City Council - Regular Meeting

have sufficient supplies to continue normal production. Uh for the current report from the state engineer in the current administration that the state engineer has issued, we have sufficient water to continue normal operations. We still are still asking that folks water responsibly, especially outdoor water use uh responsibly, but it's time to reduce the water.

Thanks, okay. So, next we have Anna from the health department. Welcome, Anna. These are just There's two for us to take.

Yes. Awesome. All right.

All right. Good afternoon and thank you, Mr. Mayor and Counselors and City Manager Jordan, for this opportunity and a little bit of grace to provide you an update on the health department. One thing we often hear is that we don't people don't know of all the services that we do. So, I'm going to try not to talk as fast as I have in the past, um, but try to give you as much information as possible. So, we're very excited to start a new chapter, but before we do, we'd like to talk about what we've done in the last year. You might have heard about a new building, one that was under budget, ahead of schedule, and opened early. I do have an amazing team. In fact, I would like to draw your attention to Tia Hensel, who is a board member here with us. And then if my staff could raise your hand if you so brought safety and numbers, right? So I am truly lucky to have such a dedicated and compassionate staff for all the work that they do. They show up every day ready to go and we're proud to serve the city of Casper, not just as a provider, but a partner. For the clients we serve, 88% of them are City of Casper residents. One example of a great partnership that we have with the city is with city fire and police working together in the community to address the needs on a basic level before a crisis response is needed. Here's some of the graphic of the breakdown that's in your packet. Um you have quite a few things. You have like a strategic plan. You have the breakdown of numbers and then more of a graphic for you to see um the different areas that we do services and what areas they're located in. But I want to draw your attention to some of the essential services we pro provide. WIC joined us in August of this year or this last year and working with approximately 1,280 participants each month. We continued provide demonizations. We perform LT 101 assessments which can only be done by a public health nursing. And since we have such an aging population in our community, we actually receive the

highest number of referrals in the state. Our maternal child health is a statutoily required for us to see 90% of all Medicaid births and 75% of all nona county births. But the needs are shifting in that area particularly to higher needs, greater risks, complex cases, and intimate partner violence. One thing that we want to point out at the health department is everyone is welcome to reervices at the health department, but one area of focus are those that are not typically connected to care. One example of this is our downtown outreach. We've been in involved in that since the beginning. Continuing to connect people to services, provide cancer screenings, connect pregnant moms who haven't connected to the health care system, testing sexually transmitted infections and supplies, training on Narcan, fentanyl test strips distributed, whatever is needed that the health department can provide for prevention and protecting the environmental health. The regulatory arm of public health makes sure that safety is the top priority of the places that we inspect. Serve safe is an example which is a required training for an establishment that is provided that is inspected by a health department to ensure the food is served safely. We also handle communicable disease preventing the spread of the illness. This is an illustration of our funding sources. As you can see we receive funding from the state city of Casper Nona County federal pass through funds and then a fee revenue and the different programs that are funded by each. I know that there are opportunities to talk about funding in the future. Um, or we can talk in a different meeting about those specific areas, but we're always trying to look for new funding opportunities and places to go. The backbone of the community, as I said before, statutoily regulatory, that safety net looking at our population's health for trends, services that are needed in the community to prevent

illness and protect the citizens. An example would be our lead program testing infant infants at the appropriate times for elevated lead levels. We provide education to providers and the public the importance of plot on a GIS system comparing to the age of homes and water pipes looking for trends crossing many departments from wick mcph environmental health the clinic and an education department. We have a new space available to promote education and learning and will beun begin monthly offerings soon. High impact steward of funding that we receive going as far as we can with the resources that we have. We have many staff force staff members who have multiple responsibilities which increases the workload and and impacts their work the workforce. While COVID wasn't great and different people have different opinions about COVID, we can state that our collaborations and partnerships have significantly improved the safety net of the community. We work hard to avoid any duplication of services. We recognize funding will always be a challenge, but locking arms with our partners like Community Action Partnership, Healthcare for Homeless. Locking our arms with our partners to maximize the care only benefits the community. An example here would be Narcan training. I have five certified trainers that since the start of the program have been very active in house training individuals, the public or at community agencies. This is part of the one Natrona opioid funding and is the responsibility of the health department. As I stated before, adult health is the functional assessment eligibility for Wyoming Medicaid long-term programs and services. Wyoming cancer programs. They're the connected to re required resources for both individuals and agencies like the breast cancer events that you see paint the rink that you all are involved with. Um screening events different areas. Those are tied to our Wyoming cancer

resource services. And then we also have the Wyoming Cancer Coalition who puts likeminded agencies together to work on the Wyoming Cancer Plan. You also might have seen at the health fair a giant colon that you have the opportunity to walk through. That is part of that program. Not something many people can say. The community education, as I said before, we have training on Narcan. We provide monthly CPR classes, blood pressure monitoring, and addressing problematic gambling. You may see billboards in the community, and we hope to further expand this project. Community prevention provides resources in regards to drinking, substance use, tobacco use, suicide prevention. Unfortunately, suicide is for our community. It shouldn't be and shouldn't be seen as normal. We need to move past the stigma, support one another, stay connected. When we reduce isolation and take care of each other, we save lives. This shouldn't need to be a choice for youth or seniors. Behavioral health and mental health. This is an area that we spend a lot of time newly um for a public health agency. This is a huge priority in the community. The board of health is also identified as a top priority. You have the board's um strategic plan in your packet as well as a resour resource card for the health department including credible mind. I've provided some information in regards to that in the past. And we're utilizing our community health workers in this area and preparing a blueprint for violence prevention from a public health perspective like what was seen in Edmonton through peace in our cities. I have an example of a quarterly report for you to see if you'd like incredible mind to see what topics I'm sorry

just so I have a an example of a quarterly report about quarterly It shows you how many people access the source, how many people talk about the um what areas they go to, what areas they attend to. You can see trends based on what time of year they go to a specific area. We also provide education outside traditional clinical settings. youth, adults, elderly, unstably housed, corrections, not just sexual health, but healthy relationships. We provide the education and the testing in our disease prevention clinic, which is a vast number of services that are provided. So many that you probably can't read that on the screen, but we have a nurse practitioner twice a week, W residents, and focus on disease prevention across the lifespan. Family planning, treatment of STI, DOT physicals, immigration, immunization to name a few. This year, we will be excited to use our new internal drive-thru for flu vaccinations, which will be safety for both staff and the public. Emergency preparedness, addressing all man-made and natural disasters. We do fit testing in order to make sure N95 fits properly. We're prepared at all times. In the letter that you received in your packet from city manager Jordan, it discusses an upcoming event that we'll have in August where we'll be simulating what it would take in order to provide the need of medication across the entire community. should be an adventure. Environmental health, as I said before,

is out in the community working towards compliance to keep South Casper safe. We've seen an increase in the number of food trucks, building, and restaurants, of which I'm not I'm sure you're not surprised. Finance, we receive grant funding and it's tracked very diligently. We have 38 different budgets that we work with. The grants are getting more complex with the amount of documentation that is required for each thing. We have HIV case management making sure access to care and reduction of social determinance of health are not imp impacting that population as well as Wyoming AIDS education and training center which is providing education to healthcare providers about HIV because that's such a rapidly moving program. And as I said before, MCH maternal child health, we tr truly do provide care from preconception through end of life with all of our programs. We have certified lactation counselors um on staff that we were able to provide education to a local pediatrician who now hopefully will provide additional referrals to us. As you can see, there's an upcoming community baby shower. And then, as mentioned before, we added wick in August and we have increased access for moms and babies. And then between the two programs, MCH and WICK, we have that increased safety net between the two referrals back and forth making sure they have all the services that they need. So we have 38 staff members. MCH can make the difference upstream as you've all heard different words or programs that help with the upstream. Last year there were 844 births in two 2024. And it will be skewed as we look forward to what's going to happen with the deliveries that are happening in Douglas. That's going to change how many births there are in the Trona County. But as we all know, workforce is our greatest asset.

Our benefits or opportunities that we have coming forward are Medicare reimbursement, which was by no means a simple process. It took a significant amount of time in the beginning and then when we moved it added an additional um challenge but we'll be able to utilize a community health integration system with community health workers that when a person is going through like non-medical factors that impact your health like social factors. So if transportation, housing, those kinds of things are presenting challenges for an individual obviously they're not going to be able to take care of the health as well. So, we're developing this community health integration, which we have those services available for individuals who don't have um Medicare, but Medicare is one that will provide funding for that. So, we'll be able to bill from that area. And then Medicaid is right behind they're working on the policies and procedures at the state level, but we also do those um kind of activities um just as a service that is needed in the community. Our community, our county health officer, Dr. Mark Dell has been asking for this program for a number of years, recognizing many people don't know how to access or enter the health care system. Many people of my age have parents that are aging. Um, many of which who have not entered health care for any such purpose. Some event occurs and then they are trying to figure out how to navigate from the provider, physical therapy, all different kinds of things like that. So, it's a program that we're launching and we hope to have great success with, but it hopefully will um connect some of the resources that are needed and identify the gaps that we have. Challenges include expanding system level needs driven by increased demand and rising acuity. So, with that, I don't know, there is so much to tell you that it's hard to put it in words and know which angle to go. Um, I know city manager Jordan has a

variety of documents that I've provided her. So, um, this was my best way to provide you an update. It's been very busy. We're very excited to be in our space. If you have not visited us, I would highly encourage you to do so. We can provide um a tour at any given time because we're very proud of the facility and look forward to maximizing its potential. Questions? Any questions for Anna? Yeah. Go ahead, Michael.

Thank Thank you, Mayor. Um, Anna, first of all, I just thank you for the report. This was a great update. I appreciate that. And just want to commend you and your staff and the great work you do. But also, I don't know if it probably doesn't seem like it to you, but your your transition to the new building just seemed pretty appeared to be pretty seamless. I'm sure it wasn't for you, but to to from the outside looking in, it looks very very smooth. But anyway, my question is from your data from this data subm sheet. Um I'm just wondering just more more of a clarification about on the environmental health um listings there. So is is the the numbers we're looking at like say for example like the the food and body art for example are those um inspections are those

yes each one of those is an inspection. It does not capture like if they have to go multiple times but each place has to have an inspe inspection yearly. So that is what we complete for each one of those different categories. Okay. Okay. Thank you. That's the questions.

But so we I mean congratulations to the team and the staff. I mean, for making the move pretty amazing. I know it wasn't seamless, but um but uh at least from the public view, it certainly was. But um and appreciated the open house and ribbon cutting. Got to see even more now that it's uh finished. So, um, so you know, this this sheet's great. Um, and I'm taking it, um, this this this these lines, uh, for city of Casper and the surrounding municipalities and county carries over to the backside with Wick.

Yes.

Okay. Um, unfortunately we're not able to capture all of the things that we do because when we're in trainings we may not like for CPR we may not collect their name and address. So we haven't quite figured out how to capture that information but one of the future projects we're hoping is working um with GIS to help with that. um looking in the community where we're at, where we're not, and you know, there's no pure like 8.2601, 82609, and then 82604 across the city county. Like it's very hard to get as much of that information as much as we would like to perfect it. This is like our best guesstimate at this time for the numbers from last year. So would would you estimate um that I I've heard in the past from county commissioners about 85% of the folks that you see are from the city of Casper. Obviously, we're all residents and not Toronto County, but

our best guesstimate where this year we're looking at 88%. So, we did increase from previous years. And then if I could y

so um I guess in the opportunities on funding I know it's been said before again from certain county commissioners that we should fund the city of Casper should fund equally as they do or come close. Um, and I I noticed City of Casper you'd put 690,000. Um, my recollection was last year we just for this current fiscal that we barely edged up from 575 to 600.

Yes, those additional funds are like the one NRONA opioid funds and some additional things that come in differently. But yes, we did increase from um the 575 to 600,000 last year.

And then do you think there's other possibilities from the state of Wyoming? I know Harshman and and Tom Walters had started the process additional dollars because of the way our agreement was set up with the state was kind of unique and I know you've worked with other partners across the state that are individual counties. Um, do you did any of the second tier of money come across for the hourly wage increases?

Thank you. Um, great question. Um, no, it did not. Um, it was not put through through the governor's budget. Um, he felt that it was a legislative action that it should have been carried forward with the legislature. So, we did not receive that second tier of funding. So, um, we only get state public health nursing funds for the nurses that we have on staff and we have eight nurses. Um, trying to get them. Anytime the state gets an increase, we would also see the set same increase for a number of years. We were flatfunded and there was no, you know, they kept going up and we just stayed the same. So, it's been two years since we've been successful in that, but we did not make that second tier. So is that included in the 1.5 million? Okay. Um and then um so there might be a potential in this general session if we could get it put into the supplemental budget. Is that what direction you try to head with the legislators?

Yes. Thank you. I'm hoping that this year coming year will not be as um diverse, especially with the special hearings that were held that we can, you know, slow the process down a little bit, provide more education and understanding of what happened with public health nursing. Um the fact that we did not sustain a significant cut um through those hearings, I feel that that is feel very lucky for that. Then as we go through our budget process, I just like to keep an open mind. Um, you know, if there's a possibility we could ek anything out in addition. Um, I think there will be some cost savings to the new building on energy efficiencies. Uh but it is quite a bit larger than the hope space. Um but but hopefully there'd be some some efficiency of of scale.

Yes, thank you. There is definitely efficiencies that we are seeing um especially now that we don't have construction crews in there as often as we had in the past with doors being left open. We have seen a decrease in the expenses. Granted, it's twice the size of the previous um location, but energy efficient lights and all of those kinds of things we're hoping will make a huge difference. Um we did switch to a natural gas generator to maintain our medications instead of diesel, which that was wasting those funds, you know, yearly as well. So, it's only as a needed kind of coverage. Um, we don't yet know truly where we're at because it hasn't leveled out enough.

Thank you, mayor. Thank you for all the information. Um, kind of to follow up councelor Sweeny's comments in regards to your current funding levels. You mentioned statemandated services that uh your agency must carry out. Are you able to quantify, you know, if if you were to put all those statemandated services together, are you able to quantify what that cost is? Um, my guess is the state funded mandates do not meet the state provided revenues. And so I'm curious what that del.

So um, I could give you a much more detailed, but I do have a very concrete example. our maternal child health funds which has that statutory requirement the 90 and the 75% we typically run out of those funds in November and December. So then it is city county funds that carry us then the rest of the year. So while they tell us to do it it doesn't mean that it is funded.

Thank you. That does not surprise me. Um, can I ask what sort of uh So, I was looking at um Wyoming Association of Municipalities provided us some uh a list of what the interim topics are over the interim and I see that labor health and social services is going to be talking rural health transformation, healthc care provider shortage, cancer treatment, maternity health uh issues. Um I I've not interacted much with like the public health association or anything like that. Do you guys um does that association on your behalf and the behalf of other public health agencies around the state testify to folks like labor health and um advocate for increased state revenues to provide those state mandated services?

Great question. Thank you and thank you for saving me with your beverage. Um

so one of the things that is a challenge with that is the funding or the grant that was written initially was very vague as it needed to be so that we could get the coverage. There's a lot of mystery behind it. Um, I believe Kelly from CAP has probably more information than I do with the Wyoming Primary Care Association. Um, some of the state people are asking me if I've heard anything. So, um, I h I'm very concerned because we don't qualify for that definition of rural based on our population size. However, we don't have all of the factors that go into, you know, we are a food desert. we have, you know, shortages of physicians. Um, I did see that there is a meeting coming up in May. Um, plan to attend that. But as far as the Department of Health, I don't know how, um,

there's a lot of controversy there. Would that be a fair statement? That's very diplomatic. Sorry.

Good. I appreciate Well, um, uh, thank you for that. I guess I would just ask um you know certainly the city of Casper and like I said a lot of other cities around the state uh during the interim and during session are advocating for things um that uh you know we see as needs in our communities. And so I would love for there to be closer coordination with um either WHAM and public health association of the state or just uh between your organization and our organization. Sounds like there's definitely some shared goals and um shared interests and so I would just want to make sure we're working handinand glove to be advocating on behalf of our community to the state. You know, it's my belief that if they're statemandated services, they should be covering most if not all of the cost of those. uh certainly if they got 30 plus billion in reserve and so um that's you know something that I would I hope uh you know look towards over the next couple years it's just love to take advantage of whatever synergy might be possible there

thank you I appreciate that I do believe that if we um align and have the same message that we will be able to make impact um I do know that there's a funding opportunity that was being discussed um that Eric has that will also help our community. But if we have more of the same language forward, perhaps it will make a difference. Um that is my hope. Let's make sure we stay in touch.

Absolutely. Thank you. Okay, back to Kyle's one comment which I I thought was on the state mandated and then could we quantify um you know what what the shortfalls in the funding would look like without a ton of research and work. Um, so they've mandated certain programs, but they're not really paying paying for and there's no federal reimbursement portion that comes back to us.

Um, thank you. I have been working on a document that puts together those things that are statutoily required and where the funding comes from. Um, I think I may have shared that with city manager as a very beginning. Not an easy document to go through with all the different statutes, but it's definitely an area that I'm working on. So um we'll continue to do so and as it gets further refined we'll share that with you because it does show um the shortcomings and you know particularly maternal child health um environmental health is not supported by the department of health. It is purely city county like those kinds of things that were required to do but not funded. Other questions?

Oh, yeah. Go ahead, Pat. So, not to belabor it, but on how the original documents were set up um and uh the requirements that are on the county uh in city and how does that work in relationship to other counties um on reimbursement and total total funding from the state department of health. Um, are we in a bad position? I mean, should we ask for a new contract? Should the county

So, just trying to clarify like the contract from the state or the Yeah. So we we get a contract directly from um the Wyoming Department of Health for our nursing public health nursing services which covers our county health officer public health nursing maternal child health services. Um this year it documented that it was based on our population. So, um I don't know. I don't think there's a solid answer for that.

So, it seems to me the the original agreement didn't help us very much on how how to increase. We were kind of tied in for a long time. And maybe it was that um internal health care and public nursing portion that was only tied in for like you said I I can't remember how many years we never saw an increase maybe 10 plus years

it was more than 10 and it was based it's just a percentage based on the number of nurses that you have um but there was no um language in the statute that talked about the increases or rec re recog recognize we are an independent county which means we um have the ability to respond and do different things much quicker. We have an independent board of five members. We receive funding from city county. So being an independent um there's Sweetwater County, Teton, um Cheyenne, Larmy County, Gillette I'm drawing like I'm lost. um the five counties that are independent. Um but we have the ability to, you know, be much more diverse, much quicker responding. So um I think the independent counties is where that language wasn't in the statute for funding purposes.

Okay, I answered that.

Well, thank you for the staff. We appreciate the work that you guys do. It's incredibly important. I know it's not easy. Sometimes it's controversial. Um but we appreciate the work that you do. It's meaningful and it's you guys do a great job. So,

Mr. Mayor, may I add? Um so, in the past, we've discussed the parent handbooks that are provided through the school district. Um I have copies if you don't have one of these um that I'd be happy to leave with you. One is for um elementary level and then the other one is for middle school, high school. Every year our prevention program mails this out to all consenting parents um for needed resources. So if you would like a copy of this, let me know. I'll take I'll take that high school one. Thank you.

I need one. My kids are all growing up. roll it up. It's got all the apps again.

There's a whole structure. Don't let your son sleep. All right, let's go ahead and move on to point in time count recap. I think Liz is on deck. Director Becker, did you have an introduction?

I thought we should give you the floor because I know you put a lot of energy into helping with some of the coordination at least of city staff as we participate in this count. Mr. Mayor, counselors um sorry technology. So, uh, the city of Casper, uh, did participate staff and council with the point in time count, which is the annual count of the unhoused. I need to be careful with this because sometimes it's homelessness, sometimes it's unhoused. In um, January 29th, it was a Thursday. And so, we had set aside really the day to assist Kelly Wessles and the community action partnership team in a lot of the outreach facilities. And I know our law enforcement public safety teams were out on the streets and I know Kelly will share some of that as well as them being a lot of us were stationed either at Salvation Army or at the uh Wyoming workforce services in our new uh state office building. So um that was a little of what we did but behind the scenes community action partnership did a lot of the work and again submitted the count. the numbers are up and um she wants to share really what Nrona County and in particular Casper is looking at from the unhoused and again they are very active community partners community partners with us on the um homeless coalition that several of you serve on and uh that group does count on the data that community action partner puts together partnership puts together for us to keep track of the impacts that we're making. So Kelly as the executive

director We're ready. Then Derek all she needs to Perfect. So those little arrows.

Hi. Thank you for having me. Council staff. Um Liz together so you can have copies of those. Um I will be very happy to give you an aerial view. Um this is a lofty subject and this is a really great opportunity. But before I start, I do want to talk a little bit about the volunteerism that the city provided because I think that there were some um outcomes that were unanticipated that were incredibly meaningful. Um it is true law enforcement participated, which is a non-omment um activity actually nationwide. I've been involved in point in time count since the very beginning of point in time count way back in the day. um 95 is the first po um annual point in time count and so um nationwide and through the years and all of my time there have been ups and downs in counting but law enforcement is a necessary partner but not all communities receive it in this community we did the ending result is something this year that was very significant and that was a we had two lives saved because of law enforcement being out on the street counting. They found two individuals. One was able to enter detox immediately and treatment. The other needed serious medical care. And without their knowledge and without their participation, we might have lost two more individuals. And in December, we counted how many individuals we did on homeless memorial night and there were 13 that died the previous year due to homelessness. So, I just want to point that out that this is not just um an activity. This is not just something for me to do or report on or to to address throughout

the year. That's an impactful moment and I think we need to recognize that. That being said, thank you for having me. Um I want to share some of the data and then move through this. um on a single night in January, 262 um individuals, our neighbors did not have a reliable place to stay. That number is the starting point for what I'm going to share with you. The snapshot looks like this. 262 total individuals were counted. 40 were completely unsheltered, meaning that they were on street, in vehicles, in structures not meant for human habitation. 159 were in emergency shelter situation at Wyoming Rescue Mission. One of the things that's really important for you to understand is we work very closely with our partners. And so we share our data and we integrate our data. That is something that we started doing when um when I came to Casper four years ago because you can't have data in silos and you also have to count the same way each year in order to be able to truly measure your trends. So we've made some changes and we now have just completed the fourth year of this and this is significant. There were at least 23 individuals that met the chronically homeless standard. Two things that I want you to hold on to as we go through this data. First of all, the people behind these numbers are Wyoming residents. Most have lived here for years. They are navigating real barriers, behavioral health, economic setbacks, domestic violence without adequate support that would translate into stable living. Second, this count is a floor. It is not a ceiling. The methodology captures a moment in time only. And the true scope of homelessness in Nrona County is almost certainly higher

where we found people. So when we break it down where people were that night, the picture gets a little bit complex because they're sheltered and unsheltered, which have to meet the Hearth Act s standard under HUD for homelessness. typically um a lot of people consider like doubling up and and couch surfing and things like that as part of homelessness and it is under McKini Vento act. However, under the Hearth Act, those people are negated and they are not considered homeless even though they can't the next day they could be asked to leave, right? Hanging out with my friend, my friend gets mad at me, I don't have a place to stay anymore. So, this is where the complexity comes in. 159 at the Wyoming Rescue Mission, which is a fabulous um number in the sense that they were able to meet that need. However, let us consider emergency shelter is not housing. People are utilizing the mission as housing far too long and not for the right components. The program housing in the disciplehip program is a little bit different. But that is only a percentage of those that utilize emergency shelter. Emergency shelter should be the last resort and instead it is a commodity. It is a habit because there's no other solutions happening at the moment. 31 were identified through behavioral health and justice system. So I want you to um take this number in in mind because although we are required to break it out, I want you to know that this is actually the total count when you take those that are homeless upon entry into systems such as incarceration or behavioral health such as CWCC inatient, right? They are still they maintain their homeless status and then you add that to the unsheltered

because they are homeless and the unsheltered your total count actually is 71 individuals that are considered straight not 40. Last year all total we counted 38 individuals we were quantified in the through the state system as homeless. This year 71 exponential growth. Now there are factors that can come along with that. Yeah, we're better at counting every year. That's good. But mitigating factors, it's still a significant job. uh 14 were um there are some people that were in the doubled up categories and or in motel through third-party assistance. Third-party assistance means somebody can be considered sheltered in motel. If they pay for it, they no longer qualify under any standards whether it's um reasonable or not. Seven being unstably housed goes above that whole piece of what we talked about um earlier. The unsheltered population is these are just some demographics and you can go through them. But the most um unfortunate circumstance that has been growing in the community for the last over 24 months that I've noticed is that the Native American individuals are making up a much higher proportion of the count. And I think that the disparity and the access points are significant. How they navigate systems here um whether they are from here, have family um anchors here or are have been transported here from other areas because of services that were necessary for them that they could not get on a reservation.

All of these things still there is no access. Their numbers are growing exponentially in our community as far as among the unhoused and the barriers for what they experience are significantly higher. They it's a tenfold o over representation. It's a lot. Other key factors um people always ask you know um aren't these people that are just kind of walking through? Aren't these people that are passing through? These are people that have been bustier. These are people that No. 87 over 87% are residents. They have family ties here. They may be broken family ties, but they have family ties. I want to talk a little bit about those that are in the intersections of two systems because we have an awful lot of work that's going on in this area in the community, but it is also an area that we are finally acquiring credible data in and and so to look start using this in our decision- making in our planning and in our strategies. 31 people were counted that were in the intersection of that. previous years we would get a total of two if we were lucky. 31 met this criteria. They met the criteria because we actually have started partnering in different ways across um the continuum. This is probably one of the greatest successes of the NCSJ group as far as the and the uh most vulnerable persons project of really looking at those intersections. But when you look at it, there's a couple things that I want to draw to your attention. They these individuals when they are discharged from um incarceration and or from a behavioral health unit, they have no place to go. Most of them have been in repetitive

systems. So where are they going to go next? Do they go to the street? Do they go to um their friend's house where they wound up getting busted before or that that's not a healthy environment? Do they go to the mission which is also sometimes not a healthy environment because people coordinate and go across each other. Um there's some really unhealthy revolving doors here. And when we start looking at data that has people that are going into treatment and other and or andor incarceration multiple times in a year with no successful stabilization on the outcome. That's where that most vulnerable person's project is going to be very important because we have to look at what is the infrastructure that actually has to mean be built in order to have success to stop and put a wrench in here and stop people from the revolving door. Uh it is the highest chronic rate of homelessness. However, there was one very sad remark that we found in here and that was four of the individuals that met this criteria are youth under the age of 18 and in this year's count uh youth population started to spike on the count differently than it had been counted previously. So that is another concern that I think we have. So, some of the conditions, this is a chart that'll give you an idea of these are self-report conditions that people indicate they have or are experiencing um that have contributed to their homelessness. But one of the other drivers, and it is a hard data point to actually accumulate, but we had individuals that were willing to share that with us um on the count date, and that is domestic violence. Why is that?

Because um domestic violence has different um filters and um in the data systems they have protective factors so that people cannot locate them. It's a safety precaution. Jen at self-help does that count? It is fulfilled but it is protected. So this is data that we got outside of her. Um the 42% having a substance use disorder is um most of these are co-occurring disorders. So there are lots of other things that go along with this and this is self-disclosed. We counted 32 individuals that are that meet um the more lax or mckin bento um version of being unstably housed. These individuals we look at and we consider some of the factors around that is there this is the upstream um unhoused that will become your chronic if you don't deal with it and if you don't find the right solutions. Why is that important? Well, if you look at under the chronic homelessness, 23 plus need some form of permanent supportive housing. That is the threshold there. To give you an example of what that means, I have a permanent supportive housing program. I have five units. That program is funded federally for 60,000 and change a year. I put in over that, right, for five units. But what that does is is that actually saves this community because that means it costs about $30,000 a household, right, to do PSH. If we didn't do that, some of those individuals are the ones that are

costing you 75 $85,000 and upwards because of law enforcement interventions, um hospital interventions, um behavioral health um issues and other crisis related services. So PSH is very coste effective but we got 23 people just in this count alone that that is the only way that they will stay stable. They will there is no negotiating on that because they need the constant care and support. Um, a couple of things that I want to point out as far as trending in those areas are the aging of individuals, uh, young individuals who are on spectrum, who may or may not have gotten the, um, assistance educationally and whose parent have separated from their parents behaviorally, but are not in a situation that they can competently take care of themselves all the time. and the community is not exactly equipped to deal with some of the behavioral presentations of people on spectrum and so they appear to be doing something that is not in alignment with everyone else but actually that's how they walk through the world and they're homeless. The other part um and I share this on behalf of myself, my data and also on the data in the rescue mission is the higher number of individuals who have dementia that are in shelter. Sundowners in shelter in congregate shelter. the amount of trauma and other types of experiences that impact individuals that are in congregate shelter and then to have that experience as well escalates very hard to deal with and our shelters are not equipped medically to deal with the compromised health of these

individuals individuals who are unhoused age. Lastly, the children at risk. At least 10 minors appeared across the count. What does this mean? Well, the fact is we counted these kids because they were we found them with or without parents. However, what is missing from this report is the McKini Vento data that actually does flow through the school district, which is 500 to 600 students who are unstably housed. That is a large proportion. and they have one individual that is required to um help all of those um kids that is a concern. So what do we what happens if we don't do anything about this and we just keep you know talking about the numbers and then we just keep going. We increase our amount of costs in so many different areas. Emergency services, criminal justice, our schools and our children. Children who experience homelessness, they have disruption, trauma. They are the next generation of homelessness because un being unhoused and the amount of poverty related to it. There is this is generational now. Two and three generations of individuals that my staff has worked with and some of the providers that have been in this room today have worked with. It also hurts the workforce and economy of a community because people who cannot secure stable housing, workforce housing, are the ones that are not going to be able to come here, that will not that will come here quickly thinking they've got a job and they'll make it and the next uh month they're in my office looking for rental assistance because it doesn't match. This is a very common activity.

So what are some options and what are some of the things that are evidence-based that we decided to um include in this report that we thought was important for you to know? One was to expand permanent supportive housing. It is the cheaper economy of dealing with individuals that are chronically homeless. building um systems that work on um those that are exiting incarceration and other types of re-entry pipelines. So for us, one of the things that we're working on um there is a um we're working on the most vulnerable persons project. We are also I have a community case manager that specializes in that particular area and does wraparound with CWCC so that we do crosscoordination um prior to exit from treatment. Uh when we did that and we started that pilot last November December we housed three individuals prior to exit that had not happened before. So, it's about working together where where we're at and before the person exits. The same thing has to do with incarceration. Looking at some more culturally responsive services for Native American population, that is really important and learning more about what resources are available and are not available. A per cap for $15 issued to an individual is not going to pay the rent. strengthening the dual diagnosis behavioral health capacity that is a part of our project as well. We have just we were notified today that we received from the state department of health um the peer navigator um funding that is um mirrored with the opioid funds. So in one neutrona that's part of

my project is the case management and looking at how people who are sud in in treat treatment and educa um exiting to sustainability that's my work in there this is a piece of it that would need to be looked at we need to look at how we are addressing um children and families if the if the numbers that are expressed by the McKini Vento are accurate and says that there's between 500 and 600 students who are impacted by um housing instability and we are starting to see them on the actual point in time count especially those that are unaccompanied youth. Then we need to start having some strategies as a community and having discussions with the school district on how we can partner better because one person cannot do it all in school district and we jeopardize our youth's future if we don't address it. Connecting veterans, one of the things that is very difficult is veteran homelessness. While there are many resources for it, um there is a trust factor related to um assisting veterans. And we have many more veterans in this community that meet the unhoused um criteria but don't want to disclose. And so relationally, we have some work to do as a community to make sure that those that information is well received and that they feel supported. Um I worked on SSBF uh program it which stands for supportive services to uh for veterans and families from its inception um in the Pacific Northwest. And I can tell you that the one beautiful part of that program is that if the veteran is not ready to engage in services, the family can still receive

services and it is a highly underused service. So making that more prevalent in our community would probably help some families be more stable. And lastly, start looking at the rise in um intimate family violence because it's starting to climb and it is it definitely impacts housing stability and part of that also has to do with educating um landlords and tenants alike. We do tenant education, but one of the things that needs to be done is that they are protected if some and you cannot throw somebody out um the victim out of their house because they are a victim of domestic violence. There are there are things that say you can't and unfortunately we see it happen all the time. None of these recommendations are requiring us to start from from some place that we don't know. We are already in the trenches on this. We just have to grow strategies. And so they're not just statistics. These people have histories, they have skills, and they have potential. It always amazes me that we forget about the potential of individuals because if they can survive being on the street in a Wyoming winter, I mean, they got skills. It's directing them and capitalizing on them for their own self-sufficiency and helping them learn things that didn't happen to them earlier in their lives. That is part of what I do. So, other than that, I hope that that was helpful to you as far as what we collected and I thank you for your participation. Is there anything I can answer?

Any questions for Kelly? take a quick. So, with the uh uh youth population, um that's probably just scratching the surface. Um, and so does the school district. Um, they used to have a great coordinator, but she's retired and I don't I don't unfortunately know who the current

Thank you for the question. Um, Mrs. C is what she goes by. They have one individual who is um responsible for responding to inquiries on McKini Vento eligible students. Um yes, the former individual was definitely um a star but also had a broader capacity in other ways. My understanding is that the Mckin Vento funds have um in the past few years have been reduced um because of services that were no longer being provided and so that just makes them having a harder time. What I think is more um responsible as a community is that we have better discussions about what this means. We're have we have a youth um platform going on similar that was just the mapping was just recently done and there is a housing committee. I have a staff person who is the chair of that and one of the things that we want to bring to that table is starting how does the discussion start happening because we you we put a lot of barriers in front of ourselves of why we can't share information and that just allows us to continue to sit and spin. In my mind, I have eight children. They're grown now. I have grandchildren. If we do not take care of these kids, and we do not see it as our personal responsibility, our moral responsibility, we will cheat ourselves out of a better future in the Trena County. Period. We have a a responsibility to invest in that conversation to make sure that those children grow and become adults that can stay in this community and contribute rather than follow a trajectory that they're on right now.

And then combining with the health trust and all of their their work through organizations like you and others, where where do you think the next step um is that more in finding housing basically that could be integrated or into the different sectors Thank you for that question. Um actually because there is a housing committee I think that's an excellent step. Um I think that we are looking at a lot of different options but I do believe that um social investment funds need to be looked at for housing. I think we need to look at that dynamic. Um it's one of the more progressive ways of developing housing that is unique supporting um housing network. We are all partners in how to innovate in housing and also understand that we need a wide variety of housing that it is not just one kind. It's not just affordable. It's not just this. It's not just that. It has to be diverse. Um a huge number of the population of unhoused individuals have require adaptive equipment to maintain mobility. if you a great deal of the housing in this community is not ADA compliant. So looking at how do we address that so that people can actually use that housing. There's there's more to it than just one answer. I also think that there are opportunities um and I referenced this earlier is that um the Bureau of Justice H administration has a grant out there right now. I think you're aware of it um that we've had that conversation and the TR we had that conversation between some members of the trust the other day

because that is a very strong opportunity to address the integration piece uh that's related to justice and behavioral health um component and that re-entry system to housing supports. And while we've been doing a lot of groundwork in that area for um the last three years, now it's time to get some tangible outcomes in order to be able to place people because the current housing stock isn't even keeping up for people who have um two income households. They cannot afford to live here. It actually HUD statistically states that it takes two I want to say 2.78 jobs per household to and that does not that's just for rent in order to be able to have housing here and that does not count child care that doesn't count transportation or food anything else 2.78 jobs.

How do you do it? Any other questions? Yeah, go ahead. Thank you, Kelly. Uh really appreciated this information. I got a couple questions for you if you don't mind. Uh the first one is uh my understanding is last year's pick count was 167. Does that sound right it give or take because the state does edit? Okay. Um so my question is uh 262 was your number today. That's a 57% increase. Could you provide some context around what do you see? Um I I know definitions are really important to you as far as like a HUD defines things sometimes differently. So do you mind providing some context?

So the con u thank you for the question. The context is related to three things. One, we're a more effective counting um community. So I think that that naturally lends to finding people that we didn't find before particularly in the chronic status. I think the other part of it is is that sharing of data that the mission has come to the um shared the data in a way that has not been shared previously. So and they were at capacity at that time. Remember this is a snapshot. It's a one day. And then lastly, we were able to engage um those that are in the integrated re-entry system who don't frequently um participate as well as they should. And I have invested a great deal of time in in educating how that can be done rather than and taking away the barriers because when you have people that are in treatment and 50% of them are going to leave without a place to go, agencies like mine are the ones that everyone sends them to as a referral. How am I supposed to house them? I haven't even met them yet. So, that's the context for that.

Thank you. Small followup to that. Um, I was trying to look up the historical weather real quick. I can't remember what the weather was like last year, but obviously we had a very warm winter this year. Curious if you think weather, like when the weather's nicer, are you able to more easily connect with people as opposed to when it's colder? Does that have any impact at all on counts? It certainly does have a weather always has an impact, but I will say that Wyoming are tight and tough and they get out there and they count regardless. Okay.

Um it's been my experience. They I will say this last uh this year things were a little bit brighter in the earlier part of the day. So we were able to get a a larger number of count earlier in the day. But we also did um switch up a little bit of presentation. Uh the first um pastor Dan Odell hosted a dinner in order to be able to make sure that we got anybody who was on the street at sundown um that was not able to access the mission that we were able to count them and that so we did a wider spectrum as well. Okay, thank you. Appreciate that additional context. I got another one. Unless uh anybody else has some see anything?

Okay. Um, so you remarked on uh the Nrona County um safety and justice group

uh working really well uh coordinating, collaborating, having success by breaking down those silos. Uh which I've been very excited to see that progress over the past couple years because as somebody that's worked in social services uh uh you know in my professional career, that was one of my biggest gripes was people not talking to each other, not sharing knowledge, not working together. And so I'm glad to see that happening here in Trrona County. question is has the NCSJ group or any other group is there any are we still trying to get our own house in order uh andor is there any outreach to the rest of the state making sure that whatever social service providers in the rest of the state are collaborating with our local stakeholders making those warm handoffs happen so uh do you see that kind of state outreach happening or are we still trying to get our in order here

thank you for that I so I from my perspective, I see great progress from a statewide perspective because I chair the CE Snow group um for CSBG entities. So, I am connected to all the other counties that offer CSBG supportive services through the Department of Health. In addition, because I'm part of the COC statewide, some counties have h increased their communication. Where I think that NCSJ has been influential is that they have not only taken their training and and put it in invested in this community, but mo those of us that work in other communities and I actually oversee Converse County as well. Um that has had a major influence on how their network is starting to shift. They are looking at mapping. They are looking at some of the things that we have done the last three to four years. So, do I see an influence from that? Absolutely. Um, I'd like to see more.

Perfect. Thank you. And then one more. Last one. Vice Mayor, just kidding. You can have as many as you want. It's related to that. Um, so I know that uh Riverton folks are working on uh opening Mercy House. I'm not supercluding. You probably know more about it than I, but my understanding is is that's a 27 bed or so homeless shelter that they're trying to uh raise funds for and staff up in Riverton.

Um question. Do you foresee that? You know, you remarked the fact that uh our Native American population of folks disproportionately affected. Uh I've been calling that out in our homelessness coalition meetings for the past 18 months or so. Just the fact that those counts have increased uh significant relative to historical. And so do you foresee Mercy House in Riverton opening up having any sort of impact uh here locally and I guess uh not specific to Mercy House? You're probably aware of other

resources around the state also developing. Um, to me it would make sense those services coming online elsewhere in the state, relieving the burden here locally in Nrona County, but also probably seeing better, more successful outcomes in places like Riverton because again, they have those familial and social supports may be broken, but they have some supports in those home counties that they come from as opposed to Toronto County where they're probably strangers.

Thank you for that consideration. Um, I can tell you that I work with my colleague um in um Fremont County frequently about these this subject because of their wanting to develop and contribute to that particular um cause. Will it have a a major impact? I would say my opinion is no because the infrastructure there and the lack of services that can be deployed just redirect to larger communities whether it is Casper or Cheyenne. I think it's really interesting and as an outsider coming into Wyoming my perspective is this. I've worked rural communities almost my entire career, but if you have a bigger city and which is what Casper and Cheyenne are, people are going to go to them because that is the only other option. And so while we may feel the impact of it and kind of wonder why this and how to reduce it, the fact of the matter is is that that's going to continue to happen because those smaller communities are not getting any more money than they had before and some of them are getting less. So I think that it it will be marginal. What will be better about it is it'll be more culturally appropriate. And I think that some of the things that we need to consider as providers is um are we aware of what that means? And I'm not I'm I don't want to digress too much, but just to point out that understanding the clock of certain populations um that and how they interpret time can be a very pivotal issue in being culturally responsive whether it's Native American communities or the unhoused.

Other questions? Yeah, Michael. Uh, Kelly, thanks for the report and the update. It was very insightful. I appreciate it. Um, I do have a question on the on the uh path forward on your the recommendation on expanding permanent supportive housing. Kelly, what do you So, right now I'm just so does CAP provide your your organization provide that supportive housing currently master lease.

Okay. five units for individuals that meet the chronically homeless criteria and are score high enough for permanent supportive housing. Permanent supportive housing um means that without they would not be able to maintain housing successfully independently. They are case managed. They have multiple um oftentimes multidisciplinary teams that wrap around each household and have different responsibilities. Sometimes it may be that they are waiting two years to get a voucher that that would be the highest level of stabilization through the housing authority

through the housing authority. So we work on their case plan until they can achieve voucher. I see. That's a a part of permit support of housing case management then would roll to the housing authority for example. Okay. And that so are there are there other organizations in in Casper who provide pro permanent support as well? There are some um they are not they don't all not all of them meet the fidelity of the standard. I see there are people that um diplomatically I would use the word um dabble. So are are they necessarily non

they could be both. I've seen some forprofit activity as well as specifically in the transitional housing area which by the way point in time count and HUD does not cover anymore is transitional housing and transitional housing is a serious need. CWCC has done some work on the Lifesteps campus with some um beds there for transitional, but as an estimation, we could probably use about 150 transitional beds in this community. Additional or Oh, yeah. And do do you have a ballpark number on the additional number of permanent supportive housing units we need?

Permanent supportive housing, we are upwards of 90 at the moment

that we need additional that we need. These are people that have been there are some people that have been on the coordinated entry list for two to three years. They can't get into a unit and and there are multiple reasons for that. The average score for um coordinated entry in mapping right now is I if I'm correct a 17. When I started here it was a 10 and a 10 is considered significantly high. So when you look at that jump that means that there are multiple factors that prevent them from stabilizing not just one or two. I see. And my so and then my last question is Kelly um uh so what do do you have any recommendations in terms of where could the city be most impactful in in this venue in this avenue but of considering the services the city provides in terms of you know courts police fire that we don't the city doesn't really have a social services arm that I can think of really. Um, so it's so those are kind of our we could could be involved and be be the most supportive. I mean, I think, you know, we're the the the coalition is certainly a valuable part of that, I think, but are do you have other thoughts about is it is it funding part is it helping to pursue funding uh grant funding and so forth? What what's the way that the city could be the most impactful either through those existing uh branches of the city government or or else other ways? Thank you for that consideration. I

or if and if you want to think about it or

No, I I think that I want to I want to acknowledge that what you are doing first because I think that you are showing up in rooms. All right. Um there are individuals at this table that go to the housing committee meeting that are um involved um with the the trust in that regard for NCSJ. There are and I think that's important. I think having a a a strong presence and keeping educated is really important, but I also would offer this and I realize that you asked me the question, so I'm going to give you the answer. Um well, the housing and the homeless committee um coalition is a specific and very um is looking for a very specific definition of itself right now. Um I find that um my experience tells me that cities that and city government that have an advisory group that is related specific to the housing in general meaning the continuum of type of houses. Um things that um a advisory council that looks at for example um workforce housing. what is the current need for workforce housing based on employers and things like that because that has to do with livability, right? Um, communities that have those housing advisory groups tend to do very well because they report to the council, they can um do research for the council and they can provide support on a subject that is not for the faint of heart.

Okay, thank you for that. Thank you for asking. I want to do that one for one more and then I promise I'll shut up.

Uh thanks Kelly. Uh going back to uh sort of um uh in response to the last question you mentioned other communities not having the funding that I'm totally aware of that. However, I also know in the past uh I was referring back to some notes I took last year and at least at that point only six of our 23 counties had actually even participated in the point time count. You see any progress being made in that regard? And what what can we do to help um encourage all of our counties to be taking, you know, to be participating in this point in time so that we have comprehensive holistic data and not sort of hodgepodge of handful of counties that participate. So the Wyoming COC hired a coordinator um within the last two years which made a difference in uh coordinating and eliciting counties to actually do counting and um as an example we got Converse in the last two years and we they had their first successful count this year. So, additional counties are being added on and that individual is responsible for making sure that they are educated, trained, and have the right um tools in order to execute count. And I'm on the mentoring team for that. Um I have been the last couple of years. So, I help support other counties in learning how to count.

Thank you, Kelly. Appreciate everything. All right. It's good to see you. Thank you for the work you guys are doing as always. All right, agenda review. Janine, do you have anything you want to give us a heads up on in the coming weeks?

Um, I would say next week I know you'll have a couple of proclamations to start off and we also anticipate bring uh we anticipate bringing the um bids for the Stone Ridge property in premium. So, more to come there. Uh probably the big item next week, we are hoping to have a resolution for the formation of the urban renewal agency. There's a chance that that could get pushed out to May 5th's meeting, but we're working for next week if possible.

Awesome. Thank you. All right, council around the table. Pat, do you care if we start with you? I mean, I don't care if you care. You're starting with you. Just do it.

I've been to a lot of spots, but nothing really tonight. Um I would um I'm sure floor brought back from the hall of justice meeting um request um for the elevators. Um, in the Hall of Justice, I think our half was was it 350 or 350, I think. And I don't I don't know where that's put into the budget process.

I am aware of that. Thank you. Um, will we receive any formal communication from that group? Good question. As soon as they get actual bid on it, then they're supposed to send that to us so that we can see what the actual be. I also requested that they send us a copy of their fiveyear. We've got a preliminary that KA put together for them. They were No, it's 375

but and I didn't know I don't um I don't know. um you know where all of that agreement's at and know don't really need to discuss it at this point in time but um you know with timing with the other building and all of that. So timing is everything, but this is evidently an immediate immediate need.

So some mayor council I'm aware of the the issue um and currently looking into it and be prepared to discuss that most likely in an executive session at the appropriate time. Perfect.

Thanks. um just discussions I don't know on timing you know with the budget and all of that so I just brought up several questions with the health department I don't want stuff to get lost on this uh in the minutia as we're going through things I skipped right over you my Thanks, Amber.

Uh, thank you, Mayor. Um, I I missed the legislative update last week, so I don't have much to talk about. So um but I but I did want to I was thinking after Kelly was talking there about the McKenna Vento and the school district. So that used to be part of my responsibility when I was before I was for the school district. Um, so the context I guess that that I want to what I think the council should be aware of and I try to keep in mind is that the Kitty Vento and the whole uh aim of the uh homeless um supportive services within the school district is the number one job or priority is educ is the child's education.

So I think that's important to keep in mind. They're not they're not a typically a social worker. They're they're focuses not on say providing housing. Um certainly um you know what a went above and beyond in terms of you know food and you know just she was just above and beyond in so many directions which is so helpful to those families. But really their their primary job is to oftentime her responses were crisis situations. So um I would say though that our their primary focus was to make sure that the child is benefiting from their education and keeping in mind that each one of those children is in a community of of other you know students and teachers and administrators and social workers and counselors and so forth who are there to support that student and their family. Um and that uh you know whether that's a referral to another agency or whatever. So I think that's just important to keep in mind that there were you know one person doesn't sound like much but um you know there were there were 20 homeless kids in the school where I was principal for so you know we had the entire community we were able to help and support those kids and families as well. So I think important to keep in mind

good context. Thank you Mike. How about you, sir? I don't have anything. Randy, I can tell you the fifth cent surveys are in the mail this week. I know a couple people that got them yesterday. So, if you're lucky enough to get it, fill it out, please. Maybe next time. I was going to vote yes. Are they going out in the water bill?

No, they're in the mail separately. It's from a thing and it said you've been randomly selected and then you say woohoo, I win. It's very exciting. Unless you don't win. I never get one, Pat. Sorry. Anyway, I had a dangerous building meeting. Good times. Good times. And I was late to the band and Jenna was here, so I thought she would do it, but now she's not. So, municipal band schedule is out. They're super excited about the band. Shell, they're helping with that. And I caught the tail end of they have a lot of music stored in that building and we're sad, but I think they have a plan for it. Aside for that, I was late. I failed, but tried. Thanks, Brad.

Went to the post- legislative update put on by the chamber. That was pretty good. That was good to sit and listen to everybody. Uh then uh our uh governor's chief of staff, Drew Perkins. Many of you know Drew. His sweet wife, Christiey's mom, passed away this weekend. Marlene Dip Burnerner. So wonderful lady. known her for centuries. She's a wonderful gal. Her her services will be Monday at 11 if anybody wants to attend. That's all I got. Mr. Vice Mayor,

thank you, Mayor. I think all I have that hasn't been mentioned is just uh Chief Cheney spoke to our Rotary Club uh yesterday and did a very good job. So, I appreciate him making himself available, coming and speaking to that group. And um yeah uh great to have um discourse with our citizens. I guess on that note also reminder this week is the second series of Casper PD area initiative meetings. Uh first one starts tonight. Uh my ward area 6 will be Friday. I believe they're all from 6:00 to 7:00 at the Ford Wyoming Center in the summit room. So highly encourage anyone to go to talk about whatever's on your mind. um if uh Casper PD is even tangentially involved. So, please show up to those meetings and meet the officers that are patrolling your neighborhood.

Tomorrow night, tomorrow night is the first one. Yeah. Are you going to try? I'll save you a seat.

Uh I don't really have anything other than I wanted to thank everybody for their thoughts and prayers the last couple weeks. Um certainly been um a journey for sure. Uh Mr. Shriffin, I want to thank you. Sent me a very lovely uh card. Meant a lot that you did that. Uh police department uh did some flowers. Um that would meant quite a bit to me as well. City of Casper City Manager's office um was lovely. Um sent me a wonderful card. So that meant um more than they know. A lot of the department heads also sent me cards um giving me the condolences. The only thing that I'll say is that the reason I'm in politics is because of my dad. And my dad got involved very much got me involved in it and he was very involved in politics. So the reason I sit here is because of my dad. He used to come to these meetings, used to watch them. He used to critique me. Um but he always used to send a text if he wasn't able to come and and he would always say that was you did a great job tonight. And so I will not get those texts anymore from him, but um certainly he will live um in memory of the work that we continue to do and the work that I continue to do.

Thank you everyone for your thoughts. That's it. And if you have one more thing to add, Pat. No. Why can't we send the surveys out in the water bill? I mean it is so simple. Most of us keep in electronic We know. No, that's not true.