In the running for Mayor for the City of Pampa is Jimmy Chaney, an entrepreneur whose name has become synonymous with vision and drive by those who know him.
For the past six years, Jimmy and his wife Amy have owned and operated Hall’s Heating & Air, rebranding the once small local company into a massive commercial business well known throughout the Texas Panhandle.
Before taking over Hall’s, Jimmy spent many years running his own businesses and leasing rental properties, building his experience as a businessman and giving him the confidence to make his biggest career move yet, a decision that would undoubtedly pay off.
Coming from humble beginnings, Jimmy’s journey to success wasn’t an easy one and it took an unimaginable amount of determination to overcome the obstacles he had been facing. Interestingly enough, May 3 of this year, the day of the upcoming election, will mark 21 years since he closed one of the darkest chapters of his life and began on a new and more fulfilling path.
The idea of running for mayor had been on Jimmy’s radar for quite some time, and although he had considered waiting a few more years before taking that leap, decided now was the perfect opportunity.
“This is something that I’m super excited about because we have a lot of big things coming to Pampa,” Jimmy said. “I’ve always just kind of been a visionary and it’s going to take a lot of vision and new ideas to make our town grow. Things aren’t going to be able to be done the way that they always have been because if you do what you’ve always done, you’re going to get what you already have. It’s really going to take some faith and risk.”
As a kid in the 80’s, Jimmy remembers when Pampa was quite the booming town, and looking back at those glory days and what Pampa was and could be again, Jimmy’s sights are set on promoting that growth and essentially rebranding Pampa, something that he has been proven successful at with his own business.
“I’ve seen what having a strong brand has done for our own business and that refresh is exciting and I feel like our city is due for that, all the way down to how it looks and is presented.”
“It’s going to take some big businesses like the data center that we have coming and it’s going to take a lot of vision, people and higher paying jobs. I think the biggest thing I see that it’s going to take is our community being on board with that.”
While having a set of leaders a community can trust is crucial to the town’s overall operation, sometimes there’s a feeling of disconnection between them, with citizens wanting and needing more information about the decisions being made on their behalf by the powers that be.
“One of my biggest visions is bringing them all together through transparency and communicating what’s going on,” he said. “I firmly believe that without ethics, growth and transparency and without the community on board, you can just forget it. I want people to feel confident in what our government is doing.”
Maintaining his businesses throughout the years, Jimmy’s expertise in financial matters will play a role in his decision making if elected, opting for ways that are more efficient and cost-friendly to the city’s tax payers.
“I want to make sure those dollars are spent responsibly and they’re spent towards growth. I’ve already spotted a few things that are going to need some time to work out, but I want to make things more efficient and for people to at least break even.”
Jimmy believes that Pampa is on the right track for growth and would like to help keep that momentum going, and although there are a few things about Pampa’s infrastructure that need to be addressed, such as street and road repairs, he fully understands it’s not something that can just happen immediately: the growth and desirability for folks to move here needs to happen first and foremost.
Jimmy also is committed to supporting Pampa’s police and fire departments by advocating for competitive wages, ensuring their importance in the community and showing appreciation for their hard work in keeping our town safe.
His campaign slogan-Growth, Truth and Transparency-sums up the three-fold process to ensure Pampa’s future and Jimmy firmly intends to uphold that.
“I’m going to have to be the voice of that. There’s a whole back end on why decisions are made and I want for that information to be available to the people. Understanding goes a long way. It’s been at the heart of my passion and my campaign: bridging the gap between the community and our leaders.”
Early voting will begin on April 22 through April 29 in the Pampa ISD Administration building, located at 1233 N. Hobart, between 8 AM and 5 PM. Election day is May 3 at MK Brown between 7 AM and 7 PM.
