The Mayor’s Minute from Mayor Patrick Collins – March 28, 2025

Published on March 28, 2025

Our good Sen. Pappas has Greek origins and spends time in Greece working to connect American and Greek companies. Councilman Segrave and I met with him to discuss a Greek company named Metlen Energy. Metlen has expertise in the solar energy sector, and we discussed the east end of the Belvoir Ranch as a possible location for a partnership. I appreciate our senator’s willingness to help make the connection. We hope to take Metlen Energy on a tour of the ranch this summer.

I am always surprised when I learn something completely new about Cheyenne or businesses located here. Picasso Gate makes custom hand-built gates for individuals and business and has built them here for 35 years. They combine their blacksmith skills to make unique gates for folks all around the country. I have written about my desire to find a solution for preventing vehicles from being used in attacks at public events. It was nice to have local experts who can help find the answers. Next step for me is a tour to see now they make these amazing pieces of art that also function as security gates.

My Honorary Commander spoke at the Military Affairs Committee meeting of the Chamber of Commerce this week. Col. Brown commands the Mission Support Group, and a component of that is the contracting squadron commanded by Major Patrick Ensken. They were joined by Janean Forsyth, who is part of the APEX Accelerator, and were part of a panel that talked about the opportunities our local businesses have to work with the federal government. They were honest with the audience that it takes some steps to do business with the government, but the opportunities are great. Janean’s job is to help businesses navigate the process, which they provide at no charge. She speaks the language of the federal government and how to get registered on SAM.gov. Thinking about all the products and services the Air Force and other governmental agencies use every day demonstrates the opportunity that must be met by someone, and why not a Cheyenne business?

Our Community Recreation and Events director, Jason Sanchez, gave me a tour of some of their projects this week, including:

• Pioneer Park’s baseball field getting new sports turf,
• New concrete cart paths at both golf courses funded by contingency funds from the city council,
• A drainage project at North Park to get rid of standing water and stop mosquitos from breeding,
• A protective fence at Prairie View Golf Course to keep driving range balls away from the 8th hole, and
• Upgrades to the Depot including bathrooms, a new patio on the south side of the building, and a new café space.

We ended up at the gymnastics building to see the new fence to keep the athletes and spectators separate. These CRE projects will make our city better for our residents. It is a great team effort.

The Wyoming Education Association held their statewide delegate assembly in Cheyenne. I have always loved attending conferences like this, as being around peers has always reenergized me. I thanked them for making a difference in the lives of kids and our future workforce. One highlight for me was a performance by Cheyenne’s All City Children’s Choir. I loved watching all the proud parents standing in the back of the room.

I have been spending a lot of time meeting with Kaley from the Wyoming Business Council. I am trying to get an understanding of the requirements we need to meet to get the WBC to support economic development projects in Cheyenne. The projects that have come forward lately don’t fit into the programs the WBC has developed. We will keep advocating for the requirements to be amended to fit more projects.

We had a quick status update on the project to build a bridge to connect to CFD to parking built on the old golf course on the base. The project is moving forward with the environmental study almost complete. I am excited we might be able to connect our base to the city for bikes and pedestrians.

The Wyoming Business Alliance held a listening session at LCCC. WBA has served their mission of helping Wyoming businesses grow for 45 years. The session started with Nicholas Sly from the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City giving an overview of the national economy, Dr. Anne Alexander from the University of Wyoming Center for Business and Economic Analysis sharing statistics on what’s happening in Wyoming, and Matt Sackett from LCCC sharing statistics from Laramie County. It really set the table for the discussion on constraints to economic growth in our community. The discussion was on point and showed many things are going well, but more needs to be done. The housing shortage and its effect on the workforce was the most discussed topic needing attention. The WBA is taking their listening tour around the state in the coming weeks.

Speaking of housing, we met with a local housing builder and developer who is trying to bring more housing lots to the market. The cost of development is discouraging. The math shows the building lots would be too expensive for the market, and we need to find ways to reduce the infrastructure costs to make it feasible. Housing is a national challenge but that does not make me feel any better about our local challenge.

I signed a proclamation declaring Small Business Week May 4-10. Dr. Jamie Kelly and Dr. Daniel Boscaljon from SCORE came by for the signing and to share SCORE’s mission to help mentor small businesses and help them prosper. It is a national organization, and we are blessed to have a chapter here in Cheyenne. My big takeaway is starting a small business is a challenge, and having access to free mentorship can be a game changer. If you want to be a mentor, they have a rigorous training program to help you serve. Small business is one of the largest creators of jobs in our state. Please think small and local when you can.

The team from Black Hills Energy came by to share the news that Rachel Allen has been promoted to the General Manager - Operations for the state, and Damien Parks has been promoted to the Gas and Electric Operations Manager for Cheyenne. They shared exciting news that BHE hit a new system peak for energy load. The growth of data centers and bitcoin miners has increased demand. They confirmed more companies are looking to make Cheyenne their newest location. One concern is the large number of BHE gas lines that are getting hit because people are not calling 811 as required by law and are digging blindly and hitting gas lines.

Judy and I traveled to Arvada, Colorado, Thursday afternoon to attend my sister Maureen’s retirement from her position as the Arvada Urban Renewal Authority Executive Director. It was held in their newest URA development, a $110 million public-private partnership called The Russell Olde Town. Mo spent 22 years helping redevelop areas of Arvada and in her tenure saw almost a billion dollars of development occur. Watching her career and touring the developments reinforces the power of urban renewal and how tax increment financing can help revitalize deteriorated parts of a community. I could not be prouder of my sister and wish her a long and fun retirement.