Orr Says Cheyenne Needs Vision, Communication

Cheyenne mayoral candidate Marian Orr says if she is elected she will work to improve communication between city departments and to develop a vision for the city's future.

Orr, a long-time lobbyist, says she has heard a lot about fighting between city departments. She says part of the problem is a lack of communication between city agencies as well as between the mayor and the Cheyenne City Council.

She says some of the infighting is also caused by the lack of a clear vision for the future.

Orr says as it is city agencies are "fighting for the same pot of money" but are lacking a clear goal or a plan to get achieve it. She says her background as a lobbyist gives her the communication skills and "ability to bring people together" to get people working together.

Orr says she would develop a vision that everyone could work towards. She adds that the idea would be to work as a team "and if you're not going to play, we'll get someone who will."

Orr also says the city currently has $48 million in deferred maintenance, adding "Why is that? Why have we not been working on that?"

She says the issue is prioritizing wants vs. needs, adding her priorities would include public health, public safety and infrastructure. She mentioned new figures showing city sales tax collections are down by 12.9 percent for the first quarter of the year, and says the tighter revenue picture makes prioritizing city spending more important than ever.

Orr says another goal she would have if elected is to make it easier to open a business in Cheyenne. She says steps in that direction include taking a look at city codes, which she says in many cases are too restrictive. She says that while the city needs codes in place, "some of them are just too much" and need to be rewritten or eliminated.

Orr is one of 10 candidates who will appear on the August primary election ballot, with the top two finishers advancing on to the November general election.

City councilman Richard Johnson says he is running as a write in candidate for mayor as well.