Brighton mayor honored by commission

    Scott Hughes was an unlikely member of the Brighton City Council. Before Hughes was appointed to the council approximately four years ago, city government was not exactly on his radar.

    ?I didn?t follow the council before I was appointed to be on it,? said Hughes.

    That changed in 2005 when councilman Melvin Rich announced he would be stepping down because work prevented him from making all the meetings. Hughes?s friends told him he would do well on the council, so he accepted the appointment to serve on the body.

    Hughes has lived in Brighton for several years but did not grow up there. He said he spent much of his childhood and adolescence in Swedesburg, just south of Olds. Hughes?s mother Deb is from Brighton while his father Rick grew up just south of Washington ? in the state of Oregon.

    High school government class was a course that Hughes thoroughly enjoyed. The class played a role in his decision to accept the appointment to the council. He said that he was interested in public service, and that was what he looked forward to on the council.

    Once a member of the council, Hughes realized that the city of Brighton had a nagging issue that he was not fully aware of before. He said the issue of dogs ? and in particular which breeds are allowed in the city limits ? was surprisingly contentious. Hughes said that people often brought in dogs that were not allowed in town, such as pit bulls, and refused to give them up even after several notifications. Hughes recalls an incident in which the council permitted a resident to have a particular dog provided the resident construct a 6-foot fence around the dog?s kennel, which also had to be covered. 

    ?The reason we have those restrictions on dogs is to ensure public safety,? said Hughes. ?We?re worried about children or elderly folks who could be attacked by one of those dogs and be unable to fight them off.?

    After nearly two years on the council, Hughes was settling in nicely to being a key player in city affairs. But in 2007, the mayor of Brighton, Barney Lawler, fell ill and resigned from his post. Lawler passed away shortly after resigning from office.

    As the council struggled to search for Lawler?s successor, Hughes?s name was bandied about. With some encouragement from his fellow council members, Hughes decided to run for mayor in 2007. And he won.

To read the full article, see the Dec. 11 edition of the Washington Evening Journal.