The Wyoming Office of State Lands and Investments Board (SLIB) comprises our state’s top five elected officials. They have a great staff that helps municipalities like ours navigate the grant process and keep up with the required reporting. I joined the city’s grant manager, Renee Smith, and Beth Blackwell from SLIB for coffee to get educated on current city projects before the board. Projects include affordable housing, a parking area for Cheyenne Frontier Days, water and sewer infrastructure, and drainage. In all my recent meetings, I learned that there is more demand for help than available money…This is a very competitive process, but necessary if our state ever wants to succeed.
Our Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) Committee met last week, and we will be meeting again this Friday to interview candidates to replace Tom Mason, who is retiring after 33 years of directing the organization. We have some excellent candidates who I’m sure can lead this important transportation planning mission well after Tom is gone. Tom will be genuinely missed; his last day is July 7, and I wish him a great retirement!
One of our City Council’s goals is to work on using water more efficiently. A Wise Water Action Committee (WWAC) was formed to develop strategies for making our limited water resources go further. They gave an update at last Friday’s work session; public education, recycling water for irrigation uses, and landscape ordinance updates are some of the areas identified that could help. Simple things like updating toilets in our home could save 20 percent more water, more efficient lawn irrigation could save us 50 percent, and restricting water-guzzling turf could save even more water for future generations. We currently use 30 percent of our water to water our lawns. The Board of Public Utilities and our local City Council take responsible water usage very seriously, and you will start seeing their efforts all around our community.
Fridays on the Plaza have been a bit cursed so far this summer. We have had great shows but not-so-great weather to enjoy them in. Judy and I have really enjoyed our time on the plaza and the eclectic groups of bands that have played so far. I want to thank the sponsors who help make this summer music series possible and the city’s employee staff who work so hard to make it a great event! I hope you all will find time this summer to come and listen to great music amongst friends and many of our visitors. I hope for sunshine and warmer weather each Friday for the rest of the summer.
Monday was a quiet day in the office. So many folks took the day off leading up to the holiday that it was the first time I didn’t have meetings. I have been mayor now for two and a half years exactly, and I used the time on Monday to get my office reorganized and ready for the next 18 months in office. Coming into the office on Wednesday to a clean desk and a priority list ready to be accomplished felt great.
Another goal for our governing body is to build a new gymnastics facility. Our old facility was sold to the school district to build a new elementary school. Laramie County School District 1 has been patiently hosting our program until we can get the new building ready for the hundreds of kids in our program. Our Community Recreation and Events director, Jason Sanchez, updated us on the progress. We currently have 35 percent of the project designed, and by August 2, we should be at 95 percent. We will bid on the building in September, hoping to break ground as soon as we have a contractor. I can’t wait to cut that ribbon and host the biggest gymnastics competition Cheyenne has ever seen!
I met with our Chamber of Commerce to discuss how to continue improving our customer service with the building community here in Cheyenne. I really appreciate the Chamber’s partnership in making Cheyenne a great place to work and do business. We all recognize that being introspective and willing to find ways to improve are essential to making that goal happen. I also appreciate the folks I get to work with each day and how hard they work for the citizens of our great city.
Thursday was dedicated to housing and how we can partner to build more housing in Cheyenne. First, I was thrilled to be invited to the base to meet with the team determining the Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) for military members on FE Warren Air Force Base. The BAH is the money provided to military members to find and pay for housing. I have always felt that the BAH does not cover the entire cost, which hurts our local military families with finding nice housing in our expensive housing market. It was a great meeting as we learned how the BAH is determined and what Congress has outlined for the process. I appreciate the team coming to Cheyenne and learning about our housing environment. They toured 19 housing sites and walked away with a great understanding of our challenges in housing our military. I am excited to see what happens to the BAH rates in the years to come.
Later that afternoon, we hosted a meeting with folks from Housing and Urban Development, the United States Department of Agriculture, Wyoming Community Development Authority, the Wyoming Housing Network, Habitat for Humanity, My Front Door, Senator Lummis’ office, and city staff to discuss what tools and resources are available to help spur attainable housing. I learned that there are many programs we can apply for that can help us. However, providing more income-restricted housing is still a big challenge. It is a math problem that I still can’t quite figure out how to obtain enough resources to solve this issue. Each meeting helps my understanding, and I am hoping one day to have a eureka moment that will allow us to build the affordable housing we so desperately need. Thanks, Renee, for putting this impressive group together!
Hopefully, I’ll see you at the Plaza for some live entertainment, and we’ll enjoy some nice warm summer weather!
If you have a question or comment for me, please email media@cheyennecity.org. I’ll continue to answer your questions or concerns in the following Mayor’s Minute column.
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