Jimmy Keough, Pampa City Commissioner for Ward 3, is running unopposed as he heads into his second term.
“I only got three years last time, I kind of felt like I needed to complete a full-term,” Keough said. “We have a lot of things in the works I need to see through.”
Keough and his work with the Pampa Economic Development Corporation is one of the many areas he has projects.
“The Pampa EDC has a lot ahead of them with a lot of other little towns in Texas that want what we want,” Keough said. “It’s a tough game, but we’ve made headway and had some businesses come in and coming in and I’d like to see that through.”
Keough has some familiarity with the City now that he will be starting his second term, and not learning his role.
“That’s a heck of a learning curve,” Keough said. “When we ran three years ago there was six of us. Everybody thinks they know what’s going to happen when you get in there. But the only way to learn is to join in.”
In his next term, Keough would like to see more citizen involvement, especially when using the Community Pride app.
“A lot of people want to clean Pampa,” Keough said. “I agree, it’s an issue. One thing is we have the Community Pride app we implemented years ago and we have hauled out thousands of tons of debris, tires, etc. We’ve cleaned up alleys and it’s really made a difference. It’s citizen involvement that will make that app really work.”
Keough has also heard a lot about the streets in Pampa.
“I am a big advocate of fixing roads in Pampa,” Keough said. “But we are like any other town under 25,000 citizens. Cost of repairs is tough to come up with. I will always keep an open ear to ideas that come up to finance road repairs. The cost is sky rocketing. Three years ago we had a road evaluation on Pampa. And the rough tally of repairs, that time ago, was 30 million.
“To put that in perspective. A loan of 30 million would drive our tax rate to roughly $1 at $100/valuation. $0.20 to $0.25 increase for at least 30 years.
“I never look at it as out of our grasp totally. Some things we have done to help are the seal coat project which is in the neighborhood of $200,000 and will hopefully preserve some of what we have in some areas that is still in decent shape.
“Unfortunately, Covid delayed that project last year. The city also purchased an asphalt machine. Which means we can get our hot-mix with out going to Amarillo. So pot holes can be repaired at a better pace.
“I know we had previous damage to roads before that terrible cold snap we had. And now that has further tore up many roads. I ask for citizens to be patient as this process begins and remind them to use the Pampa Pride app to report.”
Keough also moderates the City of Pampa and Gray County Politics page on Facebook, which has become a tool for transparency and discussion.
“I’m not a big Facebook fan believe it or not,” Keough said. “I made that page back three years ago when everybody was running (for office). It was a venue to air it out and stuff like that. I knew I didn’t know that much about politics but there was some stuff I could talk about.
“Last year when Covid issues came up, I talked to (County Judge, Chris) Porter about and I have a different venue of people I can talk to about it. Everybody likes the page, and nobody wants to hear about Covid but it’s an important factor.”
Speaking of the pandemic, Keough is proud of how the City got through the peaks of Covid.
“We did it,” Keough said. “I said ‘we’ because it took all of the City staff, Commissioners and administration. We didn’t cut any City services, and what people don’t realize is was a huge blow to the financials of the City.”
As for accomplishments, Keough is proud of the City paying the Fire and Police Departments better to keep them in Pampa and switching to Gray County EMS for ambulance services.
“I think that was a home run for us,” Keough said. “I haven’t heard anyone complain and having to use them myself, they came through like rock stars. Combining the dispatches, selling Las Pampas Square, restructuring the Pampa EDC. The relationship between City and County governments is at an all-time great relationship. We have one goal between us.”
Keough added, helping the EDC keep Country II, bringing Keystone in, Pampa Energy Center and other projects at Pampa Energy Center.
The City of Pampa has applied for several grants for downtown revitalization, as well as other department-specific grants.
Keough, the 25-year owner of Finish Line, is married to his wife of 19 years, Robin, and the pair have raised five children and have four grand children.
For more information on Jimmy Keough, call 806-663-6909.
“I get a lot of calls from all wards and I’m open for talking to anybody,” Keough said. “I would like to thank the citizens of Pampa for letting me serve them and look forward to another four years.”
