The Aurora City Council on Monday rejected a proposed resolution that would have changed rules to require agenda items before the council be limited to only those with a direct connection to Aurora.

Mayor Mike Coffman proposed changing the rules of order and procedure at city meetings, requiring all items introduced “to have a nexus to Aurora,” after a recent four-hour council meeting during which people took turns speaking in support or opposition to a resolution expressing the city’s “abiding support of the people of Israel.”

Coffman presented a proposed resolution to change the rules at a council work session Monday.

As elected officials, the mayor and councilmembers are elected to solve issues in the city of Aurora, not issues the city has no jurisdiction over, Coffman said.

But the resolution did not pass.

Several councilmembers said they agreed with the sentiment of it, but did not think Coffman’s resolution was the best way to prevent situations like the heated support of Israel resolution meeting.

That contentious Oct. 23 meeting brought forth a room full of over 60 people who showed up to testify passionately for and against a resolution, which passed, expressing the city’s “abiding support of the people of Israel,” brought forth by Councilmember Francoise Bergan.

Early on in the meeting, a majority of councilmembers voted down a second resolution — brought forth by Councilmember Juan Marcano — declaring Aurora’s “abiding support of the people of Israel and Palestine.”

During the meeting, the audience — which was told not to cheer, boo or make other sounds — did exactly that. On several occasions, they argued and yelled at each other. At one point, Coffman made a motion, which didn’t pass, to hold a 30-minute recess. He also threatened to move the meeting to another room since people refused to follow the rules.

Many of the 60 people who spoke opposed the resolution and urged the council to either support a second resolution — like Marcano’s — or amend the current one to add “and Palestine.”

In the midst of the heated discussion, Coffman said in the future he hopes “the issues we deal with have a direct nexus to the city” — foreshadowing his resolution Monday.

Some council members voiced concerns about the resolution.

Councilmember Alison Coombs said that the resolution would infringe on council members’ purview to bring forward things they think are of value, leaving the question of “nexus to the city” up to the chair.

“I think that it’s just too much of a question of opinion of whether or not something has a nexus to the city,” Coombs said. “I don’t think it really resolves the issues that you want to resolve and I think it does open us up to a lot of problems in terms of our procedures.”

Councilmember Dustin Zvonek agreed with Coombs and said he understands what the mayor was trying to get at with the resolution, but thought it wasn’t the right way to do it.

Marcano echoed both sentiments: “The best thing we can do to avoid a situation that we might not want to experience again is just to exercise good judgment.”