The Mayor’s Minute from Mayor Patrick Collins – February 13
Published on February 13, 2026
CHEYENNE – This has been one of the busiest weeks for me since I became mayor. Every day has been full, and every evening has at least one event. It has been so much fun, but you know I need my sleep.
The week started with an update from the team working to bring the Pro Rodeo Cowboys Association to Cheyenne. It is an amazing story of how a group of people came up with a plan to bring the PRCA to Cheyenne, and in less than a year developed that relationship until a MOU was signed. It is a big lift and with our city, county, and state all working together, we will bring them home to the Cowboy State.
Commander of the 90th Missile Wing, Colonel Terry Holmes, and Command Chief, Cherise Mosely, were the guest speakers at a luncheon held at the Red Lion. They shared what it takes to run a base that hosts nuclear missiles, and the honor of leading over 4,000 airmen whose mission it is to keep them on alert 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. I really appreciate the men and women who serve our nation and protect our way of life. Thank you, Colonel and Chief, for taking time to share with our community.
I caught up with Representative Singh to talk about the legislative session and some of the impacts and opportunities for Cheyenne. Respecting local decision-making; supporting direct distribution funding to cities, towns, and counties; protecting our ability to participate in associations; and data centers are just some of the priorities cities and towns have going into the session. I have watched how hard our legislators work during the session and I want to thank them for serving our state. The budget session held on even years requires all the business to be completed in just 20 days. It makes for very long days.
I asked for a meeting with Black Hills Energy (BHE) to get some updates and to talk about all that is going on in Cheyenne. Cheyenne is the envy of many in the state with the amazing investments being made by data center and technology companies. BHE rose to the challenge and found ways to bring the necessary electricity to power all the development we see. That is not happening in many parts of our state. With the challenges Wyoming communities face with reduced funding, this partnership with BHE and the technology companies will fund Cheyenne’s future. I am so appreciative.
I have spent a lot of time working with our staff to find solutions that will allow WY Fresh Farm to continue operating and serving their customers. Their farm is part of the city council’s goal to annex county pockets. During our meeting of the governing body on Monday evening, we heard two hours of testimony from customers and supporters of the farm. It is obvious they are loved by their customers. Our goal now is to find a definition of an urban farm that we can put into our rules that will support their ongoing farming efforts. We learned that WY Fresh Farm not only sells their products but is the outlet for 50 other local farmers.
Our meeting of the governing body went from 6:00 p.m. to almost midnight. The first item was the public hearing for the annexations of county pockets. The two hours with WY Fresh Farm was followed by another two hours of testimony on administrative inspection warrants. Our amended ordinance passed on final reading and will become law. It gives our fire chief, fire marshal, and chief building official, a process to get access to properties when the owners can’t be found, or owners won’t allow them the access to do vital life safety inspections. I appreciate all the people who came to our meeting to testify. We listened and made amendments based on what we heard. I truly enjoy the process.
Visit Cheyenne’s mission to bring visitors to our city and county was on display this week when I met with them and a huge conference looking to come to Cheyenne. If the conference is held here, over 2,500 people will fill our hotels and restaurants. Visit Cheyenne has all the services to make it easy for groups to say yes. Tourism is the number two industry in our state, employing so many of our neighbors. Laramie County is only behind the communities around Yellowstone National Park in hotel stays and visitors helping support our economy. Fingers crossed we get a yes.
I shared the amazing gift Related Digital gave our city to help build affordable housing when we broke ground on their data center in east Cheyenne. They came by this week to give an update on the progress they are making on the construction side, and to inquire about our progress on building the housing. With this very unusual weather, they are making great progress on the data center although the dang wind has made installing the wall panels a challenge. I shared we have a meeting with the Wyoming Business Council (WBC) board of directors on the 25th where we will present our grant application to leverage the $3.5 million-dollar gift we received to increase the number of affordable housing units from 184 to 488. Fingers crossed the WBC will agree with their staff that our grant application should be approved.
I spent much of the week attending the Wyoming Association of Municipalities (WAM) winter conference. It is held every winter during the legislative session. We had 370 municipal leaders from around the state here to meet with their legislators, attend educational sessions, and network with our peers. I am also on the board of directors, so we also held our quarterly meeting. I attended a session on the nuclear industry. Wyoming has huge uranium reserves and that opens opportunities for creating industries for enrichment and building components for reactors. A session on property tax helped me understand how it compares to other kinds of taxation in our state, and a presentation by the dean of the UW school of business helped us understand the U.S. and Wyoming economies. I also was part of a panel discussing human resources and our role as elected officials. I get so much out of these conferences and the time to compare notes with other mayors from around the state.
Cheyenne received some amazing news this week. We have finally found the development partners to get the Downtown Hole and Hynds building redeveloped. The challenge has been for years developers have looked at the privately owned property and found they could not make it work financially. The owners, Full Circle Reality, along with Overland Properties, LEADS, and the city have collaborated on the project. The news that the Wyoming Community Development Authority rated our project number one and funded the housing project that will see this long-time challenge finally redeveloped is the answer to our prayers. Thank you, Full Circle, for never giving up.
Happy Valentines Day, Cheyenne!
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