Cheyenne City Council Passes City Administrator Ordinance

Cheyenne voters will likely decide the manner in which they want their city to be governed during a special election in November.

The Cheyenne City Council, Monday night, passed on second reading a charter ordinance establishing the position of city administrator by an 8 to 2 vote.

Mayor Rick Kaysen and Ward III Councilman Jim Brown voted against the ordinance.

Brown believes a handful of Chamber of Commerce members are in favor of the ordinance and wants to see a petition with a couple thousand names on it before having a special election.

"They may have them, but if you use those signatures all of a sudden when it comes out in public it'll be the Chamber of Commerce wants to have a special election and they're forcing the citizens of Cheyenne to spend $30,000 of the taxpayers money to have this," said Brown. "I think what they're trying to do is get the city council to do their dirty work for them and pass this ordinance so it'll be putting the monkey on the back of the city council and not them."

"I think it's unfortunate that any member of the governing body would hide behind this spurious argument of petition," said Ward II Councilman Dicky Shanor. "This (issue) has been debated for over 20 years in our community passionately. It comes up every municipal election cycle. There's just never been a governing body willing to actually take this and put it on the ballot and let the people decide."

Shanor says it's time for the council to put the issue to a vote of the people.

"That is perhaps the most compelling reason why we need to have this election, because people are so passionate on both sides," said Shanor. "So many people have an opinion and so many people want to have that vote to voice that opinion and it's time we gave them that opportunity."

If the ordinance is approved on third reading, a special election would be held on November 10, 2015. If backed by voters, the city administrator would start in January of 2017.