The Aurora City Council will discuss several resolutions and ordinances regarding public comment, councilmember testimony on legislation and neglected buildings at Monday night’s meeting.

Councilmember Francoise Bergan is proposing another rule for council meetings that would change how public comment works.

Her proposed resolution, if passed Monday, would ban recording devices in the council chamber well, limit the number of people who can stand at the podium to one, and allow councilmembers to attend meetings virtually whenever they choose.

The expected vote comes after months of back-and-forth between councilmembers and protesters for Kilyn Lewis, who have attended every meeting since July to talk about Lewis and request that councilmembers take action to fire the officer who shot Lewis.

Lewis was shot and killed by an Aurora police officer who was trying to arrest him on a warrant for attempted murder. Lewis was unarmed. Both the district attorney and an internal Aurora Police Department investigation cleared the officer’s actions as justified.

Councilmembers have made various efforts to quiet the protesters, who have found ways to dodge those efforts and work around them.

Bergan’s resolution would change several aspects of public comment.

First, the resolution would ban any camera or recording devices from the council chamber well, which is where the speaker podium is located. The only exception is for city staff, the resolution says. It also states that cameras and recording devices in seating areas cannot obstruct views, interfere with the session or disrupt decorum.

Second, it states that only one person can speak at the podium at a time, adding that exceptions will be made for guardians if the speaker is a minor and for interpreters for someone accompanying a non-English speaker.

Finally, it would get rid of the section in the council rules that only allows members to attend virtually in the case of a declared emergency or giving notice to the clerk 24 hours in advance.

If passed, the rules would allow councilmembers to attend meetings virtually without 24-hour notice or a declaration of emergency.

Councilmember Angela Lawson, who also chairs the city’s Federal, State and Intergovernmental Relations Committee, is proposing a change to the rules of councilmember testimony on proposed legislation.

Currently, council rules read that any councilmember who speaks to a member of the public should emphasize the fact that they are expressing their own views and not those of the council body. Lawson’s resolution would add that the same rules apply when a councilmember is commenting or testifying on proposed legislation.

Her resolution adds an example statement that reads “I (name) am speaking on my individual capacity, expressing my own views, and not those of the City Council or my constituents.”

Lawson has been on the committee for nine years, she said, and she has seen councilmembers testify at the Capitol taking a different position than the city took and without clarifying that the testimony does not represent the city’s views.

She has also seen councilmembers testify on behalf of their constituents, she said, which is a problem because not all of a councilmember’s constituents agree with them.

“I think there have been some inconsistencies in the testimonies of councilmembers … this is something I want to bring forward to emphasize what councilmembers can do,” she said at a prior FSIR committee meeting, adding that she’s not trying to get rid of councilmembers’ abilities to speak on legislation.

In Monday night’s study session, councilmembers will discuss an ordinance, brought by Councilmember Stephanie Hancock, that would allow the city to get the court involved if a property falls into disrepair and the property owner does not take care of it.

The proposed ordinance comes from a “troubling trend” where property owners treat fines and court appearances as routine costs of doing business rather than incentives to comply with city code, according to council documents.

Abandoned buildings can post a health and safety threat to the public, council documents said, making the buildings targets for break-ins and causing neighborhood blight.

Hancock’s ordinance would be a “last resort measure” that would allow the city to request a receiver to take control of the property and fix it if the property manager does not comply. All costs would then be billed to the property manager.

Monday night’s study session is open to the public via livestream at 5 p.m. The public comment session will not be livestreamed, and will be held in the Paul Tauer Aurora City Council Chamber at the Aurora Municipal Center, 15151 E. Alameda Parkway, starting at 6 p.m.

The regular meeting of the council will follow starting at 6:45 p.m., also in the Paul Tauer Chamber.

Livestreams are available at auroraTV.org, on Youtube.com/TheAuroraChannel, as well as on cable channels 8 and 880.