Cheyenne Mayor Marian Orr says one of the city's main initiatives in 2018 will be a new broadband task force to bring high-speed internet access to the area.

The mayor says the task force will be chaired by Eric Trowbridge of Array School of Technology and Design in Cheyenne.

Orr says access to high-speed internet in the area is as critical to the future success of the city as being able to get water from a faucet. The mayor made the comments at her ''State of the City" address Monday morning at the Cheyenne Civic Center.

She says the other major new city initiative in 2018 will be the creation of a new ombudsman program to provide a ''one stop" contact to help guide businesses through the entire process of navigating the licensing and permitting process in opening a new enterprise in Cheyenne.

She says the program won't require the creation of a new full-time position, but will rather assign one employee to help each new business through the permitting process. She says the goal is to make the city a more business-friendly place to do business. The mayor said in addition to the new initiatives, work will continue on the existing ''fight the blight'' effort to tear down rundown buildings and improve the appearance of the city.

Orr says the city will also continue on-going efforts to improve city streets and infrastructure.

The mayor says the Cheyenne Police Department will continue cracking down on speeding motorists in the city. In conjunction with that effort, the mayor says she will be lobbying state lawmakers to oppose a proposal to reduce fines for speeding in the state.

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