Mary Smith, Candidate for Mayor of Williamson County
In this interview, Mary explains:
Why we need to properly manage growth in the county, especially our infrastructure
Why county leaders must find cost savings before raising your taxes
Good government means leaders must listen and serve their people first
Public safety is a top priority which means proper funding to keep the best police deputies
We must work hard to maintain our county's strong sense of community and family
(Read the full transcript below)
To learn more about Mary’s campaign, visit VoteMarySmith.com
Full Interview Transcript
My platform is simple. It is responsible growth, smart growth, thoughtful growth, whatever you want to call it. But basically, we need to allow our services including infrastructure, public safety, and our schools to get ahead of the growth. Right now, we're playing from behind. So, that's one key point.
The second one is that we need to be fiscal stewards. Everyone works hard to contribute to our county government. I think it's our responsibility to make sure those tax dollars are spent wisely. So before we go back and we ask our taxpayers for additional funds, I think first we need to look for cost savings.
We also need to make sure the people that work for our county feel valued. So we need to make sure not only we saving money that we're actually putting it the place it needs to go. So that means prioritization. Finally, people first governance. This is something that I have learned through my three years is that everyone wants to have a voice. We have a very, very smart, involved constituency.
Experience as a County Commissioner
Being part of county government, you learn a lot and it's very procedural and there's also state laws that we have to abide by. So, I think it's important to have that background and have that experience with the county government to know where you can start to make change happen. If you come in just with your own experience and not having a chance to be a public servant and hearing from the constituency, I think you might have a narrow perspective.
And I think my time on the county commission has widened my perspective. And it's definitely widened my ability to understand where everyone's concerns are. So I tell folks I have a lot of opinions, but it's not my job to have those opinions. My job is to serve the public and to listen to their concerns and then try to come up with the right solutions that work for hopefully everyone.
Why Being a Leader Means Serving Others
I think my leadership style is more about servant leadership and sometimes that's more work because that means you have to take the time, educate yourself, be transparent. I think that my style would be to be more proactive, to look further down the road and be more strategic so that we don't have to be reactive and make decisions quickly.
We've got to think bigger picture on what are our goals, what is the strategy here, and how do we start to work together to make sure all the decisions we're making are, you know, cohesive. So, I think that's a big part of trying to solve for growth. So, we've got to really rethink, are we really doing a service to our constituents if we allow the growth to kind of go unchecked without having c certain prerequisites already in play.
So, I think that's where where my heart is. My heart is just making sure that when people move to our county, they're moving to a county that can handle the growth and is prepared for the growth.
Maintaining Open Communication
I think one of the things that I appreciate the most is when I do get a phone call or I do get an email, the fact that somebody's reached out to me and said, "Hey, somebody told me I can trust you or somebody said you can help me."
And I just got a text today, you know, for a situation and you know, they said, "I just want to know your advice. I want to know how I can actually, you know, get this resolved." That simple task of just showing up and meeting with them and talking with them and listening to them to actually being able to give them a solution. It is a very personal county government, local government is very personal.
It touches your everyday life. And I do feel like, you know, as a county commissioner, I really have been the customer service rep for District 5. And I've enjoyed every bit of it.
Looking Forward to Serving as County Mayor
I'm looking forward to being more proactive and strategic. I'm looking forward to talking to the department heads and the commissioners, understanding where their pain points are and really putting a plan together to address those pain points.
I think that having a more open and honest conversations with all of those individuals is really going to show people in Williamson County that they have a county government that really does want to provide the highest level of service, which I think they should expect. And I want to give them that level of service.
Maintaining Williamson County Values
When my husband and I moved here in 2000, one of the things that really stood out to us was the sense of community and I want to make sure that that stays. I think that it's really important that we don't lose our sense of community. I spent all summer going to ice cream socials out in the the rural area and these people are just amazing.
They're just the kindest folks you could possibly meet and they're there to basically raise money for their church. So you might buy a pie for $100, but you know that $100 is going for a good cause. I don't want to see that go away. I do think that we have to remember that, you know, this county is really rooted in that faith and family and community and service.
Improving Public Safety in Williamson County
Public safety is should always be at the top of the list, right? When the sheriff did his his work, his homework, and he brought a study forth to us to just to trying to get his deputies to the 75th percentile, to me, it was a common sense decision that we needed to support him. And honestly, a lot of commissioners and myself wanted to see it go higher.
But we know that you have to always consider how do you fund that, you know, so funding is always the issue. I would love to see us get to where our deputies are closer to the 95th percentile. And I think we should make that a focus in figuring out how to fund that. It would at least tell them that they are valued and we do care and we do want to hire the best of the best and we want them to stay.
How Can Williamson County Voters Get Involved?
I am not a self-funded candidate. So donations are great. I prefer to call them investments. So I feel if you invest with me now you'll save in the future. Volunteering is a great way to help. And that volunteering could be, you know, making phone calls, making introductions hosting a meet and greet in your home.
I love to support our small businesses. So, I'm looking for creative ways to promote small businesses in our county, so people know about it and also, you know, being able to make people aware of the election coming up. But mostly it's going to be word of mouth. I mean, at the end of the day, it's all about the votes. So, we've got to educate people about how important this election is. We've got to get the turnout.