The Mayor’s Minute from Mayor Patrick Collins – Dec. 20, 2024

Published on December 20, 2024

As I sit down to write this week’s Minute, the volleyball national semifinal is starting with my Lady Huskers hoping to get to the national championship game. I love watching them play. I will hopefully have good news to report at the end of this week’s edition.

The week started with our outside auditor calling to let me know they were getting ready to complete our required audit and to see if I had any concerns. We will get our audit report at the end of January, and I want to thank our finance team for the incredible effort they give every year to make it happen. We have received clean audits for a while now and it is a credit to our team.

Did you know we don’t have the Air Force represented in our Capitol Avenue Bronze Project? My friend Ed Gallavotti came by to remind me of this and to share an idea of how we could remedy the situation. Our community never fails to amaze me and here is another example of a person volunteering to help. Amazing!

Our Municipal Building was constructed in the late 1970s and more than 50 years later, it is tired and in need of serious maintenance attention. I want to thank the voters for approving funding to do a spatial analysis and give us an idea of what is needed and what it will cost. We held a work session to allow GSG Architecture to share the results of their analysis. The great news is our current building structure is very sound. It needs a new HVAC system, plumbing and electrical updates. The current layout is very inefficient, making it hard to fit our current employees. The plan includes making room for the future by using space more efficiently. The cost of reusing our current building is less than half the cost of building a new one.

During a recent legislative interim committee meeting, 25LSO-0110 (a proposed bill dealing with property taxes) was discussed. I was concerned about the financial impact it could have on our community. I asked Ashley from the Wyoming Association of Municipalities to set up a meeting where we could learn the impacts of this proposed legislation. Thankfully, Ken Guille from the Department of Revenue was able to share the reasons for the legislation and that it will not have an impact on our finances. With the legislative session scheduled to start in less than a month, I am spending a lot of time looking at new bills.

Judy and I went to the Charlie Lake Wrestling Tournament on Friday night to see our Cheyenne schools compete and our friend Liam Fox wrestle. Liam won his weight class and got a banner for winning his 150th high school match. There were so many wrestlers in the gym, and I loved watching their skill and passion.

There were wreath laying ceremonies across Cheyenne and our nation this past weekend. I participated in the ceremony at F.E. Warren AFB with Judy on Saturday. I can’t thank Ms. Sallee and Alf for their organization of this ceremony and for their year-round support of our veterans. I love the imagery of keeping a veteran’s memory alive by saying their name as we placed the wreath on their grave. I wear a bracelet with Colonel Stanley Scott Clark’s name on it. He was lost in 1969 flying a F4 Phantom over hostile territory. I hope he and the thousands of MIAs are found and we have a chance to place a wreath on their grave and say their names.

The YMCA has been an institution in our community for decades, and they brought in a consultant to conduct focus groups to help determine the future of the Y. I joined Dale from the Chamber and Tyler from Rep. Hageman’s office to talk about the Y and share our impressions of Cheyenne and the YMCA. The Y provides families with childcare, recreation, and so much more. They recently received an amazing grant that will transform their facility. They are working hard to make sure they get it right.

It was bittersweet when I attended the retirement of Battalion Chief Titus Norris from our fire department after 22 years of serving our community. Titus was a mentor to so many and we wish him much success and happiness in his retirement.

I love my job and one of the things that makes it so much fun is the opportunity to meet people from all over the world. This week, Bryan Pedersen brought a delegation from China to Cheyenne. It is part of the American Council of Young Political Leaders program. This delegation was fun in that they asked a lot of questions, and it was fun to share my opinions. I appreciate being able to meet them.

Two years ago, I asked the director of the Cheyenne Laramie County Health Department what it costs to provide their services. Two years later, Councilman White and Director Emmons came to share the results of their cost-of-service study. We went through the same process a couple of years ago and it was amazing to see how much time it takes to do some of the things we do. They found the same thing. I appreciate their willingness to do the work.

Dan Dorsch stopped by to share some updates from our Affordable Housing Task Force. We started the task force four years ago because I knew how challenging housing would be for our workforce and economy. They have done a great job of providing suggestions on ways we can modify regulations to encourage housing development and affordability. Dan brought more ideas, and it generated great discussion. We also discussed a number of legislative bills that could have positive and negative effects on housing.

I met with the owners of the Hynds Building and the Hole. They are working hard on plans that we all hope will see the Hynds building full for the first time since 1985, and the Hole since it burned down in 2004.

Thursday was a great day. I got to read two of the cutest Christmas stories to students at Afflerbach and Freedom Elementary Schools. We also got to hear St. Mary’s 3rd Graders sing Christmas songs at the Municipal Building. Their excitement has me in the Christmas spirit. Thanks, kids!

Our City Clerk and City Treasurer held their new council member orientation this week. Wow, it was a lot of information, and I appreciate the departments taking time to present and answer questions.

The last event of the week was the retirement party for our City Clerk, Kris Jones. I hired Kris more than 20 years ago when I was on the City Council to be our executive assistant. Mayor Orr made her the City Clerk and she has been a great part of our administration for the past four years. I am sad to see her go, but happy to see her off on her next adventure.

The volleyball match has been so exciting to watch. The Lady Huskers won the first two sets. Penn State won the next two sets. I was so nervous, and Penn State just ripped out our hearts with a 15 to 13 reverse sweep to send our Huskers home.