The Mayor’s Minute from Mayor Patrick Collins – Nov. 14, 2025

Published on November 14, 2025

We all love heroes! Judy and I attended the Habitat Heroes & Hope 2025 event at LCCC where housing heroes were honored. I have attainable housing as one of my top goals and I know it will take a great number of people and organizations to achieve it. Habitat for Humanity is a nonprofit that was founded in 1976 and locally has been helping deserving families attain homeownership. The evening was all about celebrating members of our community that have championed building affordable housing. Mike Morris played some great music, and we learned about the upcoming Pronghorn project where Habitat will construct 12 homes in 2026 – the largest build in our local Habitat history. Thank you to everyone who has helped Habitat over the years.

Since 1931, Cheyenne Frontier Days has had an amazing group of ambassadors that have represented Cheyenne across the country. Sunday, a life-size bronze was unveiled in front of the Old West Museum honoring the legacy and service of over 90 years of Miss Frontiers. The oldest living Miss Frontier at the event, Jeanette Tyrrell Daly, was crowned in 1958, and many living Miss Frontiers joined her at the ceremony. The twin daughters of two former Miss Frontiers, Lois Hofmann Deaver and Ann Dinneen Smith, were the catalyst for this project to honor their moms and all Miss Frontiers. Dave Forman and Harvey Deselms rounded out the committee. I am always amazed by the talent of the artists creating bronzes across our community. Joey Bainer was the artist for the Miss Frontier Legacy bronze. It is beautiful, and worth a trip to the Old West Museum.

Dildine Elementary School holds a Veterans Day concert every year. I was invited to attend and lead the Pledge of Allegiance. The third and fourth graders sang patriotic songs and I was so impressed by how well they performed. “The Star-Spangled Banner,” “You’re a Grand old Flag,” and “God Bless America” had me singing along. One highlight for me was the playing of the song of each branch of our armed services while the veterans from that branch stood and were recognized. Thank you to all the veterans in our community for your service to our country. You would have loved the concert the kids put on in your honor.

At our meeting of the Governing Body on Monday night, Larry Wolfe was nominated and confirmed to complete the Ward 1 term of Scott Roybal. It was bittersweet as losing Scott really hurt. I have known Larry for decades and served with him on nonprofit boards. I know he will work hard and represent Ward 1 with energy and integrity. Welcome to the team Larry! We will swear him in at our next meeting on Nov. 24.

Our friend Domenic Bravo was recently selected to lead Wyoming’s tourism efforts. He had been serving as the CEO of Visit Cheyenne and under his leadership our tourism numbers set records. I would like to thank Diane Shober for her 22 years of service to Wyoming and its residents. She did an amazing job directing Wyoming Tourism. Jim Walter has been selected as interim CEO of Visit Cheyenne, and I really enjoyed meeting with him to talk about his vision for the organization’s future. Tourism has grown to be the second most impactful industry in our state. Cheyenne is blessed to have so many businesses and employees who cater to and give our visitors great experiences when they visit. Good luck to Diane in her retirement, Domenic in his new position, and Jim as he begins leading Visit Cheyenne.

I met with our fire department to discuss our local ambulance service and to learn what it costs if you need the services of an ambulance. We have an EMS Joint Powers Board that manages our community’s contract with our ambulance company. I honestly had no idea what it would cost if you called 911 and took an ambulance to the hospital and I learned it would run between $2,036.28 and $2,672.62 depending on the level of service required. The cost of healthcare is rising across our country and so is the cost of ambulance services. The Joint Powers Board is charged with making sure the rates are fair and appropriate. We are blessed in Cheyenne to have an ambulance company that gives back and serves our community.

To prepare for my testimony before the Industrial Siting Council in Chugwater, I met with our fire department to learn about the specialized needs the department will have to respond to emergencies on a wind turbine. Modern wind turbines are getting taller and some are now over 100 meters tall – taller than a football field is long. The tallest building in Cheyenne, the Wyoming Financial Center at 2020 Carey Ave., is about 45 meters tall. High angle rescues on a wind turbine bring special challenges for our firefighters. Climbing the tower wearing their protective gear is grueling and time consuming and our current ropes and gear are not long enough to support these kinds of rescues. Working in very confined spaces also creates challenges. To be properly prepared for these situations, our Chief is recommending specialized training for wind turbine response, longer low stretch ropes to handle the heights, and motorized pulleys to quickly bring responders to the required heights to save time and keep our firefighters from being exhausted when they get to the top. I am afraid of heights and the thought of working or responding in this environment is terrifying. I am happy we have firefighters who will.

After the closure of the Municipal Building due to carbon monoxide concerns, we are going to begin moving back into the building starting on Monday, Nov. 17. We have tested extensively and monitored the building during the closure. Our equipment was tested and found to be in good working order, and the monitoring came back with no carbon monoxide detected. I am looking forward to being back in our building and we will continue to monitor the environment to make sure our employees are safe. I recommend you call any department you need to meet with to find out where they are in the moving process. I want to thank the school district for lending us their boardroom for meetings and the county for helping us with office space while the Municipal Building was closed.

Judy has always wanted to visit Iceland to see the Northern Lights. We saw them for the first time this week when the northern sky lit up with such spectacular colors. It was amazing. I was hoping this would get me out of a trip to Iceland, but I was told we still need to see them up close and personal. After seeing our local edition, seeing them further north must be spectacular.