for, it's unfair to have one group rent out the entire park," Hancock said at the July meeting. "We're setting a bad precedent and we never should have done it in the first place."

Councilmember Danielle Jurinsky said at the time she'd introduce an ordinance preventing that practice, and it's being introduce at the City Council's regular meeting Monday night.

Also on the agenda is a resolution "accepting the plan for transitioning the prosecution of domestic violence cases out of Aurora Municipal Court."

Council members have been debating that issue for months, with some pushing back on a proposed firm date for the transition in July 2025.

Aurora is one of only four municipalities — the others are Lakewood, Westminster and Denver— that handle domestic violence cases.

Aurora's municipal court has been handling domestic violence since the court began, with reported increases in cases cited as part of the reason for the court's creation. The rationale is that municipal court could handle them more quickly than state or county court, according to a 2021 review of Aurora's public defender system from the National Legal Aid and Defender Association.

Domestic violence cases make up a large portion of the public defender's office workload. The city prosecutes about 1,600 domestic violence cases each year, with a good portion of those going to trial with public defender representation, the review said.

Aurora’s public defenders handled over 4,000 cases in total in 2023. With a public defender's budget of $2.2 million, that comes out to $550 per case.

Councilmembers Dustin Zvonek and Jurinsky first presented the ordinance to the Public Safety, Courts and Civil Service Policy Committee in May, where it was moved to the City Council for a decision. Councilmembers delayed making a decision on the proposal in June after several councilmembers expressed concerns that cases would not be tried with the same rigor at the county level.

The City Council on Monday is also scheduled to look at a resolution creating a "program for the retrieval of abandoned or unlawfully removed shopping carts from retailers in the city," according to the agenda.

Before the meeting, council members will meet in a closed-to-the-public executive session to talk about "Potential Litigation Update - Nuisance Properties."

The council's regular meeting will start at 6:30 p.m. in the Paul Tauer Aurora City Council Chamber, 15151 E. Alameda Parkway.

Both meetings will also be live streamed at auroraTV.org and Youtube.com/TheAuroraChannel. They will also stream live on cable channels 8 and 880 in Aurora.

Those who want to speak during the public comment period must submit a speaker slip by 6:30 p.m. Monday, the day of the meeting. Anyone who wants to comment on an agenda item must submit a speaker slip before the city clerk reads the title of the item.

Denver Gazette reporter Kyla Pearce contributed to the report.