Greater Cheyenne Chamber of Commerce Business Journal Q1 2015 | Page 42

MCommittee Pride
A concern expressed by Brian
Heithoff, panelist and High West
Energy General Manager was
the lack of affordable housing for
employees looking to relocate
in Laramie County. He had an
experience recently where a
talented potential employee was
about to take a position with High
West Energy but could not find
affordable housing options. This
can be a huge hurdle for local
businesses and is something that
is being heavily evaluated by the
Cheyenne LEADS Workforce
Study.

According to this study, High
West Energy is not the only
one going through this. “The
population currently living in
Cheyenne and Laramie County
supplies the majority of the local
workforce, but unemployment
continues to drop, diminishing
the pool of available workers
from which employers hire new
employees. As the supply of local
workers becomes more limited,
employers are increasingly
looking outside of the county
to find new employees when
expanding their operations.
The share of local jobs filled by
non-residents of Laramie County
nearly doubled in recent years,
growing from 12% in 2006 to
22% in 2011.” Discovered in the

PG 42 l

Development & Growth

Workforce Study produced by
Cheyenne LEADS is exactly the
challenges High West Energy
identified witht their business,
“Despite a high quality of life
and steady growth in recent
years, Cheyenne and Laramie
County face challenges when
attracting new residents. Limited
availability and relatively high
costs of housing raise concerns
for attracting and retaining new
residents, particularly those at
low-income levels and recent
college graduates.”

provide solutions, which in turn,
moves our community forward.

Claire Snyder, Loan Officer
at Wyoming Bank & Trust is
actively involved in the Cheyenne
Professional Network, the
young professional group within
the Chamber. She expressed
her concerns with trying to
find housing at a reasonable
rate when looking to re-locate
to Cheyenne. “Depending on
where young professionals or
employees are coming from,
the rates in Cheyenne can be
daunting for what you are getting.
Especially if you are across
country and you are going off of
pictures.” During small discussion
sessions hosted by the Cheyenne
Professional Network the topic
of affordable housing for young
professionals was a blaring
concern. Another challenge
Claire Snyder faced was “...many
of the apartments in Cheyenne
were low income, and trying to
find that happy medium can be
difficult, especially if you do not
qualify when looking for rental
availabilities.” Concerns such
as this are important to address
and such events as the Oil and
Gas Industry Panel provide some
direct insight on how to