City Of Cheyenne: The Mayor's Minute From Mayor Patrick Collins

Cheyenne WY

07 June, 2022

5:04 AM

Description

Press release from the City of Cheyenne: June 3, 2022 CHEYENNE – The highlight for my week was my father turning 85 and the family spending the day in Denver at a Colorado Rockies baseball game. It is amazing how good a hotdog tastes at a ball game. The Rockies surprised us with a 7-1 victory over the Miami Marlins, and it was great to spend some family time doing happy things. A perfect birthday. Are you tired of me talking about liquor issues? I know this summer is going to be full of these discussions as the legislature has made it an interim topic for discussion. I met with Mike Moser at Central Café to see if we could find some middle ground to take to the legislative committee meeting in Hulett at the end of June. He heads the Wyoming State Liquor Association. Other than getting sunburned on the patio, it was a good first meeting. We both agree the bar and grill licenses need to be expanded and talked about the option of a tavern license to help many of the folks we had to say no to during our recent retail license discussion at the city council. We will be meeting with the Wyoming Association of Municipalities (WAM) next week in Laramie to continue our discussions. You know it is a small world, especially in Cheyenne. I met with Brenda Henson who runs our State Department of Revenue to discuss the challenging part of our Urban Renewal Authority (URA). Small world, as Brenda and I graduated from high school together too many years ago. The challenge we are working on is how to get the money from the state to our fiduciary account to pay the expenses of remediating the contaminated buildings at the Hitching Post. It seems simple, but in reality, it is not. The URA laws were written in 1965 and our tax laws were rewritten in 1990. They just don't track. I appreciate our County Auditor, Ken Guille, for his efforts to make this happen. Why can't things just be simple, sigh? I have shared with you my concerns with how some of our minority students are being treated in our schools. Superintendent Crespo has been working hard to find solutions, but it is a daunting challenge. I met with Drew Hall and Chris Zimny to get introduced to a new program they hope to introduce next school year called Sources of Strength. It is an evidence-based, upstream prevention program that empowers student volunteers to help change the behavior and expectations in their individual buildings. What I am most impressed with is the new direction the district is taking. They found a successful program and are working to make it fit Cheyenne, good for you! This press release was produced by the City of Cheyenne. The views expressed here are the author's own.