Things at City Hall could heat up this summer as a campaign to upend Aurora’s style of government kicks off.
If you live in one of its 10 wards, chances are volunteers – maybe even your own City Council member – will be knocking on your door, asking for a signature to place a referendum question on the ballot next April that would shift Aurora from a strong-mayor system to a city manager form of government, where a trained professional would act as the operations expert.
This possible historic change in how the Third Floor of City Hall operates is not a new idea: It’s been discussed, debated and was even put to a vote with a referendum back in the mid-1970s.
There’s been plenty of talk since, but no action until now.
The fact this campaign is rolling out a little over a year after John Laesch was sworn in as mayor of Aurora is no coincidence.
“Buyers remorse,” is the term used by Aurora Ald. Carl Franco, 5th Ward, a vocal critic of Laesch who first brought up this referendum suggestion last fall following a series of controversial moves by the new mayor.
“This administration shined a light on what is necessary,” said Franco, who is now part of a 10-member PAC called Professional Aurora that includes Aurora Ald. Dan Barreiro, 1st Ward, who has been a firm believer in the city manager style of government since his days at Northern Illinois University, where he received a master’s degree in city administration.
Barreiro, in fact, sees this effort as a legacy issue.
”Before I ride off into the sunset,” he told me, “I want to know I did something good for Aurora.”
Having worked as a city employee in a variety of capacities under five mayors, “I’ve seen the good, bad and the ugly,” added Aurora’s now-retired chief community services officer, who also served on the Fox Valley Park District and East Aurora School District boards, where he saw the benefits of hiring “highly-qualified people” to lead these large organizations.
“I think more people now understand the positives of a city manager style of government. Municipal government should not be about politics. It should be about what is good for the community,” Barreiro insisted.
There’s no question Aurora’s current system was set up to be nonpartisan yet has become anything but. Politics have always played some role in its government, but the last mayoral election raised that concern to a whole new level. Former Mayor Richard Irvin had previously run for Illinois governor as a Republican and developed strong ties to the GOP during that campaign, while the Democratic Party of Illinois provided significant financial and operational backing to Laesch’s successful mayoral run.
Supporters of the proposed referendum want to show how the city manager style of government would reduce that political influence over the administration while also creating continuity between elections. The idea is to also emphasize how critical it is to hire a pro with extensive training and experience to run a city with a $700 million budget and over 1,000 employees.
Because Aurora is the second largest city in the state, Franco pointed out, it should be able to attract highly- qualified candidates to the city manager position. In the meantime, he added, the mayor under this type of government would not be in it for the power or the paycheck, but would still be able to contribute significantly to the city while also maintaining another career.
Barreiro, too, sees this change as a no-brainer and questions why it had not been done decades ago. The likely answer: It requires plenty of effort, although Franco believes getting the referendum question on the ballot is the easy part. If it is approved, he said, it would take “six months to a year” to be implemented, as City Council members would have to agree on “a job description and rules and responsibilities” of the city manager position.
There are, however, plenty of best-practices to follow, including blueprints from Illinois municipalities like Naperville, Elgin, Rockford, Batavia, Evanston, Arlington Heights and Champaign, along with larger U.S. cities such as San Antonio and Dallas in Texas; Phoenix, Arizona; and Charlotte, North Carolina.
Barreiro is convinced new residents of Aurora will be much more familiar with this type of government than those who have been around the city a while and are only familiar with the strong-mayor form.
Laesch told me on Thursday he didn’t know much about the campaign, but he’d voiced mixed feelings in a previous Beacon-News article about this proposed referendum, noting some of the above-mentioned pros of a city manager while also cautioning this hired professional could more easily “dodge responsibility” than an elected strong mayor.
Franco remains confident support for this major change is there, and announced June 27 as “the target date to hit the streets,” with a goal of collecting 4,000 signatures to get the question on the ballot next April.
The PAC is working closely with the International City Manager Association and the Illinois City Manager Association, and is continuing to recruit volunteers and raise money for the campaign, which will include a social media push, flyers, posters and an educational tour, all of which will kick into high gear toward the end of the year, said Franco. He said those interested in getting involved can call him at 630-631-4296.
“People don’t want a political ideology … they want their streets fixed, their snow plowed and have clean water,” he insisted. “You don’t need a mayor for that. You need a manager.”
dcrosby@tribpub.com
