AURORA — At a video conference meeting streamed live Monday, the Aurora City Council passed a resolution requiring anyone who wants to speak during public comment at a City Council meeting to be at the meeting in person.
The council voted 7-2 to stop accepting public comment via video conference. The two 'no' votes came from councilmembers Ruben Medina and Crystal Murillo.
The move came after a meeting earlier this month was interrupted by a self-proclaimed white supremacist who, participating virtually, spewed slurs against Jews and the LGBTQ+ community.
Monday night's entire meeting was held via video conference.
LaRhonda Jones, mother of Kilyn Lewis, was the first person to speak in the public comment period, which will be the last virtual public comment period for some time.
Over the past few months, people have regularly spoken at City Council meetings to push for accountability in the death of Lewis, who was unarmed and holding a cell phone when he was shot and killed by an Aurora officer trying to arrest him for an attempted homicide warrant in May. The council opted to finish some of those meetings via video conference after they were interrupted by protests.
"I don't understand how moving to a virtual meeting is supposed to solve the problems this city is facing, especially when it was hateful, racist comments over the phone on the call line at the last meeting that caused harm, not the people standing for justice," Jones said at Monday's meeting.
After Jones spoke, her supporters — one after one — read a letter that she wrote to the council, pushing for accountability in her son's death.
The resolution passed Monday also encourages, but does not require, people speaking on the same subject matter to coordinate and designate one speaker to present the group's views, according to council documents.
It clarifies that interested speakers have to sign up in-person with the clerk no earlier than 5 p.m. and no later than 6:20 p.m. on the day they wish to be heard. Speakers must sign up with their first and last names, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses. At the podium, they "shall state their true name and whether or not they are an Aurora resident," the resolution says.
For those who want to speak on agenda items, the resolution says people have to sign up online by 1 p.m. on the day of the meeting. Public comment on agenda items is limited to 30 minutes, the resolution adds.
Murillo, who voted 'no' on the resolution, said the council keeps limiting the public's ability to speak.
"We keep reducing the opportunities for community to speak," Murillo said. "I don't think this is a matter of safety. We know that access is important in terms of a virtual line."
Councilmember Curtis Gardner, who sponsored the resolution, referred to a letter penned by former Denver Public Schools board member Auon'tai Anderson following the racist comments and signed by several of Denver and Aurora's councilmembers.
The letter condemned the comments made during the public comment and asked that the city council do something to prevent it in the future.
Both city spokespeople and councilmembers reminded the public that free speech in a government setting, particularly in open meetings, is one of the most protected forms of speech.
"There were several members of the community, including city councilmembers from other cities, who thought it was appropriate to insert themselves into our business to tell us how we should operate," Gardner said. "When those councilmembers and other community folks wrote a letter asking us to ensure that it doesn't happen again, this is how we ensure it doesn't happen again."
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