The study study session for May 18, 2026 for the Aurora City Council's call to order.

Would the clerk please call the role?

Mayor Kaufman.

Here.

Councilmember Andrews.

Here.

Councilmember Bergen.

Here.

Mayor Pro Tim Coombs.

Councilmember Gardner.

Councilmember Hancock.

Councilmember Horton.

Here.

Councilmember Jackson.

Here.

Councilmember Lawson.

I'm here.

Councilmember Medina.

Councilmember Wiles.

That's all.

Okay.

There's no mayor's update.

Um Councilmember Wilser, she notified me that she may not be able to be online yet.

I guess you're all in route to a conference.

Okay.

That's the council regarder.

Oh.

Councilmember Gardner has a family emergency.

There's more no mayor's update.

Are there any issue updates?

Is there any objection to moving the consent calendar forward under number 2A through 2E?

See non-consent calendar will move forward.

Um Councilmember Gardner, Councilmember Bergen, Laura Perry.

Thank you, Mayor.

Do you want me to go ahead and just make a statement about this?

Please do.

Yes, so on behalf of Councilmember Gardner and myself being the council-appointed members to the task force that started almost two years ago, believe it or not.

Um we want to bring this forward to council for consideration.

It's really the culmination of all the work that staff has done as well as uh the outreach that to the community.

And um, I believe Laura Perry will step us through in terms of what the priorities um identified are and what the ballot measures um to be put on the ballot if council approves would be.

Uh Deputy City Manager Laura Perry.

Good evening, Mayor, City Council members, uh Laura Preary, Deputy City Manager, uh, to walk you through the build-up Aurora process.

And if you're following the agenda, these are items 4A through 4D that I'm gonna present as a block via this presentation.

So in July of 2024, the City Council unanimously approved the creation of an infrastructure task force to look at long-term solutions to address capital infrastructure within the city, all while receiving community input along the way.

The members of the infrastructure task force that met and convened over the last year and a half are listed here on this slide.

They had five main tasks that were outlined in the resolution, including developing a short midterm and long-term phase strategic plan to address the city's capital needs, establish criteria for prioritizing our city's infrastructure needs, foster effective communication and collaboration, all while engaging with Aurora residents to understand residents' infrastructure needs and preferences, and finally review funding options to address the party needs that were identified.

There were four main tenets of the Build-up Aurora process, which included strategic capital planning, which were done through a series of capital mastery planning efforts over the last three years, each of which included community engagement, uh public engagement for the Build-up Aurora specific initiative, which will involved uh several surveys and community outreach efforts, transparency at every step of the way.

Information was posted on the Engage Aurora website and different fact sheets, different presentations, as well as the infrastructure task force presentations and agendas and packets, and then last fiscal responsibility, which included taking a look at specific projects, their scope, how much they cost, as well as the city's financial means to fund our capital project needs.

This sundial represents the various capital master planning efforts that were undertaken over the last three years with the ADA transition plan currently still underway.

And as reminder again, each of these efforts involved community outreach, feedback, and identification of priority city needs for the city.

Those master planning efforts resulted in a two billion dollar capital improvement master plan uh for the city.

You'll see each of the needs categorized across the five categories from transportation down to public safety.

And this list consists of projects the city cannot afford to do within its annual budget.

The infrastructure task force engaged in effort to understand the capital needs as well as prioritize them.

And this list of four priority areas represent the prioritization conversation the infrastructure had, starting with community value, down to project readiness, cost and leverage, and asset preservation.

So throughout the Build Up Aurora specific community outreach efforts, there were over 54 events that were held with over 3700 interactions, over 21,400 website visits, 22 facilitated discussions with over 350 participants, all of which resulted in receiving over 5,800 infrastructure ideas, which culminated into a ranking roundup meetings that occurred in February.

We heard directly from the public what their priorities are for projects within that $2 billion capital needs list.

Last but really importantly, this effort was supported by at least over 50 staff within the city, everything from reviewing and running public meetings to reviewing project scopes to preparing presentations and reviewing financial information.

All of this work through the infrastructure task force culminuts in a recommendation to council that was presented at the spring workshop to move forward with a bond program for the city.

The parameters of the bond program included addressing key infrastructure needs and service gaps, funding critical projects now to avoid higher future costs, maximizing existing funding to reduce borrowing needs, balancing operating costs and affordability, and creating a flexible financial plan that's nimble and that can adapt to the city's ongoing and changing capital needs for years to come.