When I think about the job of being mayor, I don’t normally think about the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). We held a work session to discuss our Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) permit and what responsibilities come with it. The Clean Water Act was passed in 1972, and it requires Cheyenne to make sure the storm water we get is properly handled to make sure our streams are safe and healthy. We learned the city has 135 miles of storm water pipes, 4,119 water inlets, 1,659 manholes, 236 out falls, 160 acres of detention, and 364 miles of roadways. All of these require our attention to make sure we are following the EPA regulations. Our team is working on the update to our plan as required every five years.
We all know folks who constantly surprise and amaze us. One of those people for me is Amber Ash. She invited me to the Southeast Wyoming Innovation Launchpad Pitch Day at Laramie County Community College (LCCC). It reminded me of a Shark Tank kind of program. Five entrepreneurs pitched for the chance to earn part of $50,000 that they can use to help grow their businesses. Amber’s company is Every Runners Armor, a product that empowers runners to protect themselves confidently. She rocked the presentation and was awarded a large part of the prize money. The remaining pitches were equally amazing. One company will provide inexpensive lidar options for researchers. Another saw struggles of replanting in a greenhouse and came up with an ergonomic way to make the process easier on the back. Ordinal Inc. has developed a smart shipping pallet that can track itself using blockchain. Eye to Eye Telehealth is a Cheyenne company that has figured out how to monitor Glaucoma from your home. The idea is to grow Wyoming companies to diversify our economy. It was brilliant.
Jeanine West is the director of Cheyenne/Laramie County Emergency Management. She is responsible for making sure we are ready for any emergency and natural disaster that can hit our city. Think the mega snowstorm we had a year ago. They are indispensable in planning and handling these kinds of events. We met to go over her budget request for the next fiscal year. A nice surprise, they are asking for a bit less than last year. We discussed how things are going, and what to expect in the future. I believe our county is in good hands with the team from Cheyenne/Laramie County Emergency Management.
We all know LEADS are the folks working to bring primary jobs to Cheyenne and to help our existing businesses find ways to expand. Betsey Hale is the boss and she stopped by to present her budget request. Historically, we have funded LEADS with $50,000 a year. It is my intention to ask the city council to raise that amount to $75,000 next year. LEADS has been very successful in bringing jobs to Cheyenne and that has equaled millions of dollars to our economy annually. It is time to invest a bit more in their success.
There have been big changes in the Downtown Development Authority (DDA) in this past year. The DDA and Visit Cheyenne merged operations, and they have hit all their benchmarks in the initial six months of the new organization. The DDA is charged to bring activity to downtown and to help with the revitalization of the area. Domenic Bravo and his crew are really moving the needle. The budget request is $250,000 for this year and next year. I hope to see you all downtown this summer.
We were all excited with the announcement of two new Microsoft data centers in Cheyenne. You can see the construction of the centers in the Cheyenne Business Parkway near Lowes Distribution Center, and the other at Highway 85 and Chalk Bluff Road in the Bison Business Park. It seems funny to me, but the guy in charge of spending billions of dollars on these projects had not yet been to Cheyenne to see the progress due to the Covid travel ban. We fixed that this week and had dinner with the three Microsoft folks making these projects happen. It was interesting to hear how perfect the Cheyenne area is for data center development. It was also great to hear how happy they are with our city team. Microsoft’s investment is a key to Cheyenne’s financial future.
I was honored to be the speaker for the Women’s Civic League March luncheon. This is one active group of ladies, most known for the Christmas House each December. They use the proceeds to grant non-profits money to make sure they can meet the mission of helping the underserved and improving our quality of life. I was able to share a few of last year’s successes, and our goals for 2022. My only disappointment is I did not win the cinnamon roll raffle. Maybe next time.
I have shared with you that Summit Capital Management has pledged to build 1,000 multi-family units by the end of this decade. They brought the team to share the timeline and plans for their first project, 220 apartments in the Saddle Ridge area. We will see groundbreaking this spring and units ready to rent this time next year. This is an amazing start to help our housing shortage.
Geographic Information System (GIS) is an important service we have in the city. It is a cooperative shared by Laramie County, the Board of Public Utilities (BOPU), and the City of Cheyenne. First, it is the way government should work; sharing the costs to make services more efficient. We met with Jordan Evans to discuss their budget and how things are going. I use our GIS all the time to get maps to help visualize projects we are working on. I am excited to see their new drone fly this summer and the detailed picture it will provide our teams.
Another example of the city and county working together is our Human Services Advisory Committee. We pool our money and use the United Way to help identify needs in the community that need to be funded. The money comes from a small allocation of the Fifth Penny Sales Tax. We use the United Way because they have perfected the vetting and reporting processes and are really good at what they do. We had a committee meeting to discuss the Request for Proposal (RFP) for the next funding period. Non-profits will be required to build a collaborative group to apply and the timeline for applications is scheduled to be mid-May.
Safe Harbor is a local agency that helps our law enforcement with forensic interviews of children that may have been a victim or witness to a crime. They also help supervise our forensic interviewers and do other services for the city. Lynn Storey-Huylar is the director, and she shared the statistics for the past year and their budget request of $17,000. It is a shame we need these services, but I am happy to have Lynn in Cheyenne to help our most vulnerable residents.
I love our staff, and one of the folks who really makes a difference is Andrew Hays. Andrew is the Technical Director for our Civic Center and rocks at his job, but what sets him apart is the way he helps other departments. His knowledge of technology and video has helped make our city council meetings assessable to our residents online. I got to have lunch with Andrew and share my thanks for his help with our team. Best part was his son, Ira, joined us. He is a kindergarten student and a lover of Pokémon. We got to play with the cards while we ate lunch. It was a blast.
I spent Thursday evening at the Cheyenne Frontier Days (CFD) headquarters to be part of the announcement of the night show lineup for 2022. Jason Aldean, Dierks Bentley, Parker McCollum, Kid Rock, Sam Hunt, and Brooks and Dunn will be on the big stage this summer. CFD has done it again!
If you have a question for me, send it to media@cheyennecity.org. I’ll continue to answer them in my following Mayor’s Minute column.
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