In the running for City Commissioner Ward 1 is Phyllis Jeffers, who through her extensive experience working for the city of Pampa, has ideas, both new and from the past, that she believes will give Pampa just what it needs to get back to what it once was.
Phyllis worked for the City of Pampa for 23 years, her roles including city secretary, director of human resources, and director of community services, and during that time, she learned many of the ins and outs of city government and gained knowledge in how a city must adapt to the economical and societal change that time brings with it in order to not only survive, but thrive as well.
After her retirement as City Secretary, Phyllis began working for Texas First, a company of retired city managers that would fill in for cities that were undergoing the transitional election process so that the city could continue to function properly and maintain balance without feeling rushed to elect a new city official.
Phyllis spent many years in many different cities where she was able to see how local government worked for the town she was filling in for, gaining a wider perspective on the different functionalities that each town has.
Phyllis also realized what her own town was lacking and took a different, more in depth notice on what needed to be improved, both inside and out.
“It feels like everything is just declining, like everyone has lost interest,” Phyllis said. “There’s almost a defeated attitude-nothing ever gets fixed.”
“There’s so much that can be done and what I have gotten from people that I’ve talked to is every time they voice a concern, it’s ‘well, we can’t do that,’ and I’m one of those people that believe ‘can’t won’t get you anywhere.’ You can, you just have to find a way to do it.”
“I can remember a time when the economy tanked and the city had hired a new city manager after the other had retired, and when he came, there was no money. But he changed out the street signs around the high school to green and gold, painted the sidewalks to green and gold around the school. On Fridays, employees were given green and gold shirts for community support. When Celanese blew up, there was a major rally at the football stadium to show Pampa’s encouragement for Celanese to rebuild and not relocate. There was a sense of pride that everyone had. At that time, the Recreation Christmas Lights was started. All of this was done when there was no money. It was just the attitude of ‘we care, we can do something and we are going to do something.’ I’ve seen Pampa at its worst and I’ve seen Pampa at its best. Even at its worst, it was still at its best because people cared about what was going on.”
While the solution to the issues that Pampa faces may not seem to be a simple one, Phyllis believes that it takes the entire village to help bring the city back to its glory days, back when Pampa was thriving and the citizens took enormous pride in the town. But someone has to make the first move and she insists that it must start with Pampa’s leaders and representatives.
“I think it’s a matter of priorities. I think with the new mayor and commissioner on board, they’re going to set the tone. The structure of government is the elected officials are elected to carry out what they promised their voters. I think it’s inherent on the city commission as a whole as a governing body to decide what it is they’re going to do. Plan the work, work the plan and then they give that direction to the city manager who then is to carry out those things that can happen. Everybody needs to be on the same page-if you have a plan of action, you know where you’ve been, you know what you’ve done, and you know where you’re going.”
Phyllis understands that the community also needs to be and stay involved with what the city has going on, asking questions and sharing ideas and concerns with their representatives. She had the idea to bring back city commissioner meetings that used took place within each ward, giving people living in those areas a greater opportunity to speak with their designated commissioner and have a more personal, and potentially more constructive, experience.
She also expressed her interest in having a Spanish-speaking intrepreter for the meetings, helping Pampa’s Hispanic population become more involved and included in the community.
If elected, Phyllis’s main focus is to do what she can within the limits of city government to help build Pampa back up physically, economically, and socially.
“I have that I bring with me is years of municipal government experience and I know what can and can’t be done. And if I don’t, I know how to research. I have a lot of contacts all over the state, and if I’m told we can’t do something, I want to know why.”
Early voting is happening now 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.
