The Mayor’s Minute from Mayor Patrick Collins – Sept. 18, 2026

Published on September 18, 2026

We have had an amazing group of volunteers working with our retired municipal juvenile judge, Ronn Jeffrey, to update our city youth ordinances. Ronn has worked for the City on these issues for more than 50 years. He gave an update on the committee’s work and the timeline for their proposals to go to the Governing Body for discussion and potential adoption. Nothing ever goes as quickly as you hope, and this effort is no exception. The project is coming to an end, and we should see the recommendations before City Council in the fourth quarter of the year.

The Governing Body met on Monday evening and held a public hearing to start the process to build a new business park that will become the home for the Pro Rodeo Cowboy Association’s headquarters, Museum, and Hall of Fame. It will be nestled into the southwest corner of the intersection of Interstates 25 and 80 and become the home for the 7,000 professional cowboys and cowgirls who make up the PRCA. The next month will see the annexation, zone change, and platting of the area. It is so exciting to have the PRCA moving to the Cowboy State.

At the same meeting, Andrew Sickenberger was appointed as a municipal judge for the City of Cheyenne. We have one of the busiest courts in the state and adding a second full-time judge will help with the workload. I want to congratulate Judge Sickenberger on his new position and thank him for his service to our community.

Greg Martin works for stayAPT Suites, an apartment style hotel company. I enjoyed sharing with him the amazing development happening in our community and the need for their kind of hotel product. With the data center and power plant developments we know are coming to Cheyenne and Laramie County, housing for temporary workers is a definite need. The Air Force is also going to impact our workforce and housing in the future with their upgrade of the missiles stationed here. Seeing the private sector making investments to meet our needs is what we have hoped to see happen.

I met the new cohort of the Mayor’s Youth Council this week. Students from each of our high schools participate during the school year and learn how their local government works. I love meeting with them every two weeks. One part of their assignment is to watch part of our city council meetings and then discuss their thoughts and reactions with me. It is a fun give and take. I am looking forward to this year’s class and getting to know them.

The City has an investment committee that is charged with guiding our investment policy and direction. We are blessed with three financial experts who volunteer to help the committee understand the markets and the best practices we should be implementing in our investment strategy. This week’s meeting included adding a new section to our investment policy to allow equity investments recently allowed by state law. Our treasurer does an amazing job keeping track of all things financial for our community.

One area of concern regarding data center and power plant developments currently happening south of Cheyenne is the impact on the transportation network. WYDOT, Laramie County, the City, and LEADS came together this week to discuss how we can partner with the data centers and power plants to improve the roads near the developments and add new routes that will take pressure off existing roads like College Drive and U.S. 85. Instead of looking at each project individually, the group is looking at the whole transportation network to understand the cumulative impact of all the development happening in our community. I am encouraged by the collaboration.

I received a call from a county commissioner from Scott County, Missouri. He wanted to talk about our data center experiences because they have companies looking at their communities. That conversation led to a Teams meeting with their economic development team and ours. We spent an hour sharing our experiences and lessons learned. I appreciate Betsey from LEADS taking time to share how we do economic development here in Cheyenne and Wyoming.

One of my favorite events each quarter is the elected officials dinner. This quarter we went to Pine Bluffs. We share a meal and then have a roundtable discussion about what is happening in each of our communities. During this roundtable every community shared their absolute appreciation for the voters of Laramie County and the support for the 6th Penny sales tax. They listed off the projects that are now possible and how critical they are to living in a small Wyoming town. I shared that big cities are also thankful as we will now have funding for public safety equipment, a new fire station, road maintenance funding, Greenway expansion, downtown improvements, and a new outdoor swimming pool in south Cheyenne.

I was invited to a dinner by Bank of America who brought 18 people to Cheyenne to learn about what is happening in our economy and to tour the developments currently under construction. It included a diverse group of companies that invest in power and technology. They told me our economic development team at LEADS gave the best tour they had ever received from an economic development group. It was fun to share our economic development history and answer the insightful questions they asked. Commissioner Malm and the LEADS team let them know Cheyenne and Laramie County are the places they should invest. I am excited to see what comes from their visit.

Congratulations to Dr. Schaffer and LCCC on the renaming of our college. The Wyoming State College name will support the college and the great work they are doing for the next 50 years.