The Mayor’s Minute from Mayor Patrick Collins – Dec. 13, 2024

Published on December 13, 2024

As I have gotten older and my kids are grown and gone, I miss the excitement of young children during the holiday season. Last Friday evening, Judy and I were invited to attend the tree lighting ceremony at the base. A highlight for us was the kids singing traditional Christmas carols. I shared our appreciation for all our local Airmen do for our community and country. I also thanked their families for their support of all our military members. The tree was beautiful!

General Huser and Colonel Galbert invited Judy and I to their holiday reception at Quarters 92 on the base. We so appreciate the invitations and hospitality the base shows us year around. Their historic home is beautiful, and it was so nice to catch up with base leadership and community members. Everyone was in the Christmas spirit.

Cheyenne has witnessed growth in high-tech jobs, especially with our emerging data center development. This week I was invited to learn about a new company that is in the emerging technology sector. I was blown away by their use of augmented reality, mixed reality, virtual reality, volumetric capture, AI, and more. These organizations are mostly located on the coasts, but I hope they will be successful in bringing one to Cheyenne. I can see the way their skills could help educate the world on the wonders of our beautiful state and encourage tourists to visit. It will take some collaboration to achieve the funding necessary to make it happen. The global market size for AI is projected to be $2.3 trillion in 2032. We need to make sure some of that is based in Cheyenne and Wyoming.

The LEADS board meeting this week at way too early in the morning was very interesting. We had presentations from Baylie with gBETA on their efforts to help entrepreneurial companies in Wyoming find funding and mentorship to grow their new businesses. Wyoming has many folks who have great ambitions and ideas but need help to develop the idea into a full-fledged business that can support hiring Wyoming workers. It is exciting that Bailey and many more see the potential and are investing in their futures.

LEADS shared at their board meeting that this has been one of their most successful years for economic development. They are currently working with 28 active companies looking to bring businesses to Cheyenne – businesses that bring good jobs to our community that I hope will give our children and grandchildren the option to make Cheyenne their home.

I am very concerned by the shortage of people working in the trades in Cheyenne and across the country for that matter. If we are going to build the housing we need for our growing community, we will need more folks who work in the building trades to get the work done. I attended the Contractor Licensing Board meeting to discuss my concerns and ideas for growing our workforce. Currently, a journeyman can supervise two apprentices. I wondered where the two-apprentice limit came from, and no one could share why. I proposed looking into increasing how many apprentices can be supervised. If we went from two to three, it would increase the workforce being trained by 50%. I appreciate the board giving me time and discussing ways we might build our workforce. I also appreciate their volunteering to help the City manage the licensure of folks in our building trades.

This week’s orientation for new city council members was at our new Fire Station 3. Chief Kopper gave a presentation on the 103 men and women who make up our fire department. With a $14.6 million budget they protect the 38 square miles of our city. Our fire department is made up of three divisions: Operations, which is made up of the men and women who work in fire suppression and emergency medical services; Prevention, which educates, does code enforcement, and conducts plan reviews; and Support, which is responsible for training, facilities, ISO, and occupational safety. Our department responds to almost 11,000 calls for service, does 1,000 inspections, and spends 14,000 hours on training annually. The new council members got a tour of our new station and a great orientation on the fire service.

We have an employee advocacy group in the City organization, and they share ideas and thoughts on how we can improve things for our employees. We met again this week to discuss a recent employee survey they had commissioned. I appreciate their candor when discussing things they believe are important and necessary.

I was asked to take part in a panel discussion at the Wyoming Business Council board meeting this week. It was very interesting to hear folks from the Wyoming Energy Authority, Wyoming Business Council, Wyoming Business Alliance, and Rep. John Bear from the Wyoming Legislature speak about the opportunities and risks our state faces. I spoke about our housing shortage and the work we have done to encourage development by reducing rules and regulations. There are a lot of good people doing good work in our state.

I joined the city and county planning directors to talk with the Leadership Cheyenne class on their economic development day. I love that each year, a cohort joins Leadership Cheyenne to learn about so many aspects of our community and what makes it work. I was in the program in 1997, and it is fun to go back each year and talk with the group.

The annual Cheyenne Fire Rescue awards and promotion ceremony was held at the Civic Center on Wednesday afternoon. This year was special as for the first time since becoming mayor, many family members attended. We gave awards for longevity, lifesaving, badges for firefighters coming off probationary status, promoted engineers and lieutenants and more. So very proud of the men and women who make up our fire department.

I enjoy learning from folks in other communities who are successfully solving problems and challenges we face. I went to Berthoud, Colorado, on Thursday with our city engineer, planning director, BOPU director, and chief of staff to tour a housing subdivision where they have built modest homes on smaller lots. This has resulted in affordably priced homes perfect for a developing workforce. It was fun to tour the development, and I can see these kinds of homes addressing a need in our state.

Later, we drove to Fort Collins to visit a 62-year-old and up senior living facility where the folks who live there manage the building in a cooperative manner. The developer has an interest in building one in Cheyenne and I wanted to see one myself. Kay took us through three different models and how they manage this beautiful facility. I hope they decide to invest in Cheyenne.

Hearing the kids sing at the base tree lighting has me starting to feel the Christmas spirit. Hoping you are all feeling the spirit too.