City Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening. Before we begin, I'd like to remind everyone to please silence your cell phones and also remind everyone that council meetings are live streamed on the city's YouTube channel. I now call the June 2nd, 2026 regular council meeting to order. Please note that Councillor Bond is attending our meeting remotely. All councillors are present.

Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Please read the consent minute approval titles.

Approving the minutes of the May 19th, 2026 regular council meeting.

Thank you. The chair to entertain a motion to approve the consent minute action agenda items just read.

So moved.

Second. Moved by Councillor McIntosh, seconded by Councillor Pollack. Any abstentions? Please cast your vote. How do you vote, Councillor Bond? Aye. Please record the vote.

With all councilors voting aye, the motion passes.

The Chair would entertain a motion to approve by minute action the June 2nd, 2026 bills and claims as audited by City Manager Napier. Oh, excuse me, oh my gosh. I'm glad Janine was not here for that one. As audited by City Manager Jordan. So moved. I got a first by Councilor Pawlik, seconded by Councilor McIntosh. Any abstentions? Please cast your vote. Councilor Bond, out of you, vote. Aye. Please record the vote.

With all Councilors voting aye, the motion passes.

Eric, I'm gonna call you John Henley next. Now is the time that we'd like to invite the audience to come up who wish to speak to the council to come forward. This portion of the meeting is dedicated to the public to allow time to discuss matters of public interest and to voice any concerns. We do ask that you please state your name, direct all questions and comments to the mayor. No personal obscenities or threats will be tolerated. Council will not respond to any personnel matters. Those will all be referred to our city manager. Councillors may ask clarifying questions but if they choose to respond to those matters, they will do so during the scheduled council response time following communications from persons present. Please note that presentations are limited to five minutes and no time extensions are permitted. Also, please note that the public hearing and ordinances each have their own separate comment periods. Mr. Schiffman.

Good evening, or good morning. Yes, same thing too. My name's Ross Schiffman. I missed your work session last week because I was at the Health Collective on mental health. But I did read the memo dated May 26 from city manager. It's entitled Budget Message for Fiscal Year. And on page two, there's a chart and a text about the property taxes. And in the It goes back to 2018 where the actual property tax revenue was 4.3 million. In 25 it was much higher because of the 25% residential exemption and it's projected to be 4.9 million for this coming fiscal year fiscal 27. That includes not only residential projection but also Commercial and other sources residential is about two-thirds of all of the Property tax revenue, but the budgets 197 million 196 million projected so Property taxes is a relatively small amount. It's five million dollars of course this general election there is going to be a vote on whether there'll be a 50% exemption for residential, and that'll be coming up. So obviously, council's aware of that. In my view, I would rather see a redistribution of the sales tax, the first 4%, to 2% to the locals and 2% maintained by the state. The state is in pretty good shape. The state treasurer is holding about over $30 billion of our money. And so there's money for backfill, but I think maybe the better solution is how the first 4% is distributed. The other issue is, of course, this fall we're gonna, the voters throughout the county will have an opportunity to vote yes or no on the 1% optional tax, which brings it back up to five. I haven't made my decision, a lot of my decision on whether to vote yes or no, or people ask me, is what council members want to spend the fifth percent on. And I don't know if the survey is completed yet. It is completed. So I'll ask for a copy of that, but through public records. And also the last thing I want to mention is I know in the past that the city has sent out cards actually promoting a yes vote in the way it's designed. So I don't know if the city is going to be spending money, tax dollars, to promote a yes vote. Those are my comments.

Any questions or clarifications for Mr. Schiffman? Yep, go ahead, Councillor Pollack.

Can you be more specific about what you saw coming from the city that in your interpretation was promoting a yes vote?

Mayor, Council Member Pollack, some of the adjectives in it and saying that this is something people are positive about and all the wonderful things it does, that kind of, it's not neutral. And I can share that. I can pull out some of the information, some of the, well, there's a mailing card, and I can pull that out, get back to you on that.

Got one. Councilor Sweeney.

So, thank you, Mayor. So I would also be interested because as the city, we are allowed, and it's pretty prescriptive, to educate. So I don't think we need to have you proof everything, but I'd love to see exactly what you're talking about. So make sure I'm correct, you're correct.

Others? Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Appreciate it. Thank you. Any others? Good evening. Hello, good evening, Mayor.

Can I please pass these?

My name is Amity Holland, and I am here to talk about the Spiritus cap carbon capture plan that is going in with the data center in Converse County and I pulled a screenshot and typed up some of the items that came up during a the Trota County Board of County Commissioners work session on June 18th 2024 and a representative from Spiritus was there that talked about the utility usage of that they were trying to get. And it sounds like it's from the city of Casper. They're looking to use 200 to 500 gallons of water per minute for their first block of carbon capture. And they do say that they're doing an impact study with the city, but the primary plan is to get the water from the city and potentially an onsite well if needed. So on the back, I wanted to just show some water usage in real terms. 200 to 500 gallons a minute may not sound like a lot but it's 288,000 to 720,000 gallons of water per day. And this is just for the first block. They're looking to expand to 20 blocks. That is 4,000 to 10,000 gallons per minute, which is 5,760,000 to 14,400,000 gallons of water per day. According to an August 17 2021 article in the oil city news summer water usage for the city of Casper was around 25 million waters of her deck sorry gallons of water per day and winter water usage is around 15 million. So if spirit has completes all 20 of their blocks and is running at 500 gallons a minute they could potentially use the same amount of water as the entire city of Casper per day. Given that the town of Mills has already instituted water restrictions as of April 15th, Casper may have to do the same thing as well. I respectfully request that the city of Casper, if they are approached by Spiritus to use our water, that we either restrict their water usage entirely, since in my opinion this is a Converse County project, or we set a hard limit on the amount of water that Spiritus is allowed to use in order to preserve water for the residents of Casper. Finally, I would ask if it's reasonable to require the beneficiary of the tax revenues for the data centers to also provide the resources for data centers and their support activities. If the answer is yes, then shouldn't the burden for providing those resources, including water, belong to Converse County as they are realizing the tax revenues for the data center? And I think my biggest concern is, as we've seen in Cheyenne, when these data centers come, more come with them. And I think we would be setting a dangerous precedent to hand over Casper Water for Converse County activities. They're the ones that approved this. It went through without industrial siting. And I could be wrong, and you guys feel free to correct me, but it sounds like the support activities are crossing the Natrona County line and being requested from Casper.

Any questions?

Go ahead, Vice Mayor. Thank you, Mayor, and thank you. I'm sorry, what was your name? Amity. Amity. Thank you, Amity. I apologize. I've not heard of Spiritus in regards to the Prometheus Hyperscale Project, and so it sounds like I definitely got some research to do. I appreciate you providing a citation and a time stamp. That'll make it a lot easier for some of us who need to do this in a quick way. Do you have any other primary citations where I could learn more about relationship between spirit isn't for me to use and.

I just have this oil city news has actually done a great job that's where I found some of these articles they did a article on May 1st about this where they did link to spirit is they linked to the. County commissioner meeting they linked to the D E Q 5. Elling as well and it definitely sounds like it's in the Toronto County. It's like 400 pages, so it's a lot. And the Casper College did a data center learning series that I did watch. And there is a timestamp for this one, but the owner of Prometheus Hyperscale was there. And he started talking about how they were on the Converse and Natrona County line and that half of the Falls Ranch that they're in is in Converse and half of it's in Natrona. And he said, we were going to try to stuff everything on one side of the county line. That's not working out. And so we're probably going to do our power generation on the Natrona side. So I don't know why it's not working out. But it seems to me that, again, this should be a converse county gift of resources if they are going to realize the tax revenues and approve these data centers.

Thank you. Any other questions?

And I don't know if I'm in the right place. I don't know if I need to go to county commissioner or...

I'll tell you what we'll do. Okay. No, no, no, you're good. So stick around. Okay. So what the council will do once we're done with public comment, council members will have comments for you. Okay. And feedback on that. So I'm sure a couple of us will want that to share. So stick around for a little bit. Okay. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Appreciate you.

Well, my name is Dennis Laughlin. I own a property on 14th Street, and I've just got some questions, to be honest with you. You know, I mean, the equity I'm going to lose because it's not going to increase the value of my property is substantial because I don't have one of the nicer ones. And I put in developments myself. The last one was Nebraska Street, and I had to supply the sewer, the water, the curb, the gutter, the street, the fire hydrants. And then when I tap into all the stuff I put in, then I got to pay a tap fee and regional water on top of all this stuff. But I know I tried to file an LED there. At that time, you had to have an 80% agreeable rate. And I owned over 80% of the land. I just had a couple people that wanted five times of what it was worth. So I ended up having to pay them. I also have been a contractor for over 30 years here in Casper. And if we're going to do this, why don't we go to the rounded curb so it doesn't tear everybody's vehicle up, the 12-inch drain pan instead of the two-foot drain pan, which would cut a lot of cost, move it out there, it's away from the houses. And my biggest thing, as I was looking at the projected cost of mine, I have ACOs, dump trucks, I have all the equipment.

If this goes through, can I do my own? Because I know I would bid it at full price with a healthy profit margin, and it's about half of what they're charging me for.

So that was my question. Do we still need 80% to form LAD? Because they were saying, oh, we've got to have 50% to vote it down. And I've looked at mine, and there's a chunk or two of the sidewalk that needs replaced. And the approach isn't good, but if I went with a rounded curve, the approach is you're own choice. You can drive over that easy round curve if you want. It's just some cost cutting ideas and maybe we could simplify this.

So what we'll do is if anybody has any questions to clarify and then we'll make comment after you after that answer some of your questions.

Okay.

Thank you. Does anybody have any questions? Clarifications? Yeah. Go ahead. Counselor Sweeney.

So thanks for coming. So I'm a little curious. Are you talking about the 14th Street or just LADs in general?

Well, I'm talking about 14th Street and the LAD they're trying to get through right now. I've just been through the LAD process before, and I know the council just shut it down. There was no, oh, it's just over. You lose. So I know you have the power. I mean, I've heard different things, and there may be different ways to fund some of it. And, you know, the handicap intersections, you know, there's different places you can probably apply for grants and this and that. And, you know, if it's for the greater good and everybody is in favor with it or the majority or whatever, I guess I have no choice to be on board. I just would like to do my own. Give me a pin at each end and I'll just do mine.

No, appreciate that. So it did take over 50%, if I'm right, on the 14th street. and the citizens did vote it down. So we'll be reversing that in action tonight, later in the agenda, but in that particular case. But you've raised some interesting concepts.

Well, I was just trying to save everybody a little bit of money, make it actually easier on cars and this and that, because I don't know if you've ever ran into one of those square curbs when you're not paying attention. They're one of $200 rim or a step or they're not real good and they're deep over there. You could break an ankle. I think that's the most common way to get that hub fracture, fracture of your ankle, stepping off one of those curbs.

Thank you. So stick around and I, our city attorney about the legality of having somebody do their own sidewalk, et cetera. So stick around and I'll check with our city attorney.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you, appreciate it.

Others wish to speak to the council.

Good evening.

Good evening, Renee Eberhardt. I am a resident on 14th Street also, and obviously very vocal, I think. Kyle recognizes the name. The 21st Street Project.

Yeah, they're pretty sensitive. Yeah. They don't speak to you too loud.

The 21st Street Project, I deliver the mail, so I'm over in that area, and they were just doing work over there. And the lab was zero cost to homeowners at that point. They did not replace curb and gutters or sidewalks. except for in parts that if they needed to do just patchwork and stuff. And a lot of our streets, our sidewalks, we don't feel need replaced. Or if they do, they could be refurbished, grinded down and resealed and made pretty, beautiful, whatever. And that was never an option for us. And I think that was one of the things. There's a lot of ways that those costs could have been – and made more affordable for the homeowners and the city. And that was one of our main concerns. There wasn't any choices. It was all or nothing. And it's not that we want nice streets, nice sidewalks, all of that. But as a homeowner, you're always looking at where I need to put my money into. And I think that was one of our biggest concerns. So that's one of the things I wanted to mention. Also, the way we were notified, the street signs at 14th. And if you're shutting off our water, you go door to door and put a sign on our doors. There needed to be better communication all the way around. And I think that's one of our biggest concerns. And thank you guys for listening.

Awesome. Any questions?

I would mention, sorry, if I can, just a second. I still got a little time. My friend in Wisconsin, she is on their city podcast. Board they call them aldermen's there and they've got different rules and stuff there She said we would be responsible for a hundred percent of that cost we have people on staff or we hire a different crews that go out and check sidewalks and Replace or repair to mitigate those costs where we're not replacing sidewalks all at the same time You know different sections grinding them down refinishing them where we have the good sidewalks or areas that we decide we don't need sidewalks because we can't afford the cost at this point in time. And it saves the city a lot of money and it saves the residents a lot of money and time. So those were some of the other suggestions I wanted to make. Thank you.

Okay. Thank you. Yeah. Stick around. No, no, no, no. Stick around. We'll have comment afterwards. Thank you so much.

Others wish to address the council.

Okay. Thank you, everyone. So now is the time that counselors can briefly respond to any of the matters brought up and address that to the public. So I'm going to open it up to see if anybody would like to say anything. Yep, Vice Mayor.

Thank you, Mayor, and appreciate everyone for your comments this evening. I always make a point to, you know, this is more than average attendance, and so I always like to make a point to Thank everyone for coming out. I would much rather see more butts in seats than none. And so thank you for showing up, participating, getting engaged in the process, and for having the courage to come up and give your public comments. I'll try to be brief, but I want to kind of address everyone that spoke. Mr. Schiffman, you made mention of the resolution that council usually passes preceding every 5th Senate vote. We did ask about that, I believe, in our last meeting. So unfortunately, like you said, you were at the Collective Health Trust, and so wouldn't have had the benefit of that. But we will be working through that resolution here in the next four to eight weeks. I think we talked about sometime in July putting that resolution together. So folks will have plenty of time to review it, and we will be definitely encouraging people to look at it, get familiar with it, ask questions before they go to the ballot box in November to vote on the passage of that fifth syntax again. Amity, is that right? Okay. Really appreciate this. Again, thank you for the time stamp. I'm a time stamper, so I love mad respect to anyone that does the time stamps. It saves people a ton of time scrolling around, so I appreciate that. I was able to also find that Oil City article you mentioned, so I appreciate that. Tommy, I apologize. I usually read every single article. This one must have slipped by, so I'll do some more diligence on that, and we'll make sure that is a conversation we continue to have. To Mr. Laughlin and also, I guess, Renee, Dennis first. So as Councillor Sweeney mentioned, it's only 50% required to sign that petition. And because I believe it was 59 out of 80 property owners in the area, well above the 50% threshold, sign that petition. As was mentioned, if you hang tight to a little bit later in our agenda this evening, you'll see us take a vote to abandon that LAD. We will still need to do the street and the water main work because it's critical enough, but the curb gutter sidewalk will all remain kind of in its current condition. So I guess congratulations. I appreciate the effort it takes to get all your homeowners in the area talking. Renee, if you were one of the gals interviewed by Mark Hyman, It sounded like folks were going up and down the street, knocking on doors. And it sounds like maybe neighbors got a chance to get to know each other a little bit better. So another silver lining potentially. So I appreciate the work that you all did, you know, get your support on that petition. I don't know what the legality is, Dennis, as far as people bringing in their own contractors or doing their own work. But I can imagine logistically 80 different property owners trying to get their own preferred contractors in there would be a total nightmare. And so that's probably one of the reasons. But you're not the first person that's brought up to me the fact that they could contract that out for cheaper. And so I will be, you know, the next time we consider a local assessment district, I will. It does give me food for thought. And I'll be asking more questions about how exactly those costs are put together. Renee, to your point about whether there are sidewalks that are in fine condition that don't need replacement. maybe certain property owners can be exempt if their public infrastructure is at a certain grade. So, you know, food for thought and definitely will be fodder for the next conversation we have on the topic. I forget which one of you mentioned, but somebody brought up the fact that, oh, Wisconsin, apparently the alderman in Wisconsin, they take care of it there. That's very interesting. I'll go look and see how they handle that. But In Wyoming, it's state statute that adjacent property owners are responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of their sidewalks. So our city attorney reminded us of that in our pre-meeting that even if we wanted to absorb the costs, our state statutes and also our Wyoming state constitution prevent us from being able to use public dollars for private benefit. And again, the way that's described and outlined in state statute, it would be private benefit in this case. So we're kind of bound by statutes at the time. But again, if you missed our pre-meeting, I am wondering whether, you know, there's opportunity to lobby the legislature to potentially change state statute if there are other ways to replace this infrastructure, a better solution than a local assessment district. So, again, that's all I have, I think, but I appreciate everyone coming out and sharing your public comments. And, yeah, just thank you. Hope you have a great rest of your night.

Mr. City Attorney, could you, I don't know if you have any comments off the cuff stuff to talk about the possibility of people to contract their own is our state statute around that is that a policy from the city of Casper ordinance. I don't know if you have any of that information at your disposal.

Yeah, thank you, mayor. Council, I don't want to delve too far into it off the cuff. My gut is that if this is a responsibility of the landowner they may be called to repair it, not in conjunction with street repairs. And I think my previous experience, frankly, in the city of Douglas, we had a couple of these where the property owners did retain their own contractor and do the sidewalk repairs, for instance, on their own. Certainly, if Mr. Laughlin was a licensed contractor and pulled the appropriate permits and coordinated with the city, I'm not really sensing any prohibition that I can think of to them either retaining their own contractor separately or doing it if they're able to do so under licensure. What I would say more broadly, there's a lot of points that were brought up in good points by the speakers with regard to LADs that really go beyond kind of what we're asking council to decide on tonight. And that is just to acknowledge that we've exceeded that 50% threshold. And so I do think it may be appropriate to have a work session where we take another dive into kind of how the city is handling LADs, what our notification is. I know we've done it before, but there's a lot of nuance to it. And I do believe that there's other proposed LADs on the horizon, so probably a good time, but certainly would defer to our acting city manager on that as well, so.

Other comments? Yeah, go ahead, Councillor Pawlik.

Just a couple minor ones. Mostly everything has been covered well, I think. I want to just put on record again, I feel like I've done it at least once or twice, but I think Mr. Schiffman and others on this council have gone back and forth about the language on all of our educational materials about various things that we've done, the spec tax, the fifth cent, et cetera. I just want everybody to know that those do go through legal review here to ensure that we are not coming afoul of any state statutes or laws around that. So I don't want folks to have the sense that council is like willy-nilly putting these things together, that there is a legal review. It's not just left up to lay people to determine if what we are communicating with the public is appropriate or not. And so, I mean, I think we can continue to to parse out if it feels neutral or if it doesn't, but it wasn't us that just woke up and said we should call all these projects wonderful when maybe they were just okay, or maybe somebody might say they were terrible, or somebody else might say they were the best thing that's ever happened in this community. That's really not what we're up here doing, and so I just want to note that. And I also want to note, if you've been to any of my budget talks, Yes property tax is a small percentage of our overall budget but it's a much larger percentage of our general fund budget and it is the most stable portion of our general fund budget and so love to see any of you at one of the budget talks that we give where we break that down a little bit more into detail but I think we really minimize the conversation about the importance of property tax and the role that it plays in our budget when we try to reduce it to a percentage of the overall budget because that I think that leaves a lot of information out of the conversation, and so as we keep talking about property tax, I encourage you, we just had a conversation about our budget coming up for the fiscal year 27, really encourage you as you're weighing our budget, as you're thinking about the November ballot, to really be keying into the nuances of the budget conversation and not just look at six million versus our total property tax revenue and where that plays into the budget because it's it's a lot more complicated than that and i'd be happy to chat with any of you anytime about how property tax plays into the budget picture and what the impacts of reductions in property tax actually mean to the budget process oh thanks counselor sweeney so um a couple of things um thank you counselor

Pollock, that was tremendous. I wouldn't have been able, can't express that so eloquently, but I'd have to write it down. But I applaud the 14th Street folks for getting involved. I hope You'll also get involved around the fifth cent and realize how important that could be to all of us, whether it's, you know, if you're for it or against it, please come educate us on the importance one way or the other of during the whole process on the fifth cent. TO EDUCATE US EVEN MORE. OBVIOUSLY YOU DID A GREAT JOB OF ADVOCATING FOR YOURSELVES AND YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD. I LIVE IN NORTH CASPER AND WE DO HAVE ROLLED CURB WHICH I REALLY APPRECIATE GETTING IN AND OUT OF THE DRIVEWAY. SO I'M NOT SURE WHY ONE PORTION OF THE CITY IS THOSE HIGH CURBS THE ONLY The thing I can guess is trying to keep the water off the properties flowing down the streets, but I don't know. That's just a guess. But on the Spiritus project, as far as I know, in the last meetings, I did attend the one up at Casper College. It really wasn't talked about. a whole lot. And my feeling is because of reductions in tax credits around carbon capture, even though we need it for enhanced oil recovery, the richest supply is off of smokestacks, which aren't steam stacks, around coal-fired power plants, versus gas fired, the amount of output is almost three to four times higher in carbon emissions off of that versus a gas fired power plant. But my understanding is that's not part of the project at this point, if they even move forward, quite honestly.

So.

So support and water. So I'm sorry, but you already had public comment. So I'm so sorry. I know it's hard not to respond during this time, but I appreciate it. Thank you.

So but that that's my understanding, but thank you. Thank you for the information. I appreciate it. And thanks for the folks showing up tonight.

So thank you. And to also that point, you can reach out to any of us.

have any comment you can email us or a lot of us have phone numbers on there you can reach out to us too okay no no no you're good you're doing great thank you for being here and engaging we appreciate that councilor pollock i just wanted to say one a couple things about lads as well i i don't want to get lost in this conversation as we're acknowledging the effort that it went through that it took to get through the process that lad has and and rightfully should have. There should be, you know, it's an appropriate process. There absolutely should be a path and recourse for property owners. And I totally appreciate that. But I don't want to lose the thread on the fact that LEDs are a super valuable tool for our community. And they're not one that I think we should sort of undermine here. And I think that, you know, when we think about the mechanisms that we have to fund things collectively as a community, there aren't very many of them, at least not that we are at liberty as a city council to employ. And so as we think about, you know, this infrastructure that was put in in the 60s and 70s, a lot of our infrastructure here was put in in the 60s and 70s. And so it's all sort of coming to this aged condition around the same time. And it's a real challenge for our community. And so I think LADs are a valuable tool for us. I think that I will continue to support the proposal of LADs. I think there are some things that we can do. I think a lot of what got lost in this conversation is the value proposition. And I think that that needs to be communicated better. I think that we need to have a really clear understanding of what the value proposition is and better information to give to property owners about cost-benefit analysis. That's what every property owner is going to be trying to do is their own cost-benefit analysis to see, you know, what is this going to cost me here today versus if I did it some other way or at another time. And we need to be prepared for that conversation, I think, better because I don't want to see LADs be another tool that we now no longer have at our disposal to get important things done. As we mentioned in the work session, we're going to invest a lot of money in the street there And unfortunately, the grade is wrong. And so we're going to invest a bunch of money, public money in the street. And it's not going to last as long as it would last if we had done the project as a cohesive unit. And so like, that's just the reality that we're dealing with. And the more we do that, and the more we multiply that issue across streets across town, like the less the sooner we're going to have to be having this conversation about our aged streets, our aged infrastructure. And that's just going to be on the next generation to try to foot a bill that we should have been able to extend a longer life into these things that we're trying to build. And so, I mean, it's a I'm not going to say it's an unfortunate outcome or a fortunate outcome. It's an outcome that has pros and cons to it. And I think that that is that is the reality that we're all sitting with right now. And it's. something that I want to see us to continue to talk about, continue to deal with, and continue to try to grapple with because, you know, ultimately I think that that's in the best interest of our infrastructure broadly across communities. So I want to see LIDs be a tool that we can continue to use. And so I encourage the council to continue to work through this and to talk about it. And I encourage city staff to continue to figure out how do we talk to neighborhoods, how do we talk to community members about this and what, you know, what the real cost-benefit analysis is.

I'll just make a quick comment, unless there's any other comments. Okay. I'm just going to speak, you know, we've gone back and forth, as you know, Mr. Schiffman, about property taxes and the importance of that. And I'm not going to belabor that because I think Councillor Pollack addressed it very eloquently. But I think, you know, one of the things that we've seen a decrease, I think the county has seen a decrease, and struggled with their budget once the property tax for the 25% came. We've seen that, and that's the reality of it. And so if we want to cut taxes, get it. I want it. I've said this before from this dais. Wonderful. Let's do that. But there are also trade-offs that come with that that affect all those things. And so I know that's been something that has been debated in this legislature. We've butted heads with them from a municipal standpoint and from a county standpoint. When all 99 municipalities and all the counties come together in unison in support to say, look, this is going to really affect our communities, I think that says something. So I just wanted to say about I'll continue to ride that horse on property taxes. The other part is about the LADs. I do agree 100% with Councillor Pollack on the benefits and the uses of them. I've seen it. I've done this over 12 years being on this council, and I've seen the benefits of it. I've seen both sides, I've seen communities come up in the neighborhoods frustrated, wondering about this process. But as I said before, our city attorney said it is state statute. And it kind of keeps us really in that corner that we have to do these things. And so to change it, you'd have to go to the state legislature and try to work through the state statute in order to do that. And so it's sort of out of our hands. I will say that, and I think our Public Works Director said this at our work session, there are things that we learned from this process that I think we can always do what better, whether that's communication, being able to do the process, how that looks. But I agree with Councillor Pawlik, I think LADs do have a benefit, and I won't just go over that again from what Councillor Pawlik said. And so we'll continue to do that, and I will recommend that we do bring this to a work session. not to deconstruct LADs, but I think just to kind of look at it and to sense, how do we present these things? How do we talk about it? I think it's going to be a really important aspect of it. So, but again, I thank the neighborhoods for coming in here, the people coming in. We get involved when something affects us, and then we start coming to these. I tell you now, get involved no matter what. Be a part of that, because we got involved up here because something affected us. And so if that is the case, run for office, do those things and get involved. And we appreciate that. Whether you and I disagree, whether this panel disagrees, we want you to get involved and thank you for being involved. We appreciate that. And we do mean that sincerely. I appreciate that. Thank you. Okay, let's move on. Thank you for everybody for coming. Please feel free to reach out to any one of us. If you have any more questions, things didn't get answered, we'd be more than happy to follow up with you. Councilor, Vice Mayor Gamroth is very good at that, and he's a good researcher. I mean, don't all go after him.

We've got so much time.

Yeah, that's fine. Vice Mayor will take care of everybody. Thank you, everyone. All right, moving along. Please read the consent agenda title.

Establish June 16, 2026 as the public hearing date for consideration of a resolution making appropriations of funds to cover expenditures of the City of Casper, Wyoming for the fiscal year of July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027.

Thank you. The chair to entertain a motion to by minute action establish the public hearing date just read. Moved by Councillor Jensen, seconded by Councillor McIntosh. Any abstentions or nay votes? Please cast your vote. Councillor Bond, how do you vote? Aye. Please record the vote.

With all councillors voting aye, the motion passes.

I now declare the public hearing open for the consideration of an ordinance approving a temporary moratorium on the establishment of new simulcasting establishments. Mr. City Attorney, do you have any exhibits?

Thank you, Mayor. I do. Exhibit number one, correspondence from Eric Nelson to Janine Jordan, dated May 22, 2026. Exhibit number two, proof of publication from the Casper Star Tribune for publication on May 26, 2026. Great.

Thank you. Action City Manager, do you have any reports?

What's in the memo?

I have nothing else to say. Thank you. Council will now listen to public comment. Public hearing comments are limited to five minutes. No duplication of speakers will be allowed. At this time, I would ask those individuals who wish to speak in favor of of this moratorium ordinance to please approach the lectern. Anybody that's in favor?

Okay.

At this time, I would ask those individuals who wish to speak in opposition to this ordinance to please approach the lectern. Anybody in opposition? Mr. Johnson, how are you?

Good evening, Mayor. I'm John Johnson, counsel. I think this is a horrible idea. I'm speaking from a standpoint If you are limiting business, you're picking a certain business sector to limit how many, where they can be. We should have free enterprise. When there's too many, they won't work out. They'll go under. But I don't think it's council's position to do this. I think we should let free enterprise run its course. It's a form of interpayment that people like. If they didn't like it, they wouldn't be going to these. Nobody is dragging anybody into these. They're going on their own volition. They're spending their own money in a way that they want to spend it. You know, you can over gamble. You can overeat. You can over drink. You can overdo everything. I mean, what's next on the list? Coffee shops. There's one of those on every corner in every vacant parking lot. Vape shops. I mean, you know where I'm going with this. I don't think this is council's responsibility. I think let free enterprise run its course here. and it'll take care of itself. When there's too many, you'll know it. That's all I have to say. Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor. Thanks, John, for coming tonight. So in your mind, you know, Rock Springs is kind of looking at this, Cheyenne, in different ways, it appears. I think the thought process was or is to take 180 days, six months to basically take a look at it, see if we need some of our zoning updated and ordinances updated. or is there a certain section of town, say downtown Yellowstone District, that we think or have been told that people want to limit that kind of activity in a certain part of town? Do you have any, I totally get what you're saying as far as free market and letting that take place.

um but do you have any thoughts on um you know downtown or um yellowstone district in particular mayor councilman sweeney i think it's i mean i get the you know it's one of those things nobody wants this in their backyard right so to speak but i mean it's if you're going to let a restaurant go there why wouldn't you let a gaming parlor go there i mean um you know, I mean, it's like what fits and what doesn't fit. I'm just like, I think if it fits the zoning, it fits that, you know, they follow all the ordinances and all the regulations to build out their space and do what they're supposed to do, like all of us do when we build out one of our entities, then it should be. I don't think you should limit how close they can be to each other. Nobody limits if somebody can put a restaurant across from one of my restaurants. I mean, that's fine. I mean, it's competition. The people that operate well will do good. The people that don't operate well are not going to do good. So I think I think, you know, if there are certain areas that the city doesn't want to see, if it's the old Yellowstone District, you know, I think those are ordinances that you probably can create. I mean, I don't know that it's bad for down there. I mean, that area of town has struggled to get businesses down there. I mean, it's starting to develop. I think we had some developers that are doing a great job down there right now, and that's awesome. I totally support that. But I think as a council, I think trying to limit who can be in this space and who can and how many and stuff like that is wrong. I think if you want to say we don't want those in the old Yellowstone district, I don't know. I don't know that that's a problem. But I don't think you guys should say who can be in this business and who can't and how many there can be and how many there can't be. Like I said, when there's too many, you'll all know. We'll all know. Everybody will know. You know, some are going to make it, some aren't. I mean, you know, if we go back to the coffee shop example, when Seven Brews went in on the west side of Casper, City Brew went out. I mean, there's too many on that area of Casper. So it'll be the same way with any business, my business, anybody else's business. So I think that's how you guys should look at it. And if you want, you know, but I don't think a moratorium is necessarily the right way to go about this. I think, and I think if Casper starts setting the precedent, I think it will go across the state. And I, you know, I don't think any of the cities should be doing it that way because we're picking a certain business sector. And, and why? I mean, It's not, you know, in my personal opinion, and I'm not a big gambler, but I'm speaking from a business standpoint. And I just don't think that, you know, if people don't want, no one's making somebody go in there. If you want to go in, you go out in your own volition. So I don't think that it's our job or your job as a city council to say, you know, how many there can be, where they can, I mean, as long as they fit in the commercial zones and the things like that. So no... Those are the things you guys get to decide is what that zoning looks like. But I don't think a moratorium is the right way to do this.

I think why, in my opinion, why some of the cities are looking at this now. This last legislative session, Senate File 45, gives the cities, we really didn't have uh much say over placement uh once the county had approved it um uh basically the only thing we had was the liquor license approval process and once it's purchased as you well know uh if it's meeting all the criteria we really didn't have much of an opportunity to restrict or say yes or no, where a spot should go. Senate File 45, I believe it appears, kind of opens this avenue up that was recently passed and goes into effect July 1st. So in my mind, that's one of the reasons we're looking at it, but I appreciate your comments.

Thank you. Yeah, Vice Mayor. Thank you, Mayor. And thank you, John, for speaking this evening. Not to reiterate some of Councillor Sweeney's points, but I appreciate where you're coming from. I totally get it. You know, I'm somebody that, you know, believes in the free market so much as possible that it doesn't, you know, harm the life, liberty and pursuit of happiness for the folks around that business. I would ask you, you know, as a very successful business owner yourself and a purveyor of liquor licenses in our city, Obviously, there's lots of regulation, oversight, licensing, permitting regarding liquor establishments of which all of these parlors are utilizing. And so, in your opinion, what is the difference between regulation of an off-track biting parlor and regulation of a liquor license, which, as you know, we have only a certain number of licenses that are allowed. Those are capped. That industry has more regulation than other industries because of the public health impacts that it has because these parlors For everyone that opens up, there is a noticeable increase to public service calls to that location. And so that's what we're tasked with is balancing economic prosperity and opportunity with public health impacts. So your opinion, sir, what is the difference between the two?

If Mayor and Councillor Gamroth have the liquor thing, we could have a whole long discussion on that. you know, once you get into the liquor licenses, you've bought in for a substantial amount of money, but I don't know that that's, that they're exactly right either. You know, I think there's, you know, we created the bar and grill years ago so that restaurants, you know, we could develop more restaurants and things like that. And I think it's been a successful licensing. I'm not sure that there's not a need for another license for this so that you aren't taking some of these other licenses out of the market. You know, I, I'm not saying we have too many licenses. I mean, there again, I'm a free enterprise guy. I'm the guy that says when there's enough, you'll know. So, but I do, I, you know, as you all know, we, we leased to one of the, one of the off-track betting parlors next to Fuzzy's and we, but we use, that's the highest and best use for that license. It's servicing two businesses, you know, for a full retail license where, you know, there's some, sometimes a restaurant alone has a full retail. So I, I think, And we can have another conversation, all of us, about this. So I know I'm out of time, but thank you for listening to me.

All right. Thank you, Mr. Johnson. Thank you. Appreciate it. Others in opposition? Good evening.

Good evening, Mayor and members of the council. My name is Affie Ellis. I'm an attorney with a law firm called Brownstein, Hyatt, Farber, and Schreck. based in Cheyenne, Wyoming. And I'm here today to offer some information to you on behalf of our client, Bally's. I sent all of you a letter via email last week. I did bring some hard copies so that each of you could just have a copy if you didn't get a chance to look at those. And then I'd note, and I'll leave these here for your staff to hand out. Sorry, I don't mean to do this to you. So last minute. But if you need more, I've got here more in my pile. But in that packet, I provided some information that the Gaming Commission has put together. Some of that information is, it shows up well on your computer screen, but maybe not on your phone. And for my old eyes that can't see very well, I did blow up some of those exhibits so you can see them a little better through some of the charts. But for the record, I wanted to explain in addition to some of the concerns that we had outlined in our letter. First and foremost, I just want to reiterate that the reason that we have historic horse racing machines or HHR machines The legislature's intent was for those facilities to provide a revenue stream to support live horse racing. So unlike liquor licenses that are very local and used to support your bar, HHR facilities are supposed to support live horse racing. And so to enter that market, that's your step one is you either have to lease or construct and own a racetrack. Bally's has made a significant investment of millions of dollars in reliance on the fact that they can open some gaming facilities throughout the state of Wyoming in those counties where Paramutual activities have been approved and Neutrona County is one of those So I don't want that to get lost in the weeds because that is an important point That is a very important distinction between these and liquor licenses as the newcomer in the state We've been involved in efforts in drafting and working on Senate 40 fought Senate file 45 and its predecessor House bill 85 which failed to advance in the prior session That bill failed in large part because it treated the newcomer disproportionately and unfairly in comparison to the existing operators In your packet, you're going to see a map that we had prepared. Right now, there are two operators. You have ECL Gaming, which has two companies, subsidiaries underneath it, Wyoming Downs and 307 Horse Racing. And then Chesapeake Gaming, they're the operator for Wyoming Horse Racing, the Swan Ranch casinos that you've heard about. So we're literally the third entrant into this market, the newcomer. As such, in prior versions of the bill that has been mentioned, Senate File 45, there were some attempts to limit our access to the courts if local governments were to deny our approvals. I would disagree with the characterization that before then the local governments had no authority. Gaming facilities have always had to comply with zoning ordinances. So in other jurisdictions and across the United States, we do have to comply with hours of operation, certain distance requirements, and those were tools that we had repeatedly asked a number of municipalities to use, but they said, well, we're kind of nervous about our authority, but I can say that that is a powerful tool that had existed prior to Senate File 45's passage. During the interim, as we worked on Senate File 45, we really fought against moratoriums because simply they favored the existing operators more dramatically than us. Right now, Valleys has not been approved to operate a single gaming machine. They have not turned on a facility if they have not opened their gaming doors. Their focus right now is getting ready for the race season this fall. And so right now, if there were a moratorium, we'd be approved for zero machines compared to our competitors who have each been approved for more than 3,000 machines approximately each. So even a temporary moratorium gives us a moment of pause. We heard through the interim that after our competitors have built substantial gaming facilities that they've said the market's saturated, we can't handle any more of these machines. I would remind this committee that, or this council, that market saturation is a tool used by private industry in determining whether or not they want to do businesses in a certain area. It's not really a tool used by government to determine whether or not there are enough businesses. And then finally, I know I'm running out of time, the language in Senate File 45 was very narrow, and it said that one of the authorities that local governments and county governments now have is If they want to deny or reject an application, it has to be based on the welfare of the people living in the vicinity of the area, the proposed location. And so I think there is a little misalignment with some of the language used in your resolution compared to what was provided in statute. And then finally, I wanted to offer you one final piece of information. I did a comparison. In the last 14-month period, there have only been 11 new machines opened in Neutrona County, and there have only been for one operator and the other operator has only added 10 machines, and that's for a 14-month period. And if you look at this chart I prepared, you'll see that the last gaming facility that was opened was in 2023. So when I read your resolution, and I understand there's some concern, maybe some people feel like there are too many or too much of these machines. In the last year and a half, there's been very modest growth in the industry. There have been no new facilities and only a minimal amount of an increase in the number of machines. So I'll pass this out to you as well. With that, Mr. Mayor, Vice Mayor, members of the Council, please know I'm happy to answer any questions.

Any questions?

Go ahead, Vice Mayor. Thank you, Mayor, and thank you, Ms. Ellis, for all the information. We'll be able to get through all of it before I ask your questions, but you can stay home with me and digest it there. My question for you is, Valleys, what is... you know, what is their analysis of the Casper market? If we didn't have a moratorium in place, what would be their intent as far as number of parlors, number of machines? What do you see as the opportunity here in this area?

Thank you. Mr. Mayor, Vice Mayor, in response to that, in that large packet that I sent you, I want you to take a look at the giant legal-sized document. If you look at page one, that's a listing of all Wyoming Downs' property. And this is a full readout compared to what I provided in your packet, which is just Natrona County. If you look at that chart, you're gonna see in red facilities that are closed, those are fully highlighted, but the font that's listed in red is gonna show properties that are opening. So you'll see Cheyenne, Wyoming Downs is constructing a facility that will house 600 machines. Below that, or above that, you'll see on that same page, another proposal to build a gaming facility in Evanston. That facility will also hold 600 machines. Going on to page two, that's the Wyoming horse racing properties. Those again, Wyoming Downs and 307 Horse Racing are all, they've got a joint venture so we often refer to them as one company. They're technically two but they have one parent company. You can see some of the growth there. That's I would say kind of flat on that side of it. But then going down to Wyoming Horse Racing LLC on the third page, You'll see the Cheyenne Swan Ranch proposal. They have been approved to operate 1,000 terminals. If you've driven to Colorado and have driven by that property, they currently have 328 gaming machines on site. That means that property will triple in size. They also have plans to construct the Evanston Gateway project. They've been approved for 1,036 machines at that facility. Right now they have about a third of that on the floor, 292. So if I were to venture to guess, it looks like all of the, how I read this is that these two operators are investing heavily in two markets, that's Cheyenne and Evanston. As for Bally's, I don't know. When I have started doing work for them, my understanding is that we have applications and we've been looking at three locations in Cheyenne, but I think our concern is that if we start wanting to look at the Casper market and understand what is an opportunity here, can we offer better restaurants, better services to that point of competition, We don't want to have a door automatically shut in front of us before we have the opportunity to do that market analysis and work with all of you to understand some of your priorities and your concerns about the locations.

Thank you, Ms. Ellis.

It might take me, oh.

Oh yeah, go ahead, sorry. Councilor Sweeney.

Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Afi, for coming and our previous meeting. I really appreciated the lessons and dynamics from Valley's point of view. So do you, in your vision, if we did a six-month moratorium, do you think, you're even at a point, and this probably is not a fair question, but do you think you're in that six months? Are you even at a point to even start looking for locations?

Thank you for that question. Mayor Pacheco, Councilor Sweeney, I think as their government advisor, government affairs advisor, is to make sure we have all of our options open. And so I think to the previous speaker's comment about the trickle-down effect, what if you start seeing another community that says, well, we're going to do a moratorium too, and another one says we're going to do a moratorium. All of a sudden then we're in the position where we're going to look at the communities and start saying, well, where does it make sense and where do they want us and where do they don't? My concern is that some of those moratorium conversations might turn into a permanent request saying, yeah, we don't want any more of these in our community. Senate File 45 addresses that concern, so look at that language existing. But I think that would really, I think, indicate to business that they don't want to have their doors open. And unfortunately, it's not based on a reason that we feel is satisfactory, which is economic protectionism. In that packet, I provided you with a court case, which is very important and significant. It talks about how economic protectionism is not a valid state interest or a government interest to fence out other operators. And that violated Wyoming's constitution, and it was found to be arbitrary and capricious. So that's, I think, our overarching concern is where this might go. And then looking at a six-month time frame, that does seem to be very lengthy. I do think that the council, in visiting with some of you on an individual basis, have raised concerns about where these should be located, and that's a fair conversation. If you have a downtown where you don't feel it's appropriate for those games to be, those gaming facilities to be located, it would make sense to me to go through your zoning process and make that adjustment, as long as it treats all the operators fairly. I think where we have concerns is where you have a blanket moratorium and then you have operating facilities and then shutting those off. I think that's where you start running into trouble with how you're treating folks fairly.

A follow-up? Thank you, Mayor, if I could. So do you, because this is all new to me, do you see this MORATORIUM ALMOST LIKE A FENCING OR TOTAL RESTRICTION, EVEN THOUGH IT'S ONLY SIX MONTHS?

YES, MAYOR PACHECO, COUNCILOR SWINNEY, WE'RE VERY CONCERNED ABOUT EVEN THE WORD MORATORIUM FOR ALL THE REASONS I JUST EXPLAINED. AND I WOULD OFFER THAT, YOU KNOW, IN MY EXPERIENCE WITH LOCAL GOVERNMENT, YOU KNOW, I LIVE IN THE CITY OF When our council goes through zoning processes, they don't immediately shut down their doors and say, we're not going to entertain business licenses for six months. Sorry. They work with individual applicants on a case-by-case basis. And I think, you know, if we start reading in the newspaper that the concern is the old Yellowstone District, we're going to listen to that. I think, you know, if we know that that's the concern, we're unlikely to come to you with a proposal to put something in the Yellowstone District. But the citywide moratorium is the concern. So, you know, happy to engage. I know you've got several readings of this bill. We're happy to have that conversation of how we can really get after what the true concern is. But I also want to offer that, you know, the concern has been brought up about police and fire services and those kinds of things. I don't know the numbers for Casper, but I can tell you gaming and HHR activity has generated millions of dollars in Laramie County for our city, for our counties. So it's been a good thing. And the Senate File 45 does talk about that symbiotic relationship of not regulating activities that are regulated by the Gaming Commission. Visiting with my city council, we've heard stories where they maybe felt that the gaming operators didn't have enough security on premise. So they went to the Gaming Commission. The Gaming Commission said, yeah, you need to hire more staff, more security personnel, which then resulted in fewer calls to police. So there's an interplay there that I think can be addressed. So, you know, hopefully if we were to do business in Casper, we would be good taxpaying citizens. We'd be good corporate citizens. We'd work with the Gaming Commission to make sure that our facilities have adequate security in place. And we would, you know, very much work hand-in-hand with law enforcement to make sure we've got clean, safe, profitable facilities, because that's what this is about, is making sure that the public trusts those facilities.

Sorry, Mayor.

So, I'll always stay daily until later this afternoon. and just noticed there was an article today about Cheyenne in a 500-foot rule, which I don't think ties to a liquor license. John might know this better, but I think it's 150 feet or 150 yards from a school or a school church building. And there might be another restriction. So is Cheyenne looking at something similar to what we're contemplating or Rock Springs? I guess this is also in the process of doing some of these different things. In preparation of July 1 for... Senate File 45 in Hackman.

Mayor Pacheco, Councillor Sweeney, as I was researching Senate File 45, and I want the council to know, when I was in the legislature and Patrick Sweeney remembers, we had a big conversation about how do we make skill-based amusement games fair and equitable to everyone. But I've been very fortunate to have done a deep dive in this. And as I was doing research about the city of Cheyenne, they do have existing ordinances that limit the location of, I believe it's adult entertainment stores near churches and daycare facilities and schools, those kinds of things. So I read, like you read the article this morning, I was unaware that they had been contemplating that. So I'm guessing they're probably modeling it off of that existing ordinance. But I haven't had a chance, like you, I was on the road today and just saw the article and haven't had a chance to open up what their planning department put together. As for Rock Springs, I don't know.

Vice Mayor. Thank you, Mayor. To Councillor Sweeney's point, I also read that article briefly, so I wouldn't consider myself an expert, but I believe the crux of the argument down in Cheyenne was they were wanting to treat daycare centers differently. Their current ordinance doesn't have restrictions if that daycare center is part of just a tenant in a larger building. And they were adjusting their ordinance to where it doesn't need to be a standalone daycare center anymore. It could be a tenant. And so I think that was the crux of the issue down in Cheyenne was treating daycare centers a little bit differently, which would put some of those operators within that proximity that you were talking about, 300 feet. I forget exactly what it is. But to Ms. Ellis, you mentioned how much of a boon this has been for the Laramie County area. And I would agree. I talked to our counterparts down in Cheyenne. They're very enthusiastic about this industry and all the operators that are showing interest in their area, I would make one point of distinction between Casper and Cheyenne. That is, in Cheyenne, my understanding is that the majority of those players are from across state lines in Colorado. I thought the last number I saw was 75 percent of them, at least for one of those facilities. So, you know, I do think it's different. Some of these border towns and counties pulling folks from across state lines to collect those tax revenues, And then those folks kind of going back to their home communities, that to me is different than the Toronto County. We're obviously being in the middle of the state. We don't have anyone traveling four hours, I don't think, to play at any of our locations, historic horse racing here. So I do think that's important to note that the majority of the players here, I haven't seen the statistics, maybe the gaming commission could shed some light, but I'm guessing the vast majority of our players are locals. And one of the concerns that I've had just in general for the industry. My background is in mental health and one of the things I've wished, you know, and I'll take responsibility for this, I could have proposed something similar, but one of the wishes I've had of this council and the city is that we have more evidence-based research playing into our zoning laws and stuff because the research is pretty clear, at least as far as alcohol establishments goes, that The more locations you have in a area, the more public health impacts you have. Alcohol density research is pretty well borne out. And I imagine it's very similar, again, because liquor and the off-track betting industries are very closely aligned in that regard. So I'm coming at this from the perspective of a previous mental health professional who understands kind of how people develop addictions and is familiar with this research showing that the more of these establishments you have in an area, the more public health impacts you're going to have. I understand the argument you're making about market saturation, that this is something for private industry to decide, and that's a calculation they have to make for themselves to determine whether that operation is going to be profitable. But for me as a counselor, as a representative of my constituents, and as somebody with that mental health experience, to me, the point is not whether the establishment can be profitable or not. Again, there's a balance between public health impact and profitability. I do not believe that I'm not so much a proponent of the free market that I think private industry should be able to make as much money as they can, regardless of the public health impacts. And so, you know... That's my perspective as somebody who's trying to come up with the right balance for this. The moratorium is potentially not the most perfect solution. You said we have some freedom and flexibility within our zoning laws, and I would agree with that. But I also, just so you know where I'm coming from, this is a continuation of the concerns I've had for years, not about off-track parlors, but about liquor consumption in general. Us just feeling like we're not having the most evidence-based approach as far as this is going. So if it helps provide more context as far as my own individual perspective, I just want to make that note. Thank you.

May I respond, Mayor? You'll be happy to know that the legislature, I think, is also looking at the mental health issue, and we acknowledge that too. I think that's one thing I find exciting about Bally's is they do this work across the globe and across many communities across the country. And so, you know, all the best practices that they employ, and I can get you some more information on that later on, but I think having that kind of elevated knowledge of this gaming industry and not just on the operations side, but the human element, you know, we're very sensitive and we know about that. But I think that the problem I hear is maybe the moratorium is not the solution. Again, looking at these charts, ECL has eight facilities. Chesapeake Gaming, the Horse Pals, they have two. So a moratorium to just shut us out doesn't seem like the fair solution either. It's rewarding the very people who you complain brought the problem to Casper if you do have a problem with gaming. And looking again at those numbers, they've been approved for 725 terminals within Natrona County, and they've got 554 on their gaming floors. So finding that balance. We have had lots of conversations with the legislature. This is a really difficult industry for a lot of people to get their heads around. It's new, it's complicated. I think you all had some questions about what's the difference between a skill-based amusement game and an HHR machine, right? I understand that Mr. Laramendi helped shed some light on that. And so it is, it's complicated. But again, shutting us out is not the solution, even on a temporary basis, we feel. And other solutions that we have talked about and we're willing to visit with you about is, I think because this is a statewide system where the state of Wyoming said we want live horse racing, again, we can't forget that component of it. But maybe we feel there's too much gaming. I've heard that. I live in a community where there's a lot of gaming, a lot more than what you see here in Casper. And I'm not a fan of gaming in general. It's not my pastime of choice. But other states and other jurisdictions have looked at limits on the number of facilities, the number of machines. We have said repeatedly on the record that we are willing to entertain those as long as you treat all the operators fairly. And so I could give you examples of other jurisdictions that do that and other industries where that has worked. I just actually did some research on oil and gas when it was first coming to Wyoming. There was concern at the federal level about just having monopolies in states. And so they actually limited the number of acres that each operator could lease from the federal government for oil and gas until that industry became established. And so in oil and gas, I think there's conversations about the appropriateness of that now that we have multiple operators. But for a brand-new industry like gaming, that is the concern, is that you have de facto monopoly creation, even if you don't do it intentionally. So with your mental health concern, happy to work with you on those issues, happy to identify other reasonable measures of growth. Those were two ideas, but there are others. But again, to your point, is a moratorium the perfect fix? No. From our perspective, no.

Thank you, Ms. Ellis. Appreciate it. Thank you for your time. Thank you.

And sorry, I'm fighting a cold, so I know I just sound nasally. My apologies, counsel.

Thank you so much.

And I apologize to the speakers that have to go after me and touch the microphone.

I'm sorry.

Anybody else in opposition?

We're almost at discussion. Hold on one second. Getting a no. Oh, there you are.

No. Okay.

Yeah, you bet.

Okay. Thank you, everyone. There being no others to speak for or against the ordinance, I now declare the public hearing closed. Please read the ordinance by title only.

An ordinance approving a temporary moratorium on the establishment of new simulcasting establishments in the city of Casper, Wyoming.

Chair to entertain a motion to approve on first reading the ordinance just read. Second. McIntosh seconded by Councillor Pollack. Discussion by the council. Yep, Councillor Pollack.

Thanks. Thanks for everybody who came. I'm probably still a little bit undecided on this, but seconded so that we could get here and discuss. Mr. City Attorney, I'm curious. So my concern stems pretty much entirely for me wanting to find time, provide time for us to consider zoning. Really, zoning is my primary concern in all of this. Consider zoning before other activity is established in Casper. I have no interest in trying to stick Casper with the two operators that we currently have. I have no interest, I have very little interest in trying to create any sort of artificial limits that have not been imposed upon us from other entities. The crux of my entire concern is where, really? And so, My question is, if we were to not proceed with a moratorium, what does the path look like? How quickly can we get that done? I'm trying to weigh in my mind here, what are the actual, what's the actual likelihood that an additional facility will be established in the interim while we're trying to discuss zoning issues. So my question is, how quickly can we get that analysis done? How quickly do we think we could get us through that process? And if that window of time is short enough, is there really a likelihood that we see dramatic shifts in the amount of gaming we already have established in this community or not?

Yeah, thank you, Mayor, Councillor Pollack. That's a great question, one that I think probably is best answered by our community. Mr. Collins is our planner. They're integral to our working group internally as we look at the zoning issue. What I would say is that even before a moratorium would go into effect, you have to have three readings. And so that if this were to move forward on first reading, that would still give us a fair amount of time to work internally with our group and perhaps come up with a proposal to council. around the zoning issue that could be initiated before we'd even get the third reading. And maybe at that point, the moratorium is moot. Just kind of a point of clarification. I, you know, I don't think staff looks at a moratorium in and of itself as a solution to anything. I think it's the proposal and I believe the council's initial interest in this was just to maintain the status quo until we had some opportunity to come up with some longer term solutions, i.e. zoning primarily. But the other thing that I would mention is that as I've taken a deeper dive into Senate file 45, it's fairly nuanced. And so what I've realized is that the city has no objective criteria that have been established, no procedure to post-July 1, if permit seeker were to come to City Council, we really don't have a process in place to handle those. And so I think from a business perspective, having that objectivity, having that consistency in a process, I think there's some value in that. And so certainly I think that's something we should be working on concurrently with viewing the reviewing the zoning is really when you get into Senate file 45. Yes, the city has an additional seat at the table, but it's very narrow. And since there's already gaming or historic cars racing allowed within the city of Casper, any denial would require full written findings of fact, conclusions of law that then could be appealed to the district court. And we could not rely on anything that's solely within the purview of the gaming commission, which when I asked Mr. Laramendi, what did they feel was in their purview? He said, look at the administrative rules. So I think there's a lot of nuance and some work to be done there with staff. So to me, from the legal standpoint, that is the second aspect. I think that we need to, we're probably a little bit behind the ball, but I don't think we're alone across municipalities. So this is a long diatribe, a little bit, a pretty succinct question. You know, I think there is a potential that we could come up with some proposals to bring to council well before the moratorium goes into effect. But I can't guarantee it, so.

Other discussion from the council? No, go ahead. Councilor Jensen.

I know. No, I think my councilmates have been aware that I have been against this too since the conversation first started. And many of the points that I personally feel are the same as what Mr. Johnson and Ms. Ellis brought up too. So I have a lot of concerns about it. And I certainly don't feel that the city has a place to tell what businesses can go where or if they want to come to town. but yet we have the statues and we have the things. So if they're in the state statues, we're protected by a lot of that. So if they're gonna come, let them come, let them try, let them fizzle out if they don't work out, it's part of business. So again, I'm still not, I'm not gonna vote yes for this. I just wanted to give my reasons why. Also, Councilor, Vice Mayor mentioned that the border, cities like Cheyenne. We also benefit here in Casper from tourism. And we having gaming is something that, you know, not everybody likes, but there's a lot of people who do. And if they're going to come here and it's going to steep, keep them here for another couple of days or maybe a night or whatever, because they want to stay and visit historical sites or whatever. And then in the evening they want to eat restaurants and go play GAMBLE. I MEAN, WHO ARE WE TO TELL THEM WHAT FUN TO HAVE? SO WE PROVIDE A LOT OF OTHER OPPORTUNITIES IN RECREATION, AND WE DO THAT FOR EVERYONE. AND SO THAT THERE IS SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE, SO THEY STAY AND THEY CAN ENJOY CASPER. DO I SPECIFICALLY WANT IT RIGHT DOWNTOWN ON SECOND STREET? NO. BUT IN OLD YELLOWSTONE DISTRICT? NO, I DON'T. BUT I FEEL LIKE THOSE ARE PARTS OF THIS THAT WE CAN FIGURE OUT DOWN THE ROAD. But I don't want to take business away from other businesses either that do have the permits to operate those machines through the state in those establishments because, again, if you want to drink a beer or have a drink and play some games, then fine. I just don't want to tell anybody they can't have fun in their own way and spend their money the way they want to or tell a business whether or not they can come here.

Councillor Haskins.

I'm trying to decide if I'm excited I let you go first or if I feel like a jerk. Let me just get in the last word here. As one of the members on the committee with Councilor Sweeney and Councilor Bond, we can safely assure you that we're working as quickly as we can to make decisions to bring to the council for what we think our constituents and we as a council want to establish. And if we can do that before the moratorium takes effect, cool beans, right? We'll try. We all know what both games are now, so we're making progress. That said, I don't think the intention of this council is to limit it. So while we did put the moratorium, let's call it a pause, but I don't think that's legal definition, which is why we're using moratorium. but we're putting a pause because whether or not we interpreted it accurately, that our zoning was allowed to be changed prior to this passing. Now we are going to look at our zoning. That is probably the priority of this committee. What do we want to establish? Do we want to treat them like a restaurant? Do we want to treat them like a bar? Do we want games in the grocery store? I know that's addressed, but for example, so we, might not want them in the Yellowstone District. Like we're hearing that a lot, but if we don't do the moratorium, if we don't change the zoning now, if they open up in Sierra West, it's too late, it's done. So we can't deal with it later. We deal with it now or we deal with the consequences. And while an attorney comes up and says, probably not gonna do, probably not gonna from an attorney, we had two in this room and they're both disagreeing. So, Not that I don't think you're amazing. I'm sure you're great. And I will probably be reaching out to you since your kid graduated and we haven't touched base. Congrats, by the way. We can't put this off. And if we can get it finished, decided, and establish something before the third reading, cool. That's great. But if we can't, we still need to figure it out now. And again, I don't think we're trying to limit business, but we don't know what we even have for options yet. So the moratorium, in my opinion... needs to move forward. If we can get it done faster, cool. If we can get it done in less than six months, I think 100% of the people on council don't want it to last that long. And we can say, okay, we're done here and we can cancel the moratorium. We made sure of that before we even started this process. So the ultimate goal is make sure that what we're doing now that we have a say actually benefits CASPER. And that doesn't mean not allowing valleys in. but it might mean not allowing valets next door to the church. And it might mean we want buffers so that they don't get to be noisy. And those are things that we do want to have a say in. So there's my very long winded two cents. And obviously I'm voting yes. And I'm sorry that I let you go first so I could get the last word, but only kind.

I also said second street, not center.

Any others? Yep. Councilor Sweeney. Thank you, Mayor. So great discussion. I appreciate it. And thank you, John Johnson, for coming tonight. I have weighed back and forth on this, and I think I'm going to be tonight in Jenna's camp. And because I I see both sides of this. I unfortunately don't think we can get this done by the time third reading gets here. But if we have to review it again, there's nothing saying if it, my guess is it's going to move forward tonight with, I'm going to guess there might be two to three no votes So I think I'll definitely be in the minority, but I don't think we can get it accomplished by the time third reading rolls around. Is that harmful? As Ms. Ellis said, the word moratorium and whether you're in favor or not of data centers and that's where my mind has gone with all the recent talk about moratoriums and so I can get the concern from a new operator on that word alone being kind of a A negative indication of where a community is coming from. And I don't think there's any intent of this council on trying to fence anybody out. But I just trying to educate myself on all of that. And the word alone moratorium I didn't see is that fearful. But now I'm a little more fearful of the word itself. in its ramifications. So I just wanted to clarify where I'm, I believe I'm coming from tonight.

Can I just do a follow-up?

Yeah, go ahead.

I also, with Pat here too, and I, again, I don't like that word either. And I think they're right. Send precedents across the state that if we're doing it, just like we watch what Cheyenne's doing or other counties, we're just going to make it an easier way for them later on to see because they're going to be watching us to see how this all plays out and if we um don't you know change our wording or rethink how we're going to do this and again i don't think either that this is going to get done by the third reading they're not going to find something that's going to please everyone and i just don't want to be the person to stand in the way either and don't want to set that print so that's across the state

Councilor Haskins.

If I can, we have to call it moratorium, right?

No.

Mayor counselors, I can certainly look for some different adjectives, but in essence it's a moratorium. The other thing, though, that since I've had the mic quickly, the other thing I would throw out as if this does move forward, And if it doesn't, then it's all moot. But certainly, if during the work of the committee, we identify council's concern to be, for instance, the OID and downtown, certainly at second reading or third reading, you can amend the scope so that it is not citywide. I mean, as it's being presented, I think was drafted based upon the work session and the input from council. But certainly, it's not set in stone. And so, if two weeks from now, the recommendation from staff and the committee is that, you know, really our concern is those two areas, it can be amended. So, I just throw that out. There's not a one-size-fits-all. And if it does move through the readings that will, even during those next four weeks, will allow council and staff to digest the information provided tonight, to look for various other options. I mean, I'm certainly hearing the concerns very sensitive to that on both sides of the argument.

Thank you. Did I miss you? Oh, go ahead.

I'm sorry. Follow-up?

Yes, go ahead.

I just want to finish with I'm going to need you to have your can-do attitude, sir, because it would sound pretty strongly to me that the only thing standing in the way is you and me convincing the rest of this group of what we have decided is what we want. So talk faster and be available whenever I need you and we'll be good. We got this. We got this, Councillor Haskins.

I'm going to get Councillor Pawlik and then I'll get the Vice Mayor. Go ahead.

Thank you. My gut tells me that it's unlikely that we see a proposal begin the process and make its way to us before we can get this done. Probably not in the three readings that it takes to pass a moratorium. I agree with you there, but this does feel like an urgent issue for me in that I agree with Councilor Haskins. It's hard to put the genie back in the bottle. And so that's been a frustration about this all along is the council has felt sort of ill-equipped to really participate in the growth of this industry and think about it from a community standpoint. It is something I have heard about regularly since I've been on council for seven years now about this industry. It is of interest to the community for all sorts of reasons. And so my gut is that We can probably do this without the moratorium. However, I think for tonight, at least, I'm going to be a yes so that it stays on the table as an option to us and as a tool should we find that our efforts are being complicated in ways that we don't expect. But I would love to see us find a solution in the interim and avert the final passage of moratorium, if we can. If we can find that path, I'm ready to find that path. But for tonight, so that we can continue to have it as a tool in our toolbox as an option, I will be a yes.

Vice Mayor. Thank you, Mayor. And I essentially agree with everything Councillor Pollack just said and Councillor Haskins before her. I, you know, agree that it's probably not the best tool, but I would prefer to have something in the works that, as the city attorney reminded us, we can adjust as it works its way through the readings. I can tell you, I have some public comments that I was going to say for the end of the meeting, but as our liaison to the OID and the DDA boards, they are absolutely against having any machines downtown, and I think the majority of our constituents would be as well. And with all due respect to some of my colleagues and the couple folks that spoke in favor, you'd be the first people I've spoken to that spoke in favor of this industry. I've had hundreds of conversations of people that have expressed angst and frustration about too much of these establishments in town. And so I'm definitely factoring that into my considerations with all due respect to the repeated comparisons to coffee shops or banks or car washes. I've not had a conversation with anyone that was evicted from their home and ruined their life because they had too many lavender lattes. You know, that is why I'm treating this industry differently. What's that? Well, if anyone has a problem, it's me, but I got the roof over my head still. So, yeah, I mean, that's why, again, going back to my experience with, you know, working in mental health and having worked with many, many people with addictions, a lot of the people, you know, there's a lot of overlap there. And I think it's... you know, the characterization of the industry being kind of this wholesome family entertainment, I just disagree with. If you go spend a couple hours in any one of them by any of the operators, you're going to see people that obviously have problems and probably shouldn't be spending their money there. And so I think that's important to keep in mind as we develop this process and develop these policies. And so that's why I agree that, you know, whether we end up going with the Matorium as it's currently written, perhaps not, but we need something in the works because my experience with private industry is that typically they're not considering public health impacts. You know, if they can make money, they're going to make money and they're going to make as much of it as they want. And, you know, they're going to leave the public health impacts to us to mitigate and help control. So I'm going to be voting in favor of it just so that we have something in the works going down the tracks. But absolutely, I would encourage us to continue having this conversation about zoning. I think that needs to be more robust because I would treat, you know, I don't think I'm being particular to the off-track betting or the historic horse racing framework or the industry. I think I've made it very clear that I'm pretty pro-cannabis. But if the legislature passed legislation making it legal for cannabis today, I feel like we're ill-equipped to handle that. And I would support a moratorium on that as well because... I imagine my folks at DDA and OID don't want them downtown. I wouldn't want them downtown either. And my guess is most of us on council and most of our constituents would want those relegated to certain areas of town as well. And so I don't think I'm targeting this industry, but I do think it's an important consideration. The public health impacts is what is important to me. And that's why I don't think it's a fair example to compare it to pretty much any other industry other than liquor establishments. So thank you.

Thank you. I will be voting yes to this moratorium as well. A lot of the same things from the vice mayor, only because of my background also as a mental health therapist. What I've seen also within that, and I'm not anti-business. I think if you know me, I'm usually a thumbs up all the time when it comes to bringing new businesses and how we do that within this community. However, I also think pragmatic, thoughtful approaches and thinking things through are a very important aspect of this council. So I'm going to be voting yes on this. Again, I'm open to other ideas to be able to move forward and to do that. And so I want to echo also what Vice Mayor had said that I think it is unfair to compare this to coffee shops or to other places. I just think the data and the research Bar outweighs it. And I also agree that generally with things like this and addictions, it's the community that ends up footing that bill and the local nonprofits.

Okay. Please cast your vote.

Counselor Bond, how do you vote? Aye. Please record the vote.

With Councillors Jensen and Sweeney voting nay and all others voting aye, the motion passes.

I now declare the public hearing open for the consideration of an ordinance regarding mobile vendor parking. Mr. City Attorney, do you have any exhibits?

Thank you, Mayor. I do. Correspondence from Fleur Trammell to Janine Jordan dated May 26, 2026. Exhibit number two. Proof of publication from the Casper Star Tribune for publication on May 30th, 2026.

Acton City Manager, do you have a report?

Aside from what's in the memo, I do not.

Thank you. Councilman L, listen to public comments. Public hearing comments are limited to five minutes will be allowed. At this time, I would ask those individuals who wish to speak in favor of this ordinance to please approach the lectern. Anybody in favor? Okay. At this time, I would ask those individuals to which you speak in opposition to this ordinance to please approach the lectern. Anybody in opposition? Okay, there being no one to speak for or against this ordinance, I now declare the public hearing closed. Please read the ordinance by title only.

An ordinance amending section 10.36.031 mobile vendor parking of the Casper Municipal Code.

Thank you. The chair to entertain a motion to approve on second reading the ordinance just read. Move. Move by Councillor McIntosh, seconded by Councillor Haskins. Any discussion from the council?

Okay. Please cast your vote. Councillor Bond, how do you vote?

Aye. Please record the vote.

With all councillors voting aye, the motion passes.

Council will now consider consent resolutions. Please read the consent resolutions by title only.

8A1, authorizing an agreement between the City of Casper and the Neshona County Conservation District. 8A2, authorizing a right-of-way easement with Rocky Mountain Power for the Fort Casper Campground improvements. 8A3, authorizing multiple agreements with PIX4D for drone and mapping software services for the Casper Police Department. 8A4, authorizing an agreement with Envision Electric Incorporated for the Baylor Building Electrical Disconnect Project. 8A5, declaring the City of Casper, Wyoming shall abandon the creation of local assessment district number 162, 14th Street improvements in said city. 8A6, authorizing change order number four to the agreement with the Casper Electric Incorporated for the Sam H. Hobbs Wastewater Treatment Plant Motor Control Center replacements. 8A7, authorizing change order number four to the agreement with Oftadel Construction Incorporated for K Street Improvement, St. Mary Street to Bryan Stock Trail project. 8A8, authorizing an agreement with Crown Construction LLC for the CY Avenue water main repair. 8A9, acknowledging that the Casper City Council shall exercise its urban renewal powers duties and functions as authorized under Wyoming statute section 15-9-101. 8A10, authorizing the second amendment to the professional services agreement between the City of Casper, Wyoming and Wyoming Medical Center Incorporated regarding ambulance services. 8A11, authorizing amendment number one to the contract for professional services between the City of Casper and All Traffic Data Services LLC. 8A12, authorizing acceptance of a grant from the Natrona County Recreation Joy Powers Board for $150,000 for a new lift at Hogadon Basin Ski Area. 8A13, authorizing an agreement between the City of Casper and Vindustries LLC. 8A14, rescinding and replacing resolution number 25-101 and approving the downtown open container hours, boundaries, and days. and ADA 15 authorizing execution of a Wyoming Inflation Reduction Act, urban and community forestry subrecipient agreement between the Wyoming State Forestry Division and the City of Casper in the amount of $100,000. Thank you.

Chair to entertain a motion to adopt the consent items just read. Moved by Councillor Jensen, seconded by Councillor Pawlik. Acting City Manager, do you want to comment on any of these items?

No, thank you.

Any abstentions or nay votes?

Yes, I would like to abstain from item 8A14.

Thank you. Any other abstentions? Okay. Please cast your vote. Mr. Bond, how do you vote? Aye. Please record the vote.

With Councillor Pollack's abstention noted and all other councillors voting aye, the motion passes.

Council will now discuss the inclusion of the summary proposed budget into the minutes. Because this is not on a consent agenda, it will be open for discussion by the council. Please read the minute action item title only.

Authorizing the inclusion of fiscal year 2026 to 2027 summary proposed budget into the June 2nd, 2026 regular council meeting.

Thank you. The chair to entertain a motion to approve the item just read. Paskin, seconded by Councillor McIntosh. Acting City Manager, do you have a report?

I do not, aside from what's in the memo.

Thank you. Discussion from the Council on this? Any amendments? Please cast your vote. Please record, or excuse me, Councillor Bond, how do you vote? Aye. Please record the vote.

With all Councillors voting aye, the motion passes.

Please read the consent minute action titles.

9B1, authorizing the appointment of Scott Cohen Camp to the downtown development for a four-year term ending on June 30th, 2030. And 9B2, approving the sole source purchase of GTAC mobile data terminals from PCN Strategies Incorporated.

Thank you. Chair to entertain a motion to approve the consent minute action agenda item just read. Moved by Councillor Jensen, seconded by Councillor McIntosh. Any abstentions or nay votes? Please cast your vote. Councillor Bond, how do you vote?

Aye.

Please record the vote.

With all Councillors voting aye, the motion passes.

This time we ask the Councillors to bring forward any relevant concerns of items or items of interest. We'll start with you, Councillor Larson, if that's okay.

I don't have anything.

Okay. Councillor Bond, do you have anything you'd like to share tonight?

I just a couple of things, Mayor. Thank you. I just first of all wanted to say I attended the Senate file 45 webinar yesterday. It was a virtual webinar. Attorney Nelson and I believe Councillor Sweeney were on the call as well. I don't know if other councillors were able to attend as well, but I found it very informative, very helpful. I heard from members of the Gaming Commission Gaming Commission, including the executive director as well as other folks and. I afterwards I spent some time and actually downloaded the copy of the text. The language of Cinephile 45 that I think it's going to be helpful for the small work group that Councilor Haskins and Councilor Sweeney and I are. part of to as we move forward with this gaming, gaming potential moratorium. And related to that, I kind of felt like, I guess, honestly, like, this is something we had talked about in a work session, and I felt like there was a little bit of shifting at the last minute today. which is unfortunate. I feel like this is the first reading. I feel like there's plenty of opportunity before a final decision on this moratorium, but I feel like it was way too early to shut down a decision like this merely for appearances. And so I do feel like it's important that we keep moving forward with this conversation And if we decide not to implement the moratorium after all, so be it. But I feel like we had reached consensus that we would move forward on this and do our due diligence to make sure that we had the protections and securities in place for the community. Because as many other counselors have mentioned, I've heard from a number of city residents about their concerns about the growth of the industry. And again, I think just taking a look at it is not shutting anyone out. I don't think, I don't expect the moratorium to go maybe the full six months, maybe it will, maybe it won't, but I feel like six months is not going to hurt anyone. So thank you, Mayor.

Thank you. Councilor Sweeney.

Thank you, Mayor. Last Tuesday, we had the visit Casper meeting. on the lodging tax board, and I did not get printouts of the scorecard. If anybody would like to look at it, I did bring my copy. Went through the budget and approved some changes of note. The bid is coming up for College National Finals Rodeo, And so I'm very concerned on trying to keep that going here in town. I think a pretty good, robust bid. And I think it'll have a positive outcome. I don't know if we'll land it for 10 years, but hopefully at least five, five. So, and perhaps Councilor Jensen might have other thoughts on that too. The next day, Wednesday, was at a meeting, again, visit Casper for the master plan. Great, good conversation. Geez, I think there might've been close to 30 community members and stakeholders at that meeting, and I thought it was great. So the next day, I didn't make it down to the Thyra Thompson State Office Building, but Travel Rec and Wildlife, I thought staff and the mayor did a great job in testimony. There was a lot of testimony. and I thought it came across really well. A number of community members spoke, trying to point out some of the flaws and problems and appreciated Tommy Swanson, who's a great advocate of our river and was able to speak in a, very limited amount of time. Our appointee to regional water, thankfully, Paul Bertolio was also in attendance and did not have time to speak. But I thought the mayor and our public works director, thank you for your comments. And I thought it was well taken. Um, later that night, uh, Iris clubhouse had, uh, their open house. And, um, if folks aren't aware of what Iris clubhouse is down in North Casper, um, uh, you should, uh, see the work that they do and, uh, provide great services to, uh, the intellectually challenged, um, and give a good network. They're also working with the clients and members on jobs and with workforce services on providing. Then went to Kelly Walsh's graduation. I thought it was a huge turnout from what I remember NC's I didn't make it to NC's but or Roosevelt but very inspirational talks by the students for sure coming out of the graduation and coming down the hill I see these flying objects and I was trying to wrap my head around what I was seeing and Kudos to the Orr's Foundation for Hope. I don't think I said that right. And their concert that they produced along with the drone show. And it was amazing driving down. And I had forgotten I meant to get to the event. seeing the Wyoming flag in that way, seeing the music notes and guitar really was pretty first time for me to see any of that. And it was flying low enough that that must have been remarkable if you were at David Street Station. So, And I'm sure Chansey Williams was terrific. So I just also want to remind our citizens, thanks to DDA and the citizens or the city of Casper on the temporary street closures. And Kyle, were you going to mention that? Oh, OK, so. So tomorrow today Durban to Walcott was closed and I I don't know how that went. Terrific in tomorrow is Walcott to center. In Thursday is center to David St. So just heads up for citizens. please park someplace else and continue to shop and go to our restaurants and enjoy downtown. And lastly, second to last, I appreciated Councilor Bond's comments and I had waffled and but HEARING JOHN JOHNSON'S COMMENTS, I TOOK THAT TO HEART, BUT I WILL DO MY WORK BECAUSE COUNSELOR HASKINS AND COUNSELOR BOND WILL HOLD MY FEET TO THE FIRE. I AM POSITIVE. AND AS FAR AS ME TALKING FASTER, THIS IS IT IN MY OLD AGE. LASTLY, I LOOK FORWARD TO GOING TO LARAMIE TOMORROW FOR WYOMING ASSOCIATION OF MUNICIPALITIES. AND I JUST THINK LOTS TO LEARN. THIS WILL BE HISTORIC HORSE RACING WILL DEFINITELY BE ON MY RADAR IN TALKING TO SOME OF THE OTHER COUNSELORS. especially Cheyenne Rock Springs. And so looking forward to the trip. Unfortunately, I don't think I'll get back. We lost recently a great community leader, Lynn Lockhart, Tom Lockhart's wife. And she was a great, great, great lady. And her funeral is today. at 11 on Saturday at St. Anthony's, but every Friday. So I don't think I'll quite make it back, but wanted to recognize all her dedication to our community. So thank you. Thank you.

Councilor Pollack. Thank you. Just a couple of things. Yeah, I don't think I'll make it to Lynn's memorial either, but fun fact, she was my very first campaign contribution that I ever received, a huge advocate, and I was close with her and Tom for a number of years early on when I was first trying to figure out the legislature and politics and all that, so she'll be missed. Visit Casper, the community area impact grants that City of Casper partners with Visit Casper on, we met, Councilor Larson and Fleur and I met with some representatives of Visit Casper on Friday to discuss evaluate those grant applications. There was a total of $106,000 worth of requests made for a total grant award availability of $25,000 cash for Visit Casper and $25,000 in-kind contributions from us. So definitely had a lot of whittling down to do to try to really give those events a good look and try to support them where we could. A lot of really events that are very important to our community, both from a cultural standpoint and also from a economic impact and tax generation standpoint. So that took place, and I assume awards will be, awardees will be notified here shortly by a visit Casper. And last, I'm going to miss next week's meeting, I think. No, I'm not going to miss it. I'm going to join virtually, but I hate giving these reports via the, intercom system that we have in here. So I wanted to talk to you all about, on behalf of the LGBTQ Advisory Committee, about some of the events that are coming up for Casper Pride. So starting June 7th, actually, the first affiliated event starts. And between affiliated events and events that Casper Pride is hosting themselves, there's 16 events between June 7th and June 14th. The official kickoff is June 11th at R321 with dinner and art. for all ages. That is followed by an open house on June 12th at the new Casper Pride Center at the Durbin Center downtown, just opening to the public on June 12th from 3 to 6. Also that night, there are a couple other, several other events for various different age groups, various different types of events. Big Day is June 13th at David Street Station, 10 to 12, or sorry, 10 to 2 p.m. Lots of entertainment. Into Eatin' is coming back. Corey McDaniel Duo will be there. A number of other local bands as well, vendors, food trucks, etc. And then... The LGBTQ Advisory Committee is one of the sponsors and hosts of a pool party. That'll be the first time doing this event, an all-ages pool party with food and a DJ at PV Pool. So your admission that day will be sponsored, as well as snacks are sponsored right here. The snack bar will just have a tab. Go get some nachos and get in the pool. That's from 2 to 6. And I'd just like to extend an invitation to all the counselors to join at any of those events. But particularly, draw your attention to the PV pool event since that is the one that the city advisory committee has been involved with. So that's it. Yeah.

I didn't do anything this week except go to graduation. My youngest graduated. I now have an empty nest, I think. Very sad. But I also had to battle that group of people to get down to get a picture. So I missed the drones. But I saw pictures. I didn't get to see Chauncey. But I've seen him. So it's probably only kind of sad. Did I mention I'm an empty nester? And my heart is sad. But my youngest did graduate. And I don't know that I would have called the speech inspirational. But I heard a really cool spiel about hacky sacks. And, you know, I'm kind of excited they're coming back. I am also attending WAM for the next few days. So I promised to make up for my lack of working last week.

All right. So I want to remind everybody that CNFR is the 14th to the 20th. So get your cowboy boots and get up to the Ford Wyoming center and take in some cowboy action with bulls and all the Bronx. And it's going to be a good time. They have a, style show. They have a lot of different things that are happening, so I believe Visit Casper has it on their website of all the times and show times, and I know the Ford Wyoming Center does as well. I did go downtown and got a sneak peek of the lights, and I'm very excited for those to get turned on. It's going to look so pretty, and for those of you who don't know, they do change colors, and the DDA can change them through the holidays and they're going to be beautiful and really light up downtown and make Second Street walkable at nighttime. So it's going to have a great appearance. I'm looking forward to it. And also just a reminder that Sunday is the Casper Marathon. And so watch out for runners because they do use the trail system and then some of the roads that they need to be on. Also, that means they run through Morad Park, which is the dog park. And so that is going to be closed to dogs from 6 a.m. to 12 p.m. Usually the marathon wraps up by noon. Let's see, oh, happy birthday, Councilor Bond. And I think that's all I got.

Yeah, I just wanted to thank everybody that came tonight. It's kind of nice to have people to talk to instead of talking to an empty room. I appreciate you getting involved in your community. Please encourage your friends and neighbors to get involved. whether it's something that really impacts them or not, it's nice for us to get some feedback on things and also encourage them to especially get involved in the elections this year, especially the primary in August for the local positions. That's when most of the decisions are made for our state and local leaders. So other than that, thanks. Have a great week.

Thank you, Mayor. I had a couple board meetings in the past week. I had a Casper Housing Authority board meeting, I say last Wednesday, but I think this is a holdover. I don't think we did around the table last week, so I think this is a holdover from the week before. But it doesn't have much effect on the Housing Authority, but HUD is radically overhauling its homelessness assistance grants by capping permanent housing funding at 30%. They're shifting the majority of their money to transitional housing, work requirements, and addiction treatment. Historically, approximately 87 to 90 percent of continuum of care awards supported permanent housing, permanent supportive housing. So this will definitely have some local impacts for those folks that are used to managing and awarding permanent supportive or continuum of care awards. The redirected funding prioritizes transitional housing, street outreach, child care, job training, and outpatient addiction treatment. HUD's approach It ties assistance more heavily to sobriety, mental health treatment, and work requirements. And so I'll be interested to hear. I think Community Action Partnership is the entity in town that most utilizes those funds. And so I'll be interested to hear from Kelly over at their organization and others what impact that's going to have, if any, for the services that they're providing. Casper Housing Authority's Father's Day event is coming up very soon. And they're still looking for sponsors for that. So if you'd like to support the event and have a booth, happy to make that connection. It's usually a really great event. A few thousand people. Washington Park, one of my favorite underutilized spaces in the town. And so, yeah, I would encourage folks to go. They always give free food, drink, and it's always really fun, especially if you've got kids. I had an Old Yellowstone District Committee meeting yesterday. I want to thank all the volunteers for the flower planting they did back on May 13th. There was an Oil City News article about it, if you didn't catch it. It's just a great partnership between city staff and the merchants and the property owners in that area. I'm always very thankful. Those guys come out on weekday afternoons, spend hours. It was very hot on May 13th, so out there sweating, doing some manual labor all for free. So I appreciate everyone that helps to beautify our downtown and make it look very nice for our tourist season. We discussed plans for the 250th anniversary coming up on July 4th. That includes more window painting. The Windows in Bloom initiative was very successful, so they're looking to capitalize on that and continue that momentum, do more window painting for the 250th celebration. We also have new banners that will be displayed downtown. They look really nice, and so looking forward to dressing up downtown in that regard. As I mentioned earlier, we did discuss the OTB and Historic Horse Racing Moratorium with them. That group was unanimous in their position that there shouldn't be any downtown And they also thought that we have plenty in the city as a whole. So that group, you know, in coordination with city will be bringing recommendations to council. You know, the old Yellowstone district already has the form-based code that governs it. And so I suppose that district, it's probably easier to adjust those because it's kind of its own separate district. So that group will be recommending adjustments to the form-based code that include multiple things, including a prohibition on those establishments in that area. The annual downtown cleanup event is coming up on the 10th. That'll be from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Get a hold of me or Liz Becker or, you know, again, happy to make connections if you're interested in helping, so please let me know. I believe there are three different shifts throughout the day, so you don't have to be there all day from 8 to 5. Just come out for a few hours if you want to help clean up. And I want to thank Kelly at Wyoming Plant Company for hosting us. He provided drinks and snacks, and we sat outside in a little social area felt a lot more like a garden party than a board meeting. So that was nice. And then lastly, I have read some pretty depressing articles lately. One in Cowboy State Daily about a million acre feet of water being released from Flaming Gorge to help feed the Colorado River and Lake Powell to prevent a critical failure at their dam down there. The marina operators in the area were struggling to respond to and now adapt to a seven foot drop at Flaming Gorge. They worry that it could decimate the salmon population in the reservoir and the two marina operators you know, seem to be concerned that they might, you know, whether they be even in operation next year because it was having that much impact. Hawk Springs Reservoir in Goshen County is at risk of drying up over the summer with the conservation district reps in that area saying that the current capacity is the worst they've ever seen in their 34 years. Torrington Livestock Markets sold about 10 times the head of cattle that they're used to selling this time of year at the most recent auction. That's because ranchers are worried about the drought throughout the summer. So I want to thank Amity for the information about the Spiritus project because I'm going to continue calling out water. I see that as kind of the issue of our times here in the coming years and just think we need to be very, very mindful of it as we make decisions that impact the water supply and our availability to it. On that note, I do want to thank the mayor. You might be speaking about this, but I saw you testify to the Joint Travel, Recreation, Wildlife, and Cultural Resources Committee last Thursday about the Seminole Pump Water Storage Project, another project that would tie up a lot of water and have potential impact to our fishery. You reiterated concerns about water temperatures, turbidity, walleye entrainment, and other issues that would affect the industry that relies on that river, and so I want to thank you for taking the time to do that. That's all I got. Thank you.

Thank you everyone. I will be at WAM this week as well. So be back on Friday, hoping to make it to Lynn's funeral. She's been a staple in my life and so was Tom. So she was one of my biggest supporters when I was a youth minister there many, many years ago. So, and throughout my politics as well. As the Vice Mayor and others had pointed out, I was at the legislative hearing on the Seminole Pump Project. In my opinion, it was routinely opposed by just about every state agency and individuals that were there. It's not very popular, but there are definitely very big concerns, like the Vice Mayor said, around water. And we'll continue to push that and have those conversations. Especially I want to thank also our Public Works Director, Krista Johnson, for being there. She did a wonderful job. And they got me prepped for it as well. So I want to thank staff for putting that together for me. I'd probably be bumbling through it if they didn't. So I had an opportunity to visit Lincoln Elementary School on Friday for their last day of school, which was great. I was able to meet back up with the fourth graders. They had asked me to come back and touch base with them. So it was great to let them know what had happened the last few weeks, the last few months here at the City Council. They were very, very engaged. and wanting to know if we're still going to bring in a Chick-fil-A. That is the cross-the-board question that I got. And they wrote me very nice thank-you letters, and I think probably half of them were, when are you going to get a Chick-fil-A? So I'm working on it. That's what I told them. No, I didn't say that. And finally, just to talk about, we had a press conference today, and we talked about the slash pile, which you may have seen on Facebook. some concern around there and just a real quick context the slash pile which is most of the all the deadwood that comes from property up on the mountain is put in a pile and it's a significant amount it is under that property is under the control of the city and so and generally it's been run by managed by the county to be able to do that because of concerns of the dry weather and the very little moisture that we've got through this winter, there were significant concerns about trying to do that burn to get rid of it, because they traditionally will do a big burn. So the City of Casper took the stand to say, hey, look, we're going to close this down for right now until we come up with some better ideas on how we do this. A couple things that I want to make a point of is if residents up on the mountain do have branches and vegetation that they need to bring down, instead of putting it in that pile. Since we're not going to be doing anything until we find mitigation to do this safely, you're able to take it to the solid waste facility compost yard for free. We know it's not ideal, but we're asking to do that for right now until we come up with a long-term plan for that pile. There was significant conversation on Facebook around it. I would say that we can do a better job communicating It came on pretty quickly, but we were able to get everybody on the same page from the county level to us and the firefighters and the departments. And so I talked with several of the residents up on the mountain, and they were satisfied with that conversation. And so we'll move forward with the plan on how to deal with that slash pile. And that's all I have. The next meeting of the City Council will be a budget work session. Is that right? No. Oh, okay. We're doing another budget work session. The next meeting of the City Council will be held at 4.30 p.m. on a Tuesday, which will be a work session on June 9th, and a regular council meeting will be held at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, June 16th. That makes me look like I'll just read whatever you guys put down. It does look like that, doesn't it? Well, just write. I'd probably say Ray is a fool.

The mayor.

Chair would now entertain a motion to adjourn the regular meeting. Moved by Councillor Pollack, seconded by Councillor McIntosh. Please cast your vote. Councillor Bond, how do you vote? Aye. Please record the vote.

Oh. Oh. Please record the vote.