The Community Advisory Council (CAC) was created in March 2022 by the Office of the Independent Consent Decree Monitor for the City of Aurora to provide community input and guidance regarding reform efforts of the City of Aurora under the Consent Decree. Chaired by prominent community leaders, Omar Montgomery, Reid Hettich, and Jeanette Rodriguez, the diverse membership of the CAC will work to promote diversity of thought and information exchange during the entire duration of the Consent Decree. The CAC will:
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Provide community perspectives and insight to the Office of the Independent Consent Decree Monitor on matters related to enforcement patterns, community engagement, addressing racial bias in policing, use of force, contacts and stops, use of ketamine, recruitment, hiring, and promotion, and accountability and transparency.
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Review summary information and the Monitor’s findings on compliance on each of the Consent Decree’s mandates and provide community perspectives and input on how the City is complying with the mandates.
COMMUNITY ADVISORY COUNCIL CO-CHAIRS
Reid Hettich
Reid Hettich has been an Aurora resident since 1985. He has been the Pastor of two congregations in Aurora and currently serves as Lead Pastor of Mosaic Church of Aurora, a multicultural church in North Aurora. He has been the Chair of the Aurora Community of Faith, the Aurora Strong Resilience Center, Aurora Community Connections and the Aurora Economic Opportunity Center. Currently, he is the Chair of Aurora's Key Community Response Team, a member of the Community Policing Advisory Team, and sits on other nonprofit boards. He is a husband, father, grandfather, and a Broncos fan.
Omar Montgomery
Omar Montgomery has been a resident of Aurora for 20 years. He currently serves as the Director of Equity, Culture, and Community Engagement for Cherry Creek School District and is an adjunct instructor for the University of Colorado Denver. Mr. Montgomery serves as president of the Aurora Branch of the NAACP. He also serves on the Aurora Police Department’s Citizens’ Advisory Board and Key Community Response Team, a committee designed to improve law enforcement’s relationships with underserved communities. He also serves as board chairperson at the Village Exchange Center—a “one stop shop” supporting integration, engagement and empowerment of Aurora's immigrants and refugee communities. He is a father, family man, and proud companion to his dog, Marley.
Jeanette Rodriguez
Jeanette Rodriguez immigrated to America over 30 years ago from South America and has been an Aurora resident since 2003. She is a former educator at Jefferson County Schools, a real estate agent, an auto repair shop owner, a sheriff’s deputy, and a pastor. She is a wife and mother of two grown children. Over the last two decades, she has served her community in several ministerial and volunteer capacities including, among others, as co-chair of the Aurora Immigrant and Refugee Commission, and member of the Community Policing Advisory team.
COMMUNITY ADVISORY COUNCIL MEMBERS
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Maurice Anderson
Maurice Anderson is originally from Huntsville, Alabama but has been a resident of Aurora since 2011. He retired from the Air Force after more than 22 years of active-duty service and 8-1/2 years in the Army National Guard. During his career in the Air Force, he specialized in mental health, substance abuse, PTSD, traumatic stress response, suicide prevention, and family advocacy/counseling/awareness prevention services. After his retirement, he interned at the Veterans Administration as a social worker in the homeless programs and worked as a federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Investigator for four years. He is a husband and father two young adult children.
Melissa Berglund
Melissa Berglund has been a resident of Aurora since 1979. She has twenty years of local, state and national child welfare experience in a variety of roles from residential treatment, direct practice, to training, coaching and prevention. She has spent the past ten years building community change in child welfare including collaboration with early childhood and behavioral health programs.
Maisha Fields
Maisha Fields moved back to Aurora in 2010 from Los Angeles. She started her career as an intensive care nurse in Los Angeles. She currently serves as the executive director of the Fields Foundation, a non-profit in Aurora established after the horrific murders of Javad Marshall Fields and Vivian Wolfe, Maisha’s brother and his fiancée. Fields Foundation provides children a healthy, fair, and safe head start in life towards a successful passage to adulthood.
Ronald Garcia y Ortiz
Ronald Garcia y Ortiz is a Colorado native and has been an Aurora resident for over twenty years. He is a career-long educator in the Cherry Creek School District and currently serves as the Director of Equity, Culture, and Community Engagement. He previously served in multiple roles during his career, including as a social studies teacher, coach, dean of students, athletic director, assistant principal, and a principal.
William Gondrez
William Gondrez has been a resident of Aurora since 1992. He served over 20 years in the U.S. Army, retiring at Fitzsimons Army Medical Center. He currently serves as a board member for the city's Citizen's Water Advisory Committee. In addition, through the Spirit of Aurora he assists the city's finance department with 501(C)(3) grants and projects. Mr. Gondrez is the President of the oldest community organization in this city, Northwest Aurora Neighborhood Organization and is currently employed with the Aurora Public Schools as an Early Childhood educator.
Becky Hogan
Becky Hogan has been an Aurora resident and an active community volunteer for 19 years. She was a small business owner in Aurora with a background in economic development and land development consulting. She is currently serving as a Second Vice Chair of the Aurora Planning Commission.
Gianina Horton
Gianina Horton has been a resident of Aurora for a year. She has worked in civilian oversight of law enforcement for several years. Currently, she serves as the Executive Director of a nonprofit called the Denver Justice Project, which works with historically marginalized communities to address systemic racism by transforming law enforcement and the structure of the criminal justice system through intersectional movement building, direct action, advocacy, and collaborative education.
Thomas Mayes
Thomas Mayes is a Colorado native and has been a resident of Aurora for 38 years. He is a Vietnam veteran with 23 years of government service and served 32 years as a senior pastor in Aurora. He has been serving the Aurora community since 1990.
Amy Wiles
Amy Wiles has been a resident of Aurora for 22 years. She currently serves as the Director of Strategy and Business Development for United HealthCare where she works on nationwide change management programs, strategic and complex project roll out while maintaining the goal of representing the voice of the customers. She is a mother to two sons and volunteers at a variety of local events and causes, including the Special Olympics.
Second Town Hall Meeting- August 9, 2022
These are the comments and questions that we received during the Town Hall held on August 9, 2022 at 6:30 PM at the Beck Recreation Center. All comments and questions have been transcribed verbatim from the cards submitted during the Town Hall or questions received via auroramonitor.org.
May 2, 2023 Public Community Event
These are the comments and questions that we received during the Public Community Event held on May 2, 2023 at the Aurora Municipal Center. All comments and questions have been transcribed verbatim from the cards submitted during the event or questions received via auroramonitor.org.
