Mayor Marian Orr held a “State of the City” address for the community of Cheyenne. Starting with a video (to be published later) on the great community of Cheyenne, Mayor Orr thanked all those who have made this community great. She stated the purpose of the address was to “look back on 2017” and to “look forward to 2018”.
She thanked elected officials, department head officials and city employees, as well as family and friends. She recapped the great events of 2017, to include the incredible 150 year celebration events, notably that the city and members rallied together to put on the events without using a single dollar of taxpayer funds.
She noted that when she was elected, there were projected to be lean times, but that perseverance rings true in action in that there was growth when none was predicted, and deficits during a hard economy. Reaching goals to create this outcome included budget cuts without layoffs at the city level, increased savings through hard work at the City Council level, and 10 new Cheyenne Police Officers appointed throughout 2017 to help increase the safety of our community. They’ve even worked to create an air of transparency taking actions such as live-streaming the City Council meetings on Facebook so that the community can see from anywhere.
She noted that bringing in key players to make our community successful has been a part of the growing of Cheyenne. “We stole them” became a key phrase as she named the many folks that the administration intentionally brought to Cheyenne to make it a better community. Robert Briggs, formerly of Sheridan, was sought to make regulations easier for all to create a better business environment.
Future goals include the continued progress on the Enhanced Use Lease to increase housing for servicemen and women; recruitment and retaining of professionals; continued Downtown development; enforcing of speeding regulations; and increased broadband connectivity (1 GB up and down) in Cheyenne.
The Mayor closed with her introduction of two new initiatives for the community:
1) A formalized business ombudsman – someone who would work with businesses as a singular point of contact that could guide them through from the creation of a business throughout the entire process.
2) A new Broadband Taskforce, headed by the headmaster of ARRAY, Eric (ET) Trowbridge, which would delve into affordable and easily accessible broadband technology. She noted that this should be just as easy to access as the simple act of turning a light switch. They are to meet and provide a recommendation within the next 60 days.
She finished the meeting noting that Cheyenne’s forefathers were self-starters. “Cheyenne [was made on] grit and can-do attitude. It’s in our blood…2018-look out, and here we come.”
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