The Mayor’s Minute from Mayor Patrick Collins – Jan. 23, 2026
Published on January 23, 2026
I am a huge Denver Bronco football fan. Judy and I attended so many games during the John Elway and Peyton Manning days. Saturday’s victory over my favorite NFL player, Josh Allen, was so sweet until we learned our quarterback had broken his ankle at the end of the game. I’m still hopeful the Broncos can win one more shorthanded game on Sunday. Go Broncos!
The City is audited every year, and the results were a clean audit again this year. I am so proud of the team at the City who are charged with making sure our financial processes are in place and the employees in every department who follow them. The leadership of our City Treasurer, Robin, is invaluable and so appreciated. Congratulations to the entire Treasurer’s Department!
The City and fire union have been meeting weekly to discuss our upcoming labor negotiations. We have found that regular meetings help with understanding on both sides and help find the middle ground necessary for successful contract negotiations. I have learned so much about the fire service and have a real appreciation for the men and women who serve our community in the fire service. Formal negotiations will begin at the end of February.
Judy and I spent much of Sunday at church. Not our usual church, but First Christian Church and Second Baptist Church. First Christian Church celebrated 100 years of serving the Cheyenne community and we attended their Sunday service to join their celebration. Second Baptist Church hosted a Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. program. I spoke about my appreciation for the leadership of Dr. King and the civil rights leaders who made such a difference. The music during the program was amazing and you couldn’t help but feel the Holy Spirit. I especially enjoyed Dr. Todd Scranton from First United Methodist Church who was the keynote speaker.
Martin Luther King Day saw a great crowd gather at the historic Depot for another MLK program. Pastor Catherine Fitzhugh spoke about education and her experiences from being a student to teaching English for 38 years in Cheyenne schools. Her emotion and passion for the profession left all of us touched. I love to hear her speak. I also loved the history lesson about Barney Ford who was born into slavery in 1822 and became one of the richest men in Cheyenne at the time our city was founded. He built the Inter-Ocean Hotel on what is now the Hynds building site. The Tyler family hired LaQuincey Reed to sculpt a bronze of Barney Ford and it will be placed near the entrance to the Hynds building. His story is so compelling and worthy of being included in our bronze collection. Thank you, Tyler family!
The Board of Public Utilities invited me to attend a meeting with a company that helps utilities like ours convert biogas that naturally occurs in waste processing into electricity that could help lower the cost of operating their facilities. It is interesting to learn about emerging technologies that can help deliver government services more affordably.
The Select Water Committee of the Wyoming Legislature met this week. I attended to testify against a bill that would add requirements to our recently passed surface water fee that will help fund maintenance of our stormwater system. I do appreciate the idea of clarifying the conflicts between two titles of state law that deal with stormwater. The bill died with a tied vote in the committee. I hope we will be able to work with the sponsor and others to write a bill that will address the concerns and still allow municipalities the ability to fund our stormwater efforts. I was in Cheyenne on Aug. 1, 1985, when we had the most damaging flood in Wyoming’s history. Our stormwater efforts are to protect our community from the damaging effects of future floods.
One of my favorite things to do as mayor is to meet with companies and individuals who want to bring a business to Cheyenne or expand an existing business. This week I met with the team from what we call Project Mangrove. LEADS gives every project a code name that we use until the company makes a decision. It was refreshing to hear the company ask how they could leverage building their project to help Cheyenne. They mentioned upsizing water or sewer infrastructure to facilitate future development and other ideas that could have significant impacts. I love meeting companies and selling Cheyenne and Wyoming. Economic development is not for the faint of heart. You will hear “no” a lot more than you will get a “yes.” Creating quality jobs to give our kids and grandkids a choice to stay in Cheyenne is worth it.
We will vote on the next 6th Penny sales tax this August. We have a county-wide committee that met this week to begin crafting the ballot. We talked about some of the transformative projects voters have supported in the past: fire stations, our award-winning library, the Christensen Road overpass, county jail, Cheyenne’s public safety building, almost 50 miles of Greenway, the new senior center, fire engines, road maintenance, and so much more. Transformative! I think the 6th Penny sales tax process keeps your local governments accountable. We ask for your support on the ballot, do the projects the voters approve, and then we must show we did what we promised before asking for permission to do the next projects. I look forward to sharing our projects and those from Laramie County, Albin, Burns, and Pine Bluffs.
Cheyenne is facing very cold and dangerous temperatures this weekend. While we hunker down and stay warm, I want to thank those who are helping to make sure the unhoused people are safe and fed. It does put a strain on Comea and other agencies who do this work. Please consider helping them financially if you have the ability to give.