Brian Doughty is running unopposed for Pampa City Commission Ward 2, the seat vacated by Matt Rains, who is running for Mayor.
Doughty moved to Pampa from the Oklahoma City area after being relocated by his employer, Schlumberger, in December 2012.
“We came out here and fell in love with Pampa early on,” Doughty said. “Both my wife and I grew up in small towns in Oklahoma, so it was nice to get out of the big-city atmosphere and into a smaller setting where we can raise our daughter.”
The Doughty’s wasted little time getting plugged into Trinity Fellowship Church. Brian serves as an associate pastor for student ministries and has served in that role for three years.
“That’s really where I learned to serve others,” Doughty said. “I’ve served in different ministries with different experiences and different people.”
Doughty is a sales manager for Related Environmental. Doughty said he hadn’t really thought about running for city commission until he was approached about it. After a lot of prayer and thought, he decided it was the right move.
“This is an opportunity to extend and continue to serve those closest to me, but also the community,” Doughty said. “It’s a place where I call home.”
In addition to his service at the church, Doughty serves on the Pampa High School Baseball Booster Club, and is a board member for the Pampa Civic Ballet.
“I felt God calling me to this and serving others has become a passion of mine,” Doughty said. “I enjoy serving in whatever realm presents itself.”
While Doughty has heard some issues from those in the community such as “cleaning up Pampa” and handling street projects, he doesn’t want to commit to any plans until he is in office and can look at the budget.
“This is a first go round for me, so for me to say that I know what I’m stepping into would be naive,” Doughty said. “I don’t know all of the ins-and-outs of it. I run a little bit of a conservative approach with limited government and personal responsibility. I truly believe strong families help create a strong community. More than anything I want to be able to lead by example, have compassion and empathy for everybody in the community. Not everybody deals with the same issues I deal with.”
Doughty added that while he wants to “clean up Pampa” and look at the street projects, too. These type of projects take time and money to come into play. Ultimately, it’s what is best for Pampa.
“It’s about what’s going to be best for the community of Pampa and the citizens overall,” Doughty said. “It’s not just a short-term fix, but a long-term. Sometimes those long-term fixes are a little more complex than the short-term fix.”
Doughty is excited about the business opportunities he has seen come Pampa’s way in the recent months and has seen the benefits of these businesses.
“It’s helped our small business,” Doughty said. “I feel like Pampa is in a unique position where our town, in the past, has been driven by oil and gas. It always will be. However, even in the down-turn of oil and gas, Pampa has seemed to expand, grow and add additional things when realistically we don’t see those type of things happen in other towns during a down-turn in the economy.”
In regards to the City of Pampa as an entity, Doughty said it would be important to take care of the employees at the City.
“You want to take care of your employees whether it’s pay, benefits or even recognition,” Doughty said. “Those things are important to me. I have to do that in my full-time job and see the benefits of that. More importantly, it’s being able to work alongside each department and learn more of the ins-and-outs of what each department does. Then, it’s being able to help those departments.”
Doughty recalls a quote from his hometown newspaper that said, “Do nothing, say nothing and be nothing; you’ll never be criticized.”
“What better opportunity to be criticized than stepping in and trying to be part of a solution,” Doughty said. “This is home for me and instead of being on the opposite side saying ‘we should be doing this,’ ‘we need to do this’ or ‘why did they do this.’ I should put my money where my mouth is and see how I can make a difference.”
Doughty has been married to his wife, Stacy, for 17 years and the pair have a daughter, Kenzee.
“I’m excited about the opportunity to serve the community in a different capacity,” Doughty said. “I am excited to help build off the momentum that our little community seems to have going for it right now.”
For more information on Brian Doughty, find him on Facebook or e-mail doughtybrian@hotmail.com.
