Hampton sees city's potential

Keith Hampton has seen the inner workings of Comanche City Hall from the inside as a former 15-year veteran of the Comanche Police Department. Now, he wants to sit behind the desk at city council meetings to serve the community from that perspective.

Now a sheriff’s deputy in Jefferson County, but still a Comanche resident, Hampton sees a lot of potential for the city he has called home for nearly two decades.

“I’ve never really been interested in politics before as least as far as a participant,” Hampton said. “But, I’ve always known I’m supposed to help people; that I was supposed to do something and make a difference. That’s what drove me to work in law enforcement. It’s why I served with the Meridian Fire Department for a while. It’s why I started my own non-profit organization (Warrior Journey) for at-risk youth in the community.”

Comanche has been good to him and he would like to return the favor.

“I’ve bought a house here and I started my law enforcement career here,” Hampton said. “I’ve gained valuable leadership experience here in the field of law enforcement.”

With the good things that are going on, he still has a vision to make things even better.

“A lot of people right now are struggling,” Hampton said. “The cost of everything is going up. Fuel is going up, groceries are going up. Everything is going up except people’s paychecks.”

Hampton’s goal is to alleviate some of that stress from city residents.

“I realize a lot of the cost of utillities, electricity, gas, things of that nature are in the production and there’s only so much a municipality can do but I think we can do something,” Hampton said. “I don’t see why we can’t decrease the cost of utilities through good budgeting. So, hopefully, if I’m elected I will work with the other city council members and the city manager and the utility companies to do whatever I can to take some of the burden off the people.”

He says another goal is employee retention.

“As long as I’ve been here, Comanche has competed with other municipalities for employees,” Hampton said. “We’ve made some strides in that area, but especially we’re simply training people for larger municipalities like Duncan, Lawton and the county.”

With that being said, he believes the city should invest in more training for its employees.

“No one knows how much fentanyl we have in the evidence locker. When I worked there I didn’t know how much we had,” Hampton said. “There has been no training to identify real prescription drugs from fake ones that have the fentanyl, so you really don’t know how much you have.”

Hampton is focusing on the future and keeping the moral bearing of the city.

“The City of Comanche has just annexed property to the north where there are going to be homes built,” Hampton said. “They anticipate people from California, Oregon, Colorado and other places relocating here. I take no issue with that. I think that’s great. It has a lot of potential for our community, but at the same time, those people are Biden voters. I think it’s important to get involved and keep Comanche maintaining our morals, our ethics, our value system because people who relocate here they will be bringing their own values...I want to see our values maintained and passed off to the next generation that’s going to live here long after I’m gone.”