Folks, I am officially getting older. I turned 65 last Friday. Judy and I were joined by my sister, Maureen, and her husband, Gordon, for a road trip to Kearney, Nebraska, to see the migration of the sandhill cranes. Driving into town, the cornfields were covered by cranes – so many that the fields appeared black. We were amazed to see tens of thousands of cranes fly into the river at sundown. These birds have wingspans of around seven feet and were magnificent. I could not believe the noise they made and the beauty of the waves of birds flying into the sunset. It was an epic birthday trip made even better by a visit to Runza for my favorite cabbage roll.
Before we left Cheyenne, I had coffee with the president of our local Chamber of Commerce, Dale Steenbergen. We have had decades of partnership, and it takes good discussions to keep on the same page. Lunch was with Councilman Segrave. It is always great to find time to spend with members of city council. I can’t believe how many projects we are working on as a city, and coordinating with council members helps make the process smoother.
St. Patrick’s Day started off with a demonstration of Hostile Vehicle Mitigation Barriers. The recent homicides by vehicle in New Orleans and other cities around the world reinforced our desire to harden our outdoor events against vehicle attacks. HVB devices prevent vehicles from entering the perimeter of any event. I think about the risks of Frontier Days or Christmas parades, Superday, Fridays on the Plaza, and so many more outdoor events we hold each year in the city. I was impressed by the ease of installation of these HVBs, and their effectiveness. It will require a large number of barriers to protect our parades, and it won’t be inexpensive, but my intention is to recommend the purchase to ensure our events are as safe as possible.
I have hopes that one day we will have a passenger rail service in Cheyenne, including regional service along the Front Range from Pueblo to Cheyenne and hopefully one or more cross-country lines that will make a stop here. One of the requirements of an eventual passenger train program is to identify a location for a train station. The MPO hired a consultant for this work, and they gave an update at the library Monday evening. It appears that a location along the Reed Avenue corridor or a site off Old Happy Jack Road have risen to the top of the list. More work needs to be done, but I am excited we are making progress.
During the last legislative session, HB 202 died in a Senate committee. The bill dealt with establishing time frames for development review. I spoke against the bill as I felt it treated all projects the same, no matter the project’s size or complexity. When the bill died, we agreed to work with Rep. Lee Filer to draft a revised version that would give developers predictability on the timelines to get a building permit. We recognize that predictability helps the development community in their decisions to make investments in Wyoming. We met this week and made progress in the understanding of both sides of the equation. We will continue to meet until we have a bill draft that local governments can support and will meet the needs of developers. I appreciate Rep. Filer for being willing to bring municipalities into the conversation.
Ed Gallavotti has taken the lead to bring a bronze of Vernon Baker to our Downtown Bronze Project. Vernon Baker was raised in Cheyenne and earned the Medal of Honor while fighting in the Army in World War II. I read his book and felt this son of Cheyenne deserved to be memorialized. One of the aspects I love about our bronze project is a QR code on the base of the bronzes that has an educational component giving the reader information about why the bronze is important to Cheyenne. Ed helped raise the funds to get the bonze sculpted, found the perfect artist, and this spring we will unveil the work of art and tell Vernon’s story. I appreciate his dedication to telling Vernon’s story and getting the bronze ready to display.
The city of Cheyenne uses WARM for our property and liability insurance. It is a risk pool made up of Wyoming agencies. The WARM team came by to share our statistics and how we compare to other agencies in the pool. I appreciated the conversation and getting an idea on places we can improve our operation.
The Board of Public Utilities held their second Water Summit on Thursday. Last year was all about educating us about the complexity of their operation and how we get the water we use every day. This year started off with Frank Strong leading us through an exercise where four different breakout groups grappled with how the city should react to a curtailment of the water we receive from the Colorado River drainage. Currently, two-thirds of the water we have access to comes from this drainage. With the multiyear draught, the Colorado River can’t support the current level of water being used annually. Our water rights are so junior that if a reduction is required, we will lose two thirds of our usable water each year. We currently use around 13,000-acre feet of water annually, and if a Colorado River reduction happens, we will only have 7,100-acre feet of water available. The exercise showed us the quandary we face. Using water wisely is critical, but we learned that to survive a reduction in Colorado River water, the best-case scenario includes finding new water sources to offset the losses. The exercise showed the cost of new water sources was less costly than the financial impact of reducing consumption by 6,000-acre feet. I was so impressed by the quality of the discussion, and I feel better knowing the path forward.
The Wyoming Tribune Eagle has a new publisher, Brian Doane. I believe the local media is critical to holding us accountable, and to telling the story about what the city is doing. I was pleased to hear that Brian plans to add reporters to help meet that mission. Welcome Brian, it is nice to have someone with your dedication to journalism serving here in Cheyenne.