Heroic efforts receive rewards in Aurora

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By Jason Crane – 
Mayor of Aurora, Richard Irvin and Council members honored city of Aurora government employees for recent achievements.

Aurora Police officer Skyy Calice was honored for going above and beyond to inspire young ladies in the Aurora community.

She founded her own mentor programs for young women and was recently honored as a Hometown Hero at the Chicago Wolves game.

Aurora firefighters, Lieutenant Steve Buono and Kevin O’Donnell were honored for noticing a man running out of a bank on Lake Street with a bag in his hand. They chased him approximately 120 yards and tackled him and held him until the Aurora Police arrived. The man stole $3,400.

Marty Lyons, Stacey Hamling, and Silvia Cisneros from the Aurora Finance Department were honored for earning the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award from the Government Finance Officers Association for the 19th consecutive year. Marty Lyons, chief financial officer, said the credit should go to Stacey and Silvia. He recently became employed by the city government.

Kelvin Beene, city of Aurora government Property Standards manager, was honored for serving as the national president of the American Association of Code Enforcement (AACE). Next week, Kelvin will lead the 29th Annual AACE Educational Conference in Broomfield Colorado.

In recognition of October as Disability Awareness Month, the City Council honored several individuals with disabilities.

The city of Aurora government created an advisory commission on disabilities.

A resolution appointed Curtis Spivey and reappointed Joshua Pfeffuer to the Aurora Veterans Advisory Council.

Approved 11-1, after much discussion, was the resolution to approve a Memorandum of Understanding with Smart City Media, LLC of New York, N.Y. for the installation, operation, and revenue-sharing of interactive outdoor kiosks using the City Post smart media platform.

The initial cost of advertising was dropped to as low as $95 per week.

Alderman Judd Lofchie abstained from the vote.

Approved was approximately 30 items on the consent agenda, to include:

• A resolution from the Aurora Police Department and the Aurora Information Technology Department to purchase four unmanned aircraft systems, commonly referred to as drones, and the equipment necessary to operate them for a total amount of $56,417.49.

The need, expressed in a document from the city government of Aurora: Officers from the Aurora Police Department respond daily to large variety of calls for service. Modern day policing truly expects that those officers are multifaceted in their handling of those calls and that they handle those calls expeditiously, frequently and with fewer resources. Providing officers with additional tools to help them to achieve the expectations placed on them daily would help the department become more efficient.

On the Information Technology side, traditionally the City of Aurora depends on aerial imagery from Kane County government for its aerial mapping. Geographically the city government of Aurora has the disadvantage of being in four counties. There is no uniform time frame to receive aerial data for each of the counties and hence aerial imagery can lag behind by two to three years.

• A resolution authorizing the Mayor’s Office of Economic Development to apply for a $400,000 grant from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources for improvements at Wilder Promenade.

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