Jeff Victor Questionnaire

Reporter Jeff Victor approached me a few weeks ago, asking me to complete a survey he is distributing to City Council candidates. I worked with Jeff at my last job and I wanted to share his questions and my answers.

Personal Q1: What is your background? What do you do for a living and where else might people have seen you around the community?

ANSWER: My background has been broadcasting.  Mostly in radio broadcasting, working in Albuquerque, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Denver and for the last 29 years in Wyoming.  I was a 2022 graduate of Leadership Wyoming and am currently a member of the Laramie Rotary Club.

Personal Q2: How long have you lived in Laramie?

My wife Lynn and I moved to Cheyenne 29 years ago to run a couple of radio stations.  We ran those for about 11 years and then sold them in 2005.  We bought land near Vedauwoo and I began to build our bed and breakfast which we sold two years ago and then moved into West Laramie.

Personal Q3: Why are you running for city council?

ANSWER: After moving into West Laramie my wife and I began to attend City Council meetings.  She only lasted a few weeks, but I have continued attending most meetings.  Over the course of about a year I began to discover how dysfunctional our city administrative was.  Spending has been huge, as the city had received large amounts of money from COVID Cares funding.  As these funds have run out, spending has continued.   I continuously heard complaints from Laramie residents about roads, the rec center and the airport.   City Council was unresponsive to these concerns and except for a few council members these residents were ignored.  Many residents and business owners felt the mayor was condescending in listening to comments made by residents at these meetings. 

I had no intention of running for city council but after finding few people willing to run, I decided I should probably step up hoping to make change.

QUESTION: In your view, what is the biggest issue facing the city?

ANSWER: One of my biggest concerns was the amazing amount of money we pay our top city administrators.  Our City Manager makes $183,000 per year, with a $10,000 per year retention bonus, and a $500 per month car allowance.  This is more money than the governor of Wyoming and any other city official in the state.  I have no issue with people making a large salary but based on performance, this is unwarranted. 

This money spent could be better spent on things that directly affect people in need within our community.  At a time of housing shortages, rental shortages and poor roads, extravagant salaries are not deserved. 

QUESTION: Incentivizing affordable housing development has been a major theme for the current council and the city is now considering its next steps for that push. Should the city seek to encourage affordable housing development? And if so, how?

ANSWER: I feel the best way for the city to encourage affordable housing is to streamline the processes the city administers.  In talking to builders and developers, processing times for applications can take months.  We need to improve on that.

We can’t ignore rental housing either.  We need to find ways to increase the number of rentals units on the market by continuing to encourage multi-family development.

QUESTION: In early 2022, the council passed rental regulations, outlining health and safety standards, requiring landlords to register and establishing a complaint process. Many landlords remain unregistered. What should the city do to improve its rental regulations?

ANSWER: The purpose of the 2022 “8-83” regulations were to afford safe, healthy living for all that rent in Laramie.  This is important for a strong rental environment.  54% of Laramie residents rent.  Yet we have a shortage of rental units.  Much of this is because of our large student population.  I believe we need to work with builder/contractors, university housing and WyoTech to work with providing affordable rental housing.

Many landlords do remain unregistered.  Like any other things of a compliance nature, we need to find out why resident landlords are hesitant to comply and address the issue.  Mobile home rentals are something many people forget about when talking about rentals.  Hopefully by encouraging building new rental opportunities we can eliminate substandard housing in Laramie.

QUESTION: Policing has been another hot topic for the current council. Do you believe the police advisory board is working? And should Laramie reconsider establishing a civilian oversight board?

ANSWER: When I talked to Police Chief Browne about the police advisory board, he was enthusiastic about its possibilities of building strong relationships between members of law enforcement and the community.  Without his support of the advisory board, I feel it would be doomed to failure.  I admittedly have not attended any of the advisory board meetings but by all reports it seems to be maintaining it’s goal of building better community relationships.  As to establishing a civilian oversight board, I feel we need to see if the police advisory board can accomplish the same outcome.  Laramie currently has over 30 boards and commissions now.  We added three in the last year.

QUESTION: The city of Laramie has set a midcentury carbon neutrality goal. It has also made frequent use of Rocky Mountain Power’s Blue Sky Grant program and recently approved an emissions reduction plan. Do you support these efforts by the city to address climate change? If so, what more should the city do on this front?

ANSWER: I attended the dedication ceremonies for the Blue Sky Grants for the Ice and Events Center, Recreation Center, Downtown Clinic and Fire Department.  These are great advances in providing localized power production with the help of Rocky Mountain Power.  As a participant with the Alliance for Renewable Energy (ARE) here in Laramie, I am hopeful that we can work toward better policies regarding net-metering.  This would hopefully encourage more local businesses and homeowners to consider localized power production.

QUESTION: Public transportation is lacking in Laramie, but there is growing interest in addressing that problem. What role can the city play when it comes to encouraging or expanding public transit?

ANSWER: Laramie has a good start to public transportation bus service with the UW Transit System.  At least during the academic season.  Providing services as far west as downtown and as far east as the Walmart we have a good start.  The city and University can look for grant opportunities to expand this service in the future.

I’m not sure the city has the financial ability to support an independent city bus service, so I feel the best option is to work in coordination with UW.

QUESTION: Parking is perhaps the council’s hottest issue of all. I want to know how important it is to you. Is it ever appropriate to eliminate parking for climate, bikeability, housing or economic development goals?

ANSWER: As long as you have cars, motorcycles and bikes you will always have parking issues. Possibly in the future if other modes of transportation exist in Laramie you might have a lessening of the demand for parking.  I don’t foresee the demand for parking diminishing in the near future.  Public parking is important to support the economy of the city especially downtown. 

QUESTION: Laramie has the most inclusive city government in Wyoming when it comes to serving its LGBTQ+ residents. Do you support the city’s efforts to become more inclusive — passing a nondiscrimination ordinance, reading Pride Month proclamations, establishing a human rights commission — and should the city be doing any more for its LGBTQ+ residents?

ANSWER: I have always thought that Laramie is one of the more diverse cities I have lived in.  This is mostly because of the University of Wyoming.  Being able to share and support cultures and varying lifestyles is one thing that makes Laramie a great place to live.

I have a family member that is part of the LGBTQ community and a few years back she asked me if Laramie was anti-gay because of her hearing about the Mathew Shepard murder.  She came to Laramie a few months later and realized what a loving community we really had.  I hope most residents in Laramie realize how fortunate we are to live in such a diverse community.

QUESTION: When it comes to raising revenue and spending money, would you change anything about the city’s budget?

ANSWER: This is a big issue for me.  I mentioned the extreme salaries a little earlier, but other issues include out of control spending with little oversight.  At a recent city council meeting they approved a $138,000 lawn mower.   Over 20 million dollars was spent on a public works facility that originally was to cost very little in renovations.  Over 1.4 million dollars will be spent this year on City Hall renovations.   The Rec Center is being supported by 1.2 million dollars from the general fund versus 300,000 dollars just four years ago.  The airport is showing a 120,000 dollar shortfall in it’s new budget. 

The budgets themselves need to be written in a more straight forward format.  Current budgets now are 200-page documents that are impossible to decipher honest information.

QUESTION: What relationship should the city have to its community partners, such as the county government and the University of Wyoming?

ANSWER: No matter what anyone thinks, Laramie is a university town and in Wyoming “the” university town.  We need to build strong relationships with the university not only because the university is our primary employer but also because Laramie provides the environment for attracting students and faculty to the university.  We need each other.

By being good community partners, we also can take advantage of the university to build alternative economic development.  We have not done a very good job with that.