The Mayor’s Minute from Mayor Patrick Collins – July 19, 2024

Published on July 19, 2024

I remember the Flood of 1985 very clearly. It was a horrible day for our city with the loss of so many lives and the destruction of property. Hail and over 6 inches of rain caused our creeks to flood, resulting in 12 fatalities and over $61 million in property damage. In our first goal setting session in 2021, City Council made it a goal to create a stormwater mitigation program to prepare our city for when it happens again. Wes Bay, our stormwater engineer, gave Council an update on the progress the Engineering Department has made to create a stormwater division to maintain our system and fund the improvements needed to protect our community. I appreciate the work our staff has done and the leadership provided by City Council.

To me, the official start of Cheyenne Frontier Days is the Coronation Ball. Since 1931, a Miss Frontier has been crowned and serves as the ambassador for CFD and our city. This year Caitlin Garcia was crowned Miss Frontier, and Haylie Turley has stepped up as her Lady in Waiting. They make an amazing team representing the Daddy of ‘em All! Judy and I enjoyed the occasion, and we want to wish them luck this week!

Ed Gallavotti is retired from the Navy and he spends a lot of his time helping make our city better. He stopped by my office to update me on the progress being made to get a bronze of Vernon Baker placed as part of our Downtown Bronze Project. Vernon Baker is the only Medal of Honor awardee to be born in Cheyenne. He served in a Buffalo Soldier unit during World War II and was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Clinton when they reviewed his record so many years later. I wanted to recognize Mr. Baker and asked Ed to make the bronze happen. He has worked so hard with our local veteran organizations to raise the $36,000 needed to create the bronze and get it installed. Today we have 68 bronzes on streets downtown and many more to come. Thank you to everyone who has helped make this amazing project happen.

The Cheyenne National Cemetery is a gift for our community. It is a place where folks who have served in our military and their spouses can be interned. The internment is done free of charge. This week, the city finished paving the road leading to the cemetery, and we added needed parking for visitors and families. It is a beautiful and peaceful place and I hope you will take a drive to see it. Thanks to Cassie in our Engineering Department for all her work to get this project designed and done.

Our police department struggles with how to handle folks they encounter suffering with mental illness. Chief Justice Fox and her team are working to develop a diversion program in our courts for these folks who find themselves in legal trouble. Along with our police chief, I was invited to a meeting to learn about the idea, and I am excited with the direction. Putting these folks in jail does not work. The new direction is humane, and I think will help keep them out of trouble.

One thing I get to do as mayor is to record a greeting to be played at the rodeo every day. It is an honor to welcome the visitors who come to see our rodeo. Thank you, Stu, for making it easy each year.

We held an open house to give the public an opportunity to see the ideas our consultants and staff have drawn up for the new Rotary Park. The Rotary Foundation bought the property and donated it to the city. I really liked Option 1. The design included native plantings that will be water-wise and reduce maintenance costs, and it feels like it blends into the native spaces along the creek. I would encourage you to come out to the next opportunity to see what is planned for the Rotary Foundation gift. One cool thing about the open house was that we held it in the new Coyote Ridge school on Powderhouse Road. It is so beautiful.

The SiteLink Forum was held this week at Little America. This forum brings economic development professionals to advise our local folks who are working every day to diversify our economy. I welcomed the group to Cheyenne and thanked them for sharing their experiences. We all love Cheyenne and can’t understand why companies would not jump at bringing their business to our town. The truth is that the process of finding a location is very complicated and our team at LEADS understands the language and calculations companies use to make their decisions.

HealthWorks is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing medical, dental, pharmacy, and mental health services to our community. There are so many folks in our community who don’t have healthcare options and HealthWorks takes care of all of them. Tracy and her team are so dedicated. Today, they are remodeling a building downtown that will allow them to quadruple the number of people they serve. Unfortunately, the recent inflationary conditions have made the project much more expensive. We will need to help them find some grant money so they can put their resources into helping the less fortunate in our community.

We held our annual city employee picnic on Wednesday. I love this event and the opportunity to see our team outside the work environment. This year we brought in food trucks so our employees could enjoy the day and not have to cook. I had a pulled chicken chipotle sandwich – it was amazing! Thank you, Jennifer, for a great event!

The intersection of 26th Street and Pioneer Avenue is the location of Robert Burns Park. We did a ribbon cutting for the new water-wise landscaping that was installed there this spring. The Leadership Cheyenne Class of 2022/23 partnered with the Board of Realtors and the City to do the work with the hopes that this demonstration project will encourage more of us to follow their lead. I would encourage you to drive by. It is so beautiful and will save more than 300,000 gallons of water every year. I thought most water-wise landscaping would be boring and ugly, I learned that is not true.

The Mission Support Group Commander on the base is the mayor of our base. I am blessed to be the honorary commander of this group and Thursday I went to the change of command ceremony where Colonel John Dines gave up command and Colonel Kevin Brown took command. I love the Dines family and will miss them as they head to Belgium on their next assignment. I am looking forward to getting to know the Brown family.

Those who know me know I have no artistic ability, but I have a real appreciation for those who do. Judy and I attended the CFD Western Art Show. Every year I am amazed by the turnout, and by the incredible art on display. The Old West Museum does a great job of hosting this event and the art purchased helps fund their operation. Great job everyone.

I love that I get to be a part of the CFD experience. Judy and I are ready for the parades, rodeos, pancakes, night shows, and meeting our visitors. Have a great rodeo and I hope we will get to see you during the next 10 days.