The Mayor’s Minute from Mayor Patrick Collins – Nov. 6, 2026

Published on November 06, 2026

Judy and I are happy the election has passed and we don’t have to endure the negative electioneering invading our lives. For me, Election Day was amazing. First, the voters of Laramie County voted to support our local governments with their support of the 5th Penny sales tax. We call the 5th Penny the road tax as 80% of the funds collected by the city go to maintaining our roadways. Our goal is to do major maintenance on 10% of our roads every year. Due to the increased economic activity in our area, we are planning to expand our yearly maintenance activity from 30 miles a year to 40 miles. Remember, we have 370 miles of city roads so this effort must happen every year in the future.

Cheyenne also elected two new city council members and reelected another. Maren Kallas won the Ward 1 seat formerly held by the late Scott Roybal and in which Larry Wolfe has so ably served since Scott’s passing. Janelle Rose won the Ward 2 seat currently held by Dr. Mark Rinne who is leaving city council to serve our residents in the Wyoming Senate. Ken Esquibel won reelection to his seat in Ward 3. I was elected to city council in 2000, and we have never had more than two women serving on the city council. That will change in January with Maren and Janelle joining our team, bringing the total to four women on council. Congratulations to the new and reelected members. I’m so excited to serve with you.

Finally, the voters of Wyoming supported local governments and services by defeating Proposition 1. My friends around the state who run cities, towns, counties, fire districts, and special districts are breathing a sigh of relief. They don’t have to figure out how to run their agencies with huge funding cuts. Property taxes directly support the services all residents of Wyoming rely on each day, including here in Cheyenne and Laramie County.

Over the years, the city has grown around islands of county property. We call them county pockets and City Council’s goal of annexing the pockets has been ongoing for a few years now. Many of those properties are on wells for water and septic systems for sanitary purposes. Unfortunately, some of the properties have well water that is not high quality and/or have septic systems that no longer function properly. I met with the folks from the water division of the Department of Environmental Quality to see what financial tools are available to help construct water and sewer infrastructure to allow these properties to connect to the Board of Public Utilities water and sewer infrastructure – correcting an environmental challenge these residents are facing. We’re currently working to map the areas to get estimates on the cost of this infrastructure.

Meta has been building their first two data center buildings for more than a year now. Construction is winding down and the team is preparing to install the servers and bring the data center buildings online in the new year. It was great to have Claude, who was part of the team in the beginning, come back with Jim and Chris to talk about their future expansion plans. Meta shared they have plans to invest more in Cheyenne at their High Plains Business Park site. We have learned a lot during the past couple of years about data center construction and discussed ways to protect neighbors during this important time.

Cheyenne uses Paycom for our payroll and HR functions. Overall, our team likes the program and uses it every day. The CEO of Paycom wrote an email asking if there is anything they could improve to make our staff’s lives better, so I asked our team. They came up with two items, and I wrote back and shared the opportunity with the CEO. To their credit, they wrote right back and scheduled a meeting this week. I appreciate the customer service shown by asking for feedback and the willingness to engage in solving the challenges.

Senator Boner from Converse County is working on legislation for the upcoming session. I appreciate him reaching out to ask for input from Wyoming’s cities and towns. The Wyoming Association of Municipalities met with the senator to talk about the Industrial Siting Council and see if there are ways we can the improve the process. The ISC is charged with permitting very large industrial and commercial developments in Wyoming that may have significant impacts on local communities, public services, and the environment. If a project is permitted, the ISC then considers what the impacts will be on local governments during construction and awards compensation to mitigate the identified impacts. Cheyenne has been through this process a number of times recently, and we are participating in the hearing before the ISC on Monday to discuss the upcoming expansion of Black Hills Energy’s Prairie Generating Station. I appreciate the legislators who understood the importance of these ideas in the 1970s and put them into law.

The Pro Rodeo Cowboy Association is moving their headquarters, hall of fame, and museum to Cheyenne from Colorado Springs. A company called Luci has been hired to help reimagine and design the PRCA’s future home. I joined a small group that answered questions about Cheyenne and our vision for the future PRCA campus. It was fun to hear other people’s impression of our community and their ideas about what a future PRCA facility should look like. Having the PRCA choose to locate in Cheyenne will have a huge impact on our destination tourism opportunities. The Museum of the American Cowboy and the PRCA Hall of Fame will help Cheyenne deliver a cowboy experience to our residents and visitors. I am excited to see the grand opening in 2029. It will be epic and impactful.

The EPA Local Government Advisory Committee’s subcommittee on water reuse in industrial applications met this week. Water is a finite resource in Wyoming, and I chose to participate in this subcommittee to learn ways we can expand our water resources by finding tools to use more recycled water in industrial settings, including data centers. Finding best practices in permitting, reviewing existing barriers, and building trust in using recycled water are some of the goals of the subcommittee. Veronica Blette from the EPA gave a presentation on the water used by data centers to cool their operations and the water used to create the electricity data centers need to operate. Some of the subcommittee members come from communities where a lot of water is produced in the extraction of oil and natural gas. How to find a beneficial use for produced water is a challenge the industry and committee are also looking into. I am going to enjoy this learning experience.

The Housing Caucus met again this week. A large number of legislators, local government officials, and nonprofits dedicated to improving our housing situation in the state make up the caucus. With the legislative session just over two months away, the caucus is working to narrow the list of housing priorities to support. I am so encouraged by the talent in the caucus and their dedication to solving our housing challenges.

This coming Wednesday is our nation’s day to celebrate those who have made the choice to wear the uniform of our military. I would like to personally thank each of you for your service to our community and nation. This Veterans Day, take a minute to remember the millions of veterans that have served and given us the freedoms we enjoy today. Happy Veterans Day!