by Michele Newbern Gillis
Staff Writer
One of Jacksonville’s better amateur golfers is looking to have that same kind of success selling homes and helping run Clay County.
After 21 years as a Navy pilot, Doug Conkey retired in 2005 and began looking for a career in Jacksonville. He was known as a prominent golfer — winning several local invitationals — being a member of the amateur team in the Northern Chapter PGA Cup competition. He also played a few national events.
Golf has taken less precedence today. First, he signed on as a real estate agent with Watson Realty and has lived the agent’s life of always being on call.
Then, another opportunity presented itself: an open seat on the Clay County Commission.
Conkey, who lived in the Orange Park area for 20 years, decided to take a shot and in November was elected to a four-year term as the Clay County commissioner for District 2.
“I’ve always been interested in public service,” said Conkey. “I grew up with it. My folks were very active. My mom and dad were very involved in the school board, planning board and the town council. My father was two-term mayor down in Briny Breezes in Palm Beach County.”
The excitement in Conkey’s eyes as he speaks about his new position is evident.
“My enthusiasm is to be involved and to help people and then to combine that with my military experience,” he said. “I just want to continue my public service and it just so happened that the time frame and where I live worked out. I saw an opportunity and decided I was going to run. You have to seize opportunities in life to do what you love, so I’m really excited to have this opportunity.”
Conkey said Clay County is the victim of its own success and he wants to help smooth that out. Economic development and transportation are two critical elements he is going to focus on.
“We did such a good job of creating that niche as a bedroom community for Jacksonville that we are now suffering from that because people live here because of the quality of life and the schools, but we don’t have a good mix of what we need as a growing community which is residential and commercial,” said Conkey. “We have the highest percentage in the state of people who leave the area to go work elsewhere, and that compounds our transportation infrastructure inadequacies.”
Conkey said Clay County has a diverse and good work force and a good quality of life. He went into real estate, he said, because he knew others in the industry and it sounded like a good opportunity.
“It’s been interesting,” he said. “It’s different when you come from a structured military environment to the real estate environment. There’s a pretty big learning curve to establish a plan and dealing with people. Especially in real estate, you realize how little you control situations. It’s hard to control either side of the transaction, you are just a facilitator. If you give them the tools to make the right decisions, things can go smoothly.
“Some transactions are as smooth as a baby’s bottom and others as painful as going to the dentist. You just have to work through those and I believe if you go with a defined process and use strong fundamentals that you lay the foundation. Every transaction is unique and is going to have its hiccups. That is the nature of the business.”
Conkey has a Bachelor’s degree in political science from the Naval Academy and lives in Orange Park with his wife Gretchen and their two teenagers.
When he’s not working, he’d love to find time to play more golf, but with his new schedule juggling showing houses and attending Commission meetings, it’s been hard.
“When I was in the military, I played a lot of golf,” he said. “When I got out of the military, I played far less and during the campaign, I played none. Now my game is really suffering. My golf clubs are collecting a lot more dust than they ever have.”