Pair of Schulenburg Grads Right at Home at Pct. 4 Forum
First up Saturday at the forum were the candidates for Pct. 4 Commissioner, Stephen Matula and Drew Brossmann. Both provided information about their backgrounds and qualifications.
Matula graduated from Schulenburg High School in 1986. He attended Blinn College for one year and became a summer employee for Texas Department of Transportation. Matula said he stayed on at TxDOT with an intention to save money and eventually go back to college. Matula said he stayed on at TxDOT serving in construction, maintenance and operations.
“I enjoyed the work making a difference for the people of the county and the state,” he said. “Patching potholes, seal coating, cleaning ditches – whatever it took, I was willing to do it.”
In 1999 he was appointed TxDOT supervisor for Colorado County. He transferred to the same position in Fayette County in 2002.
“I’m still employed for TxDOT in evaluating roads across the whole State of Texas,” Matula said. “I see a lot of different things that affect everyone.”
Brossmann is a 2000 graduate of Schulenburg High School. He went to work for the City of Schulenburg after high school. During his 11½ years with the City, Brossmann said he obtained various water and groundwater licenses along with a commercial drivers license. Former Pct. 4 Commissioner Tom Muras hired Brossmann in 2012. In 2015, Muras appointed him to the position of superintendent. When Muras retired in 2020, County Judge Joe Weber appointed Brossmann as interim Pct. 4 Commissioner. Brossmann said he knows how to operate every piece of equipment in the Pct. 4 yard.
“I have the experience and knowledge of how to build solid, long lasting, affordable roads for your tax dollars,” Brossmann said.
The two candidates were asked about the most challenging aspects of serving as County Commissioner.
“I would say budgeting and setting the tax rate for the County are at the top of the list,” Matula said. “Keeping the tax rate as low as possible, a lot goes into that. Land values, inflation keeps going up. Second, the quality of roads and bridges. Everyday people get in a vehicle and travel. Emergency services need to roll. So roads and bridges, signs, delineators. Tort and liability claims across the state have gone up. With that, you increase the chance of something coming back to the county.”
“One of the most challenging things so far has probably been to decide on payroll and benefits for employees,” Brossmann said. “To make sure you’re taking care of the people who are serving the citizens of Fayette County. If you have happy employees, they do great things for Fayette County. The other thing, like Stephen said, is the tax rate. Everything is going up. The way the world is right now, for us to be able to keep the tax rate low is amazing. The way we’re able to do that is growth in the County. The amount of people we have coming in and businesses coming in, that’s the revenue we need to keep tax rates the same. Also, infrastructure – roads, bridges, EMS, fire departments we need to keep the growth coming into Fayette County.”
What Changes Would They Make?
Brossmann and Matula were asked about what changes or improvements they would undertake as Pct. 4 Commissioner.
“We’re actually doing some of those changes right now for the future,” Brossmann said. “We had land donated to Fayette County for a new EMS station for Pct. 4. That’s going to help us handle growth in the future.”
Brossmann said the County is also working to improve EMS facilities in Flatonia and Round Top. He added, “The Sheriff’s Office has a job like none other nowadays. The way the media treats them. The grief they have to put up with. The amount they do, the way they keep citizens safe, the drugs they’re taking off the streets, the amount of money they take through the forfeiture fund and the amount of money they save Fayette County taxpayers – that’s something we need to continue in the future.”
Matula said Pct. 4 needs road and bridge improvements.
“That’s part of the job,” Matula said. “Some areas I visited need drainage improvements. Water gets under the road and it deteriorates a whole lot quicker – potholes, base failures. Along with that, the need for facility improvements – county offices, EMS, Sheriff’s Office. We need better traffic control devices. With the growth that’s happening, the county risk of tort and liability claims will go up. If you have a stop sign that someone can’t read, you get a good lawyer and that’s an issue for the County. Having better signs and traffic control devices lowers the risk for these types of claims.”
Stance on COVID Restrictions
One of the prepared questions asked the candidates whether they agreed with the COVID restrictions placed on citizens by Governor Greg Abbott during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I’m not one for government to tell you what to do in your personal lives,” Brossmann said. “I’m not a doctor. Everyone has their own physician. If you look at the different medical conditions in your own household, how can you have one rule across the board for everyone to follow and be strict on? I’m for freedom of choice. I’m for conservative values. You should have the right to decide what you need to do to keep yourself and your family and your body safe. The vaccine mandates and all the stuff they’re talking about - once again, we’re not doctors. We’re here to take care of the strict county stuff that we should - your roads, your taxes. We’re not in charge of your healthcare and what you need to do with your body.”
Matula gave the following response: “I agree that each individual should have the right to make their own decision. At times of major illnesses or pandemics like what went on, sometimes it is necessary to enforce something for the health of the public. As far as at the county level, or even at the state, I agree it’s our right to decide if we want to get vaccinated or don’t, or wear a facemask. But for the good of all mankind, not having been through a pandemic in our time – some of y’all here may have been through that, measles or different things years ago – I agree to a point with it but not whole-heartedly. It’s still every individual’s choice and right in the country that we live in.”
Managing Growth
The candidates were also asked about managing growth as the County experiences an influx of people moving from urban areas.
“That’s a tough one,” Matula said. “With the urban metro areas growing, people are trying to get out of those areas and move to the country. How do we limit it? That’s the million dollar question. We have a great way of live. They come in and see Fayette County and see our rolling hills, they want to get out of that concrete infested jungle. The best we can do with the tax dollars we have is to maintain the infrastructure. I can’t say there’s a way you can limit that. Take care of the citizens that are here and keep hometown, common sense values.”
Brossmann said the County should embrace growth.
“We need growth,“ he said. “We need people to come in and build to make our community a better place. When people move in and build homes, that helps with our tax rate. The more tax revenue we have, the tax rate stays the same. Of course, people don’t want us jam-packed together like they are in the City. The reason why people are coming here is because of the way we run Fayette County. It’s because of the way our schools are. It’s our small town community. It’s the way the County makes sure we have the proper services for these people. Instead of wanting to stop that, we should take it as a compliment because it means we’re doing things the right way.”