The Aurora City Council discussed anticipated drought conditions at its Monday meeting, agreeing to implement water restrictions this spring if nothing changes.
The council also debated awarding grants to local nonprofits as the city continues pandemic recovery efforts.
Here’s more about how the decisions unfolded.
Water availability
The council approved a resolution that will enact Stage I water restrictions in May. Earlier this month, Aurora Water staff proposed taking that action now amid concern about the city’s projected water storage levels.
Aurora’s reservoirs are at 54% capacity, according to city staff. Based on current city demands, the reservoirs will likely be at 48% capacity by mid-April.
The decision comes amid a megadrought being felt across the region, and uncertainty regarding how much this year’s snowpack will replenish Aurora’s storage levels.
During normal conditions, the city limits landscape watering to three days a week and prohibits watering between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. Under Stage I drought conditions, the city limits watering to two days a week, and reduces variances allowed for irrigation accounts, while also applying surcharges. Restrictions are enforced through fines on customers’ water bills. During drought restrictions, residents are not supposed to be penalized for brown lawns by homeowners associations.
The goal is to reduce outdoor water usage in the city by 20%.
City staff also asked council members to approve changing how surcharge rates apply when the city is under drought restrictions. The current method inequitably affects multi-family housing, said Director of Water Marshall Brown.
The bill will return to the council for final approval. Councilmember Angela Lawson dissented.
ARPA grants
Last year, the council approved creating a nonprofit grant program with $2.5 million of ARPA dollars. The city council approved several ARPA grants at its January regular meeting while turning down several more or postponing votes for approval amid debate about how well the nonprofits were vetted.
Three organizations’ grant requests were back for consideration on Monday.
A grant to Metro Community Provider Network was approved for $250,000 to help renovate a STRIDE Peoria Dental Clinic. The clinic provides dental care to low-income families in Aurora.
Councilmember Alison Coombs heard some of the clinics in northwest Aurora were closing and wanted to know if this clinic might shutter soon. Representatives of STRIDE said the location is not closing but will temporarily cease services during renovations.
Councilmember Danielle Jurinsky was the only one to vote against the grant. Jurinsky said she has “a very big personal issue with STRIDE” and alleged she witnessed inconsistent masking among the organization’s employees at testing clinics it ran during the first shutdown of the COVID-19 pandemic. The clinic’s representatives told the council they are under new leadership and apologized.
A grant agreement with New America College was approved for $10,000 to create an Aurora Scholarship Fund for needs-based full and partial tuition scholarships. The program will help Aurora residents attend New America College, which provides intensive English language training, representatives said.
“I was really impressed with the program and the curriculum,” Councilmember Juan Marcano said regarding a tour he took recently of the school.
A grant agreement with Mosaic Unlimited, LLC for $188,300 came under scrutiny from Councilmember Francoise Bergan and Jurinsky, although the organization received praise from other councilmembers.
The grant will support the nonprofit’s violence prevention initiatives, which have included working with the city’s Youth Violence Prevention Program. The council voted to approve the grant agreement in a 6-5 decision with Mayor Mike Coffman’s support.
The nonprofit plans to launch a Safe Haven program, which would recruit, organize and train a network of churches and faith groups to provide support in the wake of violent tragedies, according to the grant application. Bergan objected to funding the Save Haven program because she said a church should be able to open its doors and rely on community donations to run something akin to Safe Haven.
The nonprofit also plans to stand up a Strengthening Families program aimed at nurturing family units as a violence prevention initiative.
Jurinsky criticized the nonprofit for not advertising any youth services on its website and questioned how involved the organization was in addressing youth violence. Councilmember Crystal Murillo has worked with Mosaic closely and praised it as engrained in the community, while suggesting it update its website.
The nonprofit’s Pastor Reid Hettich said it is a new and small nonprofit but ready to help Aurora address youth violence.
“We are eager to be in this battle with you guys,” Hettich said.
