Aurora alderman wants to change city’s form of government

Aurora Ald. Carl Franco, 5th Ward, has launched a website and formed a committee advocating to change the city’s form of government, formalizing an idea he has discussed for nearly a year.

Franco would like to see Aurora run by a city manager instead of a mayor, an initiative he said would bring more professionalism and less partisan politics. He said this is especially important due to the size of Aurora’s budget and population.

“You want a professional running that,” he said. “A city manager is more competent than a mayor in running a city because we will have someone with a degree and certification in the experience.”

Franco is looking to place a referendum on the April 4, 2027, ballot asking voters to approve a change to a city manager system. To get the measure on the ballot, he needs to collect at least 1,900 signatures by Dec. 1. He said he aims to double the required signatures and has already collected over 300.

Franco also filed a ballot initiative committee with the Illinois State Board of Elections in May.

He said the committee includes Ald. Daniel Barreiro, 1st Ward; Emmanuel Llamas, a former Aurora alderman campaigning to take Franco’s 5th Ward aldermanic seat next April; Bill Catching, Aurora Township supervisor; Sherman Jenkins, a former Aurora alderman at-large; and Robin Weaver, a retired city manager and a senior advisor for the International City/County Management Association.

Franco said the proposed ballot measure is supported by the International City/County Management Association, which has already donated literature and plans to reimburse the committee for some expenses. He also said representatives from the organization plan to give presentations at public events that promote the initiative.

Llamas, who resigned as 1st Ward alderman in 2024 to take care of his father, is listed as the chair of the committee, while Franco is listed as its treasurer. Llamas announced his candidacy for 5th Ward alderman in late July, just after Franco announced he would not run for a fourth term.

The committee has yet to report expenses or donations with the state, but Franco said several people, including himself, have donated. Funding will be used toward communication and attorneys fees, along with mailings and social media content promoting the measure, he said.

Not everyone agrees, though, that a city manager form of government is the best for Aurora.

Mayor John Laesch told The Beacon-News in a recent unrelated interview that he supports a mayoral form of government. Having an elected mayor gives some power to residents because residents can vote on the position every four years, he said.

Removing a city manager is a much more complicated process, he said.

“I think having a clear direction and vision coming from an elected mayor gives more power to the people’s voices and it gives the public an opportunity every four years to change leaders if they don’t like the direction the city is going in,” Laesch said.

“I think, really, the best thing is to have an engaged public and a system that allows the electorate who gets to run the city,” he added.

Laesch also said he did not believe the position of city manager would be free of partisan politics or corruption.

“There’s some pluses and certainly some could argue it’s more ethical, but I would argue that anywhere there’s a pot of money and people trying to get at that pot of money, there’s going to be some level of corruption,” he said.

Three town hall meetings have been planned to discuss the proposed measure: 7 p.m. Sept. 23 and Oct. 22 at the Santori Public Library, 101 S. River St.; and at 7 p.m. Nov. 12 at the Fox Valley Park District Eola Community Center, 555 S. Eola Road, according to the proposed measure’s website.

awright@chicagotribune.com