Brian Lovett is running to keep his seat as a county commissioner

The top two vote-getters in the Aug. 18 primary will face unchallenged Democratic candidate Jeff Dockter in the November general election for two open seats.

“I’ve always known I would run for something at some point,” said Lovett, who served on the Laramie County Conservation District Board of Supervisors for 12 years before he was sworn into his current office. His decades-long public service career also includes experience on a number of appointed boards, including the Cheyenne-Laramie County Planning Commission, Laramie County Recreation Board and Laramie County Groundwater Control Area Steering Committee.

“It’s been a very interesting experience serving on the commission so far,” he said. “It’s been a challenging environment to get people involved in the political process when they can’t be in the room.”

Lovett, who’s doing his best to adapt to the new normal created by the pandemic, said this is not the campaign environment he’d envisioned when he first settled on the idea of running for public office years ago. Nonetheless, serving on the board for the past several months has amplified his understanding of a county commissioner’s duties and his desire to fulfill them.

“I thought I knew what they did before, but that was just the surface,” said Lovett, who noted the full-time workload he’s immersed himself in since his appointment.

In the short term, Lovett said balancing the county’s economy against the backdrop of a nationwide public health emergency will continue to be his priority.

“I’m very concerned. The biggest concern I have is the impact on small businesses,” said Lovett, who offered a grim statistic that one in every four of the county’s small businesses could fail before the pandemic ends.

Lovett said the commissioners have been working with the Downtown Development Authority and other local agencies to provide assistance to entrepreneurs blindsided by the sudden shutdowns.

In the long term, Lovett said he’s focused on the county’s growth.

“You don’t have to drive too far south to see what kind of growth we have coming our way. Dealing with that is going to be a very complex process requiring a lot of different moving parts and players. We need to get started now,” Lovett said, emphasizing the need for county commissioners to work with transportation and environment officials to consider how best to accommodate a swelling population.

On top of that, Lovett shares many of the other candidates’ interest in diversifying the local economy and attracting new industry to the area.

“Certainly we offer opportunities to diverse businesses to come in, but we’re not really picking what types of businesses. We’re offering businesses an opportunity to come to Laramie County. We’ve got industrial parks all ready for them to relocate.”