John Laesch used his first official speech as Aurora’s new mayor to highlight both upcoming challenges and opportunities that he sees in the city’s future.
He was sworn in as Aurora’s 60th mayor alongside newly-elected and reelected aldermen of the Aurora City Council at an inauguration ceremony at downtown Aurora’s Paramount Theatre on Tuesday evening. Laesch won against incumbent Mayor Richard Irvin in the April 1 mayoral election.
In a speech immediately following his swearing-in, Laesch acknowledged the work of past mayors to revitalize Aurora’s downtown, and although he noted he wants to continue that progress, he also said that investment has left the city in “serious debt.”
And, because of even more debt the city needs to take out in order to cover previously approved projects, some of which are already underway, Laesch said the city is probably going to see “yet another property tax increase.”
“I don’t see a way around it,” he said.
The number one thing Laesch said his administration needs to do is get the city’s “financial house in order.” Over the transition period, he has had “some sobering conversations” with the city’s finance and legal departments, he said.
So, Laesch proposed delaying a number of projects that have been in the works, including the City of Lights Center, the redesign of downtown’s Millennium Plaza and the Broadway streetscape project.
“I don’t want to be all doom and gloom, but I do want to be honest with people as we go into the 2026 budget cycle,” he said.
On the upside, city grant writers have already been hard at work applying for green building and solar grants, Laesch said. The city will also be looking to partner with the CEJA Workforce Hub, he said, to help train students in Aurora for what he calls “the coming green-collar economy.”
Big picture, Laesch said his administration will be focusing on bringing better-paying, living wage jobs to Aurora, including those “green collar” jobs and tech jobs. The city will only be giving incentives to companies bringing living wage jobs to the city, he said.
Plus, Laesch said he would work to develop more energy-efficient single-family homes and less apartment buildings.
The city already has an “excess number of rental properties and properties owned and operated by hedge fund investors that don’t live in Aurora,” according to Laesch, which he said is raising the cost of living and “pricing working families out of our community.”
Although his administration will be getting to work right away, Laesch said not to “look for me to impress anyone in my first 100 days.”
There are “a number of big challenges ahead of us,” but there is also “a great opportunity to start building a government and economy that works for everyone,” he said.
“We won’t get there overnight, but we will start walking in that direction tonight,” Laesch said.
Although “some past campaigns and (City) Council meetings have left bruises,” he said the city now has the chance to “turn the page and collaboratively start writing a new chapter in Aurora’s history.”
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It is Laesch’s goal to treat everyone in the community and on the City Council with dignity, respect and equality to “set the tone for our community,” he said.
Putting aside differences and working together was also a common theme among some of the speeches given by the aldermen sworn in at Tuesday’s inauguration ceremony.
In his speech after being sworn in, Ald. Edward Bugg, 9th Ward, quoted Irvin’s election night concession speech in which he called for Aurora residents and politicians to put divisiveness aside. After Irvin’s quote, Bugg said it is the charge of the aldermen to work together “in collaboration and peace and civility to move our city forward, to truly make our city ‘One Aurora.’”
Many aldermen sworn-in at the ceremony also took the time in their speeches to acknowledge the loss of longtime Aurora Ald. Scheketa Hart-Burns, the first Black member of the Aurora City Council, who died in June 2023.
Ald. Javier Banuelos, who now represents the city’s 7th Ward, said he intends to honor Hart-Burns by serving her former ward with “servant leadership.”
The swearing-in of the newly-elected Banuelos and Ald. Jonathan Nunez, 4th Ward, marked a significant moment for the Aurora City Council — it is the first time in the city’s history that the council has been made up of one-third Latino aldermen. Banuelos said he was also the first Mexican American to represent his ward.
While some aldermen sworn in at the ceremony are already on the Aurora City Council — including Bugg, 1st Ward Ald. Daniel Barreiro, 2nd Ward Ald. Juany Garza and 10th Ward Ald. Shweda Baid – others like Banuelos and Nunez are new to Aurora politics so used their speeches to introduce themselves.
Banuelos said he ran not for a title or power but to honor the memory of his daughter, who died of cancer around two years ago, and to give back to the community who gave him so much. He will be there for all his residents, regardless of whether or not they voted for him, he said.
Nunez may be new to Aurora politics, but he said his family has been part of the city’s history for over 100 years. His was one of the first Mexican families to settle in Aurora, he said, and since then they’ve “lived, worked and persevered right here.”
Like many of the city’s sidewalks that were built by his grandfather’s company, Nunez said that everyone builds something — and whether that something is concrete or community, “if we’re really lucky, it’ll last,” he said.
Ald. Keith Larson, at-large, a 29-year-old who is also a somewhat new face to Aurora politics, became on Tuesday evening the youngest-ever alderman to sit on the Aurora City Council since the city’s form of government changed in 1977.
A software engineer, Larson said he doesn’t see himself as a politician but just an ordinary person trying to do the right thing. Although he is naturally an introvert, it is the resilience, courage and “righteous anger” of so many in the face of what he sees as a broken world that inspired him to break out of his comfort zone, he said.
“There are many inspiring stories of heroes who come to the rescue and save the world, but I don’t believe there are heroes in our world. There are only ordinary people like you and me,” Larson said. “I cannot fix all of our problems by myself, but together, I believe we stand a chance.”