The Mayor’s Minute from Mayor Patrick Collins – Jan. 31, 2025
Published on January 31, 2025
Aloha! I took a break from writing the Mayor’s Minute to attend my oldest son’s wedding. His wife is from Oahu, and they got married in the area she grew up in. It was a beautiful setting and I had a great time having our family together. We missed the cold snap and enjoyed temperatures 90 degrees warmer than Cheyenne. It was a wonderful trip, but it is great to be home.
I love how our Downtown Bronze Project has developed. I had a goal of 28 bronzes by the end of my time as mayor, and today we have more than 70 installed and more on the way. We have bronzes to honor many of our military branches, but we are an Air Force town and don’t have a bronze honoring the Air Force. Ed Gallavoti and I met with General Huser from the 20th Air Force to share Ed’s idea for his next bronze project to honor the USAF. Stay tuned for more information on this project coming soon.
Every year, the City and Fire Union must get together to negotiate a new contract. Four years ago, we started having labor/management meetings in preparation for the annual formal negotiations. I find these meetings so informative. I have a much better understanding of Fire Rescue and their concerns, and it gives me an opportunity to share information on the City and how the fire service fits into our operations. We are meeting again with the hopes that this year’s negotiation will be smooth and successful.
The Governor’s Hospitality & Tourism Convention was held this week in Cheyenne. I was honored to welcome the attendees and vendors. Tourism is the second most impactful industry in Wyoming, and it was nice to be able to thank them for being ambassadors to the visitors who come to see our beautiful state. The folks in these industries make an amazing contribution to our quality of life and it was great to spend time with them.
The Legislature is in session and this year we have the most bills affecting cities and towns that I can remember. I have spent many hours at the Capitol testifying and, to this date, not too successfully. House Bill 202 would dictate timelines to municipalities on issuing building permits, change of permitted zone use, or variance. We would have 60 days, which is not a problem in most cases, but change of permitted zone has a required state process that can take longer than the permitted time. Variances are not a city council process; the law gives that authority to the Board of Adjustment. The committee passed the bill without making amendments to address the processes that can’t fit the prescribed timeline.
We have an opening on the Airport Board that the City is responsible for filling. I spent time this week talking with a few members of the board to learn what skill set they need to complement their board. I appreciate all the Airport does for our community and the board members who volunteer their time to help guide their vision and mission. We will make an appointment at our next City Council meeting.
Senate File 145 is a bill sponsored by Sen. Nethercott. The voters passed a constitutional amendment in 2022 that authorized local governing bodies the ability to invest in equities in a similar manner as the state does today. We have been waiting for rulemaking to get started. SF145 gives the State Loan and Investment Board the authority to provide the guidelines and sideboards needed to ensure investments are made prudently. I gave the committee an example of our current landfill and the cost of closing it at the end of its life as a reason to support the bill. The EPA has very strict landfill closing procedures and the same to open a new landfill. It is exceptionally expensive. We are putting funds away toward that effort that we predict will happen in the next 40 to 50 years. If we could invest those funds in equities over the decades, we should have much more robust returns that will help keep sanitation rates lower in future years as our savings could pay more of the costs. Thankfully the committee agreed and passed the bill on to the full Senate.
Lee Searing owns Searing Industries here in Cheyenne. They produce steel pipes and beams for industry. He is also a horse racing enthusiast. I introduced him to Will Edwards who is part of the Thunder Plains horse racing track being built 10 miles east of town. Lee has owned racehorses for years and it was fun to listen to them compare notes. Lee was able to tour the progress, and I hope one day he will bring one of his thoroughbreds to Cheyenne to race.
I spent some time meeting with the Wyoming Business Council this week to talk about how we might be able to partner together to encourage the building of more housing units in our downtown. I so appreciate the WBC being willing to talk and brainstorm how we can build more of the type of housing we know young professionals are looking for.
We started doing an annual goal setting session with City Council in 2021. We have continued doing so every year since, and we held the first session for 2025 on Wednesday night. I love the exercise of getting everyone together and reviewing our past goals and the progress made on them and then looking forward to the next challenges we want to take on. We did the review this meeting and we will build our new goals next week. I will share them in the next Mayor’s Minute.
The military contributes around 30 percent of our economy annually. New airmen and women move to Cheyenne to serve each year, and many come with spouses who need a professional license to work. They are typically here for a couple of years and unfortunately the licensure process currently takes too long. I worked with Katie Brown, who is a military spouse, to help write a bill sponsored by Sen. Boner to give military spouses an expedited license for those licensed in another state. Senate File 119 passed the committee unanimously, and I appreciated the committee’s understanding of the challenges a military family faces and their willingness to help.
I had two meetings with businesses on Thursday. I am so pleased that people want to make investments in our community. The first was with a new business that wants to bring high tech to Cheyenne – augmented reality, mixed reality, virtual reality, volumetric capture, AI, and so much more. The second was with a developer looking to build warehouse-type buildings to provide homes for new businesses looking to move to Cheyenne. Their first tenant is a business that moved from Colorado to serve our new data centers. He wants to build four more and we talked about city water and sewer services. He is making a $30 million investment in Cheyenne.
General Huser, Commander of the 20th Air Force, made an official visit to F.E. Warren AFB on Thursday and Friday. I was invited to join the base leadership and 20th Air Force leadership for a dinner and socializing. We are blessed with great base leadership, and I enjoy any opportunity to spend time with them.
The Legislature will be in town for a few more weeks. I will be spending time talking with the legislators and watching bills important to Cheyenne. While I am sometimes frustrated with the bills and outcomes, I am always impressed by the time legislators spend doing the people’s work and the kind way they always welcome us to the Capitol.