"I am deeply honored to serve as your commissioner of Precinct Four," said Fuchs. "I am committed to continue to work hard to do what is best for Washington County and its citizens.
"I believe as a commissioners court there are two key elements to success, leadership and communication. Though we do not always agree with each other, it is imperative that we look at all the factual information in order to make an educated decision.
"As we are seeing Washington County grow, it is also important to move forward with projects to make sure we are ready for that growth. Using my experience as your commissioner for several years and my knowledge of the history of our county government, I would like to continue to be one of the leaders to assure that we keep Washington County growing in a positive manner."
Fuchs is involved in organizations which through regional cooperation help citizens while not being redundant in the types of services, including the Brazos Valley Council of Governments. She is currently a member of its board of directors and has served as chairman.
She is also on the board of the National Association of Regional Councils as an at-large representative.
Through these organizations, Washington and surrounding counties receive assistance for aging and disabled, workforce and family self-sufficiency, affordable housing, indigent health care, adult education and the newest project to bring affordable broadband to rural areas.
"We have been working for several years with the FCC to get a grant to bring a broadband infrastructure to our counties and are finally in the installation phase," said Fuchs. "This will first be available to health facilities, schools and government buildings and will hopefully in the future bring affordable broadband to our rural areas that are not presently being served.
"Through these organizations I have the opportunity to meet with other elected officials from all over the United States and bring home new ideas to our county."
Fuchs is also chair of the Post Oak Resource Development and Conservation Board, which finds ways to use funds to clean up communities.
"In fact, this week we have a tire clean up at the citizens collection station that was provided by this organization," she said.
Fuchs has been a member of the Burton Education Foundation, helps with the Burton Cotton Gin Festival and is secretary of the Washington County Calf Scramble Committee. She is a member of Zion Lutheran Church and has served on the church council as chair and also on the pastoral call committee as well as singing in the Praise Team."
"My four siblings and I were raised by parents who believed in strong Christian faith and 4-H values," she said. "I served as adult leader for many years as my sons were involved in all the activities of 4-H. I believe that the youth programs are very important, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, FFA, athletic programs and many others assist in the evolution of our future leaders and I applaud all those involved with them.
"Washington County is so fortunate to have great elected officials and department heads, and wonderful employees who work together to keep our county the best place to live. Through the floods and hurricane, our dispatch, sheriff's officers, EMS and road and bridge crews stepped up to the challenge in rescuing people and getting them to safety.
"Many hours were spent closing and opening flooded areas and I just am so very proud of the teamwork exhibited during this trying experience.
"For the people who live in rural Washington County I know that good roads and bridges are very important and we have been steadily increasing the miles of roads that are paved, and will continue to improve our county roads.
"When the Legislature approved funding for county roads that were affected by oil and gas production, I worked to get the grant with the staff at Road and Bridge and we were successful which helped our budget greatly.
"As the commissioner's court works through the budgeting process, we do really try hard to stretch every penny to keep taxes in check, while keeping up with the unfunded mandates imposed on the local governments by the state and federal governments.
"We post our budget online to keep the transparency for our hard working taxpayers so if there are questions as to where the dollars go, it is an open book. I am always willing to explain the budget and look forward to having conversations as to what counties are mandated to do.
"Washington County is very fortunate to have county volunteer fire departments. These men and women are dedicated volunteers who spend countless hours training and raising funds to get the equipment needed to help our citizens.
"They also were there to help during the floods and I am so very thankful for the way they stepped up.
I would like to ask for you let me continue to serve you. I will always work hard for you and strive to make Washington County, which is the best county, better."
