The Mayor’s Minute from Mayor Patrick Collins – February 24th
Published on February 24, 2023
CHEYENNE –I hope you all were able to stay warm and out of the cold weather this week. I appreciate the snow because we need the moisture, but the high winds and bitterly cold weather are tough on everyone. I wanted to take a moment and thank our city crews, who are always there, regardless of the weather, to plow the roads, pick up our trash, keep the greenways clear, respond to traffic accidents, and fight fires during these tough times. We are blessed to have a great group of public servants working for your city. Therefore, whenever you have a chance, remember to say thank you.
We are also blessed to have a nuclear attack submarine named after our fair city. The USS Cheyenne SSN 773 is currently in dry dock, getting refueled and refitted for another decade of service to our nation. The Chamber’s Military Affairs Committee had the Captain of the boat, Commander Bell as the guest speaker for the monthly luncheon. It was great to hear how well the boat and the crew are doing. Most recently, the submarine won the Battle E Award, which is awarded to the best boat for its overall readiness to execute its combat mission in the squadron. Unfortunately, Commander Bell will turn over command in March of this year, but I wish him well in his next position serving at the Pentagon.
You may have read or watched on TV the fireworks that came from our City Council work session on downtown parking last Friday. While fireworks are entertaining, the issue of downtown parking is something we really need to more spend time and energy to improve on. Our downtown area continues to see new business growth, which makes solving our parking problems, whether perceived or real, a priority. Council President Johnson is committed to working with the Downtown Development Authority and other stakeholders to find the best solution. I look forward to more boring meetings to make this happen.
Judy and I spent Saturday evening with the Frontier Days family raising money for the Volunteer Crisis Fund. This fund is used to help volunteers who find themselves in need of help. If I remember the numbers correctly, 173 families have benefited from over $400,000 that this event raises each year. This year’s amount was a little over $95,000, and Judy and I found an amazing Mike Beeman print to add to our home. I say it all the time, volunteers in Cheyenne are amazing, and in this case, it is volunteers taking care of volunteers.
LEADS invited me to another meeting with a potential new business looking at our community. I’m excited by every opportunity LEADS brings to us to help build our economy and provide great jobs for our residents. I find it interesting to learn why businesses look at our city and what they need to be successful here. In this case, the business has extensively researched the country and found Cheyenne to be the perfect fit due to our interstate connections, wide open spaces to develop renewable energy, and some other ingredients they feel would make them successful. It will be fun to watch the progress, and hopefully, we will see a groundbreaking in the future.
I crashed the County Commissioner’s work session this week to talk about how we will pay for the increased cost of animal shelter services in the next fiscal year. The city got the bill for next year’s animal shelter services for $1,250,000, which turns out to be $722,000 more than last year’s bill of $528,000. I wanted to discuss how we would pay for these increases in our tough economic times. I appreciate the relationship we have with our commissioners. It is nice to have partners you can just drop in on and have a great discussion with.
One highlight for me this week was a visit from a group of students from France. Central High School’s French teacher, Sarah Evans, hosts a group of students every couple of years from France, and the following year, our students are given the privilege to visit France. This year they had many great and challenging questions on climate change, energy, transportation, our economy, and what our city is doing about them. I told the kids I would like to visit their hometown and spend some more time in France. Fingers crossed, Judy and I will make it happen. What a great program and partnership between two teachers, two schools, and two nations.
The Wyoming Business Council (WBC) was scheduled to meet in town this week, and I was supposed to give a short welcome to their board. Unfortunately, it had to be by ZOOM. I wanted to speak to the WBC to thank them for their partnership with LEADS and how their efforts have benefited our state. I also wanted to share the headwinds we are facing with water and the Colorado River drainage, finding enough resources like electricity, and the need for affordable and attainable housing. I don’t envy the WBC as every community in our state has similar needs and look to the Council to solve their problems. However, the challenges are huge and the resources to solve them are limited. I feel blessed that Cheyenne is large enough to have a team of partners working to solve our challenges.
In lighter news, it’s hard to believe another month has almost come and gone! It is crazy how fast time has passed since I was sworn in as mayor. The job is still fun, and I am trying to find a way to slow this experience down, but thanks for this opportunity to serve you all!!
If you have a question or comment for me, please, send an email to media@cheyennecity.org. I’ll continue to answer your questions or concerns in the following Mayor’s Minute column.
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