The Mayor’s Minute from Mayor Patrick Collins – July 4, 2025

Published on July 04, 2025

I have been married to my wife, Judy, for almost 43 years now. For that whole time, she has worked in the banking industry, from a teller while we were in college, to a state bank examiner, to her most recent position where she managed audit, compliance, and credit risk review departments at ANB Bank. Her last day working was July 1. I tease her that her weeks now consist of six Saturdays followed by a Sunday. I am so proud of the mother she has been to our boys, wife she has been to me, and friend to all she knows. She loved her job and is excited to have time to spend with the grandkids and her dog, Sampson. I know she will take to retirement the same way she did her career, with energy, passion, and grace.

I was elected to City Council in November 2000. Over the past 25 years, one of the challenges I see in all municipalities in Wyoming is finding enough revenue to provide services. The Wyoming Association of Municipalities and Wyoming County Commissioners Association proposed to the Legislature’s Joint Appropriations Committee a plan that would replace the direct distribution, or money the state gives directly to local governments, with a more predictable funding source. Currently, local governments receive 30% of the first four pennies of sales taxes. They proposed increasing the percentage to 38%. I met with Don Richards from the Legislative Service Office to understand the math that currently is used to determine how much each local government agency receives in direct distribution and how that formula would work for the new funding proposal. Don was a patient teacher, and I came away understanding that the new proposal would be an improvement to the current way the state helps fund local governments.

In 1971, the City agreed to provide water to the area south of Cheyenne we now call the South Cheyenne Water & Sewer District (SCWSD). In 1983, sewer services were added to the agreement. Over the past 50-plus years, the agreement has not aged well. After a decade of negotiations, the Board of Public Utilities (BOPU), SCWSD, and the City have agreed on the terms for an updated agreement. I met the SCWSD board chairman, Jim Rish, at McDonald’s for a Dr. Pepper and to sign the new agreement. It shows that when people take time to understand each other, good things can happen. I appreciate everyone who worked to make that understanding happen.

Col. Dean Konowicz served as the Vice Commander of the 90th Missile Wing and then Vice Commander of the 20th Air Force, both here in Cheyenne, before becoming the Commander of the Air Force Inspection Agency, Kirkland Air Force Base in New Mexico. He came back to Cheyenne on Monday for his retirement ceremony. You can tell the impact a person has in their career by the number of people who show up to celebrate, and the Cheyenne Frontier Days  Events Center was packed. He was the Military Affairs Committee Chairman for CFD, and that family joined the military folks to honor Dean. He had an amazing career, mentored and influenced generations, and was a great friend to so many. Judy and I wish him and his family much happiness.

Habitat for Humanity is making a difference in Cheyenne. Getting families into homeownership changes the trajectory of their lives. Last Friday, they hosted a panel at Blue Raven Brewery to talk about housing, legislation affecting housing, and ideas to make affordable housing more available. I enjoyed the conversation, and I appreciate Dan and the Habitat team for putting it on.

Judy and I attended the Greater Cheyenne Chamber of Commerce Annual Banquet. I like this event as it is a celebration of business in Cheyenne and honors people making a difference. My friend Gay Woodhouse was named person of the year. Well deserved!

I had another first this week. After all these years of living in Cheyenne, I had never visited the Cowgirls of the West Museum on 17th Street until this Monday. Pam and Jerry shared how five women decided the story of the cowgirl was not being told but deserved to be. They formed a non-profit and have been collecting stories about amazing women ever sense. I loved learning about the women who rode bulls and broncs in the early days and seeing the exhibits. It is amazing how a small group of people can have a big impact like this museum. They had a record number of visitors last year, and I loved it.

This past week we have had a few meetings with Guide Studio and Y2 Consultants. They are helping the City with a new branding process. I thought this was an effort just to create a new logo, but I have learned it is so much more. Guide and Y2 have shared how this process will help us find our voice to better communicate with our community and to find ways to be more effective. We should have the final product this fall.

I would like to brag about our City staff and partners. This weekend we had another epic Fridays on the Plaza and Superday event. Community Recreation and Events Department staff set up Fridays on the Plaza and then had to tear it down and head to Lions Park to set up the stage for Superday. After Superday ended, staff tore the event down and by late afternoon you couldn’t tell 20,000-plus people had been in the park. So many City departments had booths to share what is going on in their departments and getting feedback from the community. I saw many other non-profits doing the same thing. We also had a state baseball tournament and so much more going on during the weekend. Bright and early Monday morning, staff was back at work serving the residents of our city. The pace and professionalism of our team makes me so proud. I hope you came to Superday, it was epic this year.

A quick update on our Critical Traffic Control Area designation on Central Avenue: in the first couple of weeks, we have written 125 tickets for speeding. While I am encouraged that speeds are slowly coming down, they are not at the levels where Central Avenue speeds are safe. Before the designation, 39.8% of cars were going over the posted speed limit, today that percentage is 28.4%. I know the challenge for this section of road is it goes from 45 miles per hour to 30 just before the neighborhood. Thank you to the 71.6% of Cheyenne drivers who understand driving safely makes our neighborhoods safer.

July 4th is America’s 249th birthday and Judy and I wish you all a safe holiday weekend. We’ve already started planning our celebration for the nation’s 250th birthday next year!