Aurora’s council on Monday night officially opposed the campaign to change the city’s form of government into a “strong mayor” system, affirming the clash between councilmembers and the city’s mayor, who supports the idea.

The resolution was one of two items dealing with the “strong mayor” ballot initiative, which, if approved by voters, would transition the city into the form of government already in place in Denver and Colorado Springs.

The clash was palpable in last week’s council meeting.

Councilmember Juan Marcano, who authored the resolution, accused Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman of lacking in transparency in putting the “strong mayor” initiative forward.

“That is your primary responsibility is to get folks together and to establish some kind of consensus and common ground and move folks forward,” Marcano said to Coffman. “You failed to do that and I don’t see how empowering your office is going to change that. In fact, it’s just likely going to make it a hell of a lot worse.”

Marcano also said Coffman has not done the necessary work to make the change. For Colorado Springs, the councilmember said, the change was a “multi-year process” that included examining budgetary and legal effects.

“This is a very costly initiative that could potentially really be disruptive to city services,” Marcano said. “We have not had any of that thorough investigation or analysis here.”

Coffman, on the other hand, described the city as “rudderless, leaderless” under the current system.

On several occasions, Coffman has pointed to growth as a reason for changing its governmental structure, saying the city manager form of government worked well when Aurora was a smaller city, but it needs to evolve as it grows.

“Now that we have the urban challenges of race, poverty and crime, I don’t think it fits,” Coffman said. “I think you need an elected official that is directly accountable to the residents of the city. We don’t have a leader that can help move a vision forward.”

The current system is working “great” for members of the council, but not for the people of Aurora, Coffman said.

“We are a rudderless, leaderless city,” Coffman said. “I get that they want the current system to continue, but it’s just not getting the job done.”

Funding in favor of the “strong mayor” campaign has so far reached roughly $150,000, while the opposition has yet to report raising any money. Contributions mainly came from Coffman and Colorado Dawn, a group that has spent more than $2 million since 2022 on Republican causes and candidates in the past year.

Coffman gave $10,000 to the effort and Colorado Dawn contributed $144,100.

The second measure, which requires that future ballot initiatives strictly follow single-subject requirements, passed with nine “yes” votes Monday.

Under Aurora’s city code, all ordinances must be confined to a single subject. Also, charter amendment initiative petitions must be in the form of an ordinance.

The new measure approved by councilmembers requires all ballot initiatives, not just ordinances, to follow the single-subject law.

A legal battle is unfolding, even as the political fight ensues.

In early August, former councilmember Charlie Richardson filed a lawsuit against Aurora and three city residents who signed the paperwork behind the initiative to create a “strong mayor” system of government.

The lawsuit alleged the initiative violates election laws because it uses misleading language and does not adhere to single-subject laws. The lawsuit asked the court to make proponents rewrite the title and summary of the initiative.

Suzanne Taheri, who represents the initiative’s proponents, said they will decide whether or not to intervene once the city files an answer on behalf of the proponents.

Taheri maintained that the initiative complies with single subject requirements and rejected claims the title of the initiative is misleading.

“Titles generally don’t put in all the implementation details. They just put in sort of the top items that would be important to the voters,” Taheri said. “The voters can go to the Blue Book for the pro and con arguments and full text of the matter.”

The title itself is up to the discretion of the City Clerk, Taheri added.

“We didn’t set the language, the Clerk did,” Taheri said. “I would have preferred that she used the language we use on the petition, but we still think it was within her discretion to set the title.”

Aurora spokesperson Ryan Luby earlier said the city is “evaluating next steps and is working to retain outside legal counsel to handle that.”