Feb. 12—CHEYENNE — When Cheyenne Mayor Patrick Collins was sworn into office in 2021, he said he would only serve one term. In the years since, he said, the people he works with and serving his community have made him fall in love with the job, inspiring his decision to run for a second term as mayor.

“I love it. I love my job,” Collins told the WTE on Monday. “And I’m asking citizens of Cheyenne to look at my record and consider my tenure as the city’s chief executive officer and keep me on the job for another term.”

When reviewing his accomplishments since being sworn in as the capital city’s top elected official, Collins pointed to a few key points that he said he feels make him qualified to maintain the position for another four years.

His three main reasons to run in 2020 campaign were to bring civility to City Council, navigate the city through a pandemic and improve the economy, and improve roadways.

In the previous administration, he said, the City Council was at war with itself, with the mayor, with the Laramie County Board of County Commissioners and the governor’s office. He said he has brought civility back by being transparent, available and accountable.

Collins said he helped begin a pavement maintenance program to address road issues. If elected for a second term in November, he said he is excited to continue to improve and grow the program.

His top priority now, and his campaign issue this time around, is housing.

He said there are two ways to look at it. The first is to address low-income housing tax credits, which support residential construction that serves those who qualify for the housing based on their income.

For Collins, addressing this issue is a math problem. These units are typically 70% paid for by outside sources, usually federal tax credits. Wyoming only receives $3 million annually to support these developments. Recently, Cheyenne has had to end some projects because funds weren’t allocated to the city by the state, but he hopes to continue to seek outside funding to support these projects.

He said there are 45 to 50 units being built in the city each year, but there are 1,800 families on the waiting list. This concerns the mayor, particularly with projected population growth from things like the Sentinel nuclear missile program and the Project Cosmo data center.

Another strategy he has to address the issue is to make housing more affordable for everyone, not just those who qualify for low-income tax credit housing. City Council has recently been rolling out changes to code requirements for residential developments with the hope that these changes will make development cheaper, encourage construction, increase housing supply and lower the price.

“I think that that’s our biggest challenge,” Collins said, “and the one I’m probably the most excited to work on.”

Other projects the incumbent mayor would like to address in a second term are supporting job growth and access to water, as well as some 2024 City Council goals like recreational access to Belvoir Ranch and the Reed Avenue rail corridor development as an entertainment district.

Collins moved to Cheyenne when he was in eighth grade and attended Carey Junior High School and East High School, and went on to study at the University of Wyoming. He moved back to Cheyenne with his wife in 1982 and opened his bike shop in 1991.

He hadn’t planned on running for City Council, but chose to do so in 2000 in response to a group called Citizens Opposing Spendthrift Taxation. Their vision was that the city should only invest in roads, sewers, water, police and fire.

“I understand those things are important, but I had two young boys at that time, and my vision was we’d have parks and places for kids to recreate,” he said.

He served for three terms and did not seek reelection in 2012.

Collins said he was inspired to get back into city government in 2020 when he wasn’t satisfied with the way the city was being run.

“I kept saying somebody needs to do something,” he said. “And then one day I said, ‘Well, maybe it’s my turn to do something.’ So, I ran for mayor.”

Noah Zahn is the Wyoming Tribune Eagle’s local government/business reporter. He can be reached at 307-633-3128 or nzahn@wyomingnews.com. Follow him on X @NoahZahnn.