DAWN | If you’re an Aurora businessperson frustrated with local licenses, regulations, taxes, fees, and other business requirements set by the city, the Aurora City Council members want to hear from you.

On Thursday, a newly created “red tape reduction” committee called for at least three hearings in the coming months, where business owners, developers and others will be asked to share what they think can be done to make the city easier to work with.

“I think the ultimate goal is to be able to capitalize and hear as many voices as possible,” said Dustin Zvonek, board member and committee chair, who led the group’s creation. “I hope they give examples of things they do here that they don’t do elsewhere. … But we also want to be able to explain things if there is a clear reason.

The three hearings the committee was talking about convening in February, March and April would be held at different times of the day and would give community members the opportunity to talk specifically about city rules and regulations, taxes and fees, and other issues. other municipal processes.

Zvonek and fellow board members Françoise Bergan, Curtis Gardner, Danielle Jurinsky and Juan Marcano were named to the committee in December.

Committee members proposed on Thursday that participants have five minutes each to speak, and that hearings could last about an hour and 40 minutes, with the option of calling more than three hearings if many people show interest.

Kim Stuart, the city’s director of communications, told the committee that the city would also open its Engage Aurora platform to invite comments online.

Council members mentioned some of the frustrations they had heard from entities that regularly work with the city. Marcano said he’s heard the city’s RFP process is “heavy” and he also wants to make sure public-facing services are adequately staffed.

“I want to make sure we’re aware of that because it impacts our development community, obviously,” he said.

Jurisnky, a real estate agent and owner of a restaurant and bar, also said that one of his “biggest complaints with the city of Aurora is that there is no communication when there is has a change of prescription and things like that”.

She and Zvonek suggested the city use contact information provided by companies that have obtained licenses from the city to conduct outreach before hearings.

Other committee members encouraged the city to spread the word through local chambers of commerce, the Aurora Economic Development Council and the Aurora-South Metro Small Business Development Center.

Once the committee has finished gathering public input, it will return with policy recommendations to the council as a whole, although a firm deadline for this has not been set.

The committee is currently scheduled to meet on the third Thursday of each month and will meet next February 17 at noon.