The Aurora City Council is set to vote on the first nine members of the new LGBTQ Advisory Board.
Council members this week placed the appointments on the consent agenda for next week’s regular City Council meeting, meaning they are likely to be approved.
The first nine members of the board will serve terms that are staggered with three-, two- or one-year terms. After that, board members will all have three-year terms.
The City Council established the board in late August, and the members were appointed by Mayor Richard Irvin after a recommendation from a city interview board.
Alex Voigt, deputy chief of staff in the mayor’s office, has said the city got 28 applicants, all of whom were invited to interview. Of that group, 21 were interviewed, she said.
The interview board included Voigt; Mike Nelson, the city’s Community Events director; and Michelle Williams, the city’s director of Equity and Inclusion.
The appointments are Zachary Bishop, Paulene Spika, Frederick Yanos, Adam Pauley, Michael Vargas, Briana Moss, Ivan Quinones, Sean Li and Brittney Borowicz-Keller.
Voigt said the appointments were spread across different parts of the city.
One proposed appointee, Sean Li, lives in North Aurora, but Li’s children attend West Aurora schools, Voigt said.
The appointments are actually contained in three different resolutions, depending on the length of their terms.
Bishop, Spika and Yanos will have three-year terms; Pauley, Vargas and Moss will have two-year terms; and the one-year terms go to Quinones, Li and Borowicz-Keller.
Voigt said the term lengths were determined by drawing names from a hat. Eventually, all reappointments or new appointments from hereon will have three-year terms.
The new advisory board will be specifically under the city’s Community Affairs Department, and the city staff liaison will be the equity and inclusion officer.
The format, mission and goals of the board will align with other current city boards, commissions and councils.
The advisory body will organize, support and promote events recognizing June as Pride Month in Aurora; encourage the education, advocacy and community involvement of the city’s LGBTQ youth; and help promote greater awareness and cross-cultural understanding.
The group will also serve as an advisory body to the City Council regarding issues potentially affecting the LGBTQ community, according to a city memo, and recommend to the City Council measures designed to enhance the health, safety and economic opportunities of the LGBTQ community.
It will also coordinate and participate in educational programs to promote equal treatment and opportunity for the LGBTQ community and work with other city boards, commissions and councils to address areas of common interest and concern, officials said.
At this week’s Committee of the Whole meeting, one of the proposed appointees, Adam Pauley, said he sees the board as focusing on pride events, service and education.
“You are picking great people,” Pauley said.
Matthew Orr, an Aurora Pubic Library District Board member and candidate for 6th Ward alderman, also praised the choices, saying the board “will be a good addition to the community.”
