One of the biggest issues facing the new Aurora City Council that will be elected in November is the future of embattled City Manager Skip Noe.
A review of candidates for the council provides little help in answering whether Noe will stay or go.
Noe faced criticism from five of the six female members on the City Council this year. They said compared with his dealings with their male counterparts.
Five of the council’s 10 seats are up for grabs. The races feature three incumbents seeking re-election who support Noe: Bob LeGare, Debi Hunter Holen and Bob Roth.
Meanwhile, three council members whose seats aren’t up this year oppose the city manager: Barb Cleland, Marsha Berzins and Sally Mounier. Councilwoman Renie Peterson initially was opposed to Noe as well, but her position now is unclear.
Mayor Steve Hogan would break any tie, but six of the 10 council votes against Noe could seal his fate.
“It is my hope they would like to start fresh with a city manager we can all work with and try to bring council back together,” said Berzins, who would like the city manager to step down on his own without being forced out. “That’s not something we would like to do. We want it to be his idea. He’ll be 65 in January, and that’s a good retirement age.”
In an e-mail, Noe, the city manager for more than four years, did not specifically address his future after November. Instead, he talked about the positive things that have happened under his management.
“My responsibility is to carry out the direction of the City Council, including the current and future elected officials,” Noe said. “Every day, I am focused on doing my part to accomplish those goals and manage the day-to-day operations of the city in the most professional manner possible.”
Some of the women on the council said he yelled at them and treated their ideas with condescension. The problem festered for more than a year, they said, before it boiled over early this year.
Before a council meeting in January, five female council members — Berzins, Peterson, Mounier, Cleland and Molly Markert, who is term-limited, tried to place a vote of no confidence against Noe on the regular council meeting agenda. But that measure failed to get the eight votes needed to put the issue forward.
The no-confidence vote carried no real penalty, but it did lead to with the council and city manager. Ultimately, , with Hogan breaking the 5-5 tie by supporting the city manager.
But some on the council said things haven’t changed since then.
Mounier said council appointees, including the city manager, undergo annual performance reviews in November and December.
“We know two seats are going to change, and that can make the difference,” said Mounier, one of the most vocal critics of Noe. “It’s the perfect time to come together and see what people think of the job the city manager is doing,”
Cheri McElhiney, who is challenging incumbent Roth, a Noe supporter, for the Ward V council seat, said she hasn’t spoken to Noe but has followed the issue in the news.
“I don’t know what happened,” McElhiney said. “I don’t personally have a problem with him because I never worked with him. But I’m not afraid to stand up if there is a problem.”
If Noe does decide to resign, he would get severance of six months of his annual salary of nearly $200,000, according to his contract, although the council could negotiate a different buyout price.
Mayor Hogan would not comment on how a potential change to the council could affect the city manager.
“I am confident whoever is re-elected, or elected, will come to public office with a desire to serve and a desire to do what is right for Aurora,” he said in an e-mail. “Each and every day, the manager and all city employees work for the citizens of the city, with policy direction from the mayor and council, and that isn’t going to change no matter who is elected.”
Carlos Illescas: 303-954-1175, cillescas@denverpost.com or @cillescasdp
