BY FREDA MIKLIN
GOVERNMENTAL REPORTER
On September 29, the League of Women Voters of Arapahoe and Douglas Counties, Aurora Chamber of Commerce, Aurora Women’s Club, 9 News, and Sentinel sponsored forum for candidates for Aurora mayor and city council.
Candidates for mayor, incumbent Mike Coffman and challengers Juan Marcano and Jeffrey Sanford, fielded questions from Max Levy of the Sentinel, Luige Del Puerto of the Gazette, Marshall Zelinger of 9News, and Debbie Gilliard of the Aurora Women’s Club, who served as moderator.
In his opening statement, Mayor Coffman expressed his “fundamental belief that every resident in our city, regardless of where they live, has the right to live in safety without fear of being a victim of a crime. I’ve worked hard as our mayor to make sure that our police department has the resources that they need…to attract, train, and retain the best police force we can have to keep our communities safe.”
Marcano said he is running for mayor “because we need to make Aurora a city that is safe, clean, and thriving.” He continued, “I believe we can do that by attacking the root causes of crime in our community, by investing in permanent supportive housing for folks who are experiencing homelessness in our city, by making sure we are protecting our environment, including our water from fracking and other extractive industries, by ensuring an honest day’s work pays enough for you to live, and by ensuring that we celebrate our community’s rich diversity by creating a cultural and performing arts center so that we can all have a place to come together. We have an amazing amount of potential here in Aurora and it is time that we lived up to it.”
Sanford’s complete statement was, “My number one priority is the environment and sustainability. We are leaving our children a horrid world.”
The first question, from Gilliard, was, “What specific actions will you take to attract and retain industry to Aurora with good-paying jobs?”
Marcano said, “Economic development is going to be key to our future. We need to rework what our economic development strategy is…I believe we can do that by broadening the table of folks who we have at the economic development end of the city…”
Sanford responded, “The city needs a master plan. There are a lot of great committees…parks and rec…economic development…They aren’t working together. We need a comprehensive master plan…for development, for modernization, and for sustainability.”
Coffman talked about his role as mayor placing him on the board for the Fitzsimmons Innovation Community, that is, “the bioscience part of the Anschutz medical campus (which) has the most extraordinary potential for growth…The campus right now has a $10 billion economic impact, 29,000 employees and 4,500 students in the health care area. It is a catalyst for redevelopment. We need to continue our relationship with the (military) base, which has an extraordinary economic impact, too, in terms of how we redevelop around it. Under my leadership (Coffman is a former U.S. Marine and Member of Congress), we will remain a good partner with the military.”
Levy wanted to know, from Sanford, how he expected to be a successful mayor with no previous municipal government experience.
He answered, “I’m a leader, not a politician. I was a facilities manager at Buckley Air Force Base…I’ve managed multi-billion-dollar contracts, along with staffs into the thousands. I can deal with infrastructure and the trades.”
DelPuerto asked the candidates to identify, “the one social problem you promise to resolve by the end of your term.”
Coffman named homelessness, noting the number of unsheltered homeless has gone down by half since 2022, while the number of sheltered homeless has gone up by about the same number, “so our aggregate numbers are relatively flat.” He pledged to be more aggressive about helping the homeless with needed services like treatment and job training.
Marcano named the same topic, conceding that the numbers have gone down (while Coffman has been mayor) but attributed it to the fact that the count was taken on a cold night when more people would have been in shelters. He recommended following Houston’s lead and working with Denver on the problem.
Sanford said he would work with other mayors on a regional solution, along with Arapahoe County Human Services, adding, “Unfortunately, our weather is quite a bit different from Houston, and if we don’t work on this right now to get these folks housed, even temporarily (implying cold weather is coming that has an impact on the unhoused)…I’ve done it before. I can do it again.”
Zellinger asked Marcano, “A Democratic Socialist’s view of police is that they protect wealth and power (Marcano has identified himself as a Democratic Socialist) and prevent protest. Do you believe in Aurora police and what would you prefer Aurora’s police force to look like?”
Marcano responded, “I believe there is an ongoing civil war within the (Aurora Police) department. We have some folks (in the department) who are willing to…rebuild community trust. We have some folks who are holding on for dear life to the way things used to be, and that is just simply unacceptable to our community.” He spoke positively about current Interim Police Chief Art Acevedo and pointed to the need for increased community policing.
Zellinger pointed out that Sanford’s skill set as a public administrator might be best suited to the job of city manager, to which the candidate responded, “I believe in the strong mayor, but that’s a question for another time.”
Trust was the subject of Zellinger’s question to Coffman, pointing out that the mayor was not forthright about his role in the strong mayor ballot initiative (which was ultimately withdrawn) when reporters asked him about it early on. He asked Coffman, “Shouldn’t trust come with transparency?”
The mayor explained that, when asked by reporters, he said he would discuss it if it made the ballot, implying that he didn’t deny his involvement, he just didn’t admit it. Coffman followed that with the frank admission that it wasn’t a good strategy, but, “That’s the nature of what we do. Sometimes things work and sometimes they don’t. That obviously did not work.”
The Villager will have more from this forum, along with those held for Aurora City Council candidates at-large and from Wards IV, V, and VI next week. Stay tuned.
Ballots for the November 7 election will go in the mail beginning the week of October 16.
fmiklin.villager@gmail.com
