Five candidates vie for open city council seat in Ward 2

The candidates differ in their approach to economic development, the local housing shortage, and oversight of the Laramie Police Department. The primary will narrow the field to two.

Welcome to the Laramie Reporter’s 2022 Elections newsletter. This newsletter seeks to introduce Albany County and Laramie residents to the candidates who have filed to run and to explore the issues surrounding what promises to be an interesting, impactful local election.

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Four of the Laramie City Council’s nine seats are up for election this year. In Ward 2, residents will be voting to fill one open seat.

Mayor Paul Weaver currently represents Ward 2 alongside two other councilors, but he has decided not to stand for reelection.

Five candidates have filed to run in the City Council Ward 2 race, making it one of the most competitive races on the ballot — and the single most competitive local race on any primary ballot.

The candidates are:

• Michael Armagost, a claims adjustor for Mountain West Farm Bureau Insurance and owner of Killinit Productions — an outfit dedicated to “helping independent artists monetize their craft.”

• Chris Dixon, a UW employee and longtime member of the city’s Parks, Trees and Recreation Advisory Board. Dixon ran unsuccessfully for county commission in 2016 and currently serves on the city’s Planning Commission.

• Brett Glass, a local landlord and internet service provider. Glass ran unsuccessfully for city council in 2020 and put his name in the hat for a vacancy appointment in 2021.

• Ray Kasckow, office manager and GSA coordinator for Wyoming Equality. Kasckow serves on the boards of Laramie Public Art Coalition and Laramie Main Street.

• Brandon Newman, a WyoTech instructor. He serves on the Laramie Advisory Commission on Disabilities.

On the issue of police oversight, Newman and Glass said a civilian oversight board would be limited by state law, but Newman said he would consider a new proposal for such a board and Glass said an oversight board would still be useful for gathering facts. Armagost and Dixon said an oversight board was a good idea, but added that its members should be carefully selected and include professionals — be they police officers or lawyers. Kasckow gave the strongest endorsement for a civilian oversight board, saying transparency and accountability should be priorities.

On the issue of tenant rights and rental regulations, Armagost and Kasckow were fully supportive of the City Rental Housing Code passed this year. Dixon and Newman had mixed feelings on the new regulations, with Dixon saying they needed improvement and Newman saying he was worried they could lead to higher monthly rents. Glass fully opposes the rental regulations and spoke out against them before their passage, arguing then and now that they are illegal. An ongoing lawsuit in Albany County District Court seeks to determine their legality.

Laramie City Council wards. Each ward is represented by three councilors.

The city council races are technically non-partisan, so whether you’re a Ward 2 Democrat or a Ward 2 Republican, the five candidates featured here are the ones who will appear on your primary ballot.

The primary will narrow the field from five candidates to two. The two candidates with the highest vote totals during the primary will see their names on the general ballot in November.

City council ward boundaries were redrawn during the redistricting process this year. Ward 1 previously encompassed all of downtown, the West Side neighborhood and West Laramie, but those three areas are now split between Wards 1 and 2 so that the north half of each are now in Ward 2. A high resolution map of the city’s new ward boundaries can be found here.

Armagost, Dixon, Glass, Kasckow and Newman answered a series of questions from the Laramie Reporter about their backgrounds, opinions and hopes for the 2022 reelection. A previous Laramie Reporter feature highlighted the three candidates for Ward 1; a future feature will highlight the two candidates for Ward 3.

Laramie Reporter: What should voters know about your background, profession and interest in politics?

Michael Armagost: I think the voters would like to know that I have always had an interest in politics and being able to help my community. The paths I have taken have only given me a better understanding of people and how the economy works. I have worked everything from construction to restaurant server and cook. I do well with handling money and prioritizing what needs to be done with what we would like to be done. I currently run and maintain a start up company named Killinit Productions, LLC that focuses on helping independent artists (musicians and creatives of all types) monetize their craft and be successful in their endeavors so we can bring more money into the community.

Chris Dixon: I work for the University of Wyoming. However, they do not dictate my politics. I will leave my job if any sort of pressure comes from UW. I am currently serving my eighth year on the Parks and Rec Advisory Board and am currently serving on the Planning Commission. My interest in politics stems from wanting to make my community a better place, the inspiration from my children.

Brett Glass: I am an electrical engineer, physicist, author, musician, Extra Class amateur radio operator, lover of good coffee and chocolate, and advocate of ethical, transparent, fair, efficient, responsive government. I've lived in Laramie continuously for 30 years and am intimately familiar with its strengths, needs, history and neighborhoods. I own and operate two local businesses, co-founded the Laramie Film Society, and have served on city and state boards and commissions. I am volunteering to serve on council because I love Laramie and want to give back to the community and steer our city toward a bright and prosperous future.

Ray Kasckow: I am a trans-masc nonbinary queer person and I credit my confidence in this identity to Laramie. While living here, I have learned about acceptance, determination and resilience, and all this has allowed me to be the person I am today. I served on the Planning & Zoning Commission for two years, where I experienced city processes while working with the other commissioners in making respectful decisions on development projects. I was the Executive Director of the Alliance for Historic Wyoming, a statewide nonprofit, where I focused on economic development through historic preservation. I am running for city council because I want to help continue to make Laramie a place to be oneself.

Brandon Newman: I wasn’t born or raised in Laramie, I moved here in 2013 and because of the job market after I graduated, I had to move away. During the COVID shutdown in 2020, I started looking at coming back to Laramie and got hired on at WyoTech teaching Applied Service Management. I’m a father of four and have fathered numerous foster kids as well. I don’t look at myself as a politician, I CAN’T BE BOUGHT! I just want to bring common sense back to politics and stop wasteful spending.

Reporter: What does the city do well? What should the city improve upon?

Armagost: I think the City of Laramie does some things well such as keeping our streets safe with how many police officers are employed through our town. I think one thing they could do better on is bringing money into our town. We have to make money in order to spend money. But on the same coin, we have to spend money to make money. So we need to be realistic with our goals so we can maintain and provide what we need to in order to be profitable as a city. 

Dixon: This is a tough question. I believe the city of Laramie does pretty good with the problems we currently face. As for what they don’t do well? The city takes the problems that arise, deals with them, and moves forward. You can’t please everyone all the time.

Glass: Alas, what the city has been doing all too well – especially in the information vacuum created by COVID and Laramie's lack of a reliable local newspaper – is expanding the size and cost of city government. For example, the staff of the city's Planning Department has just grown by 33%, and the City will need to take on more staff to implement new regulations that strictly license contractors. The city must use our tax dollars wisely and efficiently, so that there is no need to impose another penny of sales tax to feed a bloated bureaucracy.

Kasckow: City council has done an excellent job in making meetings accessible to the community. They have done this by hosting sessions over Zoom and adding two public comment sections at the meeting's beginning and end, allowing the community room to state essential topics. I think the area that could be improved is the release of information that the community needs around the many developments and changes happening at the moment. The city needs to share more details about how projects will affect the community. This could be done by establishing an information officer that would provide valuable information about new projects. 

Newman: The city does a lot of good things; they try to bring in jobs, housing. They can improve on roads, communication and transparency. They can partner with smaller businesses. I think they should push back on some of the development plans that the University of Wyoming has.

Reporter: What role should the city government play in addressing climate change?

Armagost: I think we are making better moves in that direction with allowing the electric rental scooters to be a business in town. We should also think about offering other sources of transportation that could be beneficial.

Dixon: In order to help battle the climate crisis, the city needs to be overly conscious of who we do business with.

Glass: City government does not even rank among the area's top 10 energy users (Mountain Cement and UW are the largest). Therefore, it has a very limited ability to address carbon dioxide emissions via changes in its own internal behavior. But it can lobby the legislature to allow net metering and can facilitate climate-friendly practices. For example, the city's Solar Board can encourage residents and businesses to claim and use solar rights for photovoltaics. The city can also relax code and licensing requirements for solar installations, to reduce the cost of installation while maintaining safety and avoiding blight.

Kasckow: The City of Laramie has done a phenomenal job addressing climate change with its partnership with the Alliance for Renewable Energy. We need to continue working on trying to achieve the council's goal of a net zero, carbon-neutral future. We have already adopted the SolSmart program with the Department of Energy, but we need to further integrate solar into city buildings and provide incentives and resources to the rest of the community.

Newman: If the Laramie citizens I would represent want me to address these concerns, I would.  I’m not running for city council for myself. I’m running for those citizens that have lost their voice at the city level and want it back. So, if they would want me to look into how much oversight the city government should have I would.

Reporter: What role should the city government play in local economic development?

Armagost: I think we should be able to look at the types of business we want to attract and make it so we can find a way to get those companies to want to build in our town.

Dixon: The city’s role in economic development should be as a partner. We need to protect the small businesses, but also be open to larger ones. An influx of money helps everyone.

Glass: As Henry David Thoreau famously wrote, "government never of itself furthered any enterprise, but by the alacrity with which it got out of its way." The best thing Laramie's government can do to promote economic development is limit the extent to which bureaucratic red tape hinders the establishment of new businesses and the relocation of old ones. We've seen developing businesses hung up for years by trivial, petty requirements that don't promote health or safety; this needs to stop if we don't want to drive entrepreneurs away.

Kasckow: The city has excellent relationships with economic development organizations that help recruit new companies to the area. Let us turn our sights inward by focusing on supporting local businesses to bolster our city's economic development. There are empty buildings throughout Laramie that would be perfect for small businesses to fill. We can work with business owners to develop better zoning strategies and how we can help with necessary permitting.

Newman: Another good question. City council should work with all the boards and those members to see how we can get jobs to Laramie. My reasoning on this: isn’t this why we have those boards so they can be the experts in those areas? (i.e. downtown). Those members should be experts on what’s best for the downtown district and we should work with them, not against them.

Reporter: Should local law enforcement be overseen by a civilian oversight board or use-of-force review board?

Armagost: I think it wouldn't be a bad idea. But, there should probably be a mix of civilians and professionals. I think it's strange that lawyers have to go to school for eight years to be proficient in law but our police officers have to go to school for eight months to be able to tell us what the law is. I feel like if it were just civilian-overseen, the law wouldn't necessarily be upheld and it would be more subjective. So I believe that it would be in the best interest to have both professionals as well as civilians overlooking the police department. 

Dixon: Most definitely yes on a board to review police actions. However it needs to be a mixed commission. One that includes vetted citizens, council members, law enforcement, the police chief and potentially an individual from the state level. It needs to be fair and concise to both keep the trust of Laramie citizens and the trust of our law enforcement officers.

Glass: Any police oversight board created by a Wyoming municipality would be largely toothless due to state laws that govern policing. But while it would have little or no authority, it could still play a vital role: gathering facts and informing the public of concerns. This service would be especially valuable due to Laramie's current "news vacuum."

Kasckow: I support the creation of a community oversight board as a tool to increase transparency and accountability of law enforcement and city officials to the people they serve — the people. The Laramie Police Department is our largest agency at the municipal level, making it a critical and complex component of how we serve the people of Laramie. Similarly, an elected school board ensures our voices are represented in our vital and complex public education system. Transparency, accountability and creating a space for community voices is never a bad thing.

Newman: From my understanding, the oversight committee that crossed the desks of the Laramie City Council would have been challenged in court and would have been struck down. There were a lot of loopholes in it. I’ve stated from the beginning that transparency is a must and if our current chief of police isn’t doing that then as a city council, we should demand answers on why. If another version of the board came across the desk when I’m elected, I would take the time to make sure it’s what’s best for Laramie and the citizens. It would give the guidelines of the cans and cannots the oversight committee has.  

Reporter: How should Laramie address its housing shortage?

Armagost: We need to work together as a community to understand what the problem actually is, and if there would be a solution that would help the majority and grow together and benefit everybody.

Dixon: The housing shortage and rental regulations are two concerns of the same question. They go hand-in-hand. Affordable housing would go a long way to solving the problem. We need to keep prices affordable and make sure rental properties are in good condition. No one wants to pay a half million for a small home. No one wants to pay through the nose to live in deplorable conditions. I support the current rental regulations. There is room for improvement in terms of listening to landlords and renters.

Glass: Laramie has a housing shortage only in certain categories. There are plenty of apartments for rent, but "starter" duplexes and small detached single family homes are in short supply and snatched up quickly. Unfortunately, council has made these tougher and more expensive to build by imposing strict contractor licensing. It also abolished single-family zoning without adequate public notice. This will force developers to establish HOAs, with restrictive covenants and costly dues, to maintain family-friendly neighborhoods. These actions should be reversed. Council should also support construction technology training to ease our construction labor shortage.

Kasckow: We cannot create new development without ensuring our infrastructure, such as water and sewer, is strong enough to support new houses. We are currently updating our North Water Tank, which will allow for more capacity for development. But we need to understand what else in the city needs to be updated or replaced before approving development projects. However, I  believe that by partnering with developers, we can work together to streamline updating our systems while creating affordable housing for community members.

Newman: Same way you build a house, from the foundation. We need to look at infrastructure around Laramie and get a game plan to bring jobs and housing to Laramie. When I say jobs, I mean small business. I don’t want to see Laramie bringing in big corporations after corporations just to get the tax revenue. But, if we fix infrastructure around Laramie, we can start to look at affordable options when it comes to housing.

Reporter: Do you support the rental regulations passed in January? Would you change them in any way?

Armagost: Yes. I have been a renter in Laramie. Some of these properties need to be maintained to a livable standard so all of our residents don't have to worry about whether they have a stable place to live or not. Especially since the market right now is not in favor of the renters. The landowner has to be responsible for keeping up their property and making sure their tenants are comfortable enough to at least live in them.

Dixon: See above.

Glass: If put into force, the regulations adopted by the city would not benefit anyone, least of all tenants. They were copied from an Oregon town where rents are twice Laramie's and quality problems are more frequent. They would extract about $250,000 annually from Laramie tenants, decrease availability, bloat the city bureaucracy, and fail to address tenants' most common complaints. They also violate state law. They therefore will likely be overturned by the courts this year — after which council will have to determine what, if anything, to do instead. I hope to lend my extensive housing experience to the discussion.

Kasckow: I support entirely the rental regulations passed this spring. I wouldn’t change anything but investigate how we can continue strengthening rights around renting. Our local economy depends on a solid workforce. If renters are getting kicked out of their homes or being forced to live in inadequate housing, we’ll continue to have “now hiring” signs in local businesses.

Newman: Yes and no. All rentals should be safe to live in. There are channels now that if you are renting and the house is unsafe you can go through to report it. I’ve always been a fan of fixing current channels if they are broken, rather than starting new ones. I hope, as do the citizens I have talked to, that the regulations passed don’t hurt the market – meaning landlords that must put windows in and such pass that price onto the renters. That’s just going to drive up the prices around Laramie.

Reporter: Do you own or manage rental property?

Armagost: No.

Dixon: I do not own or manage rental property.

Glass: I am a tenant, a homeowner, an engineer and the manager of my family's handful of rental units for more than 30 years. I thus can address housing issues from all perspectives. Tenants who have left town and returned have come back to us to rent again — a sign that they approve of our practices. I also understand state law and what powers it does and does not grant to cities. I thus can help the city to craft — and/or ask the Wyoming Legislature to consider — regulations which are legal, fair, and beneficial to everyone.

Kasckow: No. I have lived in Laramie for nine years and have rented the whole time. I’ve had both good and bad experiences with landlords. I’ve had landlords who charged me in situations where I was stuck paying an outrageous amount for something I couldn’t have prevented so I wouldn’t go to court. I know I’m not the only one who has been in this situation, nor will I be the last one. Everybody deserves to go home to a safe and clean home at the end of the day.

Newman: No.

Reporter: If elected, what would be your priorities on council?

Armagost: Bringing money in so we can benefit other programs and help our community.

Dixon: My priorities while on city council will be the rental regulations because everyone deserves affordable, livable, clean housing, and to continue to work on a law enforcement/citizen relationship built on trust.

Glass: The two slogans on my website and campaign signs say it all: "Transparency, Foresight, Integrity, Quality of Life" and "Democracy, not Bureaucracy." If elected, I'll work to reduce housing costs, create better paying jobs, increase retail diversity, avoid the need for new taxes, improve broadband speed, choice, and availability, eliminate unnecessary bureaucracy, improve city services and quality of life, and make city government fair, ethical, responsive, responsible and accessible.

Kasckow: If elected to city council, I will work hard to protect Laramie's people. I will do this by continuing to strengthen renter’s rights, establishing a community oversight committee, developing an information officer position, and focusing on supporting local businesses.

Newman: Infrastructure — water, sewer, electric. Once we get those in place and are updated, we can look at paving roads across Laramie. Jobs — I want the city to partner with small businesses as much as possible. Keeping graduates from the University of Wyoming, WyoTech and LCCC is a must. Housing — look at a plan to get affordable housing to Laramie without income restrictions.

Reporter: Finally, why should the residents of Laramie vote for you?

Armagost: Because I have been a Laramie resident for 12 years now. I've seen things that have worked and things that have not worked. I have built a relationship with members of the community that would benefit everyone and be able to have those deeper insights to what actually needs to be done. I only want the best for everyone and would like to see people succeed from our small town so we can all do bigger and better things. The slogan for my company is: "You're not doing it, unless you're Killinit." By the time I'm done, I want other towns in this state to say, "Dad gum! Laramie is Killinit!"

Dixon: The residents of Ward 2 should vote for me because of my experience on commissions and boards. Also because I want to help make our community better for both new and current residents.

Glass: I believe my people skills, head for numbers, and in-depth knowledge of our city can help Laramie navigate the difficult times that lie ahead. Currently, not one person who works full time in City Hall is elected. Council is all that prevents government from running entirely "open loop" with no citizen input. I can help Laramie's government to avoid bloat and bureaucracy and focus on core functions, while guiding its metamorphosis into a major league city with an elected mayor as CEO. See http://voteglass.org.

Kasckow: I love this city. I came here nine years ago as a college student, not knowing that this would become my favorite place in the world. I’m incredibly passionate and energetic about the infrastructure, programs and policies within the city. I will also make sure to create spaces for our community to be able to share their voices and needs because I believe we can solve anything if we work together.

Newman: I’m a regular citizen who wants a voice. I want to represent everyone who has lost their voice in the city government. I don’t want to see Laramie turn into some of these other towns that look at big corporations as the answer to fund problems. I watched my hometown do this; I won’t want to see Laramie do this, so I want to fight for Laramie’s future.  Please see brandonnewman.net for all my information. If you have questions, you can contact me there or email me at Brandon@brandonnewman.net; my cell phone number is (785) 592-0681.