Healthcare in Bastrop County, especially maternal care, has been a major topic throughout the county. According to reports, The Birthing Center in Downtown Bastrop is the only place between Columbus and Austin to give birth to a child. Maternal care as well as a need for more primary care providers should be a top priority. Bastrop County also has a large population of military veterans, 5,917 veterans, and many more in neighboring rural counties. 

We need to work on expanding healthcare access throughout the county and work with healthcare providers to bring fully accessible and affordable hospitals and primary care providers to Bastrop County. We also need to advocate for a VA clinic or hospital to serve as a hub for Bastrop County veterans as well as veterans of neighboring rural counties. In order for our residents and communities to live healthy thriving lives, we need more access to healthcare. 

According to studies, 60% of Bastrop County residents travel outside of Bastrop County every day to go to work. Most working adults spend an average of an hour in travel on the road to and from work each day. This makes it harder for working parents or residents to be involved in their kids schools, extracurricular activities, or other community happenings. 

We need advocacy for better jobs, and not just retail or fast food jobs, but sustainable careers in order for our residents to work and provide a decent living for their families. Our citizens deserve to live where they work and work where they live and thrive in Bastrop County.

As Bastrop County grows, we need to ensure we are continuously upgrading our roads, bridges, and buildings while also building more sustainable infrastructure to accommodate the growth of our population. 

Many areas of Bastrop County, especially in rural parts of precinct one, struggle with inadequate food supply access, such as grocery stores or markets, inadequate broadband internet for work from home jobs or children's school work, and other recreational or physical activity spaces. Some residents live as far as 20 miles from the nearest accommodations and without adequate transportation it can be a burden to many including our senior residents. We need to plan more proactively for growth and develop a better network of these essential spaces in order for our county residents to thrive both now and in the future. 

I have always been a strong supporter of law enforcement officers and their efforts to keep all of our communities safe and secure. Currently, if we include our county jail, law enforcement makes up 46% of our expenditures. I believe we need to find more ways to maximize these funds so that our law enforcement officers are not only paid well, but have the needed modern tools to keep our communities safe and secure as our county continues to grow. 

As we continue to grow rapidly, more development and housing means more people moving into the community. At last check, our emergency service contractor Acadian only supplies 4 total ambulances for the entire county stationed in Elgin, Bastrop, Smithville, and Cedar Creek. As the growth continues, we need to begin to expand on our emergency service capabilities such as developing our own homegrown EMS department and possibly working with Acadian or Austin Community College to train more local paramedics in order to supply more ambulances to the county. This will decrease current response times, which have been reported as much as 40 minute wait times, and also prepare us in the event there is more than one emergency at one time requiring multiple ambulances. 

Academic ratings in Bastrop County rank among the bottom 50% in the state of Texas. Combined literacy and math ratings, discipline, attendance issues, and teacher/staff morale issues are plaguing our schools throughout all four school districts in the county. 

As a county, we need to make education a priority and find ways to support our schools, our students, our teachers, and our communities. We need to find ways to provide educational resources throughout the rural areas of the county and develop public educational spaces such as another library, recreation center, or community spaces, in order for our to thrive in educational success as they pursue better lives for their families.