Director Eric Fountain told the council the building division’s staffing and certifications have positioned Cheyenne to handle large developments, including data centers and thousand‑acre projects.

Fountain said inspectors hold master‑level certifications and described the department as “the gold standard applied by large data center projects,” noting the city acts as the authority having jurisdiction for code enforcement. He said staffing increases have supported the work: the Compliance Department totals 38.5 positions (38 full‑time and one part‑time plans examiner) across administration, nuisance, safety, animal control, IT and building.

Nut graf: The department recommended conservative revenue forecasting—$2.5 million to $3.5 million annually for building permits—rather than including one‑time large projects in baseline revenue. Fountain noted that while the packet showed $11 million in building revenue from current projects, the city uses a $3 million projection in the general fund forecast to avoid overestimating ongoing receipts.

Staffing and ROI: Fountain told the council the city has evaluated outsourcing plans review in the past and found external contractors often lacked required certifications for this jurisdiction. “What we find is most those people coming in, they’re not at the master level certification,” he said. He added that ROI varies widely by project type: “If we were to say, you know, hey. We’re gonna have a thousand acre ... sub development, versus a data center development. Those are very different plan sets.”

Budget context: Fountain said the building, risk and nuisance division budget would increase by $539,000 from FY2025 to FY2026, citing personnel costs, junk‑vehicle towing and other operating increases. He told the council the building department’s revenues are among the top five generators for Cheyenne’s general fund and argued that maintaining inspection capacity supports long‑term infrastructure such as streets and parks.

Ending: Fountain said the mayor and treasurer had worked with the department on long‑range planning and urged continued support for staffing to keep up with growth and large projects.