Good evening.

Before we begin, I'd like to remind everyone to please silence your cell phones.

And also remind everyone that council meetings are live streamed on the city's YouTube channel.

I now call the June 2nd, 2026 regular council meeting to order.

Please note that Councilor Bond is attending our meeting remotely.

All councillors are present.

Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Please read the consent minute approval titles.

Approving the minutes of the May 19th, 2026 regular council meeting.

Thank you.

The chair would entertain a motion to approve the consent minute action agenda items just read.

So moved.

Second.

Moved by Councillor Mackintosh, seconded by Counselor Pollock.

Any abstentions?

Please cast your vote.

How do you vote?

Counselor Bond.

Aye.

Please record the vote.

With all counselors voting aye, the motion passes.

The chair would entertain a motion to approve by minute action.

The June 2nd, 2026 bills and claims is audited by city manager Napier.

Oh, excuse me.

Oh my gosh.

I'm glad Janine was not here for that one.

As audited by City Manager Jordan.

So moved.

I got got a first by Councillor Paulick.

Seconded by Councillor McIntosh.

Any abstentions?

Please cast your vote.

Councillor Bond, how do you vote?

I please record the vote.

With all counselors voting aye, the motion passes.

Eric, I'm gonna call you John Henley next.

Now is the time that we'd like to invite an audience, the audience to come up who wishes to speak to the council to come forward.

This portion of the meeting is dedicated to the public to allow time to discuss matters of public interest and to voice any concerns.

We do ask that you please state your name, direct all questions and comments to the mayor.

No personal obscenities or threats will be tolerated.

Council will not respond to any personnel matters.

Those will all be referred to our city manager.

Counselors may ask clarifying questions, but if they choose to respond to those matters, um they will do so during the scheduled council response time following communications from persons present.

Please note that presentations are limited to five minutes and no uh time extensions are permitted.

Um also please note that the public hearing and ordinances each have their own separate comment periods.

Mr.

Shriffman.

Good evening or good morning.

Yes, same thing.

Uh my name's Ross Frickman.

Um I missed your work session last week because I was at the health collective on mental health.

So uh, but I did read the memo uh dated May 26th from uh city manager.

Uh it's entitled um budget message for fiscal year.

And on page two, there's a chart and uh uh text about the property taxes.

And um in the it goes back to 2018, where the actual property tax revenue was 4.3 million.

Um in 25, it was much higher because of the 25 percent residential exemption, and it's projected to be 4.9 million for this coming fiscal year fiscal 27.

That includes not only residential projection, but also um commercial and other uh sources.

Uh residential is about uh two-thirds of all of the um uh uh property tax revenue, but the budget's 197 million or 196 million projected.

So uh property taxes is a relatively small amount, it's five million dollars.

Of course, this gen uh general election there is going to be a vote on whether uh there'll be a uh 50 percent exemption for residential, and that'll be coming up.

So obviously, council's aware of that.

Um in my view, um, I would rather see uh a redistribution of the sales tax, the first four percent, to two percent to the locals and two percent maintained by the state.

The state is in pretty good shape.

The uh state treasurer uh is holding about over 30 billion dollars of our money, and so there's money for backfill, but I think the maybe the better solution is how the first four percent is distributed.

The other issue is of course uh this fall, we're gonna the voters throughout the county will have an opportunity to vote yes or no on the 1% optional tax, which brings it back up to five.

Um, I haven't made my decision.

A lot of my decision on whether to vote yes or no, or people ask me is what council members uh want to spend the fifth percent on.

And I don't know if the survey is completed yet.

It is completed.

Uh like so I'll ask for a copy of that, uh, but through public records.

Um also the the last thing I want to mention is uh uh I know in the past that the the city has sent out cards actually promoting uh a yes vote in the way it's designed.

So I don't know if the city is going to be spending money um tax dollars to promote a yes vote.

Those are my comments.

Any questions or clarifications for Mr.

Shriffman?

Yeah, go ahead, Counselor Paulick.

Can you be more specific about what you saw coming from the city that in your interpretation was promoting a yes vote?

Mayor, council member Pollock.

Um of the adjectives in it and saying that this is something people are positive about and all the wonderful things it does.

Um that kind of it's not it's not neutral, and I can share, I can pull out some of the information, some of the uh well, it was a mailing card, and I can pull that out, get back to you on that.

Councilor Sweeney.

So uh thank you, Mayor.

So I would also be interested because as the city, we are allowed uh and it's pre-prescriptive to educate.

Um so I don't think we need to have you proof everything, but I'd love to see exactly what you're talking about.

So make sure I'm correct, you're correct.

So thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

Appreciate it.

Thank you.

Any others.

Good evening.

Hello, good evening, Mayor.

Can I please pass these?

Holland, and um I am here to talk about the spiritus cap uh carbon capture plan that is going in with the data center in Converse County.

And I pulled a screenshot and um typed up some of the items that came up during a Netroda County Board of County Commissioners work session on June 18th, 2024.

And a representative from Spiritus was there that talked about the utility usage that they were trying to um get, and it sounds like it's from the city of Casper.

Um they're looking to use 200 to 500 gallons of water per minute for their first block of carbon capture.

And they do say that uh they are doing an impact study with the city, but the primary plan is to get the water from the city and potentially an on-site well if needed.

So on the back, I wanted to just show some water usage in real terms.

200 to 500 gallons a minute may not sound like a lot, but it's 288,000 to 720,000 gallons of water per day.

And this is just for the first block, they're looking to expand to 20 blocks.

That is 4,000 to 10,000 gallons per minute, which is 5,760,000 to 14,400,000 gallons of water per day.

According to an August 17th, 2021 article in the Oil City News, uh summer water usage for the city of Casper was around 25 million waters of per deck, sorry, gallons of water per day.

And winter water usage is around 15 million.

So if Spiritus completes all 20 of their blocks and is running at 500 gallons a minute, they could potentially use the same amount of water as the entire city of Casper per day.

Um given that the town of Mills has already instituted water restrictions as of April 15th.

Casper may have to do the same thing as well.

That we either restrict their water usage entirely, since in my opinion, this is a Converse County project, or we set a hard limit on the amount of water that Spiritus is allowed to use in order to preserve water for the residents of Casper.

Finally, I would ask if it's reasonable to require the beneficiary of the tax revenues for the data centers to also provide the resources for data centers and their support activities.

If the answer is yes, then shouldn't the burden for providing those resources, including water, belong to Converse County as they are uh realizing the tax revenues for the data center.

And I think my biggest concern is as we've seen in Cheyenne, when these data centers come, more come with them.

And I think we would be setting a dangerous precedent to hand over Casper water for Converse County activities.

Um they're the ones that approved this.

It went through without industrial sighting, and I could be wrong, and you guys feel free to correct me, but it sounds like the support activities are crossing the Neutrona County line and being requested from Casper.

Any questions?

Yeah.

Go ahead, Vice Mayor.

Thank you, Mayor.

And thank you.

I'm sorry, what was your name?

Amity.

Amity.

Thank you, Amity.

Um, I apologize, I've not heard of Spiritus uh in regards to the Prometheus Hyperscale project.

And so um sounds like I definitely got some research to do.

I appreciate you providing a citation and a timestamp that'll make it a lot easier for some of us.

Uh you know, who need to do this in a quick way.

Do you have any other um primary citations where I could learn more about the relationship between Spiritus and Prometheus and I just have this Oil City News has actually done a great job.

That's where I found some of these articles.

They um did an article on May 1st about this where they did link to Spiritus, they linked to the um county commissioner meeting, they linked to the DEQ filing as well, and it definitely sounds like it's Netrona County.

It's like 400 pages, so it's a lot.

Um, and the Casper College did a um data center center learning series that I did watch.

Um, and there's a timestamp for this one, but the owner of Prometheus Hyperscale was there, and he started talking about how they were on the Converse and Netrona County line, and that half of the Falls Ranch that they're in is in Converse and half of it's in Netrona.

And he said, we were going to try to stuff everything on one side of the county line.

That's not working out, and so we're probably going to do our power generation on the Neutrona side.

Um, so I don't know why it's not working out, but it seems to me that again, this should be a Converse County uh gift of resources if they are going to realize the tax revenues and approve these data centers.

Thank you.

Any other questions?

And I don't know if I'm in the right place.

I don't know if I need to go to county commissioner or I'll tell you what we'll do.

Um, no, no, you're good.

So stick around what the council will do once we're done with public comment.

Um, council members uh will have comments for you and feedback on that.

So I'm sure a couple of us will want that um to share.

So stick around for a little bit.

Okay, thank you, sir.

Thank you.

Appreciate you.

Hello, my name's Dennis Laughlin.

Um, I own a property on 14th Street, and I've just got some questions to be honest with you.

You know, I mean the equity I'm gonna lose because it's not gonna increase the value of my property is substantial because I don't have one of the nicer ones.

And I I put in developments myself.

The last one was Nebraska Street, and I had to supply the sewer, the water, the curb, the gutter, the street, the fire hydrants.

And then when I tap into all the stuff I put in, then I gotta pay a tap fee and regional water on top of all this stuff.

But I know I tried to file an LED there.

At that time, you had to have an 80% agreeable rate.

And I owned over 80% of the land.

I just had a couple people that wanted five times of what it was worth.

So I ended up having to pay them.

I also have been a contractor for over 30 years here in Casper.

And if we're gonna do this, why don't we go to the rounded curb so it doesn't turn everybody's vehicle up?

The 12-inch drain pen instead of the two-foot drain plan, which would cut a lot of cost, move it out there away from the houses.

And my biggest thing is I was looking at the projected cost of mine.

I have tobaccos, dump trucks, I have all the equipment.

If this goes through, can I do my own?

So that was my question.

Do we still need 80% to form LED?

Because they're saying, oh, we got to have 50% to vote it down.

And I've looked at mine, and there's a chunk or two of sidewalk that needs replaced.

And the approach isn't good, but if I want with a rounded curve, the approach is your own choice.

You can drive over that easy round curve if you want.

It's just some cost cutting ideas, and maybe we could simplify this.

Yeah.

So what we'll do is if anybody has any questions to clarify, and then we'll make comment after you um after that answer some of your questions.

Okay, thank you.

Does anybody have any questions, clarifications?

Yeah, go ahead, Councilor Sweeney.

So thanks for coming.

So I'm a little curious.

Uh, are you talking about the four 14th street or just LADs in in general?

Well, I'm talking about 14th Street and the LAD they're trying to get through right now.

I've just been through the LAD process before.

Okay.

And I know the council just shut it down.

There was no, oh, it's just over, you lose.

So I know you have the power.

And I mean, I've heard different things, and there may be different ways to fund some of it, and you know, the handicap intersections, you know, there's different places you can probably apply for grants and this and that.

And you know, if it's if it's for the greater good and everybody is in favor with it, or the majority or whatever, I guess I have no choice to be on board.

I just would like to do my own.

Give me a pen at each end, and I'll just do it.

No, appreciate that.

So it it did take uh over 50 percent.

Uh if I'm right, um, on the 14th street, and the citizens did vote it down.

So we'll we'll be reversing that um uh in action tonight later in the agenda, but if in that particular case, but um but you raised some interesting concepts.

Well, I was just trying to save everybody a little bit of money, make it actually easier on cars and this and that, because I don't know if you've ever ran into one of those square curbs when you're not paying attention.

There went a 200 rim or a step or they're not real good, and they're deep over there.

You could break an ankle.

I think that's the most common way to get that hub factor fracture of your ankle stepping off one of those curves.

Thank you.

So stick around and I our city attorney um about the legality of having somebody do their own um sidewalk, etc.

So um stick around and we'll I'll check with our city attorney.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you.

Appreciate it.

Others wish to speak to the council.

Good evening.

Good evening, Renee Eberhart.

I am a resident on 14th Street also, and obviously very vocal.

I think Kyle's recognizes the name.

Um the 21st Street probably.

Yeah, they're pretty they're pretty sensitive.

Yeah, we don't speak to too loud.

The 21st Street project, I deliver the mail, so I'm over in that area, and they were just uh doing work over there, and the lat was zero cost to homeowners at that point.

They did not replace curb and gutters or sidewalks, except for in parts that if they needed to do just patchwork and stuff.

And a lot of our streets are sidewalks.

We don't feel need replaced, or if they do, they could be uh refurbished.

Um grinded down and and resealed and me pretty, beautiful, whatever.

Um and that was never an option for us, and I think that was one of the things.

There's a lot of ways that those costs could have been uh negligated.

Um made more affordable for the homeowners and the city.

And that was one of our main concerns.

There wasn't any choices, it was all or nothing.

And it's not that we we don't we want nice streets, nice nice sidewalks, all of that.

But as a homeowner, you're always looking at where I need to put my money into.

And I think that was one of our biggest concerns.

So that's one of the things I wanted to mention.

Also the way we were notified, the streets signs at 14th.

And if you're shutting off our water, you go door to door and put a sign on our doors.

Um there needed to be better communication all the way around.

And I think that's one of our biggest concerns.

And and thank you guys for listening.

Awesome.

Any questions?

I would mention, sorry if I can just a second, I still got a little time.

My friend in Wisconsin, she um is on their city um board, they call them aldermans there, and they've got different rules and stuff there.

Um, she said we would be responsible for 100% of that cost.

We have people on staff, or we hire a different crews that go out and check sidewalks and replace or repair to mitigate those costs where we're not replacing sidewalks all at the same time.

Um, you know, different sections, grinding them down, refinishing them, um, where we have the good sidewalks or areas that we decide we don't need sidewalks because we can't afford the cost at this point in time, and it saves the city a lot of money and it saves the residents a lot of money and time.

So those were some of the other suggestions I wanted to make.

Um thank you.

Thank you.

Okay.

Thank you.

Yeah, stick around.

No, no, no, no.

Stick around.

Okay.

We'll have comment afterwards.

Thank you so much.

Others wish to address the council.

Okay.

Thank you, everyone.

So now is the time that uh counselors will uh can briefly respond to any of the matters brought up and um address that to the public.

Um so I'm gonna open it up to see if anybody would like to be anything.

Yep, Vice Mayor.

Thank you, Mayor.

And uh appreciate everyone for your comments this evening.

I always make a point to, you know, this is more than average attendance, and so I always like to make a point to uh thank everyone for coming out.

Uh I would much rather see more butts and seats than uh none.

And so thank you for showing up, participating, getting engaged in the process and for having the courage to come up and uh give your public comments.

Uh I'll I'll try to be uh brief, uh, but I want to kind of address everyone that spoke.

Uh Mr.

Tripman, you made mention of the uh resolution that council usually passes preceding every fifth cent vote.

Uh we did uh ask about that, I believe, in our last meeting.

So unfortunately, like you said, you were at the collective health trust uh and so wouldn't have had the benefit of that, but we will be working through that resolution here in the next four to eight weeks.

I think we talked about sometime in July, uh putting that resolution together.

So folks will have plenty of time to review it, and uh we will be definitely encouraging people to look at it, get familiar with it, ask questions uh before they go to the ballot box in November to vote on the passage of that uh fifth cent again.

Uh Amity, is that right?

Got lost, okay.

Uh uh really appreciate this.

Again, thank you for like the the timestamp.

I'm a time stamper, so I love mad respect to anyone that does the timestamps, it saves people a ton of time scrolling around.

So I appreciate that.

I was able to also find that oil city article you mentioned, so I appreciate that.

Tommy, I apologize.

I usually read every single article.

Uh this one must have slipped by.

So uh I'll do my own diligence, you know, I'll do some more diligence on that, and uh we'll make sure that is a conversation we continue to have.

Um to uh Mr.

Laughlin and also I guess uh Renee uh uh Dennis first.

Uh so uh as Councilor Sweeney mentioned, it's only 50% required to sign that petition, and because I believe it was 59 out of 80 uh property owners in the area, uh well above the 50% threshold, uh, sign that petition, uh, as was mentioned.

If you hang tight to a little bit later on our agenda this evening, you'll see us take a vote to abandon that lad.

We will still need to do the street and the water main work because it's critical enough, but the curb gutter sidewalk uh will all remain kind of in its current condition.

Um so uh I guess uh congratulations.

Uh, you know, um I appreciate the effort it takes to get all your homeowners in the area talking.

Uh Renee, I uh uh if you were the one of the gals interviewed by Mark Hyman, uh it sounded like uh folks were going up and down the street knocking on doors.

Uh and it sounds like maybe uh neighbors got a chance to get to know each other a little bit better.

So another silver lining potentially.

So I appreciate the work uh that you all did uh uh you know, get your support on that petition.

I don't imagine you know, I don't know what the legality is, uh Dennis, as far as people bringing in their own contractors or doing their own work, but uh I can imagine logistically 80 different property owners trying to get their own preferred contractors in there would be a total nightmare.

And so that's probably one of the reasons.

But um you're not the first person that's brought up to me the fact that they could contract that out for cheaper.

And so I will be, you know, um uh the next time we consider a local assessment district, I will it it does give me food for thought and I'll be asking more questions about how exactly those costs are put together.

Uh Renee, to your point about whether there are sidewalks that are in fine condition that don't need replaced, maybe uh certain property owners can be exempt if their uh public infrastructure is at a certain uh grade.

So uh, you know, food for thought and definitely will be fodder for the next conversation we have on the topic.

Um I forget which one of you mentioned, but uh uh somebody brought up the fact that uh oh Wisconsin.

Uh apparently the Alderman and con uh uh Wisconsin, they take care of it there.

That's very interesting.

I'll I'll go look and see how they handle that.

But in Wyoming, it's state statute that adjacent property owners are responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of their sidewalks.

So uh our city attorney reminded us of that in our pre-meeting that even if we wanted to absorb the costs, our state statutes and also our Wyoming state constitution prevent us from being able to use public dollars for private benefit.

And uh, you know, the way again, the way that's described and outlined in state statute, it would be private benefit in this case.

So um, you know, we're we're kind of bound by statutes at the time, but uh again, if you missed our pre-meeting, I am uh I'm wondering whether um, you know, there's opportunity to lobby the legislature to potentially change state statute if there are um other ways to replace this infrastructure, uh, a better solution than a local assessment district.

So um again, that's all I have, I think, but I appreciate everyone coming out and sharing your public comments.

And uh yeah, just thank you.

Hope you have a great rest of your night.

Uh Mr.

City Attorney, could you I don't know if you have any um um off the cuff stuff to talk about the possibility of people to contract their own, is there state statute around that?

Is that a policy within the city of Casper ordinance?

Um I don't know if you have any of that information at your disposal.

Yeah, thank you, Mayor.

Um council.

Uh I don't want to um delve too far into it off the cuff.

Um my gut is that if this is a responsibility of the landowner, um they may be called to to repair it, not in conjunction with street repairs.

And I think uh my previous experience um, frankly, in the city of Douglas, we we had a couple of these where um the property owners did retain their own contractor and and and do the uh uh sidewalk repairs, for instance, um uh on their own.

Um certainly if Mr.

Laughlin was a licensed contractor and pulled appropriate permits and and and coordinated with the city.

Um I'm not really sensing any prohibition that I can think of um to to them either retaining their own contract or um separately or or doing it if if they're able to do so under under licensure.

What I would say uh more broadly, there's a lot of um points that were brought up and in good points by the speakers with regard to LEDs um that really go beyond kind of what we're uh asking council to decide on tonight, and that is just to acknowledge that that we've exceeded that 50% threshold.

And so I do think um it it may be appropriate to uh have a work session where we take a uh another dive into kind of how the city is is uh you know handling LADs, um, what our notification is.

I know we've done it before, but but there's a lot of nuance to it.

And um I do believe that there's other proposed LEDs on the horizon, so probably a good time, but certainly would uh defer to our acting city manager on that as well.

So there comments.

Yeah, go ahead, counselor Paulick.

Just a couple minor ones, most mostly everything has has been covered well, I think.

Um I I want to just put on record again, I feel like I've done it at least once or twice, but I I think Mr.

Shriffman and uh and others on this council have gone back and forth about the the language on our um all of our educational materials about various things that we've done, the spec tax, the fifth cent, et cetera.

I just want everybody to know that those do go through legal review here to ensure that we are not coming afoul of um of any uh state statutes or or or laws around that.

So I don't want folks to have the the sense that council is like willy-nilly putting these things together that there's a legal review, it's not just left up to lay people to to determine if if what we are uh communicating with the public is appropriate or not.

Um and so I mean I think we can continue to parse out if it feels neutral or if it doesn't, but it it wasn't us that just like woke up and said we should call all these projects wonderful when maybe they were just okay, or maybe somebody might say they were terrible or somebody else might say they were you know the best thing that's ever happened to this community.

I don't we that's really not what we're up here doing, and so I just want to note that.

Um, and I also want to note if you've been to uh any of my budget talks.

Um yes, property tax is a small percentage of our overall budget, but it's a much larger percentage of our general fund budget, um, and it is the most stable portion of our general fund budget.

And so love to see any of you at uh one of the budget talks that we give where we break that down a little bit more into detail.

But I think we really minimize the conversation about the importance of property tax and the role that it plays in our budget um when we try to reduce it to a percentage of the overall budget because um that that leaves a lot of information out of the conversation.

And so um as we keep talking about property tax, I encourage you.

We just had a conversation about our our budget um coming up for the fiscal year 27.

Really encourage you as you're weighing our budget as you're thinking about the November ballot, um, to really be keying into the the nuances of the budget conversation and not just look at 196 million versus our total property tax um revenue and where that plays into the budget because it's it's a lot more complicated than that, and I'd be happy to chat with any of you anytime about how property tax plays into the budget picture and what the impacts of reductions in property tax actually mean to the budget process.

So thanks.

Counselor Sweeney.

So a couple of things.

Um thank you, Counselor Pollock.

Uh that was tremendous.

Um I I wouldn't have been able, can't express that so eloquently.

Uh but um I'd have to write it down.

Um but um I uh applaud the 14th Street folks for getting involved.

Um I hope you'll also get involved um around the uh fifth cent and realize how important that could be to all of us, whether it's uh you know, if you're for it uh or against it, please come educate us on the importance one way or the other of uh during during the whole process on the fifth cent to educate us even more.

Um uh obviously you did a great job of advocating for yourselves uh in your neighborhood.

Um I live in North Casper, and we do have world curb, which I really appreciate getting in and out of the driveway.

So I'm I'm not sure why one portion of the city is those high curbs.

The only thing I can guess is trying to keep the water um off the properties flowing down the streets, but I I don't know.

That's just a guess.

But uh on uh the spiritus project, um, as far as I know, um in the last the meetings, I I did attend uh the one up at Casper College.

It really wasn't talked about um a whole lot.

Um and um my feeling is because of reductions in tax credits around carbon capture, um, even though we need it for enhanced oil recovery, um, the richest uh supply is off of smokestacks, uh, which aren't the steam stacks um around coal-fired power plants uh versus gas fired.

Uh the uh the amount of output is uh almost three to four times higher in carb carbon uh emissions off of that versus a gas-fired power plant.

But um my understanding is that's not part of the project at this point uh if if they even move forward, quite honestly.

So port of order.

So I'm sorry, but you already had public comment.

So I'm so sorry.

I I know it's hard not to respond during this time, but I appreciate it.

Thank you.

So but uh that that's my understanding.

But thank you.

Thank you for the information.

I appreciate it.

And um thanks for the folks showing up tonight.

So thank you.

And to also that point, you can reach out to any of us, have any comment, you can email us or a lot of us have phone numbers on there you can reach out to us too.

You can email us or a lot of us have phone numbers on there, you can reach out to us too.

Okay.

No, no, no, you're good.

You're doing great.

Thank you for being here and engaging.

We appreciate that.

Councilor Pollack.

I just wanted to say one couple things about LADs as well.

I I don't want it to get lost in this conversation as we're acknowledging the effort that it went through that it took to get through the process that LAD has and rightfully should have, there should be, you know, it's it's an appropriate process.

There absolutely should be a path and recourse for property owners, and I totally appreciate that.

But I I don't want to lose um the thread on the fact that LADs are a super valuable tool for our community.

Um and they're not one that I that I think we should um sort of undermine here, and and I I think that you know, when we think about the mechanisms that we have to fund things collectively as a community, there aren't very many of them, um at least not that we are um at liberty as a as a city council to employ and so um as we think about in you know this infrastructure that was put in in the 60s and 70s, a lot of our infrastructure here was put in in the 60s and 70s, and so it's all sort of coming to this aged condition around the same time, and it's a real challenge for our community.

And so I think LADs are a valuable tool for us.

Um I think that I will continue to support the proposal of LADs.

Um, I think there are some things that that we can do.

I think a lot of what got lost in this conversation are the value is the value proposition.

And I and I think that that needs to be um communicated better.

I think that we need to have a really clear understanding of what the value proposition is and better information to give to property owners about um cost benefit analysis.

That's what every property owner is gonna be trying to do is their own cost benefit analysis to see you know what is this gonna cost me here today versus um if I did it some other way or at another time, and we we need to be prepared um for that conversation, I think better because I I don't want us, I don't want to see LADs be another tool that we now no longer have at our disposal to get important things done, as we mentioned in the work session, and we're gonna invest a lot of money in the street there.

Uh and unfortunately, the grade is wrong.

And so we're gonna invest a bunch of money, public money in the street, and it's not gonna last as long as it would last if we had done the project as a cohesive unit.

And so, like that's just the reality that we're dealing with.

And the more we do that, and the more we multiply that issue across streets across town, like the less the the sooner we're gonna have to be having this conversation about our aged streets and our aged infrastructure, and that's just you know, gonna be on the next generation to try to put a bill that that we should have been able to um extend a longer life into these things that we're trying to build.

And so I mean it's a uh I'm not gonna say it's an unfortunate outcome or a fortunate outcome, it's an outcome that has pros and cons to it.

And I think that that is um that is the reality that we're all sitting with right now.

Um, and and it's something that I I want to see us to continue to talk about, continue to deal with and continue to try to grapple with because um you know ultimately I think that that's in the best interest of our our infrastructure broadly across communities.

So I I want to see LIDs be a tool that we can continue to use, and so I encourage the council to continue to work through this and to talk about it, and I can encourage city staff to continue to figure out how do we talk to neighborhoods, how do we talk to community members about this and and what you know what the real cost-benefit analysis is?

I'll just make a quick comment unless there's any other comments.

Okay.

Um I'm just gonna speak uh, you know, we've gone back and forth, as you know, Mr.

Shriffman, about property taxes and the importance of that, and I'm not gonna belabor that because I think Councilor Pollock addressed it very eloquently.

Um but I think you know, one of the things that that um we've seen a decrease.

I think the county has seen a decrease and struggled with their budget once the property tax for the 25% came.

We've seen that, um, and that's the reality of it.

And so um if we want to cut taxes, I get it.

I want it.

I've said this before from this dais.

Wonderful, let's let's do that.

But there are also um uh trade-offs that come with that that affect all those things.

And so um uh I know that's been something that has been debated in this legislature.

We've butted heads with them from municipal um from municipal standpoint and from a county standpoint.

Um when all 99 municipalities um and all the counties come together in unison in support to say, look, this is gonna um really affect our communities.

Um, I think that says something.

Uh so uh that just wanted to say about um I'll continue to ride that horse on property taxes.

Uh the other part is about the LADs.

Um, I do agree a hundred percent with um Councilor Pollock on the benefits and the uses of them.

Um I've seen it, I've done this over uh 12 years being on this council, and I've seen the benefits of it.

Um I've seen both sides, I've seen communities come up in the neighborhoods uh frustrated, uh wondering about this process.

But as it said before, um our city attorney said it is it is state statute, and um it kind of keeps us in that really in that corner that we have to do these things.

And so to change it, you'd have to go to the state legislature and try to work through the state statute um in order to do that.

Uh and so it's sort of out of our hands.

Uh I will say that um, and I think our public works director said this at our work session.

Um there are things that we learned from this process um that I think we can always do what better um whether it's communication, being able to do the process, how that looks.

But I agree with Councillor Pollock.

I think um LADs um do have a benefit, um, and I won't uh just go over that again with uh from what Councilor Pollock said.

Um and so we'll continue to do that, and I will recommend that we do bring this to a work session, not to deconstruct um LADs, but I think just to kind of look at it and to sense how do we present these things, how do we talk about it?

Um I think it's gonna be a really important aspect of it.

So, but again, I thank the neighborhoods for coming in here, the people coming in.

Um we get involved when something affects us, and then we start coming to these.

I tell you now, get involved no matter what.

Be a part of that because we got involved up here because something affected us.

Um, and so if that is the case, run for office, do those things and get involved, and we appreciate that.

Whether you and I disagree, whether this panel disagrees, um, we want you to get involved, and thank you for being involved.

We appreciate that.

And we do mean that sincerely.

Um appreciate that.

Thank you.

Okay, let's move on.

Thank you for everybody for coming.

Please feel free to reach out to any one of us if you have any more questions, uh, things didn't get answered.

Uh, we'd be more than happy to follow up with you.

Uh, counselor uh Vice Mayor Gamroth is is um very good at that and he's a good researcher.

I mean, don't all go at him.

We got so much time.

Yeah, that's fine.

Vice Mayor will take care of everybody.

Thank you, everyone.

All right, moving along, um, please read the consent agenda title.

Established June 16th, 2026 as the public hearing date for consideration of a resolution making appropriations of funds to cover expenditures of the city of Casper, Wyoming for the fiscal year of July 1st, 2026 to June 30th, 2027.

Thank you.

The chair to entertain a motion two by minute action establish the public hearing date just read.

Move by counselor Jensen, uh, seconded by counselor Macintosh.

Any abstentions or nay votes?

Please cast your vote.

Councilor Bond, how do you vote?

Aye.

Please record the vote.

With all counselors voting aye, the motion passes.

I now declare the public hearing open for the consideration of an ordinance approving a temporary moratorium on the establishment of new simulcasting uh establishments.

Uh, Mr.

City Attorney, do you have any exhibits?

Uh thank you, Mayor.

I do exhibit number one correspondence from Eric Nelson to Janine Jordan, dated May 22nd, 2026.

Exhibit number two, proof of publication from the Casper Star Tribune for publication on May 26, 2026.

Great, thank you.

Uh acting city manager, do you have any reports?

What's in the memo?

I have nothing else to say.

Thank you.

Uh council will now listen to public comment, public comment, uh hearing comments are limited to five minutes.

No duplication of speakers will be allowed.

At this time, I would ask those individuals who wish to speak in favor of this moratorium uh ordinance to please approach the lectern.

Anybody that's in favor.

Okay.

At this time, I would ask those individuals who wish to speak in opposition to this ordinance to please approach the lecture.

Anybody in opposition?

Mr.

Johnson, how are you?

Good evening, Mayor.

I'm John Johnson to counsel.

Um I think this is a horrible idea.

I'm speaking from a standpoint.

If you are limiting business, you're picking a certain business sector to limit how many where they can be.

Why what's with fruit?

We should have free enterprise.

When there's too many, they won't they won't work out, they'll go under.

But I don't think it's council's position to do this.

I think we should let free enterprise run its course.

It's a form of entertainment that people like.

If they didn't like it, they wouldn't be going to these.

Nobody is dragging anybody into these.

They're going on their own volition, they're spending their own money in a way that they want to spend it.

You know, you can over-gamble, you can overeat, you can over-drink, you can overdo everything.

I mean, what's next on the list?

Coffee shops?

There's one of those on every corner in every vacant parking lot.

Vape shops.

I mean, you you know where I'm going with this.

I don't think this is council's responsibility.

I think let free enterprise run its course here and it'll take care of itself.

When there's too many, you'll know it.

That's all I have to say.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thanks, John, for coming uh tonight.

So in your mind, um, you know, Rock Springs is kind of looking at this in different different ways, it appears.

Um I think the thought process was or is um to take 180 days, six months to basically take a look at it, see if we need some of our zoning updated in uh ordinances updated, or is there a certain section of towns, say downtown Yellowstone District, uh we think or have been told that people want to um you know limit that that kind of activity in a certain part of town.

Do you have any I I totally totally get what what you're saying as far as free market and letting that that take place?

Um, but do you have any thoughts on um you know downtown or uh Yellowstone district in particular?

Mayor Councilman Sweeney.

I think it's I mean, I get the you know, it's like one of those things, nobody wants this in their backyard, right?

So to speak.

But I mean, it's if you're gonna let a restaurant go there, what why wouldn't you let a gaming uh parlor go there?

I mean, um, you know, I mean, it's like what what fits and what doesn't fit.

I I'm just like, I think if it fits the zoning, it fits the, you know, they follow all the ordinances and all the regulations to build out their space and do what they're supposed to do, like all of us do when we build out one of our entities, then it should be.

I don't think you should limit how close they can be to each other.

Nobody limits if somebody can put a restaurant across from one of my restaurants.

I mean, that's fine.

I mean, it's competition.

The people that operate well will do good.

The people that don't operate well are not gonna do good.

So I think I think you know, if if there's certain areas that the city doesn't want to see, if it's the old Yellowstone district, um, you know, I think those are ordinances that you probably can create.

I mean, I don't know that it's bad for down there.

I mean, in that that area of town has struggled to get businesses down there.

I mean, it's starting to develop.

I think we had some developers that are doing a great job down there right now, and that's awesome.

I I totally support that.

And but I think as a council, I think trying to limit who can be in this space and who can't and how many and stuff like that is wrong.

I think if you want to say we don't want those in the old Yellowstone district, I don't know.

I don't know that that's a problem.

But I don't think you guys should say who can be in this business and who can't, and how many there can be and how many there can't be.

Like I said, when there's too many, you'll all know.

We'll all know.

Everybody'll know.

You know, some are gonna make it, some aren't.

I mean, you know, if we go back to the coffee shop example, when seven brews went in on the west side of Casper, City Brew went out.

I mean, there's too many on that area of Casper.

So it'll be the same way with any business, my business, anybody else's business.

So I think that's how you guys should look at it.

And if you want, you know, but I don't think a moratorium is necessarily the right way to go about this.

I think I think if Casper starts setting the precedent, I think it will go across the state.

And I, you know, I don't think any of the cities should be doing it that way because we're picking a certain business sector.

And why?

I mean, it's not you know, in my personal opinion, and I'm I'm not a big gambler.

Um but I don't I'm I'm speaking from a business standpoint that I just don't think that you know, if if people don't want no one's making somebody go in there.

You if you want to if you want to go in, you go on your own volition.

So I don't think that it's our job or your job as a city council to say, you know, how many there can be, where they can, I mean, as long as they fit in the commercial zones and the things like that.

So those those are the things you guys get to decide is what that zoning looks like.

But I don't think a moratorium is the right way to do this.

I think why uh in my opinion, why some of the the cities are looking at this now.

Uh this last legislative session, Senate file 45, um, gives the cities, we really didn't have uh much say over placement.

Once the county had approved it.

As you well know, if it's meeting all the criteria, we really didn't have much of an opportunity to restrict or or say yes or no where a spot should go.

Senate file 45, I believe.

It appears, um, kind of opens this avenue that was recently passed and goes into effect July 1st.

So in my mind, that's one of the reasons we're looking at it.

But I appreciate your your comments.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor.

And thank you, John, for uh speaking this evening.

Uh, not to reiterate some uh counselor Sweeney's points, but I appreciate where you're coming from.

I totally get it.

Um, you know, I'm somebody that um you know believes in the free market so much as possible that it doesn't, you know, harm the life liberty and pursuit of happiness for the folks around that business.

I would ask you um, you know, as a very successful business owner yourself and a purveyor of liquor licenses in our city.

Obviously, there's lots of regulation oversight, licensing, permitting uh regarding uh liquor establishments of which all of these parlors are utilizing.

And so, in your opinion, what is the difference between um regulation of an off-track biting parlor and regulation of a liquor license, which as you know, we have only a certain number of licenses that are allowed, those are capped.

We that that industry has more regulation than other industries because of the public health impacts that it has, because these parlors for everyone that opens up, there is a noticeable increase to public service calls to that location.

And so that's that's what we're tasked with is balancing economic prosperity and opportunity with public health impact.

So uh your opinion, sir.

Uh, what is the difference between the two?

Mayor Councillor Gamroth, um, yeah, the liquor thing, we we could have a whole long discussion on that.

You know, once you get into the liquor licenses, you've bought in for a substantial amount of money, but I don't know that that's that they're exactly right as either.

Um, you know, I think there's, you know, we created the bar and grill years ago so that restaurants, you know, we could develop more restaurants and things like that.

And I think it's been a successful licensing.

Um I'm not sure that there's not a need for another license for this, so that you aren't taking some of these other licenses out of the market.

You know, I I'm not saying we have too many licenses.

I mean, there again, I'm a free enterprise guy.

I'm the guy that says when there's enough, you'll know.

Um, so uh but I do I did, you know, as you all know, we we lease to one of the one of the off-track betting parlors next to Fuzzies, and we but we use that's the highest and best use for that license.

It's servicing two businesses, you know, for a full retail license where you know there's some sometimes a restaurant alone has a full retail.

So I I think and I'd like we can have another conversation, all of us about this.

So I know I'm out of time, so but thank you for listening to me.

All right.

Thank you, Mr.

Johnson.

Appreciate it.

Others in opposition.

Good evening.

Good evening, Mayor and members of the council.

My name is Affie Ellis.

I'm an attorney with a law firm called Brownstein, Hyatt Farber and Shrek, based in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and I'm here today to offer some information to you on behalf of our client, um Bally's.

I sent all of you a letter via email last week.

I did bring some hard copies so that each of you could um just have a copy if you didn't get a chance to look at those.

And then I'd note, and um, I'll leave these here for your your staff to hand out.

Sorry, I don't mean to do this to you.

It's a last minute.

Um, but again, if you need more, I've got here uh in my pile.

But um, in that packet, I provided some information that the gaming commission has put together.

Some of that information is it shows up well on your computer screen, but maybe not on your phone.

And for my old eyes that can't see very well, I did blow up some of those exhibits so you can see them a little better better through some of the charts.

Um, but for the record, I wanted to explain in addition to some of the concerns that we had outlined in our letter.

First and foremost, I just want to reiterate that the reason that we have historic horse racing machines or HHR machines, the legislature's intent was for those uh facilities to provide a revenue stream to support live horse racing.

So, unlike liquor licenses that are very local and used to support your bar, um HHR facilities are supposed to support live horse racing.

And so to enter that market, that's your step one is you either have to lease or construct and own a racetrack.

Bally's has made a significant investment of millions of dollars in reliance on the fact that they can open some gaming facilities throughout the state of Wyoming in those counties where paramutual activities have been approved.

And a Trona County is one of those.

So I don't want that to get lost in the weeds because that is an important point that is a very important distinction between these and Leker licenses.

As the newcomer in the state, we've been involved in efforts in drafting and working on Senate 45 Senate File 45 and its predecessor, House Bill 85, which failed to advance in the prior session.

That bill failed in large part because it treated the newcomer disproportionately and unfairly in comparison to the existing operators.

In your packet, you're gonna see a map that we had prepared.

Right now, there are two operators.

You have ECL Gaming, which has two companies, subsidiaries underneath it, with Wyoming Downs and 307 horse racing, and then Chesapeake Gaming, they're the operator for Wyoming Horse Racing, the Swan Ranch Casinos that you've heard about.

So we're literally the third entrant into this market, the newcomer.

As such, in prior versions of the bill that has been mentioned, Senate file 45, we were just there were some attempts to limit our access to the courts if local governments were to deny our approvals.

I would disagree with the characterization that before then the local governments had no authority.

Gaming facilities have always had to comply with zoning ordinances.

So in other jurisdictions and in across the United States, we do have to comply with hours of operation, you know, certain distance requirements.

And those were tools that we had repeatedly asked a number of municipalities to use, but they said, well, we're kind of nervous about our authority.

But I can say that that is a powerful tool that had existed prior to Senate 45 Senate File 45's passage.

During the interim, as we worked on Senate File 45, we really fought against moratoriums because simply they favored the existing operators more dramatically than us.

Right now, Bally's has not been approved to operate a single gaming machine.

They have not turned on a facility if they have not opened their gaming doors.

Their focus right now is getting ready for the race season this fall.

And so right now, if we're there were a moratorium, we'd be approved for zero machines compared to our competitors who have each been approved for more than 3,000 machines approximately each.

So even a temporary moratorium gives us a moment of pause.

We heard through the interim that after you know our competitors have built substantial gaming facilities that they've said the market's saturated, we can't handle any more of these machines.

I would remind this committee that, or this council that market saturation is a tool used by private industry in determining whether or not they want to do business in a certain area.

It's not really a tool used by government to determine whether or not there are enough businesses.

And then finally, I know I'm running out of time.

The language in Senate file 45 was very narrow, and it said that one of the authorities that local governments and county governments now have is if they want to deny or reject an application, it has to be based on the welfare of the people living in the vicinity of the area, the proposed location.

And so I think there is a little misalignment with some of the language used in your resolution compared to what was provided in statute.

And then finally, I wanted to offer you one final um piece of uh information.

I did a comparison.

Um in the last 14 month period, there have only been 11 new machines opened in Neutrona County, and um there have only been for one operator and the other operator has only added 10 machines, and that's for a 14-month period.

And if you look at this charter prepared, you'll see that the last gaming facility that was opened was in 2023.

So when I read your resolution, and I understand there's you know some concern, maybe some people feel like there are too many or too much of these machines.

In the last year and a half, there's been very modest growth in the industry.

There have been no new facilities and only a minimal amount of an increase in the number of machines.

So I'll pass this out to you as well.

Uh, with that, Mr.

Mayor, Vice Mayor, members of the council, please know I'm happy to answer any questions.

Any questions?

Yeah, go ahead, Vice Mayor.

Thank you, Mayor.

And thank you, Miss Alice, for uh all the information.

We'll be able to get through all of it you know before I ask your questions, but get home with me and digest it there.

Um my question for you is uh Bally's what is uh um you know what is their analysis of the Casper market if if we didn't have a moratorium in place, what would be their intent as far as uh number of parlors, number of machines, what do you see as the opportunity here in this area?

Thank you.

Um, Mr.

Mayor, Vice Mayor, and in response to that, in that large packet that I sent you, I want you to take a look at the giant legal size, letter size, excuse me, legal sized document.

If you look at page one, that's a listing of all Wyoming Downs as property, and this is a full readout compared to what I provide in your packet, which is just Neutrona County.

If you look at that chart, you're gonna see in red facilities that are closed, those are fully highlighted, but the font that's listed in red is gonna show properties that are opening.

So you'll see Cheyenne, um, Wyoming Downs is constructing a facility that will house 600 machines.

Below that, or above that, you'll see um on that same page another proposal to build a gaming facility in Evanston.

That facility will also hold 600 machines.

Going on to the page two, that's the Wyoming horse racing properties.

Those again, Wyoming Downs and 307 horse racing are all um, they've got a joint venture, so we often refer to them as one company.

They're technically two, but they have one parent company.

You can see some of the growth there.

Uh, that's I would say kind of flat on that side of it.

But then going down to Wyoming Horse Racing LLC on the third page, you'll see the Cheyenne Swan Ranch proposal.

They have been approved to operate a thousand terminals.

If you've driven to Colorado and have driven by that property, they currently have 328 gaming facilities or machines on site.

That means that property will triple in size.

They also have plans to construct the Evanston Gateway project.

They've been approved for a thousand thirty-six machines at that facility.

Right now they have about a third of that on the floor, 292.

So if I were to venture to guess, it looks like all of the how I read this is that um these two operators are investing heavily in two markets, that's Cheyenne and Evanston.

As for Bally's, I don't know.

Um, when I have uh started doing work for them, my understanding is that we have applications and we've been looking at three locations in Cheyenne.

But I think our concern is that if we start wanting to look at the Casper market and understand what is an opportunity here, can we offer better restaurants, better services to that point of competition?

We don't want to have a door automatically shut in front of us before we have the opportunity to do that market analysis and work with all of you to understand some of your priorities and your concerns about the locations.

Thank you, Miss Ellis.

It might take me a oh yeah, go ahead.

Sorry.

Counselor Sweeney.

Thank you, Mayor.

Uh thank you, Effie, for coming and uh our previous meeting.

Uh I really appreciated the lessons and uh uh dynamics uh from uh ballet's point of view.

Um in your vision, if we did a six-month uh moratorium do you do you think you're even at a point in this probably is not a fair question, but do you think you're in that six months?

Are you even at a point to even start looking for locations?

Thank you for that question.

Um, Mayor Pacheco, Counselor Sweeney.

I think as their government advisor, government affairs advisor, is to make sure we have all of our options open.

And so I think to the previous speaker's comment about the trickle down effect.

What if you start seeing another community that says, well, we're gonna do a moratorium too, and another one says we're gonna do a moratorium?

All of a sudden, then we're in the position where we're gonna look at the communities and start saying, Well, where does it make sense and where do they want us and where they don't?

Um, my concern is that some of those moratorium conversations might turn into a permanent request saying, yeah, we don't want any more of these in our community.

Senate file 45 addresses that concern, so look at that language existing, but I think that would really um I think indicate to business that they don't want to have their doors open.

And unfortunately, it's not based on a reason that we feel is satisfactory, which is economic protectionism.

In that packet, um, I provided you with a court case, which is very important and significant.

It talks about how economic protectionism is not a valid state interest or a government interest to fence out other operators, and that violated Wyoming's constitution and it was found to be arbitrary and capricious.

So that's I think our overarching concern is where this might go.

Um, and then looking at a six-month time frame, that does seem to be very lengthy.

Um, I do think that the council and visiting with some of you on an individual basis have raised concerns about where these should be located, and that's a fair conversation.

If you have a downtown where you don't feel it's appropriate for those games to be if those gaming facilities be located, it would make sense to me to have go through your zoning process and make that adjustment as long as it treats all the operators fairly.

I think where we have concerns is where you have a blanket moratorium and then you have operating facilities and then shutting those off.

I think that's where you start running into trouble with um how you're treating folks fairly.

Thank you, Mayor.

If I could um so do you uh because this this is all new to me, um do you see this moratorium almost like a fence fencing or um total total restriction, even though it's only six months?

Yes, um, Mayor Pacheco, um, Councillor Sweeney, we're very concerned about even the word moratorium uh for all the reasons I just explained.

Um, and I would offer that, you know, in my experience with local government, you know, I live in the city of Cheyenne.

When our council goes through zoning processes, they don't immediately shut down their doors and say we're not going to entertain business licenses for six months.

Sorry, they work with individual applicants on a case-by-case basis.

And I think, you know, if we start reading in the newspaper that the concern is the old Yellowstone district, we're gonna listen to that.

I think, you know, if we know that that's the concern, we're unlikely to come to you with a proposal to put something in the Yellowstone district.

Um, but the statewide or the citywide moratorium is is the concern.

Um, so you know, happy to engage.

I know you've got several readings of this bill.

We're happy to have that conversation of how we can really get after what the true concern is.

Um, but I also want to offer that you know, the concern has been brought up about police and fire services and that those kinds of things.

Um, I don't know the numbers for Casper, but I can tell you gaming and HHR activity has generated millions of dollars in Laramie County for our city, um, for our counties.

Um so it's been a good thing.

And the Senate file 45 says talk about that symbiotic relationship of not regulating activities that are regulated by the gaming commission.

Um visiting with my city council, we've heard stories where they maybe felt that the gaming operators didn't have enough security on premise.

So they went to the gaming commission.

The gaming commission said, yeah, you need to hire more staff, more security personnel, which then resulted in fewer calls to police.

So there's an interplay there that I think can be addressed.

So, you know, hopefully, if we were to do business in Casper, we would be good tax-paying citizens, we'd be good corporate citizens.

We'd work with the gaming commission to make sure that our facilities have adequate um security in place, and we would, you know, very much work hand in hand with law enforcement to make sure we've got clean, safe, profitable facilities because that's what this is about is making sure that the public trusts those facilities.

Sorry, sorry, mayor.

Um boy state daily till later this afternoon, and just noticed there was an article today about Cheyenne in uh 500-foot rule, which I don't think ties to a liquor license.

Uh I and John might know this better, but I think it's uh 150 feet or 150 yards from a school or uh school, church.

And there might be another restriction.

So is Cheyenne looking at something similar to what we're contemplating or Rock Springs.

Um I I guess is all also in the process of doing some of these different different things uh in preparation of July 1 for um uh for um Senate file 45 enactment.

Yeah, Mayor Pacheco, Councillor Sweeney, as I was researching Senate file 45, and I want the council to know I um had when I was in the legislature and Patrick Sweeney remembers we had a big conversation about how do we make skill-based amusement games fair and equable to everyone.

Um, but I've been very fortunate to have done a deep dive in this.

And as I was doing research about the city of Cheyenne, they do have existing ordinances that limit the location of, I believe it's adult uh entertainment stores near churches, um, daycare facilities and schools, those kinds of things.

So I read like you read the article this morning, I was unaware that they had been contemplating that.

Um so I'm guessing they're probably modeling it off of that existing um ordinance, but I haven't had a chance like you.

Um I was on the road today and just saw the article and haven't had a chance to open up what the their planning department put together.

As for Rock Springs, I don't know.

Vice Mayor.

Thank you, Mayor.

Uh to Counselor Sweeney's point, I also read that article briefly, uh, so I wouldn't consider myself an expert, but I believe the uh the crux of the argument down in Cheyenne was they were wanting to treat daycare centers differently.

Uh their previous their current ordinance uh uh doesn't have restrictions if that daycare center is part of a uh you know, just a tenant in a larger building and they were adjusting their ordinance to where it doesn't need to be a standalone daycare center anymore.

It could be a tenant, and uh so I think that was a crux of the issue down in Cheyenne was treating daycare centers a little bit differently, which would put some of those operators within that uh that proximity that you were talking about, 300 feet.

I I forget exactly what it is, but um uh uh to Miss Alice, uh you mentioned uh, you know, how much of a boon this has been for the Laramie County area, and I would agree, you know, I talked to our counterparts down in Cheyenne, they're very enthusiastic about uh this industry and all the operators that are showing interest in their area.

I would I would make one point of distinction between Casper and Cheyenne, that is in Cheyenne.

My understanding is that the majority of those players are from across state lines in Colorado.

I thought the last number I saw was 75% of them, at least for one of those facilities.

So, you know, I do think it's different.

Um, some of these border towns and counties pulling folks from across state lines to collect those tax revenues, and then those folks kind of going back to their home communities.

That to me is different than Natrona County, where obviously being in the middle of the state, we don't have anyone traveling four hours, I don't think, to play at any of our locations uh historic horse racing here.

So I do think that's a uh important to note that uh the majority of the players here, I haven't seen the statistics.

Maybe the gaming commission could shed some light, but I'm guessing the vast majority of our players are locals.

And one of the concerns that I've had uh uh just in general uh for the industry, my my background is in mental health, and um one of the things I've wished um, you know, and I'll take responsibility for this, I could have proposed something similar.

But uh one of the wishes I've had of this council and the city is that we have more evidence-based research playing into our uh zoning laws and stuff because the research is pretty clear, uh, at least as far as alcohol establishments goes, that the more locations you have in an area, the more public health impacts you have.

Alcohol density research is pretty well uh borne out, and I imagine it's very similar again because uh you know, the uh liquor and uh the off-track vetting you know industries are very closely aligned in that regard.

So um uh I'm coming at this from uh the perspective of a previous mental health professional who you know understands kind of how people develop addictions and uh is familiar with this research showing that the more of these establishments you have in an area, uh the more public health impacts you're gonna have.

I understand the argument you're making about market saturation that this is something for private industry to decide, and that's a calculation they have to make for themselves to determine whether that operation is gonna be profitable.

But for me, as a uh counselor, as a representative of my constituents and as somebody with that mental health experience, to me, the point is not whether the establishment can be profitable or not.

Uh again, there's a balance between public health impact and profitability.

Uh, I do not believe that uh I'm not so much a proponent of the free market that I think uh private industry should be able to make as much money as they can, regardless of the public health impacts.

And so, you know, um uh that's my perspective as somebody who's trying to come up with the right balance for this.

The moratorium is potentially not the most perfect solution.

Um, you know, you you said we have some freedom and flexibility within our zoning laws, and I would agree with that, but I also um uh uh just so you know where I'm coming from, this is a continuation of the concerns I've had for years, uh, not about off-track uh parlors, but about liquor consumption in general.

Um just you know, feeling like we're not having the most evidence-based approach uh as far as this is uh going.

So if it helps provide more context as far as my own individual perspective, just want to make that note.

Thank you.

May I respond, Mayor?

Yeah, you'll be happy to know that the legislature, I think, is also looking at the mental health issue, and we acknowledge that too.

Um, I think that's one thing I find exciting about Bally's is they're they do this work across the globe and across in our like many communities across the country.

And so um, you know, all the best practices that they employ, and I can get you some more information on that later on.

But I think having that kind of elevated knowledge of this gaming industry and not just on the the operations side, but the the human element.

Um, you know, we're very sensitive, and we know about that.

But I think that the problem I hear is maybe the moratorium's not the solution.

Again, looking at these charts.

ECL has eight facilities.

Um Chesapeake Gaming, the horse palace, they have two.

So a moratorium to just shut us out doesn't seem like the fair solution either.

It's rewarding the very people who you complain brought the problem to Casper if you do have a problem with gaming.

Um and looking again at those numbers, they've been approved for 725 terminals within Netrona County, and they've got 554 on the on the their gaming floors.

So finding that balance.

We have had lots of conversations with the legislature.

This is a really difficult industry for a lot of people to get their heads around.

It's new, it's complicated.

I think you all had some questions about what's the difference between a skill-based amusement game and an HHR machine, right?

Um, I understand that Mr.

Laramendi helped shed some light on that.

And so it is, it's complicated.

Um again, shutting us out is not the solution, even on a temporary basis, we feel.

And other solutions that we have talked about and we're willing to visit with you about is I think because this is a statewide system where the state of Wyoming said we want live horse racing.

Again, we can't forget that component of it.

Um, but maybe we feel there's too much gaming.

I've heard that.

I live in a community where there's a lot of gaming, a lot more than what you see here in Casper.

And I'm not a fan of gaming in general.

It's not my pastime of choice.

Um, but other states and other jurisdictions have looked at limits on the number of facilities, the number of machines.

We have said repeatedly on the record that we are willing to entertain those as long as you treat all the operators fairly.

And so I could give you examples of other jurisdictions that do that and other industries where that has worked.

I just actually um did some research on oil and gas when it was first coming to Wyoming.

Um, there was concern at the federal level about just having monopolies in states, and so they actually limited the number of acres that each operator could lease from the federal government uh for oil and gas until that industry became established.

And so in oil and gas, I think there's conversations about the appropriateness of that now that we have multiple operators.

But for a brand new industry like gaming, that is the concern is that you have de facto monopoly creation, even if you don't do it intentionally.

Um so with your mental health concern, happy to work with you on those issues, happy to identify other reasonable measures of growth.

Those were two ideas, but there are others.

Um, but again, I to your point, is a moratorium the perfect fix?

Uh no, for from our perspective, no.

Thank you, Miss Elles.

Appreciate it.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

And sorry, I'm fighting a cold, so I know I disound nasally.

My apologies, council.

Thank you.

And I apologize to speakers that have to go after me and touch the microphone.

I'm sorry.

Anyone else in opposition?

We're almost a discussion.

Hold on one second.

Uh getting a no.

Oh, there you are.

Yeah.

Okay.

Yeah, yeah, you bet.

Yeah.

Okay.

Thank you, everyone.

There being no others to speak for or against the ordinance, um, I now declare the public hearing closed.

Please read the ordinance by title only an ordinance approving a temporary moratorium on the establishment of new simulcasting establishments in the city of Casper, Wyoming.

Chair Dynerty, a motion to approve on first reading of the ordinance just read.

So move.

Second.

Discussion by the council.

Yep, Councilor Paulick.

Thanks.

Thanks for everybody who um who came.

I'm probably still a little bit undecided on this, but seconded so that we could get here and discuss.

Um Mr.

City Attorney, I'm curious.

So my my concern stems pretty much entirely for me wanting to find time, provide time for us to consider zoning, really zoning is my primary concern in all of this.

Consider zoning.

Um before other activity is established in Casper.

I'm I have no interest in trying to um stick Casper with the two operators that we currently have.

I have no interest, I have a very little interest in trying to create any sort of artificial uh limits that have not been imposed uh upon us from other entities.

My the the crux of my entire concern is uh is where really and so um my question is uh if we were to not proceed with a moratorium, um, what does the path look like?

How quickly can we get that done?

I'm I'm I'm trying to weigh in my mind here like what are the actual um what's the actual likelihood that an additional facility will be established in the interim while we're trying to discuss zoning issues.

So my question is how can't how quickly can we get that analysis done?

Uh how quickly do we think we could get us through that process?

Um, and if that window time is short enough, is there really a likelihood that we see dramatic shifts in the the amount of gaming we already have established in this community or not?

Yeah, thank you, Mayor, Councilor Pollack.

Uh that's that's a great question.

Um, one that uh I think probably is best answered by our community.

Um Mr.

Collins is our planner.

Um they're integral to uh our our working group internally as we look at uh the zoning issue.

Um what I would say is that uh even before a moratorium would go on to effect, you have to have three readings.

And so that um if this were to uh move forward on on first reading, that would still give us um a fair amount of time to to work internally um with our group and and perhaps come up with a uh proposal to council um uh around the zoning issue that that could be um initiated um before we'd even get to third reading, and maybe at that point the moratorium is moot.

Um just a kind of a point of clarification.

I I you know, I don't think staff looks at a moratorium in and of itself as a solution to anything.

Um I think it's a uh the the proposal and I believe council's initial interest in this was just for maintain the status quo until we had some opportunity to come up with some longer term solutions, i.e.

zoning primarily.

But the other thing that I would uh mention is that um as uh I've taken a deeper dive into Senate file 45, uh it's it's fairly nuanced.

Um, and so what um I've realized is that the city has no objective criteria that have been established, no procedure to um post July 1 if if uh permit um seeker were to come to city council, we really don't have a process in place to handle those.

And so I think um from a uh business perspective, having that um objectivity, having that um consistency in a process, I think there's some value in that.

And so certainly I think that's something we should be working on concurrently with viewing the um reviewing uh the zoning.

Because really, when you get into Senate file 45, um, yes, the the city has an additional seat at the table, but it's it's very narrow.

And since there's already gaming or or historic horse racing allowed within the city of Casper, um any denial uh would require uh full written findings of fact, conclusions of law that then could be appealed to the district court, and we could not rely on anything that's um solely within the purview of the gaming commission, which um when I asked Mr.

Laramendi what did they feel was in their purview, he said look at the administrative rules.

So I think there's a lot of nuance and some work to be done there with staff.

So so to me, um, from the legal standpoint, that is the second aspect I think that uh we need to we're probably a little bit behind the ball, uh, but I don't think we're alone across municipalities.

So this is a long diatribe, a little uh a little bit to a pretty succinct uh question.

You know, I I I think there is a potential that we could come up with some proposals to bring to council well before the moratorium goes into effect.

Um but I can't guarantee it.

So other discussion from the council.

Go ahead.

Councilor Jensen.

Maybe you're gonna have to.

I know.

Um, I think my councilmates have been aware that I have been against this too since the um conversation first started.

Um, and many of the points that I personally um feel are the same as what um Mr.

Johnson and Miss Ellis brought up too.

So I have a lot of concerns about it, and I certainly don't feel that the city has a place to tell what businesses can go where or um if they want to come to town.

Um, but yet we have the statues and we have the things.

So if they're in the state statutes, we're protected by a lot of that.

So if they're gonna come, let them come, let them try, let them fizzle out if they don't work out, it's part of business.

So um again, I'm still not I'm not gonna vote yes for this.

Um, I just wanted to give my reasons why.

Um also counselor vice mayor mentioned that um the border um cities like Cheyenne.

We also benefit here in Casper from tourism, and we having gaming is something that you know not everybody likes, but there's a lot of people who do.

And if they're gonna come here and it's gonna steep keep them here for another couple days or maybe a night or whatever, because they want to stay and visit historical sites or whatever, and then in the evening they want to eat restaurants and go gamble.

I mean, who are we to tell them what have fun to have?

So we provide a lot of other opportunities and recreation and we do that for everyone, and there's some so that there is something for everyone.

So they stay and they can enjoy Casper.

Do I specifically want it right downtown on 2nd Street?

No.

But in old Yellowstone District, no, I don't, but I feel like that are those are parts of this that we can figure out down the long run down the road.

Um but I don't want to take business away from other businesses either that do have the permits to operate those machines through the state in those establishments, because again, if you want to drink a beer and or have a drink and play some games, then fine.

I mean, I just don't want to tell anybody they can't have fun in their own way and spend their money the way they want to, or tell a business whether or not they can come here.

Counselor Haskins.

I'm trying to decide if I'm excited.

Did I let you go first or if I feel like it's let me just get in the last word here.

As one of the members on the committee with Councillor Sweetney and Counselor Bond, we can safely assure you that we're working as quickly as we can to make decisions to bring to the council for what we think our constituents and we as a council want to establish.

And if we can do that before the moratorium takes effect, cool beans, right?

We'll try.

We we all know what both games are now, so we're we're making progress.

That said, I don't think the intention of this council is to limit it.

So while we did put the moratorium, let's call it a pause, but I don't think that's legal definition, which is why we're using moratorium.

But we're putting a pause because whether or not we interpreted it accurately that our zoning was allowed to be changed prior to this passing.

Now we are going to look at our zoning.

That is probably the priority of this committee.

What do we want to establish?

Do we want to treat them like a restaurant?

Do we want to treat them like a bar?

Do we want games in the grocery store?

I know that's addressed, but for example.

So we might not want them in the Yellowstone district.

Like we're hearing that a lot.

But if we don't do the moratorium, if we don't change the zoning now, if they open up in Sierra West, it's too late.

It's done.

So we can't deal with it later.

We deal with it now or we deal with the consequences.

And while an attorney comes up and says, probably not gonna do probably not gonna from an attorney.

We had two in this room and they're both disagreeing.

So not that I don't think you're amazing.

I'm sure you're great.

And I will probably be reaching out to you since your kid graduated and we haven't touched base.

Congrats, by the way.

We can't put this off.

And if we can get it finished, decided and establish something before the third reading, cool.

That's great.

But if we can't, we still need to figure it out now.

And again, I don't think we're trying to limit business, but we don't know what we even have for options yet.

So the moratorium, in my opinion, needs to move forward.

If we can get it done faster, cool.

If we can get it done in less than six months, I think 100% of the people on council don't want it to last that long.

And we can say, okay, we're done here, and we can cancel the moratorium.

We made sure of that before we even started this process.

So the ultimate goal is make sure that what we're doing, now that we have a say, actually benefits Casper.

And that doesn't mean not allowing valleys in, but it might mean not allowing valleys next door to the church.

And it might mean we want buffers so that they don't get to be noisy.

And those are things that we do want to have a say in.

So there's my very long-winded two cents, and obviously I'm voting yes.

And I'm sorry that I let you go first so I could get the last word.

But only kind.

I also said second street, not center.

Any others, yep.

Counselor Sweeney.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, so great discussion.

I I appreciate it.

Um thank you, John Johnson, for coming tonight.

Um I have weighed back and forth on this, and I think I'm going to be tonight in Genis camp.

Um and uh because I see both sides of this.

Um I unfortunately don't think we can get this done uh by by the time third reading gets here, but if we have to review it again, there's nothing saying if it my guess is it's going to move forward.

Um tonight with uh I'm going to guess there might be two to three no votes.

So I think um I'll definitely be in the minority.

Um, but I don't think we can get it accomplished um by the time third reading rolls around.

Um is that harmful?

Um as Miss Ellis said, um, the word moratorium in whether you're in favor or not of data centers.

Um in uh that's where my mind has gone with all the recent talk about moratoriums.

And so I can I can get the concern uh from a new operator.

Um on that that word alone being kind of a negative indication of where a community is coming from.

And I don't think there's any intent of this council on trying to fence anybody out.

Uh but I just um trying to educate myself on all of that um in the word alone moratorium.

I didn't see is that fearful, but now I'm a little more fearful of the word itself um in its ramifications.

So I just wanted to clarify where I'm I'm I I believe I'm coming from tonight.

Can I just do a follow up?

Yeah, go ahead.

I also with Pat here too, and I I again I don't like that word either.

And I think it they're right.

Send uh precedence across the state that if we're doing it just like we watch what Cheyenne's doing or other counties, we're just gonna make it an easier way for them later on to see because they're gonna be watching us to see how this all plays out.

And if we um don't you know, change our wording or rethink how we're gonna do this.

And again, I don't think either that this is gonna get done by the third reading.

They're not gonna find something that's gonna please everyone, and I just don't want to be the person to stand in the way either.

And don't want to set that print so that's across the state.

Counselor Haskins.

If I can we have to call it a moratorium, right?

Mayor, counselors I can certainly look for some different adjectives.

Um but in essence, it's it's a moratorium.

Um the other thing though, that since I have the mic quickly, um the other thing I would throw out uh as if this does move forward um tonight, and if it doesn't, then it's all moot.

But um certainly if during the work of the the committee we identify council's concern to be, for instance, the OID and downtown, certainly at second reading or third reading, you can amend the scope so that it is not citywide.

I mean, it's it's as it's being presented, I think was drafted based upon the work session and the input from council, but but certainly um it's not set in stone.

And so if two weeks from now, um uh the recommendation from staff and the committee is that you know, really our concern is those two areas, um, it can be amended.

Um so I just throw that out.

Um there's there's not a one size fit fits all.

And if it does move through the the readings, that will um even during those next four weeks will allow council and staff to digest the information provided tonight, um, to look for various other options.

I mean, I'm I'm certainly hearing the concerns, um, you know, very sensitive to that on both sides of the argument.

So thank you.

Yeah.

Did I miss you?

Oh, go ahead.

I'm sorry, follow-up.

Yes, go ahead.

I just want to finish with I'm going to need you to have your can-do attitude, sir, because it would sound pretty strongly to me that the only thing standing in the way is you and me convincing the rest of this group of what we have decided is what we want.

So talk faster and be available whenever I need you, and we'll be good.

We got this.

We got this, Counselor Haskins.

I'm gonna get counselor Pollock and then I'll get the vice mayor.

Go ahead.

Thank you.

I my gut tells me that it's unlikely that we see a proposal begin the process and make its way to us before we can get this done.

Um probably not in the three readings that it takes to pass a moratorium.

I agree with you there, but um my this does feel like an urgent issue for me in that I agree with um counselor Haskins.

You it's hard to put the genie back in the bottle.

Um, and so I that's been a frustration about this all along, is we the council has felt sort of ill-equipped to really participate in the growth of this industry and and you know, think about it from a community standpoint.

It is something I have heard about regularly since I've been on council um for seven years now about this industry, it is of interest to the community um for all sorts of reasons.

Um and so I my gut is that we can probably do this without the moratorium.

Um however, I think for tonight at least, um, I'm gonna be a yes so that it stays on the table as an option to us and as a um as a tool should we find that our efforts are being complicated in ways that we don't expect.

But I would love to see us find a solution in the interim and and avert uh the final passage of moratorium if we can.

If we can find that path, I'm ready to find that path.

Um but for tonight, so that we can continue to have it as a tool in our toolbox as an option, I will be a yes.

Thank you, Mayor.

Uh and I essentially agree with everything Councillor Pollock just said, and Councillor Haskins before her.

I uh, you know, uh agree that it's probably not the best tool, but I would prefer to have something in the works that as the city attorney uh you know uh reminded us we can adjust as it works its way through the readings.

I can tell you I have some public comments that I was gonna say for the end of the meeting, but as our liaison to the OID and the DDA boards, they are absolutely against having anti machines downtown, and I think the majority of our constituents would be as well.

Uh and with all due respect to some of my colleagues and the couple folks that spoke in favor, uh you you'd be the first people I've spoken to that spoke in favor of this industry.

I I I've had hundreds of conversations of people that have expressed angst and frustration um about you know uh too much of these uh establishments in town, and so I'm definitely factoring that into my considerations uh with all due respect to the the repeated comparisons to coffee shops or uh banks or car washes.

I've not had a conversation with anyone that was evicted from their home and ruined their life because they had too many lavender lattes.

So you know that is why I'm treating this industry differently.

What's that?

You're on your way.

Uh well, if anyone has a problem, it's me, but I got the roof over my head still.

Uh so um so yeah, I mean that's why I uh again going back to my experience with um you know working in mental health and having worked with many, many people with addictions.

Uh a lot of the people um yeah, you know, there's a lot of overlap there.

And uh I I think it's um, you know, um uh the characterization of the industry being kind of this wholesome family entertainment.

I I just disagree with if you go spend a couple hours in any one of them by any of the operators, you're gonna see people that obviously have problems and probably shouldn't be spending their money there.

And so um I think that's important to keep in mind as we develop this process and develop these policies.

And uh so that's why I agree that you know, whether we end up going with the moratorium as it's currently written, uh perhaps not, but we need something in the works because uh my experience with private industry is that typically uh they're not considering public health impacts, you know.

If they if they can make money, they're gonna make money and they're gonna make as much of it as they want.

And uh, you know, they're gonna leave the public health impacts to us to mitigate and help uh control.

So I'm gonna be voting in favor of it, uh, just so that we have something in the works going down the tracks.

Uh, but absolutely I would uh encourage us to continue having this conversation about zoning.

I think that needs to be more robust.

Um, because I would treat, you know, uh I don't think I'm being particular to uh the off-track betting or the historic horse racing framework or the uh industry.

Uh I think I've made it very clear that I'm pretty pro-cannabis, but if uh the legislature passed legislation um uh making it legal for cannabis today, uh I feel like we're ill-equipped to handle that, and I would support a moratorium on that as well, because I imagine my uh folks at DDA and OID don't want them downtown.

I wouldn't want them downtown either.

And my guess is most of us on council and most of our constituents would want those relegated to certain areas of town as well.

And so um I don't think I'm targeting this industry, but I do think it's an important consideration.

You know, the public health impacts is what is important to me, and that's why I uh you know don't think it's a fair example to compare it to pretty much any other industry other than liquor establishments.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Um I will be voting yes to this moratorium as well.

Um a lot of the same things from um the vice mayor, uh only because of my background also um as a mental health therapist, um what I've seen also within that.

And I'm not anti-business.

I think if you know me, um I'm usually a thumbs up all the time when it comes to bringing new businesses and how we do that within um uh this community.

Uh however, I also think pragmatic, thoughtful approaches um and thinking things through are a very important um aspect of this of this council.

So I'm gonna be voting yes on this again, um open to other ideas to be able to move forward and to do that.

And so um I I I want to echo um also what Vice Mayor had said that I I think it is unfair to compare this to coffee shops or to other places.

Um I just think the data and the research um far outweighs it, and I also agree that um generally with things like this and addictions, um, it's the community that ends up um footing that bill and the local nonprofits.

So please cast your vote counselor bond.

How do you vote?

Aye.

Please record the vote.

With counselors Jensen and Sweeney voting nay and all others voting aye, the motion passes.

And I'll declare the public hearing open for the consideration of an ordinance regarding mobile vendor parking.

Mr.

City Attorney, do you have any exhibits?

Thank you, Mayor.

I do correspondence from Fleur Tremble to Janine Jordan, dated May 26, 2026.

Send number two, proof of publication from the Casper Star Tribune for publication on May 30th, 2026.

Acting City Manager, do you have a report?

Aside from what's in the memo, I do not thank you.

Councilman L, listen to public comments, public hearing comments are limited to five minutes will be allowed.

At this time, I would ask those individuals who wish to speak in favor of this ordinance to please approach the lectern.

Anyone in favor?

Okay.

At this time, I would ask those individuals to issue speak in opposition to this ordinance to please approach the lecture.

Anybody in opposition.

Okay, there being no one to speak for or against this ordinance.

I now declare the public hearing closed.

Please read the ordinance by title only.

An ordinance amending section 10.36.031, mobile vendor parking of the Casper Municipal Code.

Thank you.

The chair did entertain a motion to approve on second reading the ordinance just read.

Moved by Councillor Mackintosh, seconded by Councilor Haskins.

Any discussion from the council.

Okay.

Please cast your vote.

Councilor Bond, how do you vote?

Aye.

Please record the vote.

With all counselors voting aye, the motion passes.

Council will now consider consent resolutions.

Please read the consent resolutions by title only.

8A1, authorizing an agreement between the City of Casper and the Notre Honey County Conservation District.

8A2, authorizing a right-of-way easement with Rocky Mountain Power for the Fort Casper Campground Improvements.

8A3, authorizing multiple agreements with PIX4D for drone and mapping software services for the Casper Police Department.

8A4, authorizing an agreement with Envision Electric Incorporated for the Baylor Building Electrical Disconnect Project.

8A5, declaring the city of Casper, Wyoming shall abandon the creation of local assessment district number 162, 14th Street Improvements in said city.

8A6, authorizing change order number four to the agreement with the Casper Electric Incorporated for the Sam H.

Hobbs Wastewater Treatment Plant Motor Control Center Replacements.

8A7, authorizing change order number four to the agreement with Off to Del Construction Incorporated for K Street Improvements, St.

Mary Street to Bryan Stock Trail Project.

8A8, authorizing an agreement with Crown Construction LLC for the CY Avenue Water Main Repair.

8A9, author acknowledging that this Casper City Council shall exercise its urban renewal powers, duties, and functions as authorized under Wyoming statute section 15-9-101.

8810, authorizing the second amendment to the professional services agreement between the City of Casper, Wyoming, and Wyoming Medical Center Incorporated regarding ambulance services.

8A11, authorizing amendment number one to the contract for professional services between the city of Casper and all traffic data services LLC.

8A12 authorizing acceptance of a grant from the Natrona County Recreation Joint Powers Board for 150,000 for a new lift at Hogadon Basin Ski Area.

8A13, authorizing an agreement between the City of Casper and Vindustries LLC.

8A14, rescinding and replacing resolution number 25-101 and approving the downtown open container hours boundaries and days.

And 8A15 authorizing execution of a Wyoming Inflation Reduction Act, urban and community forestry subrecipient agreement between the Wyoming State Forestry Division and the City of Casper in the amount of 100,000.

Thank you.

Chair D entertain a motion to adopt the consent items just read.

Move by Councillor Jensen, seconded by Counselor Pollock.

Acting City Manager, do you want to comment on any of these items?

No, thank you.

Any abstentions or nay votes?

Yes, I would like to abstain from item eight.

A 14.

Thank you.

And your any other abstentions?

Okay.

Please cast your vote.

Aye.

Please record the vote.

With counselor Pollock's abstention noted and all other counselors voting aye, the motion passes.

Council will now discuss the inclusion of the summary proposed budget into the minutes.

Because this is not on a consent agenda.

It will be open for discussion by the council.

Please read the minute action items uh title just uh title only.

Authorizing the inclusion of fiscal year 2026 to 2027 summary proposed budget into the June 2nd, 2026 regular council meeting.

Thank you.

The chair would entertain a motion to approve the item just read.

Haskin seconded by counselor mackintosh.

Um acting city manager, do you have a report?

I do not aside from what's in the memo.

Thank you.

Um discussion from the council on this.

Any amendments?

Please cast your vote.

Please record, or excuse me.

Counselor Bond, how do you vote?

Aye.

Please record the vote.

With all counselors voting aye, the motion passes read the consent minute action titles.

9B1 authorizing the appointment of Scott Cohen Camp to the downtown development for a four-year term ending on June 30th, 2030.

And 9v2 approving the sole source purchase of GTAC mobile data terminals from PCN Strategies Incorporated.

Thank you.

Chair to entertain a motion to approve the consent minute action agenda item just read.

Move by Councillor Jensen, seconded by Councillor Mackintosh.

Any abstentions or nay votes?

Please cast your vote.

Councilor Bond, how do you vote?

Aye.

Please record the vote.

With all counselors voting aye, the motion passes.

This time we ask uh the counselors to bring forward any relevant concerns of items or items of interest.

We'll start with you, Councilor Larson, if that's okay.

I don't have anything.

Okay.

Councillor Bond, do you have anything you'd like to share tonight?

Uh just a couple of things, Mayor.

Thank you.

Uh I just first of all wanted to uh say I uh attended the uh Senate file 45 webinar yesterday.

Uh it was a virtual webinar.

Uh uh attorney Nelson and I believe Councilor Sweeney were on the call as well.

I don't know if other counselors have uh were able to attend as well, but I found it very informative, very helpful.

Uh heard from uh members of the gaming commission or gaming commission, uh including the executive director as as well as other folks.

Um and um I afterwards I spent some time and and actually downloaded the a copy of the uh the text, the language of Cinefile 45 that I think it's gonna be helpful for the uh small the work group that uh councillor Haskins and Councillor Sweeney and I are uh part of too as we move forward with this uh gaming uh gaming potential more moratorium and related to that.

I I kind of felt like um I I guess honestly like this is something we had talked about in a work session, and I felt like um there was a little bit of shifting at the last minute today, uh, which is unfortunate.

I I feel like um, you know, this is the first reading.

I feel like there's plenty of opportunity before a final decision on this on this moratorium, but I feel like it was way too early to shut down uh a decision like this, um merely for appearances.

And so um I do feel like it's important that we keep moving forward with this conversation, and if we decide not to implement the moratorium after all, so be it.

But I feel like we had reached consensus that we would we would move forward on this um and uh do our due diligence to uh make sure that we had the the protections and securities in place for the community uh because as many other counselors have mentioned, I've heard from a number of uh city residents about their concerns about the growth of the industry.

And and again, I I think just taking a look at it is not setting anyone out.

I don't think I don't expect the moratorium to go maybe the full six months, maybe it will, maybe it won't, but I feel like six months is not going to hurt anyone.

So thank you, Mayor.

Thank you.

Counselor Sweeney.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um last Tuesday we had the visit Casper meeting um uh on the lodging tax board, and I did not get printouts of the scorecard if anybody liked to look at it.

Um I did bring my copy.

Um went through the budget and uh approved some changes um of note.

Um uh the bid is coming up for college national finals rodeo, and so um very concerned on trying to keep keep that uh going here in town.

I think uh pretty good uh robust bid, and um I um I think it'll have a positive outcome.

I don't know if we'll um land it for 10 years, uh, but hopefully at least five five.

So um and perhaps uh counselor Jensen might have um other thoughts on that too.

The next day Wednesday uh was at a meeting again, visit Casper for the master plan.

Um great uh good comp conversation.

Um geez, I think there might have been close to 30 uh community members and stakeholders at that meeting, and I thought it was great.

So uh the next day uh uh I didn't make it down to uh the Thai Thompson State Office building, but Travel Wreck and Wildlife.

Um I thought staff and the mayor uh did a great job in testimony.

Um there was a lot of test testimony in um I thought it came across really well.

Um number of community members uh spoke uh uh trying to point out uh some of the flaws and problems and uh appreciated Tommy Swanson, who's uh uh uh great advocate of the of our river and uh uh was able to speak in a very limited amount of time.

Um our appointee to regional water, um thankfully uh Paul Bertoglio was uh also in attendance and uh was did not have time uh to speak.

Uh but um I thought uh the mayor and our public works director thank you uh for your comments and I I thought it was well taken.

Um later that night uh Irish Clubhouse had uh their open house and uh if folks aren't aware of what Iris Clubhouse is down in North Casper, um uh you should uh see the work that they do and uh provide great services to uh the intellectually challenged um uh and uh gave it give a good network.

Um they're also working with the clients um and the members on um uh jobs and with work workforce services on providing uh then went to Kelly Walsh's graduation.

Um I I thought it was a huge turnout from what I remember um uh in seas.

I didn't make it to NC's, but uh or Roosevelt, but uh um very inspirational talks uh by the students for sure coming out of um uh the graduation and coming down the hill, I see these flying objects, and I was trying to wrap my head around what I was seeing, and kudos to uh the ORS uh foundation for hope.

Um I don't think I said that right, but um and their uh concert that they produced along with uh the um drone show.

Um and I it uh it was amazing driving down and I had forgotten I meant to get to the event, but um uh it seeing the Wyoming flag in that way, um seeing the music notes and guitar, um really was uh pretty uh uh first time for me to see any of that.

And it was flying low enough that that must have been remarkable if you were at David Street Station.

So uh and I'm sure Chancy Williams was uh terrific.

So um I just uh uh also want to remind our citizens, uh thanks to uh DDA in uh the citizens or the city of Casper on the uh temporary street closures and Kyle, were you gonna r mention that?

Oh, oh, oh so um tomorrow uh today Durban to Walcott was closed, and I I don't know how that went.

Terrific.

And uh tomorrow is Walcott to Center, and Thursday is center to David Street.

So um just uh heads up for our citizens, please uh park someplace else and continue to shop and go to our restaurants and um uh uh enjoy downtown.

Um and uh uh lastly second to last, um I I appreciated Counselor Bond's uh comments and uh I had waffled um and uh but hearing John Johnson's comments um uh I took that to heart and uh but I will do my work because Councillor Haskins and Counselor Bond will hold my feet to the fire.

I am positive.

Um and as far as me talking faster, this is it in my old age.

Um lastly, I look forward to going to Laramie tomorrow uh for Wyoming Association of Municipalities.

And uh I just think uh uh lots to learn.

This will be um historic horse racing will uh definitely be um on my radar and talking to some of the other counselors and um uh especially Cheyenne Rock Springs.

Um and uh so looking looking forward to the trip.

Um unfortunately I don't think I'll get back.

Uh we lost uh uh recently a uh great community leader, Lynn Lockhart, um Tom Lock Lockhart's uh wife um and uh she was a great great great lady and her funeral is at 11 on Saturday at St.

Anthony's, but uh or Friday.

So uh don't think I'll quite make it back, but but uh wanted to recognize all of her dedication to our community.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Counselor Pollock.

Thank you.

Just a couple of things.

Uh yeah, I don't think I'll make it to Lynn's Memorial either, but uh fun fact, she was my very first campaign contribution uh that I ever received, a huge uh advocate, and I um was close with her and Tom for a number of years early on when I was um first trying to figure out the legislature and politics and all that.

So um she'll be missed.

Uh visit Casper, the community area impact grants that um City of Casper partners with Visit Casper on.

Um we met uh Counselor Larson and Fleur and I met with some representatives of Visit Casper on Friday to evaluate those grant applications.

There was a total of 106,000 worth of requests made um for um a total grant award availability of um 25,000 dollars cash from visit Casper and 25,000 in-kind contributions from us.

So definitely had a lot of whittling down to do to try to really um give those events a good look and and try to support them where we could.

A lot of really events that are very important to our community, both from a cultural standpoint and also from a um economic impact and and tax generation standpoint.

So um that took place, and uh I assume awards will be um awardees will be notified here shortly by a visit Casper.

Um and last I I'm going to miss next week's meeting, I think.

Uh no, I'm not gonna miss it.

I'm gonna join virtually, but I hate giving these reports um via the intercom system that we have in here.

So uh I wanted to talk to y'all about uh on behalf of the LGBTQ advisory committee about uh some of the events that are coming up for Casper Pride.

So starting um June 7th, actually, the first affiliated event starts in between affiliated events and um uh events that Casper Pride is hosting themselves.

There's 16 events between June 7th and June 14th.

Um the official kickoff is June 11th at R321 with dinner and art uh for all ages.

Um that is followed by an open house on June 12th at the new Casper Pride Center at the Durban Center downtown, um, just opening to the public on June 12th from 3 to 6.

Um also that night there are a couple other several other events um for for various different age groups, various different types of events.

Um big day is June 13th at David Street Station, 10 to 12 or sorry, 10 to 2 p.m.

Uh, lots of entertainment.

Uh into Eaton is coming back, Cory McDaniel duo will be there.

Um, a number of other local bands as well, vendors, uh food trucks, etc.

Um, and then um the LGBTQ advisory committee is um one of the sponsors and hosts of a pool party.

That'll be the first time doing this event, an all-ages pool party with food and a DJ at PV pool.

Uh so uh your admission that day will be sponsored, um, as well as snacks are sponsored out here.

The the snack bar will be just have a tab.

So um go get some nachos and get in the pool.

That's from two to six.

Um, and I'd just like to extend an invitation to all the counselors to join at any of those events.

Um, but particularly draw your attention to the PV pool event since that is the one that the um city advisory committee has been involved with.

So that's it.

Yeah, I didn't do anything this week except go to graduation.

My youngest graduated, I now have an empty nest, I think.

Very sad.

But I also had to battle that group of people to get down to get a picture.

So I missed the drones, but I saw pictures, I didn't get to see Chauncey, but I've seen him, so it's probably only kind of sad.

Did I mention I'm an empty nester and my heart is sad, but my youngest did graduate, and I don't know that I would have called the speech inspirational, but I heard a really cool spiel about hacky sacks, and you know, I'm kind of excited they're coming back.

I'm also attending Wham for the next few days, so I promised to make up for my lack of working last week.

All right.

So I want to remind everybody that CNFR is the 14th to the 20th.

So get your cowboy boots and get up to the Ford Wyoming Center and take in some cowboy action with bulls and all the Bronx, and it's gonna be a good time.

They have uh style show, they have a lot of different things that are happening.

So I believe Visit Casper has it on their website of all the times and show times, and I know the Ford Wyoming Center does as well.

Um I did go downtown and got a sneak peek of the lights, and I'm very excited for those to get turned on.

It's gonna look so pretty.

And for those of you who don't know, they do change colors, and um the DDA can change them through the holidays and that they're gonna be beautiful and really light up downtown and make a second street walkable at nighttime.

So it's gonna have a great appearance.

I'm looking forward to it.

Um also just a reminder that Sunday um is the Casper Marathon, and so watch out for runners because they do use the trail system and then some of the roads that they need to be on.

Um also that means they run through um Morad Park, which is the dog park, and so that is going to be closed to dogs from 6 a.m.

to 12 p.m.

Usually the marathon wraps up by noon.

So um let's see.

Oh, happy birthday, counselor bond.

And uh and I think that's all I got.

Yeah, I just wanted to thank everybody that came tonight.

It's kind of nice to have people to talk to instead of talking to an empty room.

Uh appreciate you getting involved in in the your community.

Please encourage your friends and neighbors to get involved, whether it's something that really impacts them or not.

It's it's nice for us to get some feedback on things.

And also encourage them to uh especially get involved in the uh elections this year, especially the primary in August for the local positions.

That's when most of the decisions are made for for our state and local leaders.

So other than that, thanks.

Have a great week.

Thank you, Mayor.

I had a uh couple board meetings in the past week.

I had a Casper Housing Authority board meeting uh I say last Wednesday, but I think this is a holdover.

I don't think we did around the table last week.

So I think this is a holdover from the week before.

Uh, but uh doesn't have much effect on the housing authority, but uh HUD is radically overhauling its homelessness assistance grants by capping permanent housing funding at 30%.

They're shifting the majority of their money to transitional housing, work requirements, and addiction treatment.

Historically, approximately 87 to 90% of continuum of care awards supported permanent housing, uh permanent supportive housing.

So this will definitely have some local impacts for those folks that are used to uh managing and uh awarding permanent supportive uh or continuum of care awards.

Uh the re the redirected funding prioritizes transitional housing, street outreach, child care, job training, and outpatient addiction treatment.

HUD's approach uh ties assistance more heavily to sobriety, mental health treatment, and work requirements.

And so I'll be interested to hear.

I think community action partnership is the entity in town that most utilizes those funds.

And so I'll be interested to hear uh from Kelly over at their organization and others, uh, what impact that's gonna have, if any, for the services that they're providing.

Casper Housing Authority's Father's Day event is coming up uh very soon, and uh they're still uh looking for sponsors for that.

So if you'd like to support the event and have a booth, happy to make that connection.

Uh it's usually a really great event, a few thousand people.

Uh Washington Park, uh, one of my favorite underutilized spaces in the town.

And so uh yeah, would encourage folks to go.

They always give free food drink, and uh, it's always really fun, especially if you got kids.

I had an old Yellowstone district committee meeting yesterday.

I want to thank all the volunteers for the flower planting they did back on May 13th.

Uh, there was an Oil City News article about it.

If you didn't catch it, uh just a great partnership between city staff and the merchants and the property owners in that area.

Uh, I'm always very thankful.

You know, those guys come out on weekday afternoon, spend hours.

Uh, it was very hot on May 13th, so out there sweating, you know, doing some some annual labor uh all for free.

So I appreciate everyone that helps to beautify our downtown and make it look very nice for our tourist season.

We discussed plans for the 250th uh you know anniversary coming up on July 4th.

Uh that includes more window painting.

They, you know, the Windows in Bloom initiative was very successful, so they're looking to kind of capitalize on that and continue that momentum, do more window painting uh for the 250th celebration.

We also have new banners that will be displayed downtown.

Uh they look really nice, and so looking forward to kind of dressing up downtown in that regard.

Uh, as I mentioned earlier, we did discuss the uh OTB and historic horse racing moratorium with them.

That group was unanimous in their position that there shouldn't be any downtown.

And uh they also thought that we have plenty in the city as a whole.

So that group uh, you know, in coordination with city will be bringing recommendations to council.

Uh, you know, the old Yellowstone district already has the form-based code that governs it.

And so I suppose that district, it's probably easier to adjust those because it's kind of its own separate district.

So that group will be recommending adjustments to the form-based cloud that include multiple things, including a prohibition on those um establishments in that area.

The annual downtown cleanup event is coming up on the 10th.

Uh that'll be from 8 a.m.

to 5 p.m.

Uh, get a hold of me or Liz Becker or um uh, you know, again, happy to make connections if you're interested in helping.

So please let me know.

I believe there are three different shifts throughout the day, so you don't have to be there all day from eight to five.

Uh just come out for a few hours if you want to help clean up.

And I want to thank Kelly at Wyoming Plant Company for hosting us.

He provided drinks and snacks, and we sat outside in a little social area.

Felt a lot more like a garden party than a board meeting.

So that was nice.

Um, and then lastly, I uh have read some pretty depressing articles lately.

One in Cowboy State Daily about a million acre feet of water being released for Flaming Gorge to help feed the Colorado River in Lake Powell to prevent a critical failure at their dam down there.

The marina operators in the area were struggling to respond to and now adapt to a seven-foot drop at Flaming Gorge.

They worry that it could decimate the salmon population in the reservoir, and the two marina operators uh, you know, seem to be concerned that they might, you know, uh whether they'd be even in operation next year because it was having that much impact.

Hawk Springs Reservoir in Goshen County is at risk of drying up over the summer with the conservation district reps in that area saying that the current capacity is the worst they've ever seen in their 34 years.

Torrington livestock markets sold about 10 times the head of cattle that they're used to selling this time of year at the most recent auction.

That's because ranchers are worried about the drought throughout the summer.

So I want to thank Amity for uh the information about the Spiritus project uh because I'm going to continue calling out water.

I just I see that as kind of the issue of our times uh here in the coming years, and just think we need to be very, very mindful of it as we make decisions that impact uh the water supply and um you know our availability to it.

On that note, I do want to thank the mayor.

You you might be speaking about this, but I saw you uh testified to the joint travel recreation, wildlife and cultural resources committee last Thursday about the seminal pump water storage project, another project that would you know tie up a lot of water and have potential impact to our fishery.

Uh, you know, you reiterated concerns about water temperatures, tubedity, walleye entrainment, and other issues that would affect the industry uh that relies on that river.

And so I want to thank you for taking the time to do that.

That's all I got.

Thank you.

Thank you, everyone.

Uh I will be at Wham this week as well.

So be back on Friday.

I'm hoping to make it to uh Lynn's funeral.

Um, she's been a staple in my life, and so was Tom.

So uh she was one of my biggest supporters when I was a youth minister there many, many years ago.

So um, and uh throughout my politics as well.

Um, as the vice mayor and others had pointed out, I was at the um legislative um hearing on the Semino Pump Project.

Um, in my opinion, it was routinely opposed by just about every state agency and individuals that were there.

It's not very popular, but there are there are definitely very big concerns, like the vice mayor said around water, and um we'll continue to um uh push that uh and have those conversations, especially I want to thank also our public works director, Krista Johnson, for being there.

She did a wonderful job.

So and they got me prepped for it as well.

So I want to thank staff for putting that together for me.

I'd probably be bumbling through it if they didn't.

So I had an opportunity to visit um Lincoln Elementary School on Friday after their last day of school, um, which was great.

I was able to meet back up with the fourth graders.

Um they um had asked me to come back and and touch base with them.

So it was great uh to let them know what had happened this last year, the last few weeks or last few months here at the city council.

They were um very, very engaged and wanting to know if we're still gonna bring in a um a Chick-fil-A.

That is the cross the board question that I got.

And uh they wrote me very nice thank you letters um, and I think probably half of them are where when are you gonna get a Chick-fil-A?

So I'm working on it.

That's what I told them.

No, I didn't say that.

Um and finally, just to talk about we had um uh press conference today um and we talked about the slash pile, which you may have seen on the on Facebook.

Um, some concern around there, and just a real quick context.

Uh the slash pile, which is most of the all the dead wood that comes from property um up on the mountain, um, is put in a pile uh and it's a significant amount.

Uh it is under that property is under the control uh of the city.

And so um, and generally it's been run by um managed by the county to be able to do that um because of concerns of the dry weather um and the and the very little moisture that we we've got through this winter.

There were significant concerns about trying to do that burn um to get rid of it because they traditionally will do a big burn.

Um so the city of Casper took the stand to say, hey, look, we're going to close this down for right now until we come up with some better ideas and how we do this.

Um what I a couple things that I want to make a point of is if residents up on the mountain do have um branches and vegetation that they need to bring down instead of putting it in that pile um since we're not gonna be doing anything until we find mitigation to do this uh safely.

Um you're able to take it to the solid waste facility um compost yard for free.

Um we know it's not ideal, but we're asking um to do that for right now until we come up with a long-term plan uh for that that pile.

Um there was significant um conversation on Facebook around it.

Um I would say that you know we can do a better job communicating.

Um it came on pretty quickly, uh, but we were able to get everybody on the same page from the county level to us uh and and the the firefighters and the departments.

And so um talked with several of the uh mountain uh the residents up on the mountain, um, and they were satisfied with that conversation, and so we'll move forward with the plan on how to deal with that slash pile.

And that's all I have.

The next meeting of the city council will be a budget work session.

Is that right?

No.

Oh, okay.

We're doing another budget work session.

The next meeting of the city council will be held at 4 30 p.m.

on a Tuesday, which will be a work session on June 9th, and a regular council meeting will be held at 6 p.m.

on Tuesday, June 16th.

That makes me look like I'll just read whatever you guys put down.

It does look like that, doesn't it?

Well, just right.

I'd probably say Ray is a fool.

The mayor that's an angry.

Chair would now entertain a motion to adjourn the regular meeting.

Move by Councillor Pollock, seconded by Counselor McIntosh.

Please cast your vote.

Counselor Bond, how do you vote?

I please record the vote.

I'm ready for chat vote.

Oh.

Counselor Sweden.

Oh.

Please record the vote.