Wyoming council reaffirms stance against hate and removes 'Promote Wyoming' commission from code

At its meeting, the Wyoming City Council reread a proclamation titled "Speak up and stand up against hate" reaffirming the city’s opposition to bias and hate‑based violence.

Mayor Melissa Monnick read the proclamation, citing a recent mailbox‑vandalism incident raised at a previous meeting and urging community members to oppose intolerance. "The city council of the City of Wyoming stands up against hate based violence of all kinds and declares that no one shall be discriminated against because of race, gender, orientation, religion, political beliefs, or any other real or perceived difference," Monnick said as she read the document.

Separately, council considered an ordinance to remove Chapter 168 (Promote Wyoming commission) from the codified ordinances. City Manager Rusty Herzog explained the rationale: Promote Wyoming began as a volunteer group that produced the annual report and promotional materials but, over time, many of its duties have been performed by city staff or contracted providers, and staff now runs events and communications. "With all of that, we really now the city is really paying through staff positions or through contracts, to do everything Promote Wyoming used to do," Herzog said.

Council suspended the rules to consider the ordinance on the same night and adopted the amendment to the city code. Councilmembers thanked past volunteers and noted that hiring a full‑time events and communications staff member (Emily Dangler) had helped sustain promotional work.

The proclamation will be entered into the council record and the code amendment removes the statutory reference to the Promote Wyoming commission; council did not specify new volunteer structures beyond continued staff and contract support.