Mayor Collins, we do have Dr.

Aldridge online.

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.

I would like to call to order the May 26th meeting of the governing body.

Madam Clerk, if you could take the role, please.

Mr.

Seagrape.

Present.

Mr.

White.

Present.

Mr.

Wolf.

Here.

Dr.

Aldridge.

Present.

Mayor Collins.

Present.

Dr.

Emmons.

Present.

Mr.

Escabel.

Here.

Mr.

Layborn.

Here.

Mr.

Moody.

Here.

Dr.

Rennie.

One member is absent.

We do have a quorum.

Would y'all please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance?

Expression of appreciation of the twenty twenty five to twenty twenty-six mayor's youth council and state of the youth address.

Before we uh bring Devin up and uh recognize our Mayor's Youth Council, like to just take a couple minutes and uh and thank this group.

It has been an exceptional group.

This is my, I think, sixth group, Devin, because I inherited one.

Um, and the the questions they asked and the uh the attention they gave was remarkable.

And uh I just really want to tell you guys thank you so much.

I really enjoyed our time together.

And uh for the six seniors that are leading us, I wish you a lot of luck in your future.

And Devin, it's all yours.

Thank you, Mayor Collins.

Good evening.

I'm Devin Pies from the Office of Youth Alternative.

I've had the pleasure of working with an amazing group of students as the mayor's youth council staff advisor.

Tonight we are here to recognize the twenty-fourth Mayor's Youth Council participants.

I would like to invite Joseph Lucifer, our chairman for this year's council, to take the podium and present the state of the youth address for you all tonight.

Good evening, everyone.

My name is Joseph Lucero.

I'm a senior at SRI in East High School, and I've had the opportunity to serve as head chair on Mayor's Youth Council this evening.

Oh, this year.

Tonight, I want to talk a little bit about my experience in Mayor's Youth Council in our capstone project.

I had no idea what Mayor's Youth Council was to start the year.

I almost wasn't even in it.

I missed the application deadline, but luckily, Brooks, who knew my parents reached out and said I'd be a great candidate.

So I got an interview and I got accepted.

And I'm really glad that happened because it's probably been one of the most impactful experiences I've had throughout my high school career.

And one of the coolest parts was the people.

Through Mayor's Youth Council, I met students from different schools and different parts of the community that I probably would not have met otherwise.

People from schools I normally would not interact with became some of my friends.

And it wasn't just meetings either.

There was always something going on before, after, or in between.

And talk about school life events or what's happening around town, the drama of other high schools.

It turned into more than just a leadership group.

It was like a community.

And I think that says a lot because bringing students together from different backgrounds and schools is not always easy, but somehow it worked.

Another thing that stood out to me was how personal the experience felt.

The mayor was not just someone who showed up for official events and disappeared afterwards.

He took time to talk to us and get to know us.

He was a genuinely a part of our group.

One of my favorite memories was our Christmas party.

It was a fun event.

And it was one of those nights you remember because everybody was hanging out, talking, doing the gift exchange, sharing cookies, and having fun.

And the mayor was there with us.

He wasn't there in a formal role.

He wasn't giving speeches.

He was just a part of it.

And little things like that made the experience feel really real.

He would always keep us updated on his Duolingo streak and how Spanish learning was going, which I always thought was pretty funny.

It made him feel really relatable.

Then there was our capstone project.

We wanted to do something that would directly help people in our community.

So we created care packages for people experiencing homelessness.

We put together backpacks filled with thermal base layers, toiletries, hand sanitizer, wipes, toothbrushes, and other essentials.

We ended up making 50 backpacks for men and another 50 for women.

Originally we planned on working with another organization, but things changed and we had to adjust.

We ended up partnering with the Welcome Matt, and I honestly think that made the project even better.

We got to meet them, hear about the work they do, and it gave us a better understanding of the needs in our community.

About a week after putting everything together, we dropped off the backpacks and got to see the idea become something real.

And I think that project represents what Mayor's Youth Council is about.

It's not just learning about issues, it's also about doing something about them.

This year changed the way I looked at leadership.

It showed me that leadership is not always standing in front of people.

Sometimes it's listening.

Sometimes it's serving.

Sometimes it's working alongside people and helping where you can.

And it showed me that students can make a real difference.

I want to thank the mayor, the advisors, Devin, Brooks Cotton, and everyone who helped with our project, and all the students in Mayor's Youth Council.

Thank you for the friendships, the memories, the opportunities, and everything this experience brought.

I'm really grateful I gotta be a part of it.

Thank you.

Thank you, Joseph.

Mayor Collins, if you would join me down here at the front while we recognize awards to this year's 2025 2026 Mayor's Youth Council participants.

I don't think that's gonna work either.

And then they get a white box with their certificate.

I would also like to say thank you to this year's Mayor's Youth Council for making it fun and memorable.

This was a fantastic and fun group of young individuals.

Thank you for making this year a great one.

I will now recognize this year's Mayor's Youth Council participants.

Tom Backdoll.

Tom is a senior at South High School.

He will be attending LCC this year for his first year of college.

This is his second year in Mayor's Youth Council.

Tom is Tom has participated in hockey, tennis, and soccer for South and works at Coldstone.

Sophia Carbajal, who could not be here tonight.

Sophia is an 11th grade student at South High.

This is her third year in Mayor's Youth Council.

Sophia participates in student council and works at the Cheyenne Aquatic Center.

Cammy Harris.

Cammy is the 10th grade student at Central.

This is her first year in Mayor's Youth Council.

Cammy plays softball year round, participates in student council, and has been working on her congressional award.

Rachel Johnson.

Rachel is a senior at South High School.

This was her first year in Mayor's Youth Council Council.

Rachel participates in basketball and will be attending the University of Wyoming this fall.

Joseph Lucero.

Joseph is an East High senior, and this was his first year in Mayor's Youth Council.

Joseph was elected by his peers to serve as chair.

He is an active participant in basketball boy scouts and received a gold congressional award.

He's the mayor's youth council chair.

This was his first year in Mayor's Youth Council and will be attending the University of Wyoming this fall.

Peyton Meyer.

Peyton is a ninth grade student at East High, and this is her first year in Mayor's Youth Council.

Peyton participates in ice skating and volleyball.

Addie participates in wrestling and is pretty good at it.

Serva is a senior at Central.

This this year she will be, or this fall, she will be attending the Colorado State University.

This was her first year in Mayor's Youth Council, and she is active in student cancel council, tap dancing, and works at City Brew.

Brenna Parrington, who could not be here today.

Brenna is a senior at Central and will be attending LCC to play soccer this fall.

This was her first year.

And Brenna is also active in choir.

Camilla Vasquez.

Cammy is a senior at South.

Next fall, she will be attending the University of Wyoming.

This was her first year in Mayor's Youth Council.

Cammy participates in a wide variety of extracurriculars, including student council, soccer, and this year she was named as Wyoming Tribune Eagles outstanding graduate.

Rosie Wise.

Rosie is a ninth grade student at East, and this was her first year in Mayor's Youth Council.

Rosie is active in wrestling and plays soccer.

Again, I would like to thank you for all your hard work this year.

Now I ask all parents and youth council members to exit.

Thank you for your time, City Council members.

I tell you guys, this is an amazing group of kids.

If they say that uh, you know, our future doesn't look bright when you meet these guys, you'd have a different opinion.

They are amazing.

Madam Clerk.

Number five, consent agenda.

All agenda items listed with the designation of CA are considered to be routine items by the governing body and will be enacted by one motion.

There will be no separate discussion on these items unless a member of the governing body so requests and support by two other members is received.

Any item removed from the consent agenda will be considered in its normal sequence on the agenda.

All right.

We'll take a moment here now.

So the governing body if there's any item they'd like to remove from the consent agenda.

Mr.

Mayor.

Mr.

Labourne.

Um, number 19A.

Number 19, actually.

Yep, 19.

That's the regional airport board um budget.

Yes.

And uh hang on a second.

We got 19.

I heard one concur.

Concur.

Okay.

19 is off.

Uh 28A.

That's the Yellowstone and Del Range rehabilitation project.

Concur.

All right.

That one's also been removed.

Anybody else in the governing body?

All right, here we go.

Would you entertain a motion?

So moved.

Moved by Mr.

White.

Second by Mr.

Seagrave.

All those in favor of the consent agenda with numbers 19 and 28A removed.

Please signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Those opposed.

The consented agenda is approved with 19 and 28A removed.

That means if you're on the consent agenda, you can leave.

Except if your items were number 19 and 28A, they'll be taken in the regular position on the agenda.

Number seven, ordinance, third reading.

Amending section 13.20.050, general prohibitions, and section 13.20.070, local limits of chapter 13.20 wastewater treatment and disposal of the code of the city of Cheyenne, Wyoming to revise local discharge limits and related provisions in compliance with NPDES and WPDES permit requirements.

All right, this is an ordinance to uh change our limits on wastewater treatment disposal of the code of the city Cheyenne.

Um we'll go out to the audience if anybody's here to speak to this item tonight.

I think I know why most people are here.

Okay.

Hearing none, Dr.

Emmons.

Mr.

Mayor, the recommendation of the public service committee is to approve on third and final reading and ISO move.

Second, seconded by Mr.

Seagrave.

Dr.

Emmons.

Mr.

Mayor, I move to postpone until the June 8th, 2026 meeting of the governing body.

Sorry.

It's been seconded by Mr.

Seagrave.

There's a motion to postpone for two weeks.

We uh have to let this ordinance catch up with the public process um that we have with the EPA.

It's got to go out for public uh public comment, and that will end here around the first of June, and we'll be able to finish this item at that time.

Is there anybody in the guide room or in the audience would like to speak to the postponement?

Or how about from the governing body?

Hearing none, all those in favor of postponing till June 8th, please signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Those opposed, the ordinance is proposed postponed until June 8th.

Number eight, ordinance third reading, amending enforcement and permitting requirements related to oversized vehicles and making conforming amendments.

All right.

A year or so ago, we passed an ordinance to uh on oversized vehicles.

This ordinance has a couple of changes, limiting permits to two per 30 days.

Um we had some folks who let the air out of their tires to make it fit.

Um, so now we're going to uh change that says if you do that, we're still gonna add it as if it was inflated, and it changes how the ordinance will be enforced by the police department.

Is there anybody that came here this evening to speak to this ordinance?

Please come forward.

All right, hearing none.

Oh, if you're if you're gonna come speak, it's not her turn.

Are you here to speak on the ordinance tonight?

Yes, sir.

All right, please go forward to introduce yourself.

Mayor Collins through you and the council.

Good evening, council members, Mayor Collins and staff.

My name is Corey Sutton.

I'm one of the owners of I-25 RV storage.

Of course, I'd like to thank the counselor for the ordinances that we've already put into place.

This has definitely been uh seen well by the city.

As a business owner, we fully understand the success of our business is ultimately our responsibility before moving forward with multimillion dollar facility that we had built years ago.

We did due diligence, we did feasibility studies SWOT analysis and spoke with city members, business owners, council members, and representatives.

During that process, one thing we consistently heard from the city council and all members was lack of insurance infrastructure and available storage capacity uh to meaningly meaningfully enforce these ordinances.

We understood that the concerns and decisions and we made the decision to move forward with a class A facility um in uh Cheyenne.

Cheyenne is growing rapidly.

The amount of development requires infrastructure and ordinances that support that growth.

Many growing communities already enforce standards surrounding RV and trailer storage and public streets because those streets are primarily primarily for transportation, emergency access, visibility, and shared public use, not long-term storage.

We also understand that the change may be difficult.

The original ordinance was uh reduced through size thresholds, permit allowances, and seasonal exclusions.

Those compromises were understandable attempts to ease the transition while moving forward with ordinances that are new.

However, as we say here today, it becomes clear that additional improvements are necessary if this ordinance is going to realistically achieve the goals originally intended.

Businesses like ours and several other businesses that we've spoken to directly are struggling because enforcement is not moving forward uh and the understanding that city intended through those uh processes to meaningly enforce and get uh RVs and trailers off of the street.

If enforcement cannot realistically function or be sustained long-term facilities like ours may eventually be forced to repurpose portions of our properties if that happens.

The city could once again find itself facing the same challenges from years ago.

An ordinance with addict without adequate infrastructure to support it.

My business and I personally self-funded this project because we believe the city's direction was trying to move forward and because we believe Cheyenne was ready for the instance infrastructure necessary to support these goals responsibly.

We respectfully ask for your support tonight for the ordinance amendment that Dr.

Aldridge proposed.

Thank you for your consideration.

Thank you.

Anyone else in the audience want to speak?

Go ahead.

Um, through you to the council.

I'm Steve Manning.

I'm the other co-owner of I-25 RV storage.

Um, so if some of you may be thinking why we would be here as business owners asking for more enforcement.

So speaking to the microphone, more enforcement to the uh RV uh or oversized vehicle ordinance is we built a really big facility across from Bishes on the highway.

You may have seen it, and uh we're pretty far behind on what we expected.

He needs to speak to the chair when he's talking to him.

So we we build a really big facility and we're struggling filling it.

And then what happened was our bank basically said, why is that?

So we hit the streets, we talked to the police chief, we talked to everyone we could, uh, fire chief mayor to say what what's happening, what can we do about the enforcement of this oversized vehicle ordinance?

And we came down with one very clear thing.

There's only two CSOs that are able to go out.

It's complaint driven, and we only have one CSO right now.

And uh hopefully we're getting a third one.

But what still remains, even with a third CSO, is that they can't tell the difference from a 25 foot to a 28 foot to a 23 foot RV if it's nine feet tall, eight and a half feet tall, it's eight and a half feet wide.

We run a business, and when someone says it's 25 feet and I measure it with a wheel, it's 28 and a half.

I have to put them in a 30-foot space.

So plain and simple, what we're asking is we put a lot into this for the community to be a local business.

We uh we would like to see enforcement, and everyone that we ask says the same thing.

They want to see enforcement as well.

So we came down to one common denominator.

Chief Francisco, how can we help be part of this to help us and help the community?

And he said, I can't can't enforce it the way it currently is as on the streets because people are upset about um feeling they have the right to park on the public street and being told that maybe there they can't or their vehicle is of the oversized.

So we would appreciate the consideration for Dr.

Eldritch to motion that we remove the threshold of size.

So no longer would it be 25 feet uh and under eight and a half feet tall and uh less than eight and a half feet wide.

So it would be all RVs, which means RV trailer, bumper trailers, fifth wheels, and motor homes is all we're asking to start to have some enforcement on what was intended and passed, and it took a long time to pass that.

And there's a lot of effort put into it, and plain and simple, it's just not being done, and we and we know why.

If we don't do anything or we delay it until September, whatever it may be, we'll just be in the same boat.

And as Corey said, we're reaching out because we're struggling.

And uh that's not anyone's problem but ours.

However, we didn't build here without doing a lot of due diligence and being told we want canopies and we want security and we want dump stations and we want and we did it all.

And we're here and we're trying.

So we did the the boots on the ground work because we were told to by our lender saying, You told us this was gonna happen, and uh it didn't happen.

So we we told them we hope it will.

Thank you for your time.

Anybody else want to speak to the ordinance?

Welcome, Jim Chirell.

Uh award one candidate mayor.

I totally support this uh through the past summer.

I concur with these gentlemen here, not so much for their business to give them more business as that you do have to make a complaint on Huger 21st, Huger 20th.

Uh I've had several vehicles that it took a while for that uh community service officer to remove it.

One guy was actually living in his fifth wheel on Huger and 21st.

Another one was abandoned with no tags on it.

It was one of those pop-up campers.

Another um, I guess it was like uh Winnebago type of thing, finally got ticketed and then towed out there, and a motorcycle.

There was two years expired on there.

What folks need to go and do when I moved out here, I had a tremendous hill.

Build a driveway.

I don't care if you don't want to go through your alleyway to go and park, build a driveway.

A lot of these front yards will go and support a driveway, get off the street.

For emergency purposes, snow plows or whatever.

It looks horrible when you've got construction trailers parked out there for weeks on end.

Like I said, some folks were even living in their their campers or their RVs and that.

So I totally support this.

Thank you.

Thanks, Jim.

Welcome.

Anybody else in the audience want to speak to this?

Okay, Jennifer, who do you have?

Kathy Sigliano, you can go ahead.

Kathy, welcome.

Kathy, you're muted.

Yeah, if you go in once.

All right, anybody else?

All right, hearing none.

Mr.

Escobel, we have a motion, please.

Mr.

Mayor, the recommendation of the finance committee is to approve on third and final reading.

And I saw a move.

Second.

Second by Mr.

White.

Mr.

Mayor.

Yes, sir.

I move to amend by substitute dated May 19th, 2026.

There are second.

I'll second for discussion.

Mr.

White seconds.

This substitute is just uh a conforming uh amendment.

Um we changed who was going to be enforcing this, and there was one item where uh it still said nuisance, and so they're on page nine, they're just crossing off the nuisance uh reference and uh everything else stays the same.

So we'll go out back out to the audience.

Do you care if it's nuisance or police and enforces it?

You do please come tell us about from the governing body.

Hearing none, all those in favor, please signify by saying aye.

Okay, the substitute is adopted.

We're back on the main motion.

Dr.

Mayor Collins.

Thank you.

Um, I would like to amend um this uh ordinance.

Um in this amendment, I would like to remove all the measurements from the ordinance and would change the ordinance to apply to all recreational vehicles as defined um by Wyoming State Statute.

Um so these would be primarily any uh um entity any vehicle that's being meant to be uh slept in or um to house people.

So this would um it would change the 10.04020 number seven, would uh just read that oversized vehicle shall mean any recreational vehicle.

Um this would resolve several concerns that multiple individuals have brought forward the larger uh passenger vans.

Uh I'll wait for a second and then I'll I can explain why.

Sorry.

Is there a second to the motion?

I'll second for discussion.

Mr.

White has seconded it.

Go ahead, Dr.

Aldridge.

Uh thank you, Mary Collins.

Um, this uh we have had several individuals uh come forward who have been concerned that with some of our larger passenger vans out there that are currently available in the market by Nissan Ford and Mercedes, that um those vehicles have not been able to be parked on the street, even though they're passenger vans because of their size, many times are over nine feet high.

Um also our officers and our uh CSOs um would not have to worry about measuring vehicles of this type.

Um, they would just know that if it's a recreational vehicle that's meant to um allow people to sleep in it, um, or um for those purposes that they could uh move forward with uh giving that a warning when it's um falling in the five days after Labor Day to five days before Memorial Day time frame.

Um we do already have ordinances in place that address the five feet from a driveway and the 30 feet from a stop sign.

So we believe that that will um be taken care of um and also help to eliminate the need for measuring.

Um we also know that this would not impact any other items like trailers with snow machines, side-by-sides, utility trailers, or box trailers that are commonly used frequently throughout the year.

Um, so this makes the ordinance easier to enforce and really rounds out the concerns that have been brought forward by police chief Francisco, who I believe is uh there tonight, as well as um fire chief Dykeshorn with moving equipment um through our city for safety and public safety reasons.

Um those are the reasons that I'm bringing this amendment forward.

Thank you.

Dr.

Aldridge, if this were to pass, it's on third reading.

We've not noticed the the community that this change is coming.

Um I think we would need to postpone this immediately afterwards so that uh we can make public notice that there's been a change and invite the public to come and speak to it.

Would you agree?

I would I would agree with that.

Okay, all right.

Let's go out to the audience.

Uh, you heard Dr.

Aldridge's uh motion, which would be to basically um get rid of the the requirements for measuring and any recreational vehicle as defined by state statute would no longer be able to be parked on the street for basically nine months out of the year.

Uh anybody in the audience want to speak to that?

Haven't you already spoken, sir?

Then you've spoken.

Anybody else?

It's his amendment he spoke to.

Go ahead, sir.

If you want to speak, go ahead.

Just don't repeat yourself, please.

Yeah, Mayor Collins to you, uh, council.

Just want to say thank you for um at least considering uh the fact that this is really based around enforcement and that our involvement as a business owners was due to a due diligence required of us and us reaching out as Dr.

Otter said to Chief Francisco to uh gain the information that's factual on how to enforce this, which includes uh removing the threshold of size.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Anybody else in the audience?

Jennifer, do you have somebody?

I'm gonna try Kathy Signal one more time.

Kathy, can you unmute yourself?

Hi, can you hear me?

Kathy, we can.

Okay, thank you so much.

Um I had some comments uh before Dr.

Aldridge did the amendment, but I won't speak on those since we're on the amendment.

Um, but I do have a question.

I didn't hear if it was discussed whether or not this we were still going to be able to have the exception of um the May through September for the RV vehicles and trailers.

Was that still something that was being allowed?

Uh Ms.

Sigliona, let's ask our attorney.

Um the only thing changes is the definition, right?

So the nine months out of the year they would still be not able to be on the street and just from memorial day to labor day.

Mr.

Mayor, John Brody, City Attorney.

Uh, based on what Dr.

Aldrich stated, I don't think that the timeline is being amended, it's just the vehicles that are being controlled under the ordinance.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you so much.

Anyone else in the audience?

Hearing none.

How about from the governing body?

Mr.

Wolf.

Uh, thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Um, how many people in the room actually own an RV that's less than 25 feet long?

And how many of you park that on the city streets right now?

Um, do you understand?

And this is the point the mayor just made, that the public doesn't know anything about this change.

If they're not following the inside baseball of the city council, um, because we had a proposed ordinance that came to us with two minor changes.

Define the height, let the post office the post office, let the police enforce this.

That went through two readings here tonight.

On the third reading, we have basically a complete change of this.

I have a friend who lives three houses from me.

He has a small RV, he parks year-round in front of his house.

That goes on many, many in many parts of this town.

Now, this may be a sensible amendment to this proposal, but nobody from the public has had an opportunity except tonight to talk about it.

And the people who have talked about it are the only ones basically who knew about it, except for this council.

And if there's one thing I've learned from seeing all of you so many times, and in such wonderful circumstances, is that you don't like it when we take actions that we haven't allowed you to address, and you want us to listen to you, and you want opportunities to have the uh notice well ahead of time so that you can communicate with us.

I've taken that to heart.

My fellow councilmen have taken this to heart, women men and women, and I raised this issue right at the beginning.

When this first came forward, I said, is this gonna reopen this incredible controversy that occurred several years ago?

I wasn't here in the council, but I was here in town.

So from my view, we should do we should either defeat this proposed amendment, and then if somebody wants to bring it back, great.

I'll well let other people speak to that, approve it and then postpone it.

But I'd like to hear from any of you and anybody else in the community who think it's a it's the best policy to in fact ban all of these RVs, all these campers, no matter whether they're seven feet long or twenty feet long, whatever, for nine months out of the year.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Anybody from the governing body want to speak to the uh amendment to remove RVs from the street, Mr.

White?

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Through you, I'll be voting against it for the exact same reasons that uh my colleague from Ward 1 just mentioned.

The horse is out of the barn on this, and so um I think doing that now when we're already past Memorial Day is is bad practice, and it's it just doesn't give folks uh enough notice to uh prepare or make the necessary adjustments that they need to.

I'll be happy to revisit it in the fall, but right now um I'll be a no.

Anybody else from the governing body?

Mr.

Moody, Mr.

Mayor for you.

I just concur with my colleagues both from ward one.

I just don't think it's uh good practice right now, especially with them being legal now of a sudden they're illegal.

Doesn't make sense.

Thank you.

All right, anybody else in the governing body?

Alright, the motion is to amend to remove the measurements and all RVs from the streets, all those in favor, please signify.

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry, Mr.

Mayor, I hit my thing.

Michelle or Dr.

Aldrich had her hand raised, shut it down, and she has it back up.

So Dr.

Aldridge?

Dr.

Aldridge, go ahead.

Yeah, Mayor Collins for you.

I would I just wanted to make the comment that um I agree with um Councilman White that um it seems an odd time to be doing this, however, uh we do have uh right now um we have people who do have their RVs and things on the streets, and we'll be allowed to do that until five days after Labor Day.

We also have a lot of people in our community who are considering purchasing um our recreational vehicles, and I think it's only fair that they know that when they get ready to put these away for the winter that they're going to need to have that space.

So that was the reason for this timing.

Um, but I will uh follow the uh desires of the council and if we need to bring this back again in the fall, then we'll do that again.

Anyone else?

All right, all those in favor of the uh amendment, please signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Those opposed.

No.

Madam Clerk, I'm just gonna tell you there was one yes.

We're back on the main motion.

Uh comments from members of the governing body on the main motion.

All right, hearing none, Madam Clerk.

Would you take the vote?

Dr.

Rennie.

Yes, Mr.

Seagrave.

No, Mr.

White, yes, Mr.

Wolf.

Aye.

Dr.

Aldrich, yes, Mayor Collins.

Yes.

Dr.

Emmons?

Yes, Mr.

Escobel.

Aye.

Mr.

Labourne.

Oh.

Mr.

Moody.

No.

The ordinances approved on third and final reading with Mr.

Labourne, Seagrave, and Moody voting no.

Number nine, ordinance, second reading, amending and updating the solid waste fee schedule in accordance with section 8.44.010 of the municipal code of the city of Cheyenne, Wyoming and repealing ordinance number 4621.

All right, we have before us the annual review of solid waste fee.

Um this year it's one percent for residential, it's three percent for commercial, and it's um two percent if you're at the transfer station, and I believe commercial recycling is at five percent.

And so we'll go out to the audience to see if anybody has any comments on the solid waste fee schedule.

Anybody?

Come on up and ask it.

Didn't know you had a question, but you're here, right?

Ah, yes.

Love that.

Please introduce yourself.

Uh my name's Dusty.

Hi, Dusty.

If the data centers are paying for the utilities and all of their infrastructure upgrades, why is the solid waste costs being passed down to the residents and not to the data centers covering those?

Yeah, I can answer that question really clearly.

This has nothing to do with data centers.

This is the cost of picking up our trash and taking it to uh the transfer station then to the landfill.

And with inflation, um, those costs are gonna go up each year.

And so for your home, it's gonna go up one percent.

And I think we saw it was what 3.7 percent or something like that last year with inflation.

So tied to the infrastructure in uh updates that they want to make to the transfer stations.

Who wants to make?

Isn't there uh discussions about updates to the transfer stations?

Not that I'm aware of, ma'am.

Oh, I must have been in must misinformed.

I apologize.

No problem at all.

Thank you.

I will share with you though, this does not have anything to do with data centers.

It's just our cost of doing business.

And honestly, it's maybe a good time to talk about this.

Um, is it every 10 years, Vicky, that we do a cost of uh of service?

What does it actually cost us to do um the service in this case of doing sanitation, the landfill, the transfer station, um the uh employees and the equipment that come to uh take care of our sanitation services, and they recommend uh uh a fee schedule for us for the next uh 10 years, and then each year we actually reanalyze that to make sure that we're trying to make sure we have enough money to uh to pay the bills but not overcharge, if you know what I'm saying.

So that's how we do this each and every year.

Uh in the past, we didn't bring these back annually, and then we'd have these 15 and 20 percent increases because we kept putting it off.

So when Mr.

Seagrave and I were in the city council 2020 or two thousand and one, we got stuck with a couple of really big ones, and so we said we're gonna do this every year, and we're gonna have small incremental ones rather than really big ones, and so that's what this is.

And so, what does that cover?

Um, it covers everything that has to do with sanitation, so it's an enterprise fund.

We run that like a business, so all the money that goes into the sanitation uh fund, uh the only thing it can be spent on is sanitation services.

So it includes the employees, the people who pick up your trash and recycling, it includes all the equipment that they have, all the facilities they have, the landfill, the transfer station, that whole enterprise, which is our sanitation services, it covers all of those services, and everybody um everybody pays into that.

And if you'll notice we had a 1% cost for residences and 3% for commercial.

Uh what our study is telling us is that our commercial rates are not quite high enough yet.

So we're trying to catch those up, but our residential is right where it needs to be.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Anyone else?

All right, I hear none.

So I'm gonna go to Mr.

Escobel for a motion.

Mr.

Mayor, the recommendation of the finance committee is to approve on second reading, and I so move.

Second, and seconded by Mr.

White, Mr.

Escobel, Mr.

Mayor, I moved to amend by substitute dated May 14th, 2026.

Second.

Seconded by Mr.

White.

I hate to admit this, but we had a math there, and uh I'm not sure if it goes in your favor, our favor, but we had a math there, and so all this does is correct um on the six day a week pickup.

We had a small math there, so this corrects that math there, so it's actual, it's accurate, and um that's what the purpose of this amendment is.

And we'll ask if anybody in the audience wants to speak to our math there.

Thank you for your grace.

Anybody on the governing body?

Hearing none, all those in favor, please signify by saying aye.

All right, the substitute is adopted.

Governing body's back on the main motion.

Comments for members of the governing body.

Ms.

I don't have my notes with me, but uh maybe my members of the committee will remind me.

Um, said what the average increase was gonna be for residential customers.

Um I know Miss Nebuchadnezz has that number just in her mind.

She's she's good that way, Miss Rusky.

Seven cents.

Can you tell us what it'll cost the average resident of Ms.

Nimichek?

Vicky Namichek Public Works, the average resident who has a ninety-five-95-gallon uh recycle and trash will be 33 cents.

33 cents a year a month.

Okay.

Thank you very much.

That's it in better perspective, I think.

Follow up.

Alright, and anybody else?

All right, all those in favor of the ordinance on second reading.

Please signify by saying I.

No.

The ordinance is approved on second reading as amended with Mr.

Moody voting no.

Number 10, ordinance second reading.

Amending the official zoning map of the city of Cheyenne zoning classification for land located southwest of the intersection of HR Ranch Road and Judy Lee Drive and southeast of HR Ranch Road in Judy Lee Drive from JL Ranch PUD Planned Unit Development to N R2 neighborhood residential medium density.

All right, we'll go out to the audience.

Um maybe folks don't know what a planned unit development is.

If what you're trying to do doesn't match what uh our zoning laws allow, then we can kind of create your own zoning law, which we call a PUD.

And um since we did that a number of years ago, um we've changed our rules that allow for smaller lots and uh smaller homes and that type of thing, and there's really no reason to have a PUD anymore.

So they're asking for what we call an NR2, um, which basically is the same thing what the PUD used to do, and that's the purpose of the ordinance before us today.

Um anybody in the audience want to speak to that?

Brandon, welcome.

Thank you, Mayor, members of the council, Brandon Swain, Board 3.

Um, as the mayor so eloquently stated, this is simply a zone change, uh, to bring us into current conformance.

Um one thing that has changed since the PUD was established is uh BOPU's option for reduced tap size.

The trade-off for that is that we're required to uh restrict our turf irrigated turf to 250 square feet or less.

Uh the contradiction that we have is the PUD set a standard long ago that we would irrigate and put sod in the attire front of the yard, which would uh uh not allow us to uh restrict it 250 square feet, which then uh will not allow us to seize the opportunity for that reduced tap fee.

Um, as you know, with several projects before, very passionate about affordable housing.

Uh, this is not my uh project, however, I can still get behind the owner and what they're trying to do, and I anticipate and expect that they're gonna pass these savings directly to the consumer.

That being said, I stand for any questions.

Thanks, Brandon, for being here this evening.

Thank you.

Anyone else in the audience want to speak to the zone change before us?

All right, hearing none, Doctor.

Good.

Oh, thank you, Mr.

Jennifer.

Charles Miller, you can unmute yourself.

Can you Mr.

Miller?

Welcome.

Thank you.

Um Mayor and Council, uh, this is for item 10, HR Ranch rezoning.

Is that correct?

Yes, sir.

Um, Charles Miller, for the record.

This is constructive notice under the Wyoming Public Meetings Act.

Um, item 10 proposes changing a large portion of HR Ranch from planned unit development to NR2 neighborhood residential medium density.

This constitutes the pattern of easing development standards.

We've seen throughout this packet.

Uh car port setbacks relaxed item 16.

New re uh, I guess we we haven't necessarily gone through all of this yet.

Um, but uh new regional entertainment overlay item 17, multiple final plats, item 22 to 24, and business park rezoning item 12 on May 15th in the budget work session.

Council members Wolf, Aldrich, and others openly criticize planning and development for operating in information silos.

Mayor was this have to do with the uh change of the zone.

Uh Mr.

Miller.

I'm I'm sorry, do you guys want me to continue or I'm not sure that's a question you should ask, sir.

Um go ahead and uh complete continue.

Okay.

Um openly criticized planning and development for operating in information silos, sharing critical development details reluctantly or too late.

Councilman Wolf specifically called out the department's handling of annexations and major projects.

Can you wrap that up?

Uh Mr.

Miller to this zone change.

Um I'm having a hard time following you, sir.

Yes, those concerns were not resolved.

They are playing out tonight.

This rezoning affects real neighborhoods and infrastructure.

Residents deserve to know what is the projected density and number of new new units?

Has there been full traffic, water, sewer, and um school impact analysis?

Why move away from the more controlled PUD process to straight NRT NR2 zoning?

Um at the same time you are approving this growth friendly change.

You are also raising water, sewer, and solid waste fees on existing residents items 9 and 13, approving consultant change orders, item 29D and pushing through a 2.645 million dollar land purchase with out of state LLCs item 27.

While the DDA sought a 45% personal order, this is Mr.

I'm gonna call you out of order.

I've tried to give you as much grace as I can, sir, but you can't stay on the topic.

So um I'm gonna call you out of order and uh we'll move on to the next caller.

Do you have any more, Jennifer?

All right.

Anybody else in the audience want to speak to this item?

All right, hearing none.

Dr.

Emmons.

Mr.

Mayor, the recommendation of the public service committee is to approve on second reading and ISO move.

Second.

Second of Mr.

Seagrave.

We'll go to the city council, but I do want to make one comment.

This change doesn't change the number of lots, doesn't change the size of the lots.

Um, it literally just because this governing body's worked so hard, really proud of our planning department and um city council for changing our zoning rules that allow developments like this to happen naturally.

Now we don't have to go through a special process.

Um, so that's what we are today.

Uh comments from members of the governing body.

Mr.

Moody.

I think Mr.

Mayor, through you, and I concur with what she has said.

I personally looked at it.

It actually does not change anything, it's just changing allowing the nav rocks in the front set of grass.

That's it.

And I can say that based on first-hand experience.

Thank you.

Anybody else from the governing body?

Mr.

Mayor.

Mr.

Dr.

Rennie.

Mr.

Dr.

Rennie.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Am I correct?

Perhaps one of our staff can answer that.

But with the zone change, everyone within 300 feet is first of all, there's signs posted around the area notifying the neighborhood of the zone change.

And then everyone with 300 within 300 feet, I think, receives a letter notifying them of the proposed zone change.

So to say that we're um we're making the zone change without people in the neighborhood being aware of it is not accurate.

Uh Connor, who's here from uh Seth?

Is it 140 feet in the uh by law?

And then we do 300, or how does that work, sir?

Mr.

Chair, the um Mr.

Mayor through you.

This is Seth White of the City of Shine Planning and Development Department.

The UDC has a requirement of 300 feet mailing notice uh radius, and the also posted notice.

So they're supposed to notice on the property.

We did have neighbors call and talk to us and ask us questions about the project.

Um there was one individual who uh complained about it and did want to retain the uh required lawn.

Um they liked having a lawn as a requirement.

Um, but that was the only comment we received in opposition, I should say.

Thank you, Mr.

Lake.

Thank you, Dr.

Rennie.

Anybody else on the governing body?

All right, hearing none.

Ordinance on second reading.

All those in favor, please signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Opposed.

This zone changes approved on second reading.

Number 11.

Ordinance second reading, approve appropriating monies for the city of Cheyenne, Wyoming for the various purposes in conducting the municipal government of said city and fixing the amount of general and special taxes as part of the revenue required to meet the set appropriation all for the fiscal year beginning July 1st, 2026 and ending June 30th, 2027.

Well, I'm very happy that we're at this point.

We're almost at the end, Madam Treasurer.

Um, she's been working for like five months to get us to this point, and uh before you we have a um a balanced budget of just over 82 million dollars and uh we'll go out to the audience to see if anybody in the audience wants to speak to the budget before us this evening.

Anybody in the audience?

All right, hearing none, Mr.

Seagrave.

Mr.

Mayor, the recommendation of the committee of the whole is to approve on second reading, and I so move.

Second.

And seconded by Mr.

White.

Mr.

Mayor.

I move to amend the police administration division fund budget by increasing it by a total of eighty thousand eight hundred seventy-five dollars to hire an additional community service officer and decrease the city council division general discretionary fund by the same amount.

Second, seconded by Mr.

Moody.

We'll go out to the audience.

We had some uh recurring revenue that um happened because of a a change in our budget right at the very last moment.

We left that for the governing body and one amendment that was made during the committee the whole was to add a community service officer to help with nuisance complaints and those vehicles that are left along the side of the road.

Um so that's the motion before us today.

Is there anybody in the audience that would like to speak to adding a CSO um to our budget?

Jennifer.

Uh Mr.

Miller, did you want to speak?

You had your hand raised and now it's down.

Mr.

Miller.

All right, anybody else?

Uh I do also have um Alan S.

Ward.

Hold on just one minute.

Sorry, people are raising their hands and putting them back down.

Mr.

Ward.

Mr.

Ward, you should be able to speak.

I mean, yeah, I think that's gotcha.

Yeah, I think that was actually just being cut off in Zoom.

Uh yeah, Alan Sheldon Ward 2.

Um, I would oppose uh that amendment.

Um that's basically it.

Thanks.

Okay, Alan, thank you.

That's my kind of testimony.

anybody else?

Anybody else?

All right, hearing none.

Uh, we'll go um to the governing body.

Uh on the CSO.

Yes, sir.

Yes, sir.

Um, thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Through you.

Um this came to us uh through uh some internal proposals and uh I think it's a good uh uh idea.

It'll uh hopefully put one additional community service officer on the streets to help us uh enforce some of the ordinances that we've already talked about tonight.

And um, frankly, I'm more than happy to give up my one-ninth share of the city council's contingency fee in order to support this, which is effectively what everybody else on this diet is doing, but we think it's a good uh investment of money.

Thank you.

Anybody else in the governing body?

Hearing none, all those in favor of amending to add the CSO position, please signify by saying aye.

Aye, those opposed.

That amendment is adopted, and we're back on the main motion of the budget.

Comments from members of the governing body.

Hearing none.

All those in favor, please signify by saying aye.

Those opposed.

The budget is approved on second reading as amended.

Number 12, ordinance second reading, amending the official zoning map of the city of Cheyenne, changing the zoning classification for land located in Cheyenne Business Park and Campstool Business Park in Eastern Cheyenne along I 80 from L I Light Industrial, HI Heavy Industrial and C B community business to BP Business Park.

All right, we have before us a motion to change the zoning in a business park.

I think when I was here for the last meeting, there was some confusion.

This is already a business park, and it's it's zoned LI, light industrial and HI heavy industrial um and community business.

Um, and we want to turn this into uh a BP zone, if I remember this correctly, and so um what this does is it gives a little more flexibility.

It doesn't change the requirements for a data center, which I know is why a lot of us are here today.

Um, so it doesn't make any changes there, but what it does allow for us to do is to reduce the landscaping requirements.

We had a landscaping ordinance that would uh require hundreds of trees in some of these places.

And again, we didn't know that in a business park that was the best investment of both water and in energy.

And it also gives more flexibility to allow more community businesses, kind of things like restaurants or or things like that that might be able to support the employees in a business park.

And so uh this last year we created a new business park zone to add some flexibility, but it doesn't change the requirements for the businesses that go in there other than landscaping.

So we'll open it up to the public to talk about this zone change and invite anybody to come forward.

This Madrid.

Welcome, ma'am.

Oh, I just have a question.

Is this expanding the business park at all?

Ma'am, no, it's just changing the zone.

Okay.

In order to expand the business park, we'd have to be something different into my knowledge.

The only thing we're doing is just changing the existing business park and changing the zone inside that business park.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you.

Anyone else?

I thought Connor was gonna come tell me I was wrong, but thank you.

Dodged a bullet.

All right.

I hear no uh no one else in the audience will go to uh Dr.

Emmons for a motion, please.

Oh, Jennifer, I'm sorry.

Thank you, guys.

Uh Charles Miller, you can go ahead.

Welcome, Charles.

Uh can you hear me?

We can hear you, sir.

Okay, sorry.

Here let me get my notes going.

Okay, here we go.

Um, this is number 12, correct?

Yes, sir.

Um, let's see here.

Mr.

We got to get that chat GBT a little bit quicker, okay?

Charles Miller, for the record.

Um, on item 12, the rezoning of Cheyenne and Campstool business parks to business park.

Uh this council is asking to consolidate 1600 plus acres into a classification specifically designed for data center development.

Why are we fast tracking the massive, this massive zoning expansion while the moratorium item 14 is still on the table?

On May 15th, Director Bloom admitted the planning department lacks a consolidated proactive database for data center applications and infrastructure impacts.

How can this council approve a permanent large-scale rezoning map amendment when the department responsible for enforcing it has admitted they don't have the full collated data?

I request this rezone be re-postponed until the city provides a verified infrastructure capacity study specifically for water and grid load for this 1600 acre zone.

Without that date, without that data, this is not planning, it is speculation.

Thank you.

Go ahead, Jennifer Wells.

Kathy Sigliano, we can go ahead and hi, can you hear me?

Yes, we can, Cathy.

Hi, thank you.

Um I was just curious um why we are reclassifying this zoning um for I guess possible data centers, even though you know anything I guess can go into these business parks.

Why why is it that we're giving them a break on the landscaping requirements, but we're not um helping out smaller businesses.

I had a current transaction with a client um that bought a property downtown um on central and I want to say 25th area.

And um, they were required by the city to rip out the current trees that are there now and put in different types of trees because the ones that were there weren't considered shade trees.

And that was an expense to a business that was, you know, currently trying to do renovations to the property because of some ADA requirements as well.

Um, but I'm just curious why we're allowing these breaks to larger corporations and you know, businesses that would clearly have the money to do landscaping if that was still required, but we're making it a little bit more difficult for smaller businesses.

I would just ask for some reconsideration on businesses that are local that are actual community members to this community and let them have the break versus larger corporations.

Thank you.

Dr.

I know you spoke about this um in your history with it.

Yes.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Would appreciate that.

Um I was part I've been on um council for a long time.

As many of you know, I was part of the original landscaping ordinance written in about 1990.

At that time when we wrote that ordinance, we were thinking about mostly development along East Pershing and Dell Range and Yellowstone.

We had no concept that we would be getting developments that would be a section of land or greater.

And what we learned is with our landscaping ordinance, as it was, we were requiring big developments, and it doesn't matter whether it's data center or whom, but we were requiring big developments to essentially plant a forest out on the prairie.

And that made no sense.

It was an expense to them.

It was it it was a it required the use of water, required a use of manpower, and even at that, probably the likelihood of many of those trees surviving was not very good.

So honestly, as you said earlier, Mr.

Mayor, the purpose of this is just to change the landscaping requirements as to what they currently are in business park.

They still have to do landscaping.

It's just not um it's not landscaping that makes sense for out on the open prairie.

Thank you.

Thank you, Dr.

Any.

Anyone else in the audience?

Um, please come forward, ma'am.

Jennifer, go ahead while while she's coming forward.

Uh, Michael Larson, you should be able to unmute yourself.

Mr.

Larson.

Mr.

Larson.

Mr.

Larson, you're on muted.

Can you speak into your microphone?

Can you hear me?

Yes, we can.

Yes, hi.

Um, I'm commenting about um the former speaker, Mr.

Miller, if he's right about annexing land uh for purpose of uh implementing a data center.

I think in general, we need to take a closer look at our reclassification, rezoning and annexation practices that have so far fast tracked data centers.

We need a more community centered process for future data centers.

Uh the Wyoming Industrial Development Information Sighting Act, ISA, which was passed in 1975, protects communities by balancing massive industrial growth with the state's social, economic, and environmental well-being.

In the case of data centers, can the current approval process provide sufficient studies on the environment.

Environment traffic and noise.

Sir, what the council's asking point of order, and I agree you're not calling the topic, which is to talk about the zone change from heavy industrial to community business.

Do you have any comments about the zone change itself?

Okay.

Can you tell me, sir, if this rezoning is for the purpose of annexing land for a data center?

It is not.

The purpose of this one, it's already a existing business park, and we're trying to make sure that uh a new a new uh zone that we created specifically for business parks is uh is going to be the uh zone for this area.

And we talked about the flexibility to allow a a wider mixture of businesses that can go in there and a more reasonable landscaping requirement for that kind of uh an area.

I'm sorry for taking the time.

I was responding to the former speakers who uh mentioned about annexing uh some acreage for the purpose of this uh and this rezoning for the purpose of implementing a data center.

So I apologize for taking more time.

Thank you.

Yes, ma'am.

You have to push that button and turn it on.

There you go.

My name's Christine, I'm ward one, and I just think at this time with the low trust and everything else going on, rezoning anything is a poor idea at this time.

And I'm a no, and I would vote no to rezoning anything at this, and I just didn't sound like a good idea right now.

Thank you, ma'am.

Dante, welcome.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Thank you, council members.

My name is Dante Rushton, Director of Real Estate and Property Management.

Giant Leeds supports this rezone request and staff's findings.

What the rezoning will do is as mentioned, it will reduce landscaping requirements for all land use types.

So it's not business focused on size of industry, it's land use type.

It also does allow more land uses to be available within this business park zoning.

So things like uh neighborhood retail and child care facilities are just some of the 50 uses that are allowed by right.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Anybody else?

Sir.

Welcome.

Uh Matt Donis uh Ward One.

I just had a question, I guess.

Uh so these business parks are expanding in multiple parts of Cheyenne, and we want to lax Sir, can you bring that microphone up to and we want to kind of like uh take away some of the already put in systems to where they don't have to have trees, so it's kind of like an eyesore, right?

You you're not doing much landscaping to these areas, so it's just buildings, it's like Palmer City or you know stuff like that.

And I feel like here in Wyoming and especially in Cheyenne, people do care about the beauty of Wyoming.

And I've heard multiple times different things come up that strategically are like less water consumption and less landscaping equals to me, less water consumption.

But even if it's not about water consumption, if these companies are coming in and building, why can't they at least have it look appeasing?

Um, like somebody else mentioned, um, they can afford it.

Um so that's my opinion.

Thank you.

Anybody else?

Mr.

Bloom.

Mayor, members of the council, Charles Wynn planning, development director.

Just wanted to note that the area that this is rezoning is primarily zoned industrial right now with a couple of pieces of CB community business zoning.

Uh right now, data centers are permitted in that zone district.

The rezoning to BP will not change that land use allowance at all.

Right now, there are a handful of data centers that exist within that industrial park area right now.

Okay, anybody else in the audience, sir?

Welcome.

Hi there, I think I did that right.

So my question is, can you identify yourself?

I'm sorry.

Identify yourself.

Sorry, I'm Jesson White.

Welcome, sir.

Uh my question is for Rennie mainly.

He said that these uh current rules for uh landscaping have been in since the nineties that he put in.

Why all of a sudden is there a jump to change it?

I mean, we've got data centers knocking at the door, not to bring that up early, but that's what all of us are here for.

Why all of the sudden is it convenient to change it now?

You know, I think I think we answered that just a little bit earlier, but I'll go through it again.

You know, you have uh an employment center, but we can't have daycares there.

Um now this this new zone change allows for that.

So if you wanted to have a daycare, um if you want to have other support, um, uh types of businesses that would support the the folks that are out in the in the business park, uh, this would allow those to be there.

One of the components is a reduction in in landscaping uh that would maybe would be a little bit more appropriate.

It doesn't get rid of landscaping, it just reduces the landscaping.

Uh but that and we've we've been working on this for probably the last two or three years to uh try to figure out a way to add uh more flexibility to things that support the employees and the people who visit a or work in a business park, and that's kind of what we've been working on through this whole period of time.

And so I I appreciate that it seems like because we have uh uh a data center's front center today, but we've been working on this longer than that.

Um, and it's been in place for I don't know, a year or two now that we've had this, and uh uh we have a couple of data centers or data center there, you got me saying it, uh business parks that uh are zoned this way, and uh we're trying to bring all of our business parks to this uh new uh zone district to allow that flexibility.

So again, if an employer wanted to have a daycare center or something like that, that we would allow for that.

Gotcha.

So it's strictly coincidence.

Not only that, I don't see that, but my uh my other question is it's been stated numerous times before.

If all these big companies want to come to our town, why can't they make it pretty?

Everybody else has had to.

Walmart has to, Target has to, Microsoft had to, and now we want to relax the rules like oh, you're gonna come here and create quote unquote jobs for whatever industry, but you can't help our own city that you're taking up space in.

That's ridiculous.

That's absurd.

I think anybody here who stopped laughing for a minute at their constituents would actually sit and think about this, would agree it's absurd.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you.

Anyone else?

Hey guys, please.

Please, I I I appreciate that you support somebody, but there'll be people on their side, and we just don't need to be back and forth like that.

I appreciate everybody being here and being respectful this evening.

Anyone else?

Please come forward, sir.

Mr.

Mayor, City Council.

Um, my question is is if you guys are proposing these changes.

So you're your name, sir.

Uh, I'm Billy Richards.

Welcome, Billy.

Um you guys are proposing these changes so that you can bring things like daycare centers and and that kind of thing to these business parks.

Could we is there any um way that we could see that that's what is being this, like there are people requesting this that they cannot get into these business parks because of the uh money that it costs to change the landscaping and that kind of thing like that.

Where would we look to find out the the kind of businesses that we're losing because we're not uh changing these business parks over so that these guys can afford the landscaping side of this so that these guys can afford to get in there?

Uh again, yeah, we're we're all here for for the one main reason.

Right, but uh to give you guys a fair shot.

If we could see the math right to where we knew what businesses were coming in and what were we not able to come in because of landscaping practices, watering trees, etc.

It it wouldn't look as the other gentleman stated is just a coincidence that it's happened right now.

Charles, I know there's a list of uh businesses that or Seth, whoever's more appropriate.

Um it is I don't believe it has to do with the fact that they can't afford the landscaping.

The zoning doesn't allow them to come in.

So um we have to be zoned uh in order to be able to you have to have the correct zoning to be able to bring your business in, and some of the businesses that we'd like to bring in don't fit into the existing zoning.

Mr.

Lloyd.

Mr.

Mayor Seth Lloyd with the City of Shine Planning Development Department, uh as a matter of history for both um the governing body and also for those in the room.

Um the impetus behind the business park zoning was to reflect the North Range Business Park's PUD in the county.

Um as mentioned earlier, a PUD is a custom zone that um is kind of written for that one area, and so the county had created a custom zone for the North Range Business Park.

That zone had no an analogous zone in the city.

They have a mix of our C B and L I and HI zones.

And so in order to annex the North Range Business Park and not unduly influence the property owners of the North Range Business Park, we created the BP zone.

Also in the North Range Business Park, their landscaping requirements were not as hefty, I should say, as the city's um landscaping requirements.

So when we made the BP zone, we also reflected that county PUD zone.

Um as far as businesses that have come in and had to plant trees and actually complained.

We've had businesses such as um a uh cat litter business um manufacturing cat litter.

They were not happy about how many trees they had to put in.

We had another business, and I honestly don't remember what they were manufacturing.

I want to say it was firearms um that complained about how many trees they had to put in.

And in the second case, they were fortunately not using all their entire site at the first at the beginning.

So we cut down the area.

So they were we just had them landscape the area that they were disturbing as opposed to landscaping the entire site.

But they complained about how many trees they put in.

To be honest, our data centers that have come in, we tell them they have to plant five hundred trees as a forest on their property, and they plant it.

I usually don't complain about it.

I don't know how well they keep maintain those but for the most part they've planted the required landscape material.

So the reduction in landscaping is more of a benefit to these other companies these manufacturing companies that come into town and want large lots in our business parks than it would be for a data center.

Does it help a data center possibly if they're landscaping too yes I won't lie and say that it won't but those are some of the that's the background behind the business park zone.

The reason this area hasn't been zoned business park is because it was an established business park when we created the zone district and you need at least 320 acres to create a business park zone area.

We didn't want to zone tiny little parcels in town business park.

And the only way to get all of these property owners together is to have the city initiate this zone change.

So that's what's going on with this application at this time.

I hope that background helped and I hope that answered any questions you had mayor if you have any others for me or for any of my colleagues let us know.

Thank you.

Thank you sir anybody else Jennifer Susan you can go ahead I'm going to unmute you.

Oh it's not Jennifer's Tina back there.

Susan Allen go ahead.

Susan, are you there?

Susan can you unmute yourself.

Susan while you're working on that we'll take this lady right here in front please go ahead ma'am turn the microphone on for me please.

Yep push the button there you go.

Okay.

Introduce yourself my name is Kay and I'm um this is a lot to follow since I don't have written material in front of me but in terms of the um rezoning for less uh landscaping I am against that because for one thing I drive back and forth from Colorado to Wyoming and when I come into Wyoming I have to say how things have evolved over the years it makes Cheyenne look pretty ugly.

And I happen to be for making Cheyenne prettier I own a home here and property and I want Cheyenne to look good.

Cheyenne and the surrounding areas the um it was mentioned that um the rezoning was well people have mentioned um daycare centers and of all the places it seems to me the daycare centers would want some trees and landscaping for the kids.

They need some shade and people who are working in business parks industrial parks having a nice environment would be more attractive for them plus they need something pretty to look at as well and sit under and that means trees and shrubbery and flowers.

The other thing is that our climate is getting hotter and hotter and trees are environmentally very important to our environment they um eat up a lot of of uh the carbon dioxide and they also um provide shade so does grass is important for the environment as well so all of these things would not only benefit Cheyenne and the surrounding area and be more attractive to uh tourists and visitors and so forth and perhaps residents new residents but for the people who work here as well as for the businesses as well as for the environment and so in any case I am for I'm for making things look better, not worse.

Um, so that's all I have to say.

Thank you, Kay.

Thank you.

Can we get Susan unmuted?

Susan, are you able to unmute yourself?

Yeah, I think I am now.

Can you guys hear me?

Sorry.

I hear you, Susan.

Welcome.

Oh my gosh, I can't even figure out my phone.

So sorry.

Um, just real briefly, as um most of you know, I've planted thousands and thousands and thousands of trees in Cheyenne, and um remember quite well when those um uh tree requirements were changed in the 90s, um, when we owned our garden center in town.

Um, and I I would like to echo some of the things that have already been said in terms of um, well, first of all, what I gather from this is that you are changing it from light industrial to business park, and I understand there's gonna be mixed use, but in in to what I'm gathering, it means that there's going to be um maybe more or bigger industrial type projects that could potentially go in there, and you know, trees not only provide beautification, um, but they also buffer sound, um, and uh light pollution uh to some degree, and as the woman just said before me uh provide shade.

There have been quite a few studies done that in the long run, once a tree has been established, it doesn't require you know as much water as say Kentucky bluegrass, and part of the problem with maybe some of the trees failing is not really the trees themselves, but uh the type of trees that were planted in the locations, you know.

I understand that it's probably not uh suitable to plant a um maple in the middle of a prairie, um, but maybe there are some other trees or shrubs or something, and finally, if not landscaping, if this was to be an industrial area, I think it would behoove whomever to maybe do a sound light study to see if it's not trees.

Then there are some other suitable beautification projects that can take the place of trees um that would be suitable for a project to provide the same things that trees would, and that's all I have.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Jennifer, who else do you have?

Go ahead, ma'am.

Alan Sheldon, you oh, I'm sorry.

So let's take this one up front here first, please.

Okay, can you hear me?

We can.

Thank you.

Hi, my name is Lillia.

I live in Cheyenne, and I'm I don't trust any of this.

Uh, just come out and say it.

So one of the things that I'm looking I'm the type that looks ahead to have an 11-year-old.

So I want Cheyenne to be okay for him, because I this is where uh we live.

And so the way I see it, whoever's coming, you know.

Let's pretend it's not for the data centers, right?

Let's say it's other business.

So they build and all that, and then they leave because they have no vested interest here, like us that live in this community.

So what happens when they leave, and now we have all this concrete, and then who lives there?

What what goes on after that?

You it happens in towns all the time.

They build up all this stuff, and then it turns to trash.

So what can you reassure me of any thing that yes that that won't happen?

I I know the answer, but I'm gonna put it out there.

Thank you, ma'am.

Bring that microphone up so we can hear you.

Catherine McAdams through your mayor call.

Thank you.

I wasn't gonna address this issue, but it's kind of interesting.

I just have a question.

In terms of this change zoning change, is the landscaping acreage going to be reduced?

Can somebody answer that question?

There's Mr.

Lloyd.

There it is.

Connor, please.

Right behind you, ma'am.

He's gonna answer.

Okay, thank you.

Mayor through you, Connor White planning development tournament.

So this doesn't reduce the landscape area.

Um at most, it's reducing the number of trees required to be planted.

There's still ground cover points that have to be met, which is usually just met with native prairie grass out there.

Um, biggest change in the landscaping is just number of trees.

There's still trees that are required on the properties, it's just less than what the UDC currently requires under normal landscaping code.

Thank you, Miss McAdams.

So I guess in addressing this, I'm wondering if whatever comes in here, including the data centers, which everybody's concerned about.

I just would like to see a buffer zone.

Between your neighborhoods and your industrial parks.

A huge buffer zone.

So that's what I'd like to address eventually.

So just not get rid of landscaping, but buffer zones.

Huge.

Thank you.

Huge.

Betsy.

Good evening, Mr.

Mayor and City Council Betsy Hale, CEO of Cheyenne Leeds.

This is a great discussion, and I owned a landscape construction company for 17 years.

So I'm always excited when somebody can talk about temperate deciduous trees and evergreen trees and where things should be planted and not be planted on the wide open spaces.

But what I want to reassure everyone is that this business park already exists, and what we're trying to do is ensure that the zoning is the same and uniform throughout not only the Cheyenne Business Parkway Business Park, but the Campsville Business Park as well.

I just wanted to let everyone also know that the largest industrial building in the state of Wyoming is the lowest distribution center.

It's actually a million square feet, and it has been there since the 1990s.

And so to the folks that are really concerned about the future and how things are going to be maintained, each one of our business parks has covenants, conditions, and restrictions.

Those are enforced.

We have a staff person who you already heard from, Dante Rushton, who makes sure that the trash is picked up, who makes sure that outdoor storage is regulated, who makes sure that assessments get paid, so that we can maintain those parks, maintain those wayfinding signs.

And so while I would hope that folks wouldn't think the only businesses that are in Cheyenne are data centers, we've had distribution centers, we have manufacturing facilities, we have service facilities there, gun assembly facilities there.

This actually will help us with a couple issues.

One being child care, but if you look at the North Range business park, we have a food desert.

And so anytime you look at what's going on, we need to make sure that there's amenities available to folks, whether that be a convenience store, a gas station, a child care facility.

There are just uses that we can't currently have in that park.

And in fact, some of the construction that's happening in Cheyenne Business Parkway today is for a Floyd's trucking facility because we're right along I-80.

And so there's a lot of trucks, as you all know, that need to get serviced that need to get maintained that need to get repaired.

And so not everything that's happening in Cheyenne is for a data center.

And I just want to reassure folks that you know we've been in the data, we've been in the business park business for 40 years, and we intend to be in that business for a long time to continue to create jobs and attract wealth, and so happy to answer questions.

Thanks, Betsy.

Anybody else?

I just have two questions.

The first is mostly rhetorical.

Why don't you identify yourself?

Oh, sorry, Heather Madrid.

Um I'm just curious the difference between how many people the Lowe's distribution center and um the gun manufacturing and all the other businesses that are in a business park, um, employ over the long term when compared to an understanding, not everything is a data center, but as you can see, we're the community is a little scared of what's been happening, and it's because we're not getting answers.

Um, so I guess there's a huge difference between 40 employees over who knows how many acres versus probably hundreds at least that's employed at a distribution center.

Um, my question is how much less trees, and I don't want to like focus on the trees, but I do understand that we don't want to live in an ugly place, and that's kind of where it seems to be trending.

So I'm just kind of wondering what exactly what does less trees mean.

Is that you, Connor that can answer?

And members of council counterway Planning development Program.

I can attempt to answer that because it is going to vary depending on the size of the lot.

Um basically the way that we look at our landscaping, it's all based on percentage of um impervious surface.

So L I zone, I believe, is 85% impervious.

HI is 90%, CB, I think is also 85%.

Within the UDC, basically all that is based on a point system.

So you have to take 15%.

I'm trying to remember the exact calculation, but it's like divide it by five, 15% of the lot, take that square footage, divide it by 500, multiply it by something else, you get a number of points, is your number of trees.

So depending on the size of the lot, could require 50 trees.

With the reduction in landscaping, there's still, if there's a parking lot, that's separate.

You have parking lot landscape landscaping that does require trees around around your parking lot.

Um, but then this basically reduces your on-site trees.

Um it comes down to where you're required, I think it's one tree for every 100 feet of frontage along a street.

So that's what that reduces down to.

So I can't say exactly how many trees.

It is gonna vary depending on the size of the lot, what the lot's already currently zoned versus becoming now BP.

So it's it's hard to say exactly how many number of trees.

It again, it's based on the exact lot.

Thanks, Connor.

Alright, anybody else on the zone change?

Yes, ma'am.

Hi.

Bring that microphone down.

Um, Marvin, President.

Um, I just had a couple of questions real quick to clarify.

Um, is this on the second reading or the first treaty?

Second rating.

Is there any room to add an amendment to this where it's kind of a good faith council to community where there is a restriction added that server parks or server banks or data centers or whatever it's going to try to call itself, are not allowed in that type of that space?

There's no room for that.

I'm talking specifically about the rezoning part of it.

Would it would it are we able to add something that says fine, you can lower the landscaping of uh requirement, but you can't have servers in there.

Period.

Like I don't want a data center server bank, whatever you want to call it next to a daycare.

That doesn't seem healthy.

So if there's daycares trying to go in or community businesses, all for community business.

Let's yay small business.

Is there a way that we can make it so that it's not what we're scared of to build up the community instead of trying to hide it?

Mr.

White, do you want to answer that question?

Mayor through uh Mayor Connor White Planning Development Department.

Staff would not recommend putting something like that in a zone change.

Uh that turns into contract basically contractual zoning, which is not legal.

Um that's something that is within various planning research and even legal.

Uh you can look at various legal cases when it comes to planning, but that turns into contractual zoning where you're basically saying you can have this zone district, but you can't have this use, this use, or that use, even though they're already permitted uses within the zone district.

Again, this goes back to the area is already zoned, L I H I and C B, which permits data centers as a use by right now.

So the zone change does not change the fact that data centers are already allowed in the area.

But staff would not recommend putting in contractual zoning with this zone change.

Thank you, Connor.

Go ahead, ma'am.

Okay.

Well, that was my question.

So thank you.

Thank you.

All right.

I thought this would take five minutes, and now here we're we're an hour into this, and it's been a good discussion.

Yes, Jennifer.

Um, Alan Sheldon, you can go ahead.

Mr.

Sheldon.

Yeah, thanks, Alan Sheldon Ward 2.

Uh, I wasn't really gonna speak on this, but I kind of agree with some of the others.

Um, it's one thing I actually noticed.

I used to travel extensively when I was uh quality assurance manager, and one of the things I noticed is when I would, you know, go to these industrial parks where you know these businesses were often located where I was auditing.

They had far more trees, far more landscaping, the the general atmosphere was much, you know, um more serene.

Then I come back here and it was, you know, our business parks quite desolate, um, not that nice looking.

About the only places I ever saw, you know, landscaping and sparseness similar to that was in the desert southwest.

And so for that reason, you know, I'd hope you guys would oppose anything that would require less trees and less landscaping.

Thank you.

Jennifer.

Um, the person named iPhone, you should be able to unmute yourself.

Can you hear me?

We can will you identify yourself, please?

My name is Harry Everly.

I live in Rolling Hills, and I was just listening to the conversation about the business park rezoning and this and that.

And I was just curious with all the conversations going on with business parks with the restaurants and gas stations and rezoning for daycares, I guess, and all this.

We have several business parks around town that have been here for 10, 15 years, and there are no restaurants or daycares or anything like that moving in.

We just annexed in the North Range business park, which uh entails clean spark crypto mining and the noise coming from it and everything.

And now we're talking about the trees where the trees would add like a definite buffer to the sound that is generated from these places, and now we're talking about self-generated turbo diesel generators and this and that.

So I'm just curious on why we are maybe taking away some of the buffering zones and and obstacles that would break that sound from neighboring residents and stuff throughout the business parks.

Thank you, sir.

Hi Rochelle, Rochelle Zimmerman, director of business recruitment and retention for Cheyenne Leeds.

Um, I just wanted to make one comment because obviously we're going a lot of different directions, and I know a lot of people are concerned about the beauty of the business parks and how it looks for people wanting to move in and people going through the business parks.

Um, we just wanted to point out that our business parks do have common areas.

And in Cheyenne Business Parkway, we happen to have a hundred and one acres that are there for the community, and so we just want to make sure the community knew that was there.

Thank you.

Thank you.

All right, anybody else in the audience or online?

All right, I won't hear any more.

Cool.

Go ahead.

Hello, my name is Marla Richards, and I just maybe want to express to the leads community that is here tonight.

Um, you know, that's good that there's areas there, but who wants to go there?

I don't want to go have coffee.

I don't want to go have lunch, I don't want to drop off my kid or my grandkid or pick them up.

I don't want to hear it anymore.

I don't want to see it anymore.

Like they're pushing that it's good for the community to go out there and visit, go out there and see.

Well, if you can get past the sheriffs during some of this stuff because they're guarding it, or I don't know why they're guarding it or what they're guarding, but I just want to ask what it what's inviting out there.

You drive, like you said, that's not beautiful.

I don't yes, I care about trees.

Yes, I care about this, but from where we drive into Cheyenne, you see it.

When you drive in from Cheyenne from any area, you see those things, and it's it's not appealing, it's not beautification, it's not inviting.

I don't know.

Do you want to go have coffee with me over there?

Are we gonna have to wear earplugs?

Am I gonna have to wear a radiation suit?

These are the unknown things.

You know, it's the unknown, honestly.

So, why are we not hearing about the unknown?

We are hearing these things by reading what other states are going through about the unknowns that's happening there now, 10 years later, that we are now having to see the manifestations on that.

Do my family want to watch a commercial five, 10 years from now that say if you were a loved one has ever been around or lived around or next to these data centers or AI centers or whatever, that's very concerning, and it's the unknown that I have not heard from any of this council.

Um, not online or verbally on the news or newspapers, not heard anything.

I appreciate leads saying yes, this is what we've known for 15 years or however long they've been in pushing this.

Why isn't it more pretty?

Why isn't it inviting?

I mean, how much longer are you gonna have to keep pushing those things?

Um, and I would like leads to also answer those questions, not just take into consideration the the city council.

Thank you.

No more, Jennifer.

All right, we're gonna close public comment and we're gonna go to Dr.

Emmons for motion, Mr.

Mayor.

The recommendation of the public service committee is to approve on second reading and I so move.

Seconded by Mr.

Seagrave comments from members of the governing body.

Mr.

Mayor, Mr.

Moody, there's very three.

Thank you for your uh public comments.

Um, this council, we should maybe look into if specific uh businesses do create a lot of noise.

Should there be a buffer?

I mean, Magpole probably doesn't create a lot of noise or Eagle Claw or maybe some of the other manufacturing, but if there's a ample amount of noise there, I can hurt to have a little bit of a buffer there if there's a residential area there.

So just something that we should maybe consider for the future in the ordinance.

Thank you.

Dr.

Emmons.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Um, I was hoping that um maybe we would hear from our chamber director as someone that works with businesses on a daily basis that want to come to Cheyenne, because what we hear is we want to come here, and we have unmanageable um restrictions to get here.

And I'm not talking about data centers, I'm talking about small businesses.

So we're you can shake your head all you want, but it's true.

What we're trying to do is the same with housing as we're doing with commercial.

We're trying to make sure that the rules are not overly cumbersome, which is what we've been hearing for the last two years.

Don't make everything so restrictive that it's not business friendly, and that people don't want to come.

That's all this is doing.

It's not there.

There's nothing nefarious in this, it's how do we develop the rules in the community that are gonna maintain protections, still have trees.

We all love trees, still have those protections, but not make it so people don't want to come here.

So uh because of that, I am gonna vote yes on this ordinance.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Through you, maybe it's not a sign out of mine because we have hundreds of nuclear missiles out there around this community, and I never hear any complaints about those.

So maybe if we surround the business parks with all these trees, and you don't see them, would that make it okay?

Mr.

Seagrave, Mr.

Mayor.

I don't know.

I'm not sure how this got off on landscaping.

To me, that's the smallest issue of changing it right now.

It's it's heavy industrial, light industrial community business.

I see this as providing more opportunity, different more diverse types of businesses, whether it's a daycare, whether it's a uh uh housing uh a uh motel type thing, um, it opens it up to more types of business, it doesn't restrict it down.

Right now, for a heavy industrial.

Um, you know, that's that's pretty pretty large uh commercial equipment.

This is gonna open it up and diversify it, create more opportunities.

So in spite of the landscaping discussion we've had tonight, I see it as an opportunity for these business parks to um be more diverse and offer more opportunities.

So that's why I will support it.

Thank you.

Anybody else?

Yes, Mayor.

Yes.

Mayor Collins through you.

Um I we would like to thank everyone for their comments tonight, but I would agree with uh President Seagrave that I think that this uh change to uh change to a business park is uh much more than just about landscaping.

Although I will say that if you um you know think that uh Cheyenne is um unattractive as you enter our community and you um see some of these business parks, um they're even more unattractive when you look at the dead trees that have been planted because we required them to plant trees, and then they've died uh due to um a lack of uh uh drip irrigation system or anything that's been planted there.

Even I know someone mentioned in the audience mentioned Walmart and uh Walmart, uh, on the west side or on the east side of town has struggled to keep their trees alive, and you'll notice that a lot of those are gone from their required landscaping plan that they were required to have initially when they moved in.

But I think that um there was also a comment made about not wanting to go out to the business parks for a restaurant or for coffee.

Um, I know at the door North Range Business Park, there is a um bicycle path that uh my husband and I have used.

Uh there are people who work in these industrial parks who would like to be able to uh take their child to a child care center that would be closer to where they're working, uh, where they'd like to be able to leave the facility and go and grab a sandwich, and right now that's not a possibility.

Um, or they might like to stop and grab a cup of coffee on their way into work.

And so I think that um some of these businesses that and quite honestly, I'm not sure that any of these have actually uh knocked on our door yet and asked to be put into these business parks, but with this zoning uh change, it would allow them to be able to do that to be able to provide these services for those folks that are working out in those data centers and in those business parks.

Um, I think there are lots of uh skilled tradespeople in the audience tonight who would probably agree that it'd be nice to be able to go and grab um a sandwich or a cup of coffee without having to drive you know 10 miles back into town.

So for that reason, I'm going to be a yes vote tonight.

I think this just gives those business parks an opportunity to um diversify and to be able to offer services for those people that are already working out there.

Anyone else in the governing body?

Hearing none, the motion is on second reading.

All those in favor, please signify by saying aye.

Aye, those opposed.

Mr.

Moody's a note, there's no changes approved on second reading.

Number thirteen, ordinance second reading, approving and establishing revised water and sewer rates tap and system development fees, administrative fees, service charges, and penalties, and septic and commercial waste dump rates as recommended by the Board of Public Utilities.

All right, this is our annual review of uh of water and service fees for the Board of Public Utilities.

We'll go out to the audience and see if anybody wants to speak to the fee increase before us.

Jennifer.

Mr.

Sheldon, you can go ahead.

Yes, Alan Sheldon Ward 2.

Uh just like to speak in opposition to the fee changes.

We've had quite a few fee changes over the last several years.

Um, and uh, you know, it's just getting to the point where utilities are getting out of hand.

Right.

Thank you, Alan.

Anyone else?

Jennifer.

Sean Stewart, you can go ahead.

Oh, this is Sean Stewart from Ward 3.

Um, just a question.

How is this ordinance different from the one that was approved uh an hour and a half ago?

Is it been that long?

And something like that, yes.

The one before was for our sewer rates or excuse me, a sanitation rates, garbage collection, recycling, things like that.

This is for the Board of Public Utilities.

This is for water and sewer services.

But it's on the same annual, there we're breaking it up, doing it yearly just to maintain the cost of doing business.

Is that correct?

Um, yes, sir.

Uh again, I think somebody from the board might be here, but it's uh they do an annual or uh uh a cost of uh service study, and then that guides their fee structure for a number of years, and uh that's the recommendations from that fee study.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

I appreciate it.

Jennifer Mr.

Miller, you should be able to unmute yourself, Mr.

Miller.

Can you hear me?

We can hear you.

Mr.

Miller Rama.

Okay, so then this is item number 13.

Is that correct?

Charles Miller for the record?

It is.

Uh, this is item number 13, correct?

Uh, water and sewer rate increases.

It is go ahead, Mr.

Miller.

Oh, right.

Um, let's see here.

We got to get you a faster computer.

Maybe we can talk about it.

Um, this is uh, you're asking residents to approve a new revised fee schedule for water and sewer rates system development fees and commercial waste dump rates.

Um you presented this as a routine annual review.

Um, but it it can't be viewed in a vacuum.

Uh I'm gonna try to stick on on this one so you so I can say my piece, but uh my my questions are for the record why are you forcing residential and commercial taxpayers to absorb higher utility costs, which disproportionately impact our most vulnerable citizens while this same budget facilitates donor-driven real estate deals and consultant bailouts?

Um that's just one question.

Uh next question is what is the specific fiscal justification for increasing tap and system development fees when these fees directly penalize new affordable housing construction, a goal this council claims to prioritize.

And the third question will the council commit to a full line item audit of the board of public utilities to prove these rate hikes are strictly for infrastructure and not for subsidizing broader city operational shortfalls.

Um this is fiduciary hypocrisy.

You're raising the costs on the public to balance a 233 million dollar budget that prioritizes expansion, external consultants, and private donor interests over the affordability of basic municipal services for existing residents.

I oppose this rate increase.

This is constructive notice under the Wyoming Public Meetings Act that this governing body is failing its fiduciary duty to prioritize existing infrastructure and taxpayer affordability.

Thank you, Mr.

Miller.

I think you need to uh maybe get a little bit more information from your source because the board of public utilities is an enterprise fund, so it uh all the fees that go in basically are spent on the board of public utilities efforts.

So if we need to uh raise revenue to balance our budget, we can't do that through the Board of Public Utilities.

We run it like a business.

Every penny that goes into it, um, goes to water, sewer, maintenance, all of those types of things, sir.

So I appreciate your comments, thank you.

Anybody else in the audience?

Jennifer.

Anna Marie, you should be able to unmute yourself.

Ms.

Marie.

Hi, thank you.

Um, Anna Blessing from Ward One.

I do have a quick question.

I maybe I missed it, but um, was it mentioned how much the fees were gonna be to the to citizens each month?

Um, I think it was five percent for water and sewer and three percent on the service charge.

Is that right from the Board of Public Utilities?

Brad's give me a thumbs up, yes.

And I think they told me it was a dollar twenty five a month uh with the increase.

Okay, all right.

I mean, that's not as bad as I thought it would be, but with every with the economy and everything going up and people are really struggling.

I'm still gonna vote.

Um, not in favor of it.

Thank you, ma'am.

Thank you.

Anybody else?

All right, hearing none, we'll go to Mr.

Escobel for a motion, please.

Okay.

Number 13, Mr.

Escobel.

Mr.

Mayor, the recommendation of the finance committee is to approve on second reading, and I so move.

Second.

It's been seconded by Mr.

White.

Comments from members of the governing body on the uh ordinance for water and sewer fees.

Mr.

Siegriff.

Mr.

Mayor, I'm I'll be very brief.

Um a lot of us had an opportunity to sit down with the board in the last 60 days and review their their needs, their costs.

It was just absolutely amazing the amount of increase in the chemicals and the pipe and all of the things that they have to buy to support this massive system that we enjoy.

Any of you that have camped and had their carry water, uh that's not not always a happy thing.

Uh I'm quite often happy and willing to uh support a my a relatively small rate increase in order to have that type of service.

Um they have a great group of people that work hard to make sure that that we have clean water and uh that our waste is taken care of uh properly.

So nobody likes a rate increase.

I get it.

Um, but when you sit down and look at the the numbers that they provided, it's it's uh they probably needed more, but uh uh nobody wants to do that.

So I will support this.

Thank you.

Mr.

White.

Mr.

Mayor, just for clarification, and maybe um Brad can answer this.

The Board of Public Utilities is routinely audited, just like everyone else, just for clarification.

MHP audits them every year, and uh um to my knowledge, they get a very clean bill of health.

Thank you, Brad, for all your hard work on that each and every year.

I just wanted to make that uh information on the record due to the um previous callers' insinuations.

Maybe ask for just a little bit of uh grace from the council, but for me, the uh things that happened in Rollins a few years ago, they would not raise rates, their system got out of hand, their water main broke and they were without water, and they're still struggling to this day, a couple years later.

Um I do appreciate that rate increases are a challenge, but uh having a system that fails is even bigger challenge, and I think that's what the board's working so hard to do is to make sure that uh they have the money to the resources to maintain their existing system so that we don't have what happened in Rollins.

I think that's a cautionary note for all of us.

Anybody else in the governing body?

Mr.

Mayor, just briefly into dovetail uh councilman white's point about the clean audits and uh we have a great finance team here at the city.

We have pretty clean audits here as well.

Thank you, sir.

All right.

If there's no other comments, uh this ordinance is also on second reading, all those in favor.

Yes.

Oh, is Dr.

Aldridge?

Thank you.

Mayor Collins, for you.

I I would just like to um reiterate what Councilman White said.

Uh we um I think that it is an imperative that people know that uh I would say that unlike uh my colleague from Ward 3, we don't have just pretty clean on it's uh audits.

We have absolutely clean audits um that have had no findings um for the last six years that I've been on the council, and that um we are constantly asked to make sure that we're doing what we're required to statutorily.

One of those items is to make sure that there is um water for our citizens, as well as uh that we take care of waste management.

Um, both of those items have been addressed tonight with these uh rates, and both of those are set up as enterprise funds so that they are set up as businesses, as you noted, and they have to be self-supporting.

So for that reason, I'm going to be a yes vote tonight.

Um, understanding that this is our responsibility, and uh that we are doing what's best um for our community to keep these solvent.

Thank you, Dr.

Aldridge.

All right, I'm not seeing any other lights.

All those in favor of the ordinance on second reading, please signify by saying aye.

Aye, those opposed.

This ordinance is approved with Mr.

Moody voting no.

Number 14.

Imposing a temporary 12 month moratorium on the establishment construction or conversion of any buildings or structures for use as a data center, including any change of use to a data data center.

The main event.

Welcome everyone.

Generally, it's nice to see a house full of uh of folks like this.

So you notice we have a three-minute clock.

And uh, you know, I think this could go on for three or four hours.

So we look forward to hearing your comments.

I would just ask if you uh uh could try to keep them as brief as possible so that we can try to get everybody uh both here and online.

Uh so when you come up to the microphone, if you've not done this before, uh please identify yourself, tell us where you live, and uh we'll get started, okay?

And ma'am, you get to be first.

Push the button.

Hello, my name is Yana Ilyesh, and I am a homeowner and resident of Cheyenne.

I already sent all of you a couple of emails on the topic that I'm gonna talk about.

Um, just to be clear, I am not opposed to all the data centers, and I heard the news about this evacuations around chemical plant in California.

I would rather have some data centers and have chemical plants in Cheyenne.

My issue is that the how many of these, how fast we're approving, and the step up in power of each one of them, because I did research and they the more powerful ones, the more recent ones that went into um operation, they're causing much bigger disturbances of the power grid.

And this is not me saying it.

I'm I don't have a lot of time here, but I'm gonna give you real quick some overview.

Um, in an article that's called um, this is in ENE News by political AI boom sparks rare warning of significant significant risks to the grid.

This is from just last month, April of 26.

It says a paper from dozens of scientists from Nvidia, Microsoft and Open and I scientists warned last year that AI power swings can cause physical damage to grid infrastructure.

This is not me saying that.

This is very recent.

They are just now to realize in the last few months.

The US government just got involved.

I have an article I found from December of last year, less than six months ago, US Department of Energy report from December of 2025.

Um, and this is a very long article, this is very technical article.

Um it's about um 100 pages, but they're saying the magnitude and complexity of electrical usage patterns from large data centers are having significant impacts on the operation and dynamics of power grid.

And then they are recommending to develop new um new methods to deal with this to avoid disasters in the power grid, but they don't have them yet.

They're just not starting to write um programs to simulate some kind of disturbances again.

Is the power issue, and we have some of the most powerful in the world here.

Um, Project Jade, they're saying they're gonna generate their own energy, but um the mayor's office signals they want to tie into the grid at some point.

They're gonna start at 2.7 gigabytes, the most powerful in the world right now.

It's in uh Aluna, Iowa, and it's 1.4.

This is gonna be almost double.

And the most powerful in China, it's only 150 megabytes.

That's the one in Altuna is gonna be almost 10 times that, and the one and Project Jade is gonna be almost 20 times than the most powerful.

We're talking about increase and and all of these are gonna be powerful.

The ones are gonna be hooked up to the grid like Microsoft, they're making all of them bigger.

And the other problem is AI centers are creating more disturbances in the grid than the old data centers.

So you can't compare it to what's on right now in functioning without the country because the AI is creating bigger problems, and it's not just a disaster, there are events that can happen, they're bidding out on our power grid, more than all the other ones.

Thank you so much.

I was like you've done a lot of good research.

Yes, ma'am.

Mayor, council.

I'm Marcy Kindred, the executive director of the Wyoming State AFL CIO.

And I'm here today with my local trade union brothers and sisters in opposition to the proposed moratorium.

I say that with confidence, but not without a good dose of angst.

After the planning committee meeting last week, a troubling narrative began to emerge online.

The community on one side and pro data center big tech billionaires and unions on the other.

And I just want to address that directly.

The union members standing here today are members of this community.

They are tax-paying citizens who live here, love Wyoming and do not want these projects to harm our communities or our way of life.

We are all on the same side here.

I also want to be clear, our opposition to this moratorium is not a broad endorsement of AI.

We have real concerns about the lack of federal regulations and the threat this technology poses to workers.

But that fight belongs in Washington, not here.

Tonight's question is narrower.

Do we want economic development done right under Wyoming standards, or do we hand it off to somewhere with a rubber stamp and no safeguards?

Because these workers are here today because they know what a pause really means.

It means in a few months they'll be back out on the road answering the nearest work call, sleeping in a hotel instead of their own bed.

These projects changed that.

They've allowed our tradespeople to put down roots, to dream a little, breathe a little, to coach little league and sleep in their own beds and be home when it matters.

Moratorium does not protect our community.

It protects the status quo that sent our workers away in the first place.

Now I'll be honest, I'm deeply concerned that this local debate has heated up in direct proportion to the national debate over AI.

When the largest single AI campus in the country was approved earlier this year, it sailed through unanimously without a word.

But as AI regulation became a hot button topic in DC, it became campaign fodder too.

And I'm afraid some of that fire has found its way into this room.

It is an election year after all.

I've always been proud of Wyoming's ability to govern itself apart from the national circus.

Historically, we've made decisions based on facts, not hype.

Our local governments aren't untouchable kingmakers making shady backdoor deals.

They're our neighbors committed to leaving this place better than they found it.

We are good at this.

We have been managing data centers in Cheyenne for over a decade.

The safeguards are real.

The answers on water, power, rate payers, and environmental impact exists.

It is true that because of the newness of this technology and the lack of historical data, we will absolutely have to work together to ensure that these safeguards hold up, that the projections stay on track and work through the growing pains together.

I invite us all to do this work together and approach it with curiosity instead of defensiveness.

Thank you, Marcy.

All the questions.

Sir, welcome.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

My name is David Pope.

I'm a certified public accountant and a chartered global management accountant.

I also am a subject matter expert on the Wyoming Stable Token Commission, and I serve as one of the governor's liaisons to the Legislative Select Committee on Blockchain.

I'm a former member of the Cheyenne Leads Board and Board of Directors, and I'm currently serve on the Greater Cheyenne Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors.

I want to make it clear though, I'm speaking today as an individual citizen and business owner here in Cheyenne, and not as one of my roles, one of my other roles.

I'm the founder and principal of DAPCPA, a group of certified public accounting firms based here in Cheyenne, and we serve hundreds of businesses, if not, and actually more than a thousand across the state.

Particularly efforts to position our state as a national leader in the tech industry.

I do this because of the powerful downstream benefits each of the tech companies brings.

That's because every dollar that they bring to the state from out of state gets circulated and recirculated within the city and the state in order to provide higher wages, employment opportunities, and uh better economy for the entire city, county, and state.

When new revenue enters our local economy, it's good.

I'm here today to speak against the proposed moratorium on the data center development because I believe that the economic impact is such that it will benefit all of us.

I even left a minute to go.

I would stand for questions, but um, otherwise, I'll let you guys move forward.

Thank you.

We had a lot of people want to speak first, so thank you.

Sir, good evening.

Good evening.

Perfect, thank you.

My name's Cameron Worthley.

I'm just another one of the tradesmen helping with the preliminary construction of these data centers.

Got a few things I'd like to say, starting with data centers are here.

They're not going anywhere, they're coming in across the country.

We may as well have them helping build our community's infrastructure here.

Meta project alone represents more than an 800 million dollar investment in Wyoming.

Meta has partnered to create the Wyoming Trades Academy at Cheyenne South High School.

It's a new program, it's designed to provide students with hands-on training, financial support, and a direct pathway into careers in the skilled trades.

The Academy also received a $50,000 donation from Meta with more expected to come.

A couple of the concerns about data centers.

One of the big concerns is noise.

Most data centers expect 55 to 60 decibels at the property edge, which is normal conversation level, quieter than a lawnmower.

Power bills.

Data centers are actually going to pay higher rates, which offset costs.

It is not going to come down to us to pay it.

Pollution.

A lot of people are concerned about the diesel emissions from these data centers.

Using SCR technology, which is selective catalytic reduction, most of our diesel pickups all use it.

It's very clean.

The generators are going to run cleaner than school buses.

UA members are at work.

That means the highest quality and the highest safety standards on our job sites.

These data centers are going to provide higher tax revenue.

They're going to support the hyperscale campuses, utilities, and also help our government upgrade our power transmissions.

They're going to bring more fiber internet, they could potentially help with our roads and our water systems.

Quite a few of these improvements will indirectly benefit both our residents and local businesses.

One of the big ones, temporary employment.

We have hundreds of our local tradesmen working here at home, making money for their family, while being able to be present, being fathers and mothers for their children.

Those parents being present in the homes instead of on the road is huge.

Wyoming has depended heavily on energy extraction, rail yards, and agriculture.

Data centers are bringing a different kind of industry.

It's progress, it's the future.

It's here.

It's going to benefit our community across the board.

Thank you.

Sir.

Welcome, Jim.

Jim Chirill, candidate for Warrant One City Council.

I'm definitely in favor of this for many reasons.

Uh I have relatives that live out in Arizona, which you're familiar with Arizona.

Through your mayor, with Mr.

Mooney, could you go and clarify for those folks that the propaganda that the AFL CIO is saying is going to stop their work?

It's not.

It's a pause.

Anything that's already in progress is going to be continue to be working on it.

One year is not asking a lot with the research that the city council needs to do with the water, with the heat islands that it causes.

I've contacted two of the attorneys that what it is they were successfully stopped in Chandler, Arizona.

Which I I mean, whether I win or not, I will fight it till the very end with working with those attorneys as well.

What we've got to look at, folks, is quality of life.

Wyoming has seen a lot of booms.

I went to the point of spending money to buy a lot of uh lots out of medicine bow for the coal to uh gas purification.

It never happened.

What happens when this ends?

What happens when they become efficient and they don't need so many data centers?

And as I talked about at the open meeting on Wednesday, Elon Musk is doing one that's up on space where it's gonna be cooler.

Yeah, there's lag time, but you're talking about competition.

I urge you for quality of life on this and not just the dollar, and what's gonna happen.

We got it's gonna increase our population by 10% if we have these man camps.

We can't get people to work the restaurants now.

You want to wait two hours to go to Perkins?

You know, we we can't uh go and sustain this.

The city can't, it really can't.

I urge you to please do a moratorium.

It's not gonna go and stop what people are working on now.

Let's research it a lot more because it is a very hot topic.

But keep it brief because I'll be back at 11.

I got other stuff.

Thanks.

Thanks.

Sir, uh true Thompson, uh, ward three.

Uh friends and neighbors, brothers, sisters, member of the council.

Uh, I'm president of local 415 here in Cheyenne.

Uh, we represent electrical workers on a couple of the new data centers.

We believe that we're at the crossroads regarding the future of our community's infrastructure.

While some suggest a moratorium on data centers, I'm here to argue that stopping this progress doesn't just pause a construction project, causes the growth of our middle class, the modernization of our power grid.

Data centers are not just buildings, they're essential future for the AI and technology that we use every day, i.e., Facebook.

Uh high road, uh, moratorium would mean turning our backs on the high road of union jobs that sustain our local families.

IBW members are the best trained workforce in the world, and we're already building the ones, maintaining and operating these complex and energy intensive facilities.

We have uh the maintenance contract out at Microsoft West, FYA.

There's over 88 full-time folks just on that with high paying jobs.

We just negotiated that agreement.

They're making a pretty good wage for Cheyenne, Wyoming, working about six months out of the year.

Uh by pushing for the high standards, we ensure these projects are delivered on time, on budget, and it's done safely.

We shouldn't be stopping these projects.

We should be using them to create a stable pipeline and middle class careers that will shape our community for decades.

Right now we are indenturing over 50 apprentices for the first time, uh, probably in the history of local 415 since probably the power plants.

So we're growing, it's great.

Um, and I just want to close.

Uh let's not choose a race to the bottom on a path of uncertainty.

Let's choose high standards, a resilient grid, and good paying union jobs.

Let's move forward, not with the moratorium, but with a commitment to building a stronger future together.

Thank you.

Sir, welcome.

Uh my name's Ryan Blue.

I'm a resident of Cheyenne here.

I'm an I'm a data center technician at Microsoft.

I graduated from LCC associates of cybersecurity, along with a handful of certs.

Uh, I just want to encourage everyone else to oppose this moratorium.

And because this job simply financially changed my life.

I have so much more ability to do anything now.

Um the data centers benefited me so much.

Just living quality of life, being able to have nice things, and just independence to be able to even just go have a good time somewhere, even whereas I couldn't before when I was just struggling to get by before I had this job.

Um, I would I would say that um, I mean, your whole life anymore runs on a data center.

Like anything you do online, you're complaining on Facebook that's on a data center.

Um anything really, and it's just it's where everything's going now, really.

And I've never been treated better by a company.

They really you wouldn't believe how well they take care of you.

And um I would like to also encourage everyone if they have their doubts about the data center, go get the facts from the horse's mouth on Thursday at the informational session that they're having at the college.

And I think I'll keep mine short too.

Appreciate that.

Thank you, sir.

Please.

I'm date.

I'm David Richardson.

I live in World War One.

Uh we know that a moratorium literally means just stop work, which means a pause.

But for the men and women, excuse me, guys, for just a second, okay.

There's gonna be two sides to the story, and let's be respectful to the other side.

Okay, on both sides, please.

Thank you.

Sorry, David.

But for the men and women who build this country, a moratorium is a stop sign in the row for the middle class.

IBEW members are essential for the future of AI.

We don't just build these data centers.

We maintain and operate the very generation and transmission systems that power them.

By opposing a moratorium, we're just at we aren't just asking for buildings.

We are asking for high road union jobs.

We're advocating for a workforce train to handle every everything from microchips to transformers with precision and safety.

We ensure these projects are delivered on time on budget while avoiding a race to the bottom on wages.

Let's choose stable careers over uncertainty.

I'll close with, let's build.

Yeah.

Welcome.

Thank you.

If I could get you to do me a favor and bring that microphone right to your mouth when you when you go to speak, okay.

Okay.

I've handed you research that I'll be using to speak with you with sources cited.

My sources are all legitimate sources, such as National Wildlife Federation and Science and Environmental Health Network.

This research includes data centers on closed loop systems and is all research from 2024 to 2026.

The air around a data center is not the same air you grew up breathing.

Diesel backup generators, which these facilities require by the dozens or hundreds, release fine particulate matter and nitrogen oxides linked to asthma, heart disease, and respiratory illness.

Those generators emit 200 to 600 times more nitrogen oxides than natural gas.

Even closed loop systems require substantial water to fill and cool.

Up to 90% of that water comes from surface or groundwater, the same sources that our tap water comes from.

Most of it evaporates into the cooling towers and never comes back.

Sleep disruption, chronic stress, and hearing loss are not hypotheticals.

They are documented outcomes in other communities that have said yes before they understood what they were saying yes to.

In a September 2025 study done by Environmental Health Project, they found that air pollutants from data center operations increase rates of respiratory diseases and cardiovascular conditions and elevate cancer risks among nearby communities.

The dormant commerce clause, article one, section eight, clause three, which the mayor had talked about prior of the U.S.

Constitution prohibits states and cities from discriminating against out of state businesses unless the restriction is to protect local health, safety, or public interest.

I don't feel as though anyone who has taken the time to research the data these data centers are doing to other communities would approve going forward with them and ours.

We will be voting against anyone who does not support the m moratorium.

Thank you.

Please.

Welcome.

Uh my name is Benjamin Frias, uh Ward 3.

Um, I am against the moratorium.

Um in 2020, the refinery here in town closed five units and switched to biodiesel.

And my jobs was one of the ones I got lost along with over 80 other members.

Um, to make up for that loss, I hit the road just like everybody else.

I was 21 at the time.

I still chose to make shine in my home.

And I'm a big proponent of local workforce building these.

On our job side alone, the mechanical piping at the meta job site has been done by 95% of people who live here.

And if we don't have jobs like someone like me, most of the people my age that were in the trade, they live in Texas, Oklahoma, and other states that said yes to the booms or had local work.

Nobody bats an eye when the refinery has a turnaround and the parking lot is filled with Oklahoma and Texas plates.

Nobody says anything about a local workforce.

Nobody cares that there's gonna be a golden copper mine just south of the dam where our drinking water is right now.

There's no uproar over that, but when I have a job where I can be home and start my family here in town that you want to impose a moratorium on, I don't think it's fair.

And I speak on behalf of many other people who couldn't be here tonight because they have to take care of families because of the fear that they might not be able to.

So I am a no on the moratorium.

I understand the environmental concerns.

But as someone who works out there and pumps glycol into these systems and very little water, I can assure you that it is a closed loop system.

It is evaporators catching the water that does leave.

These systems are tried and tested everywhere.

And we need to stop listening to Facebook and TikTok about things that are going on and actually get on the boots, boots on the ground and look at what's going on.

Thank you.

Sir, welcome.

Hello, my name is Adam.

I'm a resident of Thomas Heights.

Uh I also work with not necessarily data centers, but I work on servers or acts and things the size of just a truck, let alone those things just that size alone cause hearing damage, noxis gases.

We're literally getting compensation for just working around something that small is the size of a truck.

Nothing that any of these data centers can do can possibly benefit the local community long term in any way, shape or form.

Permanent residents that will actually be around once these things are actually done being built, we'll get no benefit.

Everyone here, everyone in this room that's actually opposing this moratorium that's in favor of these data centers, are literally being paid to do so in one way, shape or form or another.

Everyone that's working on this, we may have some permanent resident, we may have some residents that are here, but as soon as these are completely done and finished and they're completely done and go, they will be gone.

They are transient residents at the end of the day.

Eventually they will leave.

They will not have to deal with the consequences that these data centers are gonna cause the local community.

If we actually were do full local residents and focal local workers, we would not need these man camps.

We've not need thousands and thousands of people coming in to deal with these.

These transient workers will eventually leave the permanent residents will actually have to pay for and deal with the consequences.

The data centers aren't needed for what people are talking about.

It's not just for AI, it's not just for meta, it's not just for Facebook.

That's all working perfectly fine.

We don't need that.

That's all running, that's all up and good.

We don't need that.

The China argument is BS.

We're already beating them 10 to 1.

We have over 5,000 lamps less than 500.

It's a nonsense argument to begin with, but again, we're already winning.

The end of the day, this will not hurt.

You guys are here, well, men and women, sorry, are all here to vote for your constituency.

You're here to represent us.

The permanent residents, by and large, do not want these data centers.

And at the end of the day, we're the ones that you're being held accountable to.

You're the ones that are supposed to actually represent us.

Not at least training workers, not at least labor unions, not all these people are literally being paid to be here.

So I please ask you to approve this moratorium.

This moratorium can actually stand and you can actually enforce it and you actually approve of it, and you can actually get behind it, then we can go ahead and wait a year and stand behind it and actually vet it.

And if you actually strongly oppose it or in favor of it that much, then it can go ahead and wait and it'll come back around and then you can go for it.

Then thank you.

Sir.

Good evening.

My name is Matthew Miles.

I'm a journeyman pipe fitter, pipe welder with United Association local UDM 192 Fayette, Wyoming.

Not my main point, but I would like to say in the short bit of research I have done, I can give you three actual cases of data centers being alleged to have released chemicals into their local environment.

Out of these three cases, only one of them may pass the elegation phase, and that one case barely made it to a settlement.

If we were so worried about chemicals in our local environment, we wouldn't have a Sinclair refinery in town.

I've worked refineries most of my career before I came to data centers.

I know what chemicals are in there.

It's a lot worse than what we're putting in the data center.

The point I would like to get to is in regards to local workers.

Most of these men here representing local union 192.

I met in South Dakota.

Our jurisdiction covers the entire state of Wyoming, half of South Dakota and part of Nebraska.

And until Meta ramped up and brought all of us home, all of these guys from Casper, Cheyenne, South Greeley, uh Laramie, and other parts of this state were in a completely other state, away from their families, away from anybody they cared to share life with, trying to earn money to support not just their family, but the town they live in.

Because believe it or not, we pay property taxes and we pay local sales taxes wherever we go.

We don't just get breaks.

At the end of the day, this moratorium will only achieve one thing, and that is it will force these companies to find somewhere else that doesn't care about what the locals think or which locals want to stay home and have jobs and stay with their families.

It's not gonna force these companies to reconsider anything.

All it will do is hurt our local workers that you see here tonight.

Thank you.

Sir, welcome.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor, members of the council.

My name is Jeff Pope.

I'm a partner with the law firm of Holland and Hart, but I'm actually here wearing a different hat.

I am the chairman of the board of directors of Cheyenne Leeds.

As I've reflected on the data center debate here tonight, and frankly, that we've had internally at Leeds and across a broader spectrum, a saying has come to mind.

Fear is easy, hope is hard.

Fear is where we are right now.

It is the ask to impose a moratorium, to ignore data from the Board of Public Utilities, to reach for the conspiracy to claim that everyone who maybe wants economic development in Cheyenne is a paid agent.

The problem with the moratorium is it's a blunt instrument.

Long has Wyoming governed without those.

We've used scalpels when necessary.

Because although a blunt instrument at the end of the day is incredibly effective, it'll destroy the bad that may come with data centers and the companies who may not have the residents' best interests in mind, but it will also destroy the good.

It will destroy the good that Microsoft has done for our community.

It will destroy the good that Meta has done for our community, and it will destroy the good that other potential companies also will do for our community.

Now, the corollary of fear is that idea of hope.

They formed Cheyenne Leeds.

They gathered money from the community and they bought a plot of land in the hope that someday we could bring a business there where that would grow our economy.

And over the last 40 years, Cheyenne Leeds has brought a slew of businesses that have raised the standard of living in Cheyenne, that has brought amenities, jobs, to a bunch of different types of workers.

And we did so not because we took all comers, but because we were selective.

And what underlies the debate we're having tonight and will long in the future have is this idea that we're just taking comers.

We're not.

And there are a host of data center developers that Cheyenne Leeds says, no, thanks.

You don't fit our community.

It's the scalpel.

We don't take the club because we realize that the way Cheyenne thrives is hoping, believing, and having faith that as a community we can make the right selection.

Moratorium prevents us from doing that.

Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

Sir.

Welcome.

Thank you so much.

My name's Dominic Syracuse.

I am a speaker and positive psychologist.

Most people know me as a comedian.

Unfortunately, nothing I have to say today is at all funny or positive.

I have spent the last two years traveling the country, going to colleges, such as Georgia Tech, USC, Indiana State University, leading a workshop called Staying Human in the Age of AI.

This has allowed me to work with a lot of pioneers in the space of AI and creators of artificial intelligence.

And whether folks are enthusiastic about it or against it, one thing that we've all agreed on is this is the first time in our lifetime that we have based an actual existential threat.

So I am for this moratorium on a moral standpoint that I think everybody needs to hear in this room, regardless of whether you are for it and it's making you money or against it.

Jeffrey Hinton, the godfather of AI, has given artificial intelligence a one in five chance of creating human extinction.

This is what all of uh the AI experts call the alignment problem.

Ultimately, AI is advancing at twice the rate of Moore's Law, which means every two months, AI's capabilities double.

Data centers and mass production of data centers make that actually happen faster.

Most people in the space of AI experts are saying that by 2029, artificial intelligence will surpass human intelligence.

That means that if we continue data center building rapidly, once it surpasses our intelligence, it will double and then triple and then quadruple.

To quote Stephen Hawking, he said by 2040, human intelligence will be compared to ants as far as artificial intelligence.

And again, to quote Jeffrey Hinton, the godfather of AI, there is no instance in nature where a less intelligent creature can control a more intelligent creature.

So that said, we are facing a severe existential threat.

And until we have answers for the alignment problem, I believe there should be a moratorium on data centers nationally entirely.

However, we don't have that.

I have the opportunity to try to stop it for about a year until we can get more research in and try to handle these problems.

But unfortunately, these are real problems we have to face.

And in my opinion, it's the most dire situation of our lifetime.

Everybody in this room and everybody alive right now is faced with something that has never been uh experienced before.

And to quote Einstein, human beings are actually less intelligent than mice because mice would never invent a mouse trap.

And with that, I yield my time.

Welcome.

Hello, my name is Michelle Cobb.

I'm a resident of Cheyenne.

And I think the reason why we should have a moratorium is for this right here.

Right to your face.

Sorry.

Is for all of the people in this room right now who are getting unanswered questions.

There has to be a moratorium so that we know exactly what is coming into our properties in Cheyenne.

We're hearing rumors of 70 plus data centers on the books coming to Cheyenne.

And that's on Facebook.

So we need a moratorium so that we can get more answers and more clarity.

And I would like to say that I have I work in the construction industry.

I have supplied these data centers, including Meta, and I have made money off of these.

However, we need to stop, we need to slow down.

We need to slow down and make sure that none of these are going to be in our populated areas.

We need a big buffer zone because a lot of our open areas in Cheyenne are being pegged for rezoning, and the rezoning has got a lot of us in an uproar.

So the moratorium is necessary so that your citizens of Cheyenne can get the answers that they deserve on all of these questions.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Yes, ma'am.

Hi there.

My name is Paige Russell.

Um I am standing here tonight to ask you to seriously consider a pause on any further data center construction approvals and applications.

Through multiple meetings from the city council to the Laramie County Planning Commissions, residents have repeatedly raised concerns.

Yet at nearly every stage of these concerns have been dismissed as unfounded or unwarranted.

Well, basic questions remain unanswered.

If these hyperscale data centers have truly been planned for years, then why has the city failed to prepare the infrastructure needed to support them?

Why has there not been a stronger push for housing development when Cheyenne has struggled with housing shortages for more than a decade?

I don't want to tell union workers that these this they don't need these jobs.

But why does the South side have to deal with the problem that this city presented us with and then force us to argue with the union workers about what they need?

If this is our new reality, then we need regulations now.

Not years from now after the damage is already done.

We need stronger protection surrounding noise, light pollution, environmental impacts, water usage, and the strain that these facilities place on our community infrastructure.

Growth without planning is not reasonable development.

The people of Cheyenne deserve transparency, accountability, and safeguards before more projects move forward.

I'm specifically just going to address like noise.

The Environmental and Energy Institute showed a study in March 2026 that reported that communities are raising concerns regarding data centers.

In 2014, residents in Chandler, Arizona noticed a low whine after a data center was built.

The residents complained, tried using nose canceling headphones, soundproofing equipment, and more to stop the noise that they reported lasted 24-7.

Never ending low drone all day and all night coming from the data centers.

The closest house is about 7.7 miles from the data center in Channel, Chandler, Arizona.

Here in Cheyenne, Project Cosmo by Meta is 0.1 miles to the nearest house in Bison Crossing.

I encourage you all to come to my neighborhood in Winchester Hill is walk around and see how close the data centers are.

One of the odd parks of the valley in the plains that we live in is that you can hear the noise travel.

There's nothing to block the noise.

There's no trees, there's no buildings.

So someone who's talking, one of my neighbors a mile away, I can hear them as if they are outside of my house.

So this new tall grass data center that's being built.3 miles from my house, I'm sure I'll have to compete with them for sound alongside Project Osmo.

I expect the city has a noise ordinance regarding 80 decibel meters.

A study by the CC Tech group found that noise levels near data center servers often exceed 90 decibels.

It's comparable to heavy traffic.

In September 2025, Councilwoman Aldrich told Wyoming News Now that we don't want it to turn into a speedway or have it to where people can't sit out in their yards and decks and enjoy no enjoy their coffee and not be able to carry on a conversation because of the loud noises going by.

If this disruption is unacceptable in the city, why is it acceptable in the county?

A global study done in 2025 suggests that there are several ways to reduce data center impacts on our environment and our communities.

Um I encourage you to stand with the people of Cheyenne and the surrounding county.

If our concerns continue to be ignored, many residents will continue to question why they should continue to support you at the ballot box.

Please.

Hi, Nick Hatton.

Just bring that right up.

There you go.

Yeah, I'm gonna have to correct no matter what.

Um I uh live in war two, and uh I'm here in your name, sir.

Nick Hatton.

Uh I'm here in support of the data center moratorium.

Um, I think that data centers present a lot of health hazards and uh a threat to property value for people who own homes near data centers.

Um, the outcomes for people's health when they live near data centers is dramatically reduced.

Um, they show greater signs of respiratory and heart issues.

They show signs of heightened anxiety and other mental disorders because of the constant noise.

And um, they are generally miserable when they live near data centers.

We've known this for over a decade with all the Bitcoin mines that have gone in in the last 15 or 20 years.

The people who live near those are also miserable, and that's essentially the same thing.

It's a big warehouse full of GPUs.

Um, and surprise, surprise, no one really wants to buy a home that is near a giant warehouse that makes you physically ill.

So um, you know, the people who built their homes out there in the prairie 20 years ago, I guess they made a mistake building it next to the data center shaped hole on the ground.

But um, you know, if we go through with building all these data centers without looking at the damage, then we tell those people that sorry you shouldn't have done that in you know the mid-2000s, build your dream home or whatever out there.

And uh that'd be a pretty awful thing to say to those people.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Good evening, mayor, members of the council.

My name is Patricia McCoy, and like many of my neighbors here, I am in support of the data center moratorium.

I'm not saying no completely to all data centers.

I'm asking for common sense in this situation.

We're paying attention and we're tired of watching a process where the community and its representatives are treated as an afterthought.

A pause is a responsible protective measure.

It gives our city staff and our council members the necessary time to study the cumulative impacts on our community while also allowing for proper planning, which is previously mentioned by other citizens at prior meetings has not been updated as it was legally required to be.

We need clear, heavy regulations and strict guidelines, not corporate exemptions.

We talk about trade jobs, okay?

Let's talk trades then.

What about the local smaller trade companies like Simpson Electric?

What about them?

They can't hire and maintain employees, local tradesmen, because they can't afford to pay nearly what Meta and Microsoft can afford to pay these people.

So not only are they losing employees to Meta and Microsoft, they can't hire new employees because of Meta and Microsoft.

And now they're being booked out for months and losing out on jobs and money because they don't have the employees to keep the jobs going.

Anybody concerned for them or just the ones working for Meta and Microsoft?

Just want to clear that up.

Sorry.

To be clear, we are not asking you to stop all data centers.

We are standing here asking you how many is too many.

How many can Cheyenne honestly accommodate?

And what regulations are you putting in place to protect your citizens with each one being built and run in our community?

Why are these facilities getting closer and closer to our neighborhoods like mine?

And why are homes instead instead of and our homes instead of being outside the city?

We are watching, we're tired of this happening, and then being brought to us at the last moment where we all have to rush in here and try and tell you guys, no, this isn't what we want, just for things to go and move forward anyway.

It's frustrating.

You say that you want to do better at communication.

Here's your opportunity.

It's your chance to take 12 months to communicate with your citizens and tell them here is the factual information that we have been given.

Here are the regulations and guidelines that we are putting in place.

And here is how we are going to protect you.

How we're going to protect our local businesses as well as the new businesses trying to come in.

Thank you.

Sir.

Hello.

My name's Sean Broad.

I am currently an employee at Microsoft, and I assure you I was not paid to be here.

Um I'm also a graduate from Cheyenne Central High School and LCC.

Uh I grew up in this community and I immediately left it because I didn't see a future in this community for jobs.

If we keep denying industry partners, our youth will continue to leave the state and make money elsewhere.

Uh that being said, obviously I oppose the moratorium.

And I believe that we need to continue to build and continue to keep our workers here at home.

And build a better community overall.

I went through the Data Center Academy, a program that was founded and sponsored by Microsoft.

A direct investment in your community.

Uh I'm not going to take too much more of your time, but I appreciate you listening to me.

Heather.

Yes, thank you.

Before my time starts, I just want to give everybody on the council this information.

Mr.

Mayor, might we take a short break?

Do you need one, sir?

Hold on.

I think we might all benefit from just stretching our legs.

Why don't we uh what time is it now?

It's 8 36, so let's take a um a break for 14 minutes and come back at uh 8 50.

Would that be okay?

How do we give us a h do we give us a hug Well, let's call the meeting back to order.

Ladies and gentlemen, please.

Ladies and gentlemen, please.

Thank you very much.

Heather, I think you have the floor.

Um hello, Heather Madrid Ward 1.

Um, since 2021, Cheyenne has seen an explosive data center development while economic growth brings benefits.

The approval process has raised legitimate concerns regarding transparency, public input, and accountability.

In 2022, and as you all have all these evidence, um, the city amended the unified development code and classified data centers as permitted by right.

This permitted by right status allows data centers to bypass public hearings and minimize permitting and review processes.

City staff reports from June 6th and June 13th explicitly stated that more comprehensive comprehensive revisions requiring broader community input would be undertaken in the future.

That did not happen, and we have lost our voice.

These local changes work in tandem with state level strategies.

The city has repeatedly taken advantage of these strategies that limit oversight and fast track projects.

The city intends to take advantage again with the proposed Microsoft expansion by anchoring just 200 acres in an existing business park, the city will attempt to justify annexing and rezoning over 3,000 additional acres of agricultural land into the existing park.

This will allow the proposed Microsoft expansion to qualify for partial exemptions under the Wyoming Industrial Siding Act and bypass the cumulative studies on the environment, the economy, and the well-being of the community.

The mayor has cited a lack of staff expertise to perform these exact studies, which have been intentionally bypassed as a reason to oppose a moratorium and justify continued approvals without pause.

Additionally, strong ethics policies are particularly important giving the intersection of private financial interests and public decision-making power.

Data center projects involve substantial private investment while depending on public actions, including annexations and zoning decisions.

Clear conflict of interest disclosures and recusals require requirements help ensure public decisions prioritize the public interest.

Unfortunately, the council voted down such an ethics ordinance on July 10th, 2023.

Finally, many projects have advanced through non-disclosure agreements and closed door negotiat negotiations.

Mayor Collins publicly acknowledged that the Meta Data Center groundbreaking and at the recent Ward 1 coffee with council that he has signed an NDA with SHIEL, which demonstrates why residents frequently learn of major developments after commitments have already been made.

Your time is up.

Thank you.

Yes, ma'am.

My name is Tamara Watts.

I uh never talk at anything like this, but ever since I started seeing the meta center going south of me, I live uh around Orchard Valley.

We moved out there 30 years ago because there was nothing to the west of us.

Now we have a power station that goes all the way down from college all the way down to where the medicine is, you know, going up now.

Um, we have no more antelope, no more, you know, nothing wild out there anymore.

They put a they put a big hill up there, okay.

I think the one thing that is bothering people here tonight is that all of a sudden we have all this all these things happening, and nobody knew.

I did not know anything about this until they until they started building, and then I had to ask what was going on, and now you guys are talking about bringing in all these the this this man camp, and and I know that's probably another another subject, but that you know, but a lot of these people, me included, we did not know anything about this until it was already in, you know, it until it was already going.

So I think that's why a lot of people are upset because nobody asked us, you know.

Um, at one time I could go to my backyard, I could telescope out, and I could actually see things up in the sky.

Now I can't because there's a stupid light poking up my way, and I cannot get anything in the night sky like I used to.

And I thought that's what Wyoming was supposed to be like, not what's going on now.

Thank you.

Thank you, ma'am.

Welcome.

Thank you.

Good evening, community and council members.

My name is Stacey Leach.

I am speaking tonight in support of the moratorium and in opposition of the additional of any additional data centers in Laramie County.

We are told that the data centers coming to our community are safe, that they use closed loop cooling systems, the magical phrase meant to imply that water is sealed, recycled, and harmless.

Since only about 10% of current U.S.

data centers use unproven closed loop cooling technology, we have no way to know if it's safe.

We are not living in a laboratory.

We are real people living in a real community.

As the demand for data increases, the sheer volume of heat produced forces these systems to operate on the edge of failure to keep the servers from melting.

They must bleed the lines, releasing concentrated chemical salts and biocides into our environment.

To prevent corrosion in these systems, operators add harsh chemicals, biocides to stop algae, and corrosion inhibitors that often contain heavy metals.

When they bleed the systems to remove this buildup, it frequently carries nitrites, glycol, and heavy metals at thousands of times the limit set for surface waters.

This isn't a closed loop, it's a slow motion environmental hazard.

Furthermore, these systems create a warm, stagnant and wet environment, perfect for incubator for legionella bacteria.

If maintenance fails or if the valves leak, bacteria can be aerosolized, creating a high risk of legionnaires disease, a deadly form of pneumonia into our community.

The massive amount of electrical electricity required for these facilities, even with water cooling, requires huge generators for backup.

These generators are admit particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide, which impact the developing lungs of our children and cause severe respiratory issues.

A health study entitled Health Implications of the Rapid Rise of Data Centers in Virginia, an exploratory assessment, and another, the unpaid toll estimating and addressing the public health impact of data centers show that by 2028, pollution from the data centers could cause 600,000 new cases of pneumonia or asthma, 1300 premature deaths, as well as many other morbidity outcomes with these health impacts unevenly distributed to areas with a greater number of data centers.

This is not abstract data.

This is a direct threat to the air our families breathe.

Further studies of noise pollution emanating from data centers, even when mitigated with barriers, has shown to cause additional damage, including anxiety, depression, stress, sleep deprivation, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease.

Closed loop is a marketing term, not a health guarantee.

We cannot allow our community to be the dumping ground for chemical aid and wastewater, toxic air emissions, and never-ending noise pollution.

We need to demand transparency, stricter enforcement, and better non-water intensive cooling technology.

We need to stop these projects until they can prove they won't make us sick unless you are willing to take responsibility for the adverse health outcomes for the people in our community.

Thank you.

Ma'am.

My name is Elizabeth Marvin.

I live on the south side of town and past the city lines.

Um I live in the Willow Pond neighborhood.

My husband and I bought the house in 2017.

We're military.

We got moved around a lot.

I fought, I'm not as articulate as some of these other speakers.

I'm so sorry.

Um, I fought tooth and nail to get back to Wyoming.

Because I grew up here.

Sorry.

And then as soon as I got back, I learned that there were data centers going in south of city limits, south of my neighborhood.

We already don't have the Wyoming that I grew up with.

We don't.

We don't have the bird populations, we don't have the antelope populations, we don't have the insect population that we did that I grew up with.

I'm only 30.

There's no reason that these things have left that should have left.

We're in a migration corridor.

They should still be using our areas to go from north to south.

And Wyoming has always been tied to industry.

We know this, right?

Copper, gold, toll, the railroad, agriculture, uranium.

We've had all of the industries, and every single boom has left.

Jeffrey City only lasted for 12 years.

They got 12 years of boom.

They got big enough to support an Olympic-sized swimming pool and then ran away from the radiation.

I've spent months in the archives researching all of these things, and it's it it.

There are parallels that are dangerous.

There are parallels that are scary.

We're scared.

Your constituents, the people who put you in your position are terrified.

That should mean something.

It should mean more than whatever GDP growth we could have.

We can't sustain eternal growth forever.

And I'm pro-trade, I'm pro-union.

I'm trying to talk my kids into trades.

They're good jobs.

Jobs now is not worth what it's gonna cost us if we lose our Wyoming.

The thing that makes us special and different than the rest of the country, we can't get it back.

We don't want to be Silicone Valley.

Thank you.

Ma'am.

Welcome.

Hi, Hannah Jackson, and just for the record, it's H-A-N-N-A.

Uh Ward 3.

Um, I don't have a list drawn out, but I just want to say I spent some time since last week's meeting trying to research things that were said.

Um, Mayor, you said that BOPU has done research on the sustainability of the water for these data centers and stuff, yet I search and search and I can't find it.

Um, us as constituents shouldn't have to spend hours upon hours upon hours to find something, and this is not something that we're just now bringing to you.

I do know that people have brought it to everybody a little bit and a little bit and a little bit, but it seems like nothing's being done.

If what we want is information, we're not none of us are saying outright no data centers, I don't believe.

We want it to be safeguarded, and we're not seeing what those safeguards are.

No one's publishing it.

So this has been brought up over and over yet.

There's no frequently asked questions posting.

Here's our safeguards.

Here's what we have in practice.

This is what they have to go through.

These are the checks and balances we have.

So we're asking for information and we're still not seeing it publicized so that people have it.

And to me, that's a fail.

We just want information, and this moratorium gives us time to get that to us so that we all can be informed.

We're all here for the trades.

No one wants to lose their Wyoming or lose their job.

And we are in a corridor.

We're in a corridor of A business, we have two interstates, and B, we're in a corridor, like the lady said for wildlife.

We should respect both.

And I think there's a compromise there to be had.

But if your constituents want info, where's the info being provided?

We need that info provided, and that's all I think we're asking is you to provide it.

Um let's not be the rabbit or the hare and the tortoise.

We don't want to be the hare.

Let's be the tortoise that checks our stuff and make sure, and then we cross the finish line safe for our future generations as well.

Thank you.

Hello, sir.

I'm Richard Lyle.

I live in Cheyenne.

I'm opposed to this moratorium because moratorium will not slow down the growth of the technology of uh AI.

It's just gonna drive it offshore outside of the United States.

And this technology is very powerful, it's growing fast, and it's affecting all of our lives.

And we should have the technology here, that's more importantly the people who know this technology here to protect us from abuse or government overreach or whatever, things like uh facial recognition technology that's used by law enforcement, they uh there's a private company, um, clear view AI, they have in their uh clouds approximately 20 billion facial images, so trillions of pixels.

It's resulted in thousands of criminals being arrested.

On the other hand, in China, they use facial recognition technology to control their people, they have a social credit system which measures whether somebody is loyal to the regime, and on that basis they get a job, an apartment, or education.

So we need people here who we can trust who will be able to help us control that.

I know a student who's in the uh going into his senior year at UW, majoring in computer science.

He is worried that when he graduates next year, he's where is he gonna work?

He doesn't know, and I'm afraid he might not be able to get a job in Wyoming, and he would he wants a job where he can maybe start a family and support himself.

Um, too many of the jobs in Cheyenne, you know, tourism is great, but it does pay enough to start a family.

Um is he gonna get a job in Cheyenne, or is he gonna get a job elsewhere?

Um, you know, we have our hopes, but just remember the technology's gonna go on, it's not a data center is not one, you know, set it and forget it.

It has a year uh about every five years, there's a new generation of computers, like NCAR went from Cheyenne to Yosemite to Dereco, and now that one's kind of old, and they're going to get another one.

It is changing.

So I have more to say, but you don't have my time.

Thank you, Richard.

Sir, welcome.

Matt Donis.

Um, you know, I just want to say a couple things.

Uh, Dr.

Mark Rennie, 28 years.

You didn't even look at that man when he was talking for the most part.

So shame on you, in my opinion.

26 years, Patrick Collins, mayor.

Um, you did.

You intently listened, and I've watched you twice that I've been here intently listened to every word out of everybody's mouth.

And I think that means something.

But what I did do was a little bit of research because I couldn't help but think for a second who you guys work for.

And between the mayor and uh Dr.

Mark Rennie, 54 years of civil um servant, and thank you both because I'm sure you've done a lot of good, a lot.

But I'd also, I also wonder have you ever had a room like this?

You have.

So these are the moments because these people, they vote you in.

A lot of people sitting up here right now have been in here for years.

Just chilling.

You're pretty secure, right?

You ain't going nowhere.

Not going to be voted out.

I think our community wants your attention.

They're asking for one year.

And to the union workers, the jobs are going.

We know what's up.

There's workplaces.

I hear you.

I'm blue collar worker.

I know what you're talking about, been there, was oil filled for seven years.

I traveled to Vernal, worked in the DJ Basin.

I know what that's about, so I do have sympathy for that.

But your residents are, they're real concerned.

So I would just listen to them.

I'm gonna close on uh, oh yeah, and I support the moratorium.

Um if you cannot uh support the ordinance tonight, I request a postponement of this conversation pending an investigation by the National Labor Relations Board and to the local union members who stated that the moratorium will never work because the thousands of us building data centers are organizing lists of businesses these people work at or own, and none of us are spending a cent there.

It's all being put together currently by a nominated group.

Is that good?

Is that okay?

I don't think it is.

Somebody ought to look into that.

Those people shouldn't be doing business that way or talking that way on Facebook.

They should be way more professional, in my opinion.

It is illegal for unions to organize secondary boycotts.

This is also interference with employment rights and crosses the line into coercion.

This is also interference with contract and antitrust violations.

As long as private citizens and local businesses are being intimidated and bulleting, bullied into silence.

I don't see how this council can, in good conscience, vote down the ordinance.

Thank you.

Welcome, sir.

Thank you for having me.

That'll be really hard to follow.

My name is Jordan Cooper.

Um, I'm a resident of Cheyenne for the past eight years, but lived in Wyoming my whole life.

I have a bachelor's degree in computer science.

I was a software engineer for three years and have been a systems analyst for the past four years.

And unlike my fellow workers on this side of the aisle, I'm also a union member, although I'm an industrial union member and not a part of the AFL CIO.

And I believe my union might actually predate the AFL CIO.

Um I'm here to strongly support the moratorium and don't think it even goes far enough.

Umward, when I say data centers, I'm gonna distinguish between AI, I'm gonna specifically refer to AI data centers instead of cloud data centers, and meta, the metadata center here is a cloud data center, of course.

Uh, one argument against the environmental impacts of data centers is the closed loop cooling talking point.

On May 9th of this year, it was reported that Georgia residents abruptly lost water pressure for a significant period of time.

After they complained to their utility, an analysis discovered that one of their data centers sucked up 30 million gallons of water without any foresight.

Assuming the billionaires here that control our data centers decide not to do the same thing, then we still have to worry about the sludge that these data centers regularly purge into the environment.

When AI data centers run at full throughput, and they all do, uh, they accumulate this sludge that contains so-called forever chemicals, which are PFAs among others.

Uh coincidentally, on May 18th, the EPA announced a proposal to rescind regulations on PFAs in our drinking water.

I wonder if there's a coincidence there.

Um, another talking point I've heard is that our data centers will have a minimal impact on utility rates by utilizing on-site gas turbine generators.

If you think these are a good idea, I urge you to look up what's happening around Memphis, Tennessee right now with Elon Musk's X AI data center, which uses methane turbine generators.

Uh additionally, analysis by the group More Perfect Union.

Discovered that utilities and tech companies frequently negotiate confidentially with one another.

In Louisiana, a utility proposed a $3 billion dollar plan for a new power plant that would meet the demands of their meta data center.

Redacted regulatory filings revealed that the data center, or sorry, that the public rate payer is on the hook for 50% of the costs of building that facility, despite the fact that Meta could easily cover it.

Um to my fellow workers on this side of the room.

The middle class is dying, and AI data centers will not revive it.

If you want to have a if you want to work for the sake of working and have jobs for the sake of jobs, let's have some productive industries coming here, like high-speed rail, state-owned housing, you know, things like that.

Things that would positively impact the community.

Um, is there a way I would support data centers?

Absolutely, if they were taken out of the hands of billionaires who own them and put into the hands of the workers who built them.

Thank you, sir.

Sir, welcome.

Mr.

Mayor, Council members, my name is John Narva, Ward 2.

Uh, I may know some of you, I may not know all of you.

Um, but I stand here literally hat in hand, humbly speaking before you, telling you for 30 years I've bled for this city.

I'm a retired firefighter.

I was the fire marshal, I was the operations chief.

I currently am the executive director of the Wyoming Emergency Preparedness Foundation, and this is in my ballywick.

I'm not an expert in data centers, and I do miss my Wyoming from 30 and 50 and 60 years ago.

It's gone.

I wish it wasn't, but it's gone.

But I can tell you 30 years of bleeding for this city, and frankly, sometimes holding the elected officials' feet to the fire, as the fire marshal for the city, making sure that staff did do the due diligence on issues, making sure it happened, and we provided the council with information, valid, solid information.

I've worked extensively with BOPU.

I know the quality of the work, the quality of our water, the stability of our system.

I know that our infrastructure can handle this.

I know that 50% of all electricity is lost in the transmission.

I know Wyoming generates right here ample energy to power these systems, and it's a better use for Cheyenne, it's a better use for Wyoming to keep our energy right here and use it in industry that we handle, that we manage and control.

So I'm sorry, I'm passionate about this because growth is coming, growth is here, growth is gonna continue to be here.

I tell you I stand humbly with my hat because I like you pledged allegiance at the start with the reminder that we're a republic, and we voted you all to represent us and make the best decisions, and I trust you in that, and I've been here long enough, and I've got my finger on the pulse, I think.

I talk to a lot of people, I know a lot of people, and they trust you.

Okay, just because you might not hear that everyone trusts you, I'm asking you to trust me.

I hear that they trust you, they do want you to express well.

People don't always know what happens behind closed doors, what staff does for you, but I know what happens, and so I am opposed to the moratorium and thank you for your time.

Thank you, sir.

Sir, welcome.

Chris Margo, Ward 2.

Um, I just want to say I support uh moratorium just for the simple fact that, you know, I think uh you could take these 12 months just to give comfort to your constituents.

That's all they're asking for.

You know, I don't think they're 100% against these data centers.

They just want comfort.

They're not given that.

They're not getting their questions answered.

You know, you know.

Let's, you know, do your due diligence, provide them that comfort.

Um, that's pretty short and sweet.

So my kind of testimony.

Thank you, sir.

Ma'am, welcome.

Thank you.

Can you hear okay?

We can't.

Thank you.

I'm Anne Doma.

And um, this is how I see it.

That you guys are the pimps prostituting our resources to entities that use them for their benefit, not ours, but it's good for our economy.

We get vistas of dystopian structures pulsing red at night, but we can use this renewable energy with a subscription.

We get to see the ugly stars of mining right next to I 80.

Oops, no, we can't.

They've created a berm to block the view bonus.

We get all the dust blown our way from whatever they're doing, and I don't know how to figure out how they're doing what they're doing.

And now you're planning a low an Olympic-sized data center build that is heavily reliant upon water and power, and just like the Olympics, when it's completed, the remnants will be left to the community to support.

What safeguards are in place to ensure water resources, water sources are not contaminated?

Will they be upheld?

Like others here.

I wonder what happens to the water in those closed loop systems when they're flushed.

Where will it go?

Will it be discreetly taken somewhere to be disposed of and to become someone else's problem?

Will it be pumped out into the backyard?

What are our laws concerning this?

What happens if a leak occurs and the water source is contaminated?

Do we have ways to monitor this?

What are the repercussions, if any?

And then I wonder how much dirty electricity and EMFs will be produced by these centers.

How far do they travel?

What are the potential health effects to humans, animals, plant life?

From an earlier testimony, one woman said that she doesn't see as much as many as much wildlife around, where she used to see an abundance of it.

That's concerning to me.

And then from my limited research, I have learned bioelect well, I have learned that EMFs play a role in what is called entropic waste, disruptive forces that introduce chaos to the bioelectric information system within ourselves.

This is taken from an RFSafe.com article.

Um, entitled Beyond Vaccines Why Electromagnetic Fields or EMFs are the unseen disruptors of bioelectric harmony.

That sounds pretty alarming to me.

I would think that if you're truly concerned about our health and well-being, you would be aware of this, do your own independent research and publish the results for the community to see so we know what we are engaging in.

What do we require of them in order for them to do business in our city-state?

How are people protected against potential harm?

I think these things are necessary to iron out, be understood, and have in place before we move forward in this direction if we even do.

Thank you.

Sir, welcome back.

Oh.

Oh, I'm back again.

Um mayor and the city council.

Um, listen to these people talking to yourself just white.

What's that?

Identify yourself.

Yeah.

Tell us your name.

Thomas White.

There you go.

Yeah, that's okay.

Uh I listen to these people and so forth.

Uh, mayor and city council.

You know, these people that work here, yeah, they're they come to work here temporary and so forth.

Some of them want to stay here and work, yes, but that's temporary.

But we live here, and this is our home.

I got involved with data center because I live south of town off Terra Ranch Road when they start building that data center.

I didn't know nothing about that.

So I start doing more research, and it's starting to intervene.

My son lives in Orchard Valley.

Got that uh Facebook, the lights at is bleaming there at night.

Now then I think I hear these people talking about the data center with electrodes and so forth.

It's like x-ray, radiation.

We can't see it, we don't know what's coming, and we don't know uh, you know, it's just disrupting.

I mean, it disrupt.

I lost a neighbor that's gonna lose the neighbor because he said there's a data center.

He's moving.

You know, we you got to think about us here that lived here most of our lives.

These data centers are invading in our in our country.

I read somewhere that other countries don't have that many data centers.

United States is one that has most status center in the world here in data center.

How many more data centers are we gonna have in Cheyenne?

You know, my father-in-law, he used to work in manufacturers, does all that computer technology?

He read where the scientists are worried, could they control that data center, the AI, before it crosses that red line?

They don't know when that's gonna happen.

Those things we gotta worry about, the future, what's gonna happen.

Yeah, there's future uh updating a lot of stuff in data center.

The other things I heard was sometimes data centers go down and they go away, you know, and we're gonna have an empty building.

There's a lot of things to consider that we need to do.

Just not I I agree we need another year and study what's going on, and they corporation, they could lie to us.

I don't, I don't trust corporate.

Mean being as native, you know what we went through as our people?

We trusted the government and look where we are now.

Now, this is today.

We gotta look uh look out for ourselves, and we gotta take care of ourselves.

We live here, we live here in Cheyenne.

I live south of China.

I come and shop here, you know, and I listen to you.

I have a lot of respect for, you know, the mayor and the city council.

I just hopefully you guys make the right decision and listen to your people that live in Cheyenne.

How many people have been here?

A lot of people don't know about the data center, they are out there.

This place would be packed if they knew.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you.

Thank you, City.

Sir, welcome.

Hi, my name's Will Cotrell.

I was a marine uh in 1966 at the camp of June.

Drinking the good water.

I have been paying for it for 60 years now.

Just I want to know what's gonna happen to the water in my well.

That's the only question I have.

So I need data on that.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you for your service.

Sir, mayor counsel.

Uh thanks for being Tucker Fagan uh Ward One.

I've had experience uh uh working with many different types of things and negotiating, and and what you do when you start negotiating and say, Who am I?

What am I after?

And everybody in this room is for clean air, water, and land.

That's why we're here in Wyoming.

Okay, then you look at who's across the table from you, and the CEOs that we're looking at, why were they hired?

They were hired by boards of directors to accomplish, you know, uh portray that money and accomplish the mission.

They don't accomplish it, they're gone.

It is so important.

If that happens, Cheyenne will wear the label as unreliable and antagonistic.

I was part of the group that negotiated with Lowe's distribution center to come here.

They told us they put a point on a map and said here's a hundred mile radius.

We have to have a distribution center in that.

Our job was to put every single community, everyone in that 100-mile circle.

And our job was to get you off.

We wanted to come down to two.

And guess what?

We were the two in that, but that's how they work.

They're not gonna say, hey, well, a moratorium's okay.

The CEOs are gonna say you what's gonna stop you a year from now.

You're gonna do another moratorium.

We're done with you.

And that's what's gonna happen in the economic development community.

Last week, the uh president of CEO of OpenAI said the US is woefully underprepared for the infrastructure.

This is what we're being portrayed with right now is that infrastructure.

Chinese governments, okay.

Okay, I was head of the uh nuclear warfare section for the joint chiefs of staff.

The Chinese are marauders.

Have they heard anybody in Wyoming?

How about uh look at the companies out by uh Green River?

Have you heard of Church in Dwight?

Signer, Salve, Tata.

They have 2,296 employees, 900 contractors, a 450 million dollar a year payroll.

The Chinese try to kill it every single year.

The reason it's still there is because we tariff.

That's what saves our industry.

Sundance, rare earth.

I worked with the Bear Lodge Company for 12 years.

Every time we got close to open a bear lodge, the Chinese undercut rare earths and all the uh investors ran.

Okay.

And the National Center for Research came here.

That's why the other companies came because they saw we have we were dealt something good.

That's what we have in Cheyenne and Laramie County right now.

We have it good.

Do you remember that phrase?

Please, God, give me one more.

I won't blow this one.

A moratorium will blow it.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ms.

Baker.

Representative, welcome.

Thank you, sir.

Um, my name's Gary Brown, representative House District 41, and um citizen of Ward 1.

Mr.

Brown's talking to that microphone, okay, so our guys can hear it.

Thank you.

So I wanted to come.

I heard um more than once that the United States is behind in AI and data centers.

So I've done some research, looked at seven different websites, and they're all very, very close.

The United States has 5,400 data centers right now.

The next 14 countries combined do not equal that.

Germany has 530 data centers, the United Kingdom, 520, China, 450, France, 350, Canada, 340, Australia, 310, the Netherlands, 310, Russia, 300, India, 290, Japan, 260, Italy, 220, Brazil, 210, Spain, 200, Indonesia, 185.

That is a total of 4,165 data centers in those 14 countries.

That is 1,235 data centers less than what the United States presently has.

So that's a little misinformation.

I wanted to take care of there.

Mayor Collins has said several times that a data center uses about 12 acre feet of water.

Never said that.

I've I've heard you say it.

I said two acre feet.

Huh?

I said two acre feet, not twelve.

Dose.

Okay.

Okay.

So I'm in favor of doing this moratorium.

And let's talk to the data center people, and let's limit them to three acre feet per six years because that's what they say they need.

Okay.

So this let's do a moratorium.

Let's talk to them.

And let's limit them so that we know we have our water.

And so, and let's have a citizens committee that oversees that.

The data center that they're looking at putting next to Lake Tahoe.

That data center has been estimated that it will evaporate 25% of the water in Lake Tahoe because of the heat coming off of it.

We need to understand what's really going on with these data centers.

If we do representative, your time's up, thank you for being here.

Sir.

Good evening, council members, brothers and sisters in the audience.

Um, I'm Crystal Edmonds Carter.

Um, a resident of Ward 3.

I've lived here for 30 plus years.

I've owned my home for 10 years.

Uh I am totally a resident.

Just to clear that up.

As a member, and I'm a member of the labor's Local 1271.

And I want to tell you that my kids graduated from East High School, and we couldn't afford to put my youngest son through college, and he joined as an apprentice, and now he's learning more than I ever learned.

Um, I appreciate the opportunity to speak again, regarding the proposed more moratorium on the data centers, and the impact it could have on working families in our communities.

The people working on these projects are not outsiders passing through.

We are skilled workers who live here, raise our children here, pay taxes here, and build our lives here in Cheyenne.

These jobs allow us to support our families and remain a part of our community.

Many of us travel for work when projects require it.

My husband has been a union member for 13 years.

These last three years, I've seen him more than I had in thir, you know, 13 years.

Um these jobs allow us to support our families and remain a part of the communities we live.

Our paychecks support mortgages, rent, local businesses, grocery stores, schools, child care, and our families right here, and we're working in Cheyenne.

Some of us will travel again for other projects, while others will look for local opportunities.

But our roots remain here.

Right now, the the economic reality for our families in Cheyenne is difficult.

It is estimated that it takes around 45,000 a year for a single person to live here comfortably.

While the average food industry worker earns only close to 32,000 a year.

Anybody under a bachelor's degree earns about 32 and up.

The gap is real.

Families feel it every month when they pay for housing, food, utilities, health care, and child care.

These data center projects help close that gap.

They provide high-paying skilled labor jobs with health care benefits and financial stability that many workers cannot find elsewhere locally.

These are the jobs that allow people to stay in Wyoming instead of being forced to leave the state in search of other opportunities.

I understand the concerns surrounding the infrastructure, energy use, water usage, and long-term planning.

Those concerns deserve serious attention, and I support responsible oversight and accountability.

The answer is not to stop opportunity altogether.

Thank you.

Sir, welcome.

Hello, council, mayor, everybody in the audience.

Uh my name's Rob Turse.

I am a business agent for local 192 in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

I am a small business owner in ward one, live in ward one downtown.

Um I can say that I I'm curious the small business owners in downtown Cheyenne.

I'm curious how this is affecting them because to me it seems like it's really boosting their business.

Um just going to restaurants.

I I frequent downtown because I live there.

You know, I walk downtown with my kids all the time.

I think the amount of business that is here that like you can't argue that the small businesses are benefiting from the growth.

And I think that as a father, um somebody spoke to wanting their kids to stick around.

Um, I have a kid who just graduated from East.

I wish, you know, I wish I could have her stick around.

I want her to join the trades, but she she doesn't.

That's not the route she chose, which is great, great for her.

But the ability for folks to make a good living here in Cheyenne.

I would strongly encourage everybody against or for to push their kids towards the trades.

And this growth, I believe is it's here.

I don't think it's uh, I don't think it's gonna stop.

I'm I'm opposed to the m moratorium, obviously, but I think we can we can do this wisely.

It doesn't have to, you don't have to put a halt to it.

I think we can do it, keep going, keep building, keep growing, and have a future here in Cheyenne.

That's all I got.

Thank you.

Sir, welcome.

Love that shirt.

Thank you.

Uh Mr.

Mayor, members of the Cheyenne City Council.

Uh I'm here today to oppose the proposed moratorium on data center development in Cheyenne.

So during COVID, um, like many others, I lost my job being a skilled union worker, lost my job and was told to go a flip burgers at McDonald's or find something else that wasn't electrical related.

So what did I do?

I had to move to Texas.

This is my first time back home in five years since COVID.

This is my first time being able to see my mom every day, see my kids every other weekend, because that's what the court ordered.

So decisions like this should be based on accurate and current information.

Seems like everybody has done their research, but no one's doing the research on the people that have to travel and pay sixteen hundred dollars a week for a hotel.

Um decisions like this should be based on accurate and current information, not outdated examples from older facilities built decades ago in other parts of the country.

Modern data centers are far more energy efficient, environmental environmentally responsible and economically beneficial in many of the examples that have been discussed publicly today.

Cheyenne has an opportunity to attract major investment, strengthen our tax base, and create good paying jobs for Wyoming workers.

The moratorium would send the wrong message to companies looking to invest in our community and would slow economic growth at a time when Cheyenne should be focused on building for the future.

Instead of stopping these projects, the council should focus on making sure they are done responsibly and that the benefits stay here in our community.

I respectfully ask the council to reject this moratorium and instead support responsible development with strong labor standards and local hiring protections.

Thank you.

Welcome, Rain.

Mr.

Mayor, thank you.

Rennie McKay, uh Wyoming Business Alliance and I live in Ward One.

I want to start by thanking all of you for being here at this hour and and for um the work you're you're doing to um invest in this conversation.

Um the Wyoming Business Alliance um works uh to try to create the environment so businesses can prosper here.

And really for me, what that means, and I our members is that means um thriving communities and jobs.

And so, you know, as you look at this question, I certainly uh know you're hearing a lot of really good questions about water impacts, but you're also I know you're hearing it uh elsewhere, and that is the challenges that Wyoming and Cheyenne face right now related to our economy.

And we're actually seeing jobs declining right now in this county, um, and that is with the data center bill that had happened last year.

But if you look year over year, jobs are down here.

If you look at Wyoming compared to our neighboring states, our economy is not growing at the same pace.

Jobs are not growing at the same pace.

So you're all having to face some really big challenges.

I know it, and so thank you for for being here so late.

Um, I'll just hearken back really quickly to um let you know when we were formed 45 years ago, um, as an organization, uh, the coal industry was just growing in Wyoming.

And in about 1980, there was a lot of resistance to the coal industry being in Wyoming.

And think about if Campbell County had turned down the coal industry at that moment, what would have happened for Wyoming?

We wouldn't have the schools that we have because the coal uh tax revenue paid for all the schools in Wyoming since that day.

So as you look at uh what you have to face, um, I think you can also look at it and go, we did it right.

We had great coal mines, um, employed a lot of people, and that coal mining was done well, right?

The reclamation on the mines is incredible.

Um, we win awards internationally for the reclamation that happens with the mines.

So you can have industry growth, and you can have that uh protection um of the environment.

I'll I'll say I worked for Game and Fish for a while.

Our pronghorn population was almost gone about 100 years ago in Wyoming.

We've grown it back.

We can we can have both in this state, and I sure appreciate you trying to find a way to do it, and I hope you'll oppose this moratorium.

Thanks a lot.

Welcome, ma'am.

Good evening, Mayor.

I'm here as myself.

Uh I am Natania Sam.

I'm born and raised here.

Uh I study ecology and evolutionary bio, but I'm not here to talk about that as much.

I'm here to talk about how my roots have impacted me.

I've have much trust in Cheyenne, Wyoming specifically, because here I've seen I've traveled to many states, and I have yet to experience the kind of community that we have here.

And I believe it's very special, and I can feel it in this room.

We have very powerful, passionate, and caring voices.

And this is a complex issue that the nation is facing, but I feel that community support that we have for one another took a lot of time and effort, and it's a legacy we want to continue to uphold.

And you guys, of course, have made it very clear that you value those connections and you do take that time and effort to continue to build on that.

So I feel like I support the moratorium for the time and effort it takes to navigate complexity as well as supporting the community with the needs, because we have all an entire spectrum of people here, and I see the economic benefits, the familiar connections, the community support.

I understand the benefits it could bring, but the long term is uncharted territory, and it's very the data center proposed is very grandiose, and I feel like the time to do an independent study or taking the time to evaluate the risks for that long term in the benefit of the health of our community, and the support of the legacy we have built, including Cheyenne Frontier Days, which I volunteer every year for, it's like the lifeblood.

So I feel like we should always go back to our roots of who are we really?

We are Cheyenne, we are community, we know who we are, and that's why we are here today.

Thank you.

Thank you, ma'am.

Well said.

Sure.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor and uh City Council, Xi Brown, uh Ward 2.

You know, first off, I'm not against data centers.

I know there's a need for them, and it's not just Facebook or Google.

There is a national security aspect to these data centers.