The Mayor’s Minute from Mayor Patrick Collins – Feb. 21, 2025

Published on February 21, 2025

This week was hard on Judy and I. Our youngest son and his family moved to Bismarck, North Dakota, for his new job. A Wyoming Business Council report showed that 70 percent of University of Wyoming graduates move out of our beautiful state and most never come back. I read those statistics, but it really hit home as I helped drive one of their vehicles north. The plan was to fly home early Monday morning, but negative 34-degree temperatures kept our plane from flying. We ended up getting stranded for two additional days. I am not complaining as it resulted in a couple more days with the grandkids. Our flight home was complicated by a broken plane in Denver – another delay – before we were finally home. Amazing how good your own bed feels!

We are blessed to have the robust military presence we have in Cheyenne. Members of the military transfer between duty assignments every few years, and with those transfers come many spouses who have careers that require state licenses before they can go to work. I asked Sen. Boner to sponsor SF119, “Expedited professional licensure for military members.” One good thing that came about during the Covid pandemic is the ability to attend meetings online. I was stranded in North Dakota, but was able to participate in the committee meeting remotely to share the stories of hardship military families face due to protracted license application timelines. Katie Brown, a military spouse, testified about her struggles to get licensed. The House Military Affairs Committee heard a lot of testimony in favor of the bill and voted unanimously to move the bill to the full House for further consideration. I was moved by Rep. Landon Brown’s apology to her for the delays, and the committee’s promise to correct the timelines going forward.

I was back in the Capitol early Thursday morning to testify in favor of SF145. Sen. Nethercott sponsored this bill that would give our local governments the ability to invest in equities in a similar manner to the State. She did a great job of articulating the need for the bill in front of the House Appropriations Committee. I joined Mayor Murdock from Pinedale testifying in favor of the bill. One example I used for why this would help our residents is the inevitable closure of our Happy Jack Landfill. It is decades away but will cost us tens of millions of dollars. We put money away each year toward this future expense, but it will not be enough when the time comes. History shows that investing these dollars in equities for the next 40 years will result in larger savings to pay the expenses. Actions taken today will mean lower sanitation rates in the future needed to pay for the landfill closure and new landfill opening expenses. I am happy to say the Appropriations Committee unanimously agreed and this bill is also headed to the full House for consideration.

I think most of us underestimate the impact LCCC has on our community. We all know people who have attended classes there, but the work they are doing to support entrepreneurs and emerging businesses is less known and is impactful. My friends Brian Gross and Lexie Garrett stopped by and showed me how the 3D printers in the Concept Forge improved the Alexis Drake manufacturing process by improving quality and speed. Brian is mentoring local entrepreneurs and helping them scale their processes. I am proud to carry an Alexis Drake briefcase and am excited to see them expanding their market reach. Brian is scheduling a tour of LCCC for me to see the Advanced Manufacturing and Concept Forge operations. More to come.

I received a call from a league commissioner hoping Cheyenne could be a home for a junior hockey team or a college summer baseball team every few months. I would love to see these types of teams make their home in Cheyenne. The challenge we have is our youth hockey program uses all the available ice time and we must prioritize local youth. It’s the same challenge for our baseball facilities. Our youth baseball teams have seen increased participation, and we don’t have the capacity to add a college summer league team without taking game time away from Cheyenne kids. I spoke with another baseball league this week and found a group willing to help Cheyenne find a way to build additional facilities. I have no idea what will come of their interest, but it was refreshing that they understood local kids come first and they were willing to help find a solution to our field shortage.

On Feb. 3, the Sanitation Division changed our trash pick-ups. Our sanitation teams went to a four-day work week where they work 10-hour shifts. Going to this schedule saves money and improves efficiency, especially during weeks with a holiday. We used to pick up holiday trash on the Saturday before or after a holiday, which meant paying overtime to our crews. With our new schedule, when a holiday happens, the trash that was normally picked up on the holiday will slide to the next day and all the remaining trash pickups for the rest of the week will also slide one day. A Monday holiday would see their garbage picked up on Tuesday, normal Tuesday pickup would now be on Wednesday and so on. Our crews don’t have to work an extra day, their schedule just shifts around the holiday saving the extra overtime costs from our old schedule. I have received calls from folks who have missed the new pickup, and I wanted to get the word out again. Another benefit I hope comes from the new schedule is it might make recruiting sanitation employees a bit easier. Finding CDL drivers is a challenge, and three-day weekends might help in that effort. If you have questions, please give our Sanitation Division a call.

It was nice to see some snow. We really need moisture, especially in the mountains where the runoff fills our reservoirs. Thank you to our city snowplow drivers for cleaning up our arterials and collector streets. I would ask our residents to please shovel the sidewalks in front of your homes or businesses. It sure helps kids walk to schools and it is required by law.