Former Aurora Chief Community Services Officer Viviana Ramirez, who was one of many in upper city management who recently left their positions alongside former Mayor Richard Irvin, looks back on her time at the city as “happy work.”
After rising through the ranks of the Aurora Community Services Department for the last several years, Ramirez served out her official last day in Aurora’s city government on May 13, the same day new Mayor John Laesch was sworn into office. Laesch has since appointed Nicole Mullins to Ramirez’s former position, which was approved by the Aurora City Council last week.
An attorney with a background in defense, Ramirez told The Beacon-News in a recent interview that she calls her time at the city “happy work” because “it was everything that I loved about working in the community, minus the adversarial system.”
Ramirez was first hired at the city of Aurora in 2021 as the community engagement manager, which means she was over the city’s community engagement group as well as senior and disability services. She said that was probably a good decision by Irvin because, although the two knew each other from both practicing law, the position allowed her to learn how city government worked.
After shifting to the Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office to help build its conviction integrity unit, Ramirez returned to the city as director of Community Services in 2023. She worked under Martin Shanahan, who was at the time the chief community services officer, until she took over his role in 2024 when he left to become Plano’s city administrator.
As chief community services officer, Ramirez managed what she said was technically three divisions but really operated like seven — public art, the Grand Army of the Republic Military Museum, innovation, community development, senior and disability services, youth services and grants.
Each of those functions was made up of experts in their own fields, she said, so the goal of the overall Community Services Department was to identify gaps within those divisions, as well as finding new programs and initiatives, to better serve Aurora residents and improve their quality of life. And she said that went for every resident, since there was always a focus on inclusivity and accessibility.
“Every program and initiative, I think we approached it from the lens of, ‘Everybody, regardless of race, demographic, economics, we want to be there for you,’” Ramirez said.
When asked what she was most proud of doing at the city, Ramirez first pointed to the family festivals. Coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, she worked directly with neighborhood groups on these festivals to bring a sense of community back to “the pockets of Aurora where they could really benefit from that,” she said.
A more recent program Ramirez said she was proud of was the Mobile/Express Consulate Initiative, which brought consulate services to Aurora so residents did not need to take time off of work or travel to get these services. She called the program a “big win for our residents and our community.”
Plus, Ramirez said she was also proud of the new-this-year Neighborhood Empowerment Beautification Grant, which offers small grants to homeowners to improve the outside of their homes.
At one point in her career at the city, Ramirez remembered thinking, “Wow, this is so cool, I’m getting paid to think of what programming I can bring to city residents to enhance their life?”
“That’s happy work right there,” she said.
While there were many newsworthy programs Ramirez worked on, such as the Aurora Promise educational savings account program, a lot also went on behind the scenes, according to Ramirez. For example, she said her department always tried to offer excellent and professional customer service, even when it related to something her team wasn’t directly responsible for.
Something Ramirez said she was going to miss about working at the city was being part of a team that put residents’ needs above anything else. She will miss sitting down at a table to brainstorm and talk through initiatives, or to identify gaps and plan to fill those gaps, which she said was the “cornerstone” of the department.
Plus, she felt supported by Irvin’s team as well as the other city chiefs, she said. That camaraderie, professionalism and support, particularly from the mayor’s office, she said, contributed to making it “happy work.”
“I cherish the time that I spent with the city,” she said. “I thought the old administration had such a wealth of knowledge — their backgrounds, their experiences — that it was one of those places that you’ve just felt happy coming to work.”
Ramirez said she will always feel honored to have been part of the Irvin administration, but her work for the community will continue. That same positively and innovative way of thinking will now be brought forward to the way she serves her clients, she said.
She chose to leave the city, she said, because she wants to “return to the practice of law to focus on the areas I am most passionate about,” which is both a personal and professional decision to “re-engage with my legal career and continue serving the community.”
rsmith@chicagotribune.com
