Cheyenne Mayor Cites Street Work, Police Staffing In First Year

Cheyenne Mayor Marian Orr cites extensive street repairs and an increase in staffing at the Cheyenne Police Department as among the achievements of her first year in office in 2017.

The mayor was elected as Cheyenne first-ever female mayor in November of 2016. In an interview with KGAB radio, the mayor said 2017 was a busy year for her administration. The mayor said that in keeping with a campaign promise to improve city streets, city crews logged somewhere between seven and nine miles of chip seal work.

During her ''State of the City'' speech on Monday, the mayor said chip seal repairs are more efficient than full-blown street overlay projects, which she said the city doesn't have enough money for anyway.

During her 2016 campaign Orr made street repairs and specifically fixing widespread potholes on city streets one of the centerpieces of her candidacy.

The mayor also is pointing towards the full staffing of the Cheyenne Police Department as another important milestone of her first year in office. Orr said when she was running for mayor the CPD was understaffed by 11 people. She says now that the department is at full strength police are focusing on a crackdown on speeding violations in the city.

In conjunction with that effort, she says she will be lobbying state lawmakers against a bill in the upcoming legislative session that would reduce the fines for speeding.

The mayor said another important achievement was the celebration of Cheyenne's 150th-anniversary celebration last summer.

And she said another of her campaign promises, to improve the city's general appearance with a ''fight the blight'' task force that will focus on run-down buildings and similar eyesores, is off to a good start and will continue moving forward.