The Mayor’s Minute from Mayor Patrick Collins – Oct. 2, 2026

Published on October 02, 2026

The City recently joined the National League of Cities (NLC) and participated in an orientation this week. Our membership provides valuable resources for both elected officials and staff, including:

• NLC University: Virtual and in-person training and professional development opportunities.
• National Committees: Opportunities to engage on issues affecting our community, including military and veteran communities, economic development, housing, and other local government priorities.
• Peer Learning: Access to best practices, ideas, and experiences from communities across the country.
• GrantFinder: One license to a comprehensive database of grant opportunities to help identify potential funding for City projects and initiatives.

These resources will help strengthen our knowledge, expand our connections, and support the City's efforts to address local challenges and opportunities.

I met an amazing woman this week. Lucy Rose is the founder and president of the Loneliness Project, and she is walking across the country to share the devastating cost that loneliness causes in our country. I had no idea that 40% of Americans experience chronic loneliness and the cost is increased risk of heart disease, dementia, depression, anxiety, stroke, and addiction, making life harder to navigate. The reality is we have lost many of the social connections that helped us feel connected and loneliness not only hurts the individual but also hurts the health and stability of our society. I appreciate Lucy making Cheyenne one of her stops, and I hope her message of making an intentional effort to connect with others is successful.

I attended my first EPA Local Government Advisory Committee this week. The EPA administrator brought two potential projects for the LGAC to consider. First, the adaptive reuse of the built environment – how we can use existing commercial buildings to expand housing in our communities. Second, water reuse in industrial applications – how we can treat wastewater and reuse it in industry and agriculture. With the focus on power generation and data centers in Cheyenne, I am going to join the water reuse subcommittee. Finding ways to extend our water resources through innovative ways is the right thing to do and fits the narrative we have in Cheyenne that industry needs to use water wisely.

I got a tour of the Health Sciences Pathway at LCCC. I knew LCCC trained students for careers in healthcare, but touring the programs and their labs blew me away. It felt like I was walking into the hospital with amazing lifelike mannequins as patients. I can see how the high-tech learning experience would prepare the students to step right into the healthcare workforce. I appreciate the tour and the work LCCC is doing to meet the huge demand for workforce in healthcare and all the pathways they provide.

The Legislature’s Select Committee on Blockchain met in Laramie this week and I testified about how important power is to the future of Wyoming’s cities, towns, and counties. Talking with mayors around the state, I have learned how their economies are constrained by their local utility being unable to provide the necessary power to allow them to diversify and grow. They can build roads; extend water and sewer lines; and create and zone business parks, but without available electricity their efforts will fail. The committee discussed 27LSO-0181 that would allow power providers to serve industrial customers that can’t get service from their certificated utility. Cheyenne is the envy of the state with Black Hills Energy being the model of a utility serving their community. The committee talked about how complicated the issue is and will continue working over the interim.

I learned a lot about food insecurity this week with a visit from Food Bank of Wyoming’s Olivia McCarthy. I had no idea that one in seven people and one in five kids in Laramie County are experiencing food insecurity today. That equals more than 16,400 of our neighbors. The Food Bank of Wyoming and its 20-plus local partners served over 1 million meals in Cheyenne in the last year. She shared that “rent eats first,” and too many families don’t have enough money left to get nutritious food that lasts throughout the month. 19,000 volunteer hours help collect and deliver over 12 million pounds of food across the state. With 60% of food insecure people not qualifying for SNAP benefits, food banks and their partners are a critical resource. Thank you to everyone who donates to make these programs work, it is making a huge difference in our community.

Tallgrass is building what they call the Power Hub just south of Cheyenne. The Power Hub is a natural gas-powered facility that will one day provide electricity for a data center campus next door. They were having their first safety lunch where they honored employees who have mentored their coworkers and helped improve the safety culture at the worksite. The 450 employees have moved over 8 million cubic yards of dirt and are preparing the site that measures a square mile in size. They were installing a 36” natural gas pipeline that will bring Wyoming natural gas to the fuel cells and turbines that will create the electricity. I was amazed at the size and scale of the site. I am looking forward to my next visit when they will have a workforce of 2,800 people.

The Wyoming Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials has a mission to raise awareness of the need for safe, accessible and affordable housing and to strengthen Wyoming communities. They held a one-day housing summit that I attended this week to talk about the tools available to Wyoming communities for meeting housing needs, how the Legislature can help, community success stories, and how to get started. I was asked to talk about how Cheyenne is using Tax Increment Financing to move the housing needle. We have two current housing projects that show how powerful TIF can be. One is the 101-unit multifamily apartment building going up downtown on 19th Street, and the other a 194-unit building going up in the old Jolly Roger site in east Cheyenne. Our next TIF project will be the housing that will fill the Hynds building and the Hole created by the Mary’s Bakeshop fire over 20 years ago. I left Casper with at least 30 pages of notes and an appreciation for the work being done around the state to build the housing we need to support our communities.

Last week, all my football teams won! Professionally, the Broncos and the Josh Allen Bills won. At the collegiate level our Cowboys and the Cornhuskers both won. I can’t remember the last time they were all winners. Hoping for a repeat this week, but the schedule does not look as promising.