Aurora City Council looks for community input on reducing interruptions, decorum rules

The Aurora City Council says it needs residents' help finding ways to ensure respectful, productive public comment at city council meetings.

The public comment sessions have been a contentious issue since 2025, when people started disrupting the meetings using public comment. That led to meetings being moved online and, eventually, public comment being shut down altogether.

"And when they shut public voice down, they actually violated the law," said Aurora Resident MiDian Shoffner.

She was one of the people who showed up at every meeting. She also sued the city, saying her First Amendment rights were violated when public comment was eliminated. Because of that suit the City of Aurora brought public comment back.

But after November's election, the council has new leadership and a new look.

They want to add decorum rules to ensure the public is heard and that everyone is respectful at meetings. So, they are reaching out to the public for input on what rules they think could help cool the situation.

"There have been some times that there's been disruption at our meetings, as well as times that council has not been particularly respectful to the public," said Aurora Mayor Pro Tem Allison Coombs.

On Monday, April 27, the council will discuss the decorum rules they have developed so far, based on public input, and gather further public comments. They will also collect input online until April 30.

The council will also hold listening sessions on the topic and collect input at every meeting where the rules are discussed until it votes on them in June.

"We've been really intentional about having an open public dialog on this topic," said Coombs.

Shoffner says she thinks this is a good first step toward the council becoming more responsive to the community.

"My hope is that the community does, in fact, engage in this process actively. This is an opportunity for us to truly shape how the council engages with the public for now, in years to come," said Shoffner.