My name is Lucy Fields and I am running for Bridge City Councilmember – Place 6 number 3 on the ballot.

Being involved in Civic and Service Organizations has always been a part of my life. I am very passionate about supporting and improving our community in any way I can such as supporting the city and our volunteer firefighters by painting approximately 175 city fire hydrants. I began this endeavor while I was a council member when some firefighters relayed a need for the hydrants to be flushed, repaired, cleaned up and painted according to the national coding system after Ike. Many of the hydrants were still covered with debris at that time.   With the help of the city and fire department I was able to clean and paint them and help identify hydrants in need of repair and or replacement. The city water lines will have to be flushed out, in probability several times, when the new filtration system is completed. Knowing this is a very busy time of the year for the city with all the many projects to be completed, I would very much like to see the city and the fire department work together in a collaborative effort to put a trained team together to help flush out the hydrants.   I would also like to see the city adopt a schedule of regular flushing and yearly maintenance as other cities do as this has not occurred in our city since the early 1990’s and feel this would greatly help with putting an end to the brown water issue. I feel that if the city does not have the personnel to get this done there is nothing wrong with asking for help and I think this would be a win win situation for everyone. Also I would like to see the city budget or obtain a grant for a phone system for alerting citizens in emergency situations like the utility companies or schools do. I think citizens would approve of their tax dollars being spent in this way.

I have two years previous experience as a city council member. I took the responsibilities of council member seriously and was always prepared for each meeting. I asked questions when I felt it was necessary to insure the votes I cast were in the best interest of the citizens of Bridge City. An example of this was an agenda item that several council members were not convinced was a good thing for the city. It failed for lack of a second but was again placed on the agenda for the next meeting. I called all the cities in Orange and Jefferson counties prior to the next meeting with the reoccurring agenda item to see how they dealt with this issue as I still felt a lack of confidence that this was the right move for Bridge City. What I discovered was that not one of the cities in either county had this policy and all felt it would be a detriment to their city. I also randomly contacted a dozen citizens for their input and all stated they did not feel this was good for our city. I presented my findings to council and the majority of the council voted against the agenda item. I continue to be involved in city affairs as I am presently on the city’s Building Standards Committee and the Board of Adjustments.

I have proven leadership abilities and believe I have shown my support, dedication, loyalty and commitment to improving our community. I believe that it is not what my community can do for me, but what I personally can do to make our beautiful city a better place to live, work and play for all of us. I am asking for your support in voting for a candidate who “walks the talk” and once again represent the citizens of Bridge City as your Councilmember for Place 6, #3 on the ballot.