I’m not sure about you, but I don’t have any artistic abilities. However, I do have a great appreciation for those who do; singers, painters, sculptors, writers, actors, you name it, I admire their gifts. I met with Chris Navarro, a famed Wyoming sculptor about an idea for public art in Cheyenne. Chris sees the wind turbines making renewable energy in our state. He also sees the wind turbine blades that are retired and placed in our landfills. He wants to use the blades to create very large art pieces. I hope Laramie County Community College (LCCC) will place one of the pieces on their campus to highlight the wind energy program. Stay tuned as we work with Chris to bring some interesting art pieces to our community.
Our voters were so kind in the last election to approve $128 million worth of projects to improve Cheyenne and Laramie County. We held a council work session to begin the discussion on priorities for investing the dollars, allocated for downtown projects. We discussed projects that would improve the Depot Plaza, help our staff with their ability to remove snow, keep the downtown area clean, help make our downtown events safer, and many more great ideas. We just started collecting the tax earlier this year, so it will be a while before we have the money to do these projects. Nevertheless, it was nice to start the public process. Thank you, voters!
Kyler Reisner, Kaleb Reisner, and Cael Henderson are young men who stopped by my office to tell me about their upcoming trip to an international Jiu Jitsu tournament. These young men have trained so hard to gain the skills necessary to qualify for this tournament. I love how martial arts impacts these young lives in such a positive way. I am wishing them great success and look forward to hearing how they do.
At Monday’s meeting of the governing body, we approved the purchase of land necessary to build two new fire stations. This is another gift from the 6th penny sales tax. I want to publicly thank Bob Worth and John Edwards for their willingness to work with the city to site these fire stations on property they own. Bob sold us a piece of property next to Ashley Furniture that is perfectly positioned to allow for timely service to that part of our city. John traded our fire station on Cleveland Ave for a piece of land his family owns in East Cheyenne. As our city has grown to the east, our response times have started to lag from our goal of four minutes. The Edwards family understood our need and traded land for our property, although their property is more valuable. I speak about the volunteer spirit of our city at great length, and these guys are another example of folks who make a huge difference in Cheyenne.
I would like to thank the residents of our city for their generosity, in donating to WyoGives on Wednesday. Our state gave $3,000,000 in donations and matches to our nonprofit agencies. I have been honored to visit and learn about many of these organizations. In today’s economy, they are the lifeline for so many individuals and families struggling to keep up. Your support for our nonprofits motivates and inspires me, Cheyenne.
One of the joys of being mayor is membership on boards and commissions. As a member of the LEADS board of directors, I enjoy learning about the efforts LEADS makes to diversify our economy and add job opportunities for our residents. I also enjoy the reports from other board members and elected officials. At this month’s meeting, we received a fun report from the LCCC Booster Club about their athletic programs and upcoming upgrade of the Recreation and Athletic Complex (RAC). The goal was to educate us about the great athletic teams on campus and invite us to get involved. The Esports team won the national championship this past season. It is one of seven sports found at LCCC. The improvements to the RAC will help with recruitment and give the student body of over 6,000 students access to better facilities. One example of the current need is the shortage of equipment; the use of three treadmills to support the entire student body and hundreds of faculty members on campus. The new RAC will have a complete fitness facility that will improve the student experience and their quality of life. RAC improvements will begin this September and be tentatively completed by the end of 2023.
Domenic Bravo, from the Downtown Development Authority (DDA), and I met again with the potential buyer of the Hynds Building. Their due diligence period is almost up, but they wanted to visit again to solidify the help the city and the DDA can provide in making this deal work. So many others have tried to figure this deal out but could not make it work. It will take every organization in the city and state to make it happen, but we are steadfast about getting it handled. We are committed to making it happen this time.
Sweet Grass is an amazing new development, south of LCCC. The Lummis family has started a 2,300-acre housing project that is complete with parks and greenways. I can see students living in the apartments planned there and needing to travel to campus. The problem is that College Drive has cars traveling at 50 MPH and safety is a huge concern. Therefore, the solution to this is a greenway underpass connecting the two sides. We cut the ribbon on this beautiful underpass on Thursday. It took many partners to get this $1.9 million facility built. We used 6th penny greenway dollars from the city, a TAP grant through the Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT), and another $200,000 on their side, plus Laramie County paid a third; LCCC donated land and promised to continue building the greenway on their side, and the Lummis family donated land and helped paid for the design. This is what one would call true partnership and devotion to our community.
We held our annual city employee picnic during lunch on Thursday. It was the best turnout anyone can remember. It is a great time to see and thank our employees for all they do to serve the residents of our city. I was a bit shocked at how much the younger guys could eat; double and triple burgers were just a warmup. We had to go back and buy more hamburger patties, just to keep these young men fed. I am sunburned and happy that we get this kind of time to spend together. Special thanks to Holly in my office for making the day happen, and our facility’s team for manning the grill. We truly have a great team.
The city started the Neighborhood Night Out many years ago, to get neighbors together and allow our police department to meet and greet everyone. I started the night at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church. They had a guy doing card tricks that truly amazed everyone. The next stop was on Newland Drive, with a backyard party hosted by Justin and the team from Breeze Thru Carwash. I learned how to play a Michigan game called Polish Horseshoes. Our Public Information Officer (PIO) Cat killed the game. The last stop of the night was at the Boys and Girls Club. Justin and his team had hundreds of folks there playing games and eating hotdogs. I met Eric Abojei and Titus Swen from the football team, and Hunter Maldonado and Graham Ike from the basketball team, from the University of Wyoming. Hunter and Graham were doing a basketball camp for the club, and Eric and Titus came over to support the kids and the club. I also met folks from Grace for 2 Brothers who shared a new phone/text number for suicide and mental health concerns. All you have to do is dial 9-8-8, just like you would dial 9-1-1, in the event of an emergency. By simply dialing or texting 9-8-8, you’ll be put into contact with a mental health professional. Please pass this on!
Last but not least, I’m excited to welcome all cowboys, cowgirls, and visitors to our city for the “Daddy of ‘Em All.” Frontier Days starts in a week. Time to get your boots and hats ready!
If you have a question for me, send it to media@cheyennecity.org. I’ll continue to answer them in the following Mayor’s Minute column.
Story by Mayor Patrick Collins
Trending Now
Q3 Health Check for U.S. Small Businesses
