AARON ONTIVEROZ/WTE Kari Kivisto, right, and Shannon Youmans react to early results that indicated Proposition 4, a $55 million recreation center, likely would not pass Monday night at First Interstate Bank. Both women work for the city Parks and Recreation Department and supported the proposition.

CHEYENNE -- The people of Laramie County did not go for a new community and recreation center in the Capital City.

With support from 45 percent of the voters in Tuesday's sixth-penny sales tax election, the $58 million facility ($55 million was on the ballot) will not be built in Cheyenne, unless city leaders find some other opportunity to fund it.

Proposition 1 passed with little doubt, even in the earliest returns, with nearly 68 percent of voters supporting a Greenway extension and an indoor-outdoor shooting range.

Despite vocal opponents of Proposition 2 who thought the airport did not need $1.5 million to pay for designing a new terminal, 65 percent of voters said yes.

Additions to the Archer Complex also did well, despite little promotion from supporters. Just over 53 percent of voters said yes to Proposition 3.

But the rec center was the centerpiece on the ballot. After deciding not to fund it with land sales, the city decided last year it should go to the sixth-penny, or specific purpose, tax.

After several years of planning, dozens of public meetings and with construction documents in hand, voters turned it down.

This is the second time voters have not supported a recreation facility for Cheyenne: In 1996, voters rejected spending $20 million in sixth-penny sales tax money on a recreation facility.

"In spite of a lot of political rhetoric and a lot of political fluff trying to say it was a need, most voters can think on their own, and I'm glad of that," Burns Mayor Vernon Testerman Jr. said. "Hopefully it's a wake-up call to the Cheyenne political leaders to say, 'Hey look, we need to think about what we're doing next time.'"

In the future, a smaller-scale project might pass, Testerman added, but this one was just too much.

Out of 35,542 registered voters, 19,415 cast ballots, including about 6,000 who voted absentee. That was 55 percent voter turnout; 60 percent turned out for the last sixth-penny election in 2003.

Proposition 1 - Approved

The proposition that includes a Greenway bridge and a new indoor-outdoor shooting range on the Archer Complex passed very handily: 13,154 voters were in favor of it, while 6,261 were against it.

As well liked as the Greenway is, quite possibly, hunters and trap shooters wanting the new $3 million indoor-outdoor shooting range carried the day.

"I'm sure all the shooters - if they have a place to shoot or not - always want another range," said Dick Smith, president of Cheyenne Public Shooting Park Corp. "But I'm sure in Wyoming there's more gun people than Greenway people."

Tuesday's victory was especially sweet for Smith.

Since 1991, he's has been seeking some way to get an indoor-outdoor shooting range built. Laramie County has a number of shooting clubs, but no public facilities.

"Now it means I really have to go to work, finding people to build it, run it and manage it, all that stuff," Smith said. "But that's good."

He said he hopes with the help of revenue bonds, "we should be able to shoot there in two years."

Included on the ballot was $2.8 million to add nearly four miles of off-road pathway and a safe passage from Nationway to Holliday Park, which could take the form of a bridge.

For Shane Smith, director of the Cheyenne Botanic Gardens, passage means $750,000 for design work for repairs, renovation and expansion of the greenhouse.

Depending on land sales to fund the building itself, Smith hopes construction will start in 2010.

"After 30 years of existence, we're proud and honored," Smith said. "This is our first ballot issue. It's confirmation we've been doing the right thing for 30 years - doing more with less, trying to be frugal."

Also on the ballot were:

n $300,000 toward renovation of the Burns elementary school for public space: offices for government and for lease, a recreation center and a day-care center.

"It's something that we can use for everything, especially in a small town," Testerman said. "We've worked hard for that."

n $855,000 to build a new Pine Bluffs day-care facility.

"If we're going to keep our young people here, we've got to supply that service," said Pine Bluffs Mayor Leonard Anderson.

n $1.6 million to remodel the Pine Bluffs Community Center.

n $316,000 to pave the parking lot and resurface the swimming pool at Reher Park and make improvements to the Pine Bluffs City Park.

n $60,000 for a new cemetery sprinkler system at Pine Bluffs Cemetery.

Proposition 2 - Approved

A vocal opposition forecast a rough ride for the Cheyenne Regional Airport's request to set aside $1.5 million to design a new airport terminal. On Tuesday, that opposition proved ineffective, with 65 percent of voters approving Proposition 2.

Last year, 16,496 passengers boarded flights at the airport. Airport officials say it needs an updated terminal, which could be an economic development asset and provide additional space for another carrier should one want to locate here.

Construction would begin in 2015.

"It's really just the first step in what's going to be a tremendous asset for the city," airport manager David Haring said.

Despite the resistance to the proposition, Haring said he didn't find it too difficult to get it passed. The need for an updated gateway to the city and draw for businesses outweighed the relatively small amount of airport traffic, he said.

"It's as much of a gateway as the 'Welcome to Cheyenne' sign," he said.

Pine Bluffs had, arguably, one of the most critical projects on the ballot: $2 million to tap into additional water sources and enlarge some water mains. The town of more than 1,100 in eastern Laramie County is drying up: Last summer, three of its five wells went dry, and another is working at half the capacity.

"We're really, really, really thankful and real elated for this to be happening," Pine Bluffs Mayor Leonard Anderson said. "We are looking for water and got some options with this money that's going to get us where we need to get."

Burns asked for $1.5 million for town water improvements in preparation for its new elementary school.

"To me, this was the most important thing that we needed," Testerman said. "It's a great victory for the small towns and what we need here."

Laramie County sought $817,732 for upgrades to its computer system and building security. This would provide a backup storage system, which county officials say is needed, especially for law enforcement.

With the passage of the proposition, Laramie County Commissioner Jeff Ketcham said he's glad to know the records of the county will be safe if a catastrophic event were to occur.

Other projects in Proposition 2 included:

n $1 million for Albin for sewer line improvements and street repair.

n $560,351 for Albin for a new sanitation truck, Dumpsters and a road grader.

n $137,086 for Burns to buy off the lease for its police vehicle and a new sanitation truck.

n $322,000 for Burns sewer and lagoon improvements.

n $64,000 for Burns street dust control.

n $1.2 million for Pine Bluffs sewer main and electrical system upgrades.

n $370,000 for Pine Bluffs to replace snow removal trucks and police vehicles.

n $250,000 for Pine Bluffs to fund a four-year supply of crack, chip and fog sealing.

Proposition 3 - Approved

The $30 million Archer Complex infrastructure proposition passed by a narrow margin Tuesday with 53 percent of votes, meaning the Laramie County coroner will have permanent new facilities for autopsies and the morgue.

"When we purchased Archer in 2004, it was purchased with the future of Laramie County in mind. And now that vision is becoming a reality," Ketcham said. "The voters have given us the vision."

Going forward, he said, community involvement will be important to "be sure that what we're doing is what the people of Laramie County want us to do," Ketcham said.

Four years ago, Laramie County bought 876 acres from the University of Wyoming, which served as a research station. It is located nine miles east of downtown Cheyenne, just south of Interstate 80.

Already, the Cheyenne Cycle Club has built a motocross track there, and the Cheyenne Public Shooting Park Corp. sought nearly $3 million in sixth-penny money to build an indoor-outdoor shooting facility under Proposition 1, which passedTuesday.

The $30.6 million will build new facilities for the coroner, Public Works, Emergency Management, the University of Wyoming Cooperative Extension Office, and Planning and Development. It also will lay the infrastructure for the acreage - roads, gas, sewer, water and electricity. That infrastructure will allow the county to sell shovel-ready land for a business park.

The proposition was rather quietly supported, and Ketcham added that he's "tickled" with the result.

He also wanted to thank the voters.

"You can't ever underestimate what they're going to do," he said.

Proposition 4 - Rejected

Voters did not support a recreation center for Cheyenne. The $55 million in funding toward the facility went down by 1,712 votes: 8,851 voted yes, and 10,563 voted no.

At $58 million and 170,000 square feet, it would have been the largest project the city has taken on.

Mayor Jack Spiker had predicted in the days leading up to the election that it would pass with 65 to 70 percent of the vote. He had been encouraged by the $10,000 poll paid for by the political action committee supporting Proposition 4.

Since the poll was taken, he said, there's been a lot of bad news about rising food and gas prices and the recession, which probably hurt the rec center.

"I'm just very, very disappointed," Spiker said. "I guess I didn't see it coming. ... For the life of me, I can't think of what we could have done better. The voters have spoken, and we'll move on. ...

"(My wife) Karen and I were in Greeley a couple of weeks ago, we visited their rec center, and it was jam-packed with kids having a good time. I'm disappointed for our community. Maybe another time or source of revenue."

"It's kind of a bummer," said Todd Feezer, the special projects director for the Parks and Recreation Department.

He thought he had spoken to nearly 9,000 people over the weeks and months, giving presentations to groups and answering their questions.

"I don't know if it was any one thing," Feezer said. "It was an exciting process to go though, but I'm glad it's over."

Opponents of the facility were vocal, especially in the month leading up to the election. The cost of the facility was at the top of the list, followed by its proposed location and the fact that it had fitness facilities that would compete with private health clubs.

Local resident Bertie Price said she was relieved upon hearing the results of the election.

"The rec center was too big," Price said. "What they proposed fit in a population triple the size of Cheyenne."

She added the city is faced with more important issues than expanding recreation - like the water supply and the nearly full landfill.