Ah, the holiday season. It's a time to reconnect with family members you haven't seen all year, buy gifts for those special loved ones, decorate for the season and walk down the street with a cup of cocoa in your hand. Unless the wind is really high that day, then you'll just spill hot cocoa on yourself. So, maybe scratch that last one.

It's also the time of year where Old Saint Nick will judge you on how good you've been all year. If you've been naughty, you better watch out, you're likely to get some fine, Wyoming high-grade coal in your stocking.

So that makes me think, we have a (fairly)new Mayor here in Cheyenne, Patrick Collins. Since he was sworn in and the calendar flipped to 2021, has he gotten himself on the nice or naughty list?

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Now, this is a pretty awful time to be in a political position with a global pandemic going on. I don't envy anyone who has to make decisions because you're always going to have heavy criticism for whatever choice you make. So, keeping that in mind, I wouldn't go one way or the other on the safety standards of the past year, he's also dealing with the health department holding on to that.

I do recall a lot of criticism for the 3 plus feet of snow in the March blizzard. The mayor had to field a lot of anger for people being stuck for a few days. But, how could he have been better prepared? It's a once in a 10-year blizzard, so it's not like he could have done much. Trucks were running as it came down, but it just REALLY came down.

How about his perception online? Well, I can't find a social media handle for him. So, he's gone one step further than most politicians and decided to avoid any mess he could end up in online. You don't see our mayor arguing with citizens and other people in political power online. It's kind of nice, really.

So, does he deserve a lump of coal? If I were to talk to Santa, it probably wouldn't take much convincing for Mayor Collins to get a stocking full of toys rather than our fine Wyoming coal in his stocking. He'll be able to enjoy his new PS5 without worry this holiday season.

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