When James Burns was asked to join the Committee of 50, the military affairs arm of the Clovis/Curry County Chamber of Commerce, he figured he had two options.
“You can get involved and be busy with it, or you can just show up at meetings and not do anything,” he says now. “I just chose to get involved. That’s how it started.”
That kicked off Burns’ decades of service to Cannon Air Force Base, New Mexico and the community it calls home.
Burns, who owns three hardware stores, quickly took a leadership role and encouraged other business leaders to take pride in their support of the base.
“We put up a website, and I printed stickers that you can put on the front door of your business,” Burns says. “And we got nametags. We walk around with a ‘Proud Member of the Committee of 50’ nametags.”
Like many rural defense communities, Clovis has historically lacked some of the perks near other installations, a problem Burns has set out to solve. He was instrumental in the recent passage of state legislation to recognize many military spouses’ professional licenses from other states, for example.
For years, airmen and military family members who needed certain forms of specialized medical care had to drive an hour to Lubbock, Texas, because they weren’t available at Plains Regional Medical Center, an acute care hospital in Clovis.
When Burns learned of this in 2017, he launched meetings to help PRMC understand the community and business need to expand its services. That led to PRMC hiring a new administrator and tasking him with finding a way to provide the services. Burns, meanwhile, hosted receptions for prospective doctors to meet installation and community leaders. Within two years, the hospital had hired nine new specialists, most of whom said the welcome receptions helped sell them on Clovis.
For Burns, also a city commissioner and the father of an active duty airman, all this work is worth it for one simple reason: “The Air Force is important to Clovis.”
Part of a series honoring ADC’s Defense Community Champions
ADC photo by Will Noonan
