Shuchita Patel has called this community home for 30 years. She's raising her three kids here, building her career here, and watching—like a lot of us—as this county grows faster than its government is keeping up. She's running for Commissioner because she knows how to read a budget, hold the line on accountability, and ask the questions that have gone unasked for too long.

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North Georgia shaped me. Forsyth County is where I’m raising my family. This county has real problems AND real potential. I'm running because I believe we're not living up to the second one—and I know exactly why. Here's where I stand and what I'll do about it.

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Taxpayer dollars are not abstract. They represent real work by real people—and they deserve to be managed with discipline, transparency, and zero tolerance for conflicts of interest. I will publish my public calendar, recuse myself from any vote tied to a campaign donor, and push for an independent ethics commission with real enforcement authority.You should always know where your money is going. That starts with me.

Strong communities are built—through thoughtful infrastructure, accessible public spaces, and housing that the people who actually live and work here can afford. Forsyth County has the resources to get this right. What it needs is leadership willing to plan for everyone, not just the next development approval.I believe in a county that works for the families who call it home.

Public office is a public trust. The decisions made in that commission chamber affect real families—their roads, their schools, their taxes, their quality of life. Those decisions should be made transparently, on the record, and for the right reasons.Doing what's right isn't complicated. It just has to be the priority.

Forsyth County is more diverse than its government reflects—and that gap matters. Every resident deserves equal access to county services, fair treatment, and a commissioner who sees them. I've lived here for 30 years as a South Asian woman raising three kids in this community. I know what it means to belong here and still feel invisible to the people making decisions.That's exactly why I'm running.

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Forsyth County should work for everyone who lives here—not just the people funding the campaigns.

Our Community. Our Future.

If you’ve got questions about growth, representation, taxes, or whether I’m “too progressive,” you’re not alone. Here are straightforward answers—no spin, no drama.

<h2>Meet Shuchita</h2><img src="https://run.imgix.net/c5749bb2-5f6c-48cb-a353-98cc83745c48/a051c43f-5844-4eaa-9bc2-f91faf3e287f/a051c43f-5844-4eaa-9bc2-f91faf3e287f.jpg?ixlib=js-3.8.0&amp;bri=0&amp;con=0&amp;sat=0&amp;high=0&amp;shad=0&amp;usm=0&amp;rect=0%2C0%2C2664%2C4268&amp;w=1500" alt="Portrait of candidate and her family in front of a Christmas tree and fireplace" caption="" align="left" alignwidth="40" tiltdirection="left" variant="framed">I was born in Detroit and moved to North Georgia in 1993. I went to school here, built my career here, and I'm raising my three kids here. This is not a campaign stop for me. This is home.I'm a finance professional: 15 years in FP&amp;A, controllership, and compliance, spanning companies from global consulting firms to regional businesses. I know how budgets work. I know how to find what someone doesn't want you to find. I know the difference between a sound public investment and a sweetheart deal dressed up as one.<h4>I'm also the first-generation daughter of immigrants who taught me that your success means very little if you're not willing to bring others along with you.</h4>That's not a tagline. It's how I was raised, and it's how I try to show up—as a parent, as a neighbor, and now as a candidate.Outside of work and this campaign, I'm walking our local trails, hiking Sawnee Mountain, embarrassing my kids at Fowler Park, and, for reasons I cannot fully explain, learning how to rollerblade. I've stayed closely connected to the Indian-American community while putting down deep roots across North Georgia. I believe in this place. That belief is exactly why I'm running.

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Shuchita for Georgia P.O. Box 492 Cumming, GA 30028

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<h2>Why I'm Running</h2><img src="https://run.imgix.net/c5749bb2-5f6c-48cb-a353-98cc83745c48/f02350fc-cf62-4adf-a85c-0dfa12632854/f02350fc-cf62-4adf-a85c-0dfa12632854.jpg?ixlib=js-3.8.0&amp;bri=0&amp;con=0&amp;sat=0&amp;high=0&amp;shad=0&amp;usm=0&amp;rect=0%2C0%2C3528%2C4428&amp;w=1500" alt="Photo of candidate and her family dressed in traditional festive Indian clothing" caption="" align="left" alignwidth="40" tiltdirection="left" variant="framed"><h4>I didn't decide to run because I always wanted to be in politics. </h4><h4>I decided to run because I got tired of watching this county make the same choices and call them inevitable.</h4>A commissioner censured for ethics violations—by his own colleagues—who has held his seat for four terms anyway. Developer donations flowing to the same people voting on developer contracts. A county growing faster than its roads, schools, and green space can absorb, with no serious plan to catch up. Workers keeping this county running who can't afford to live here. A commission that doesn't reflect the community it governs.None of that is inevitable. It's a choice. And the people making it are counting on residents to either not notice or not care.I notice. And I care.I'm also running because representation isn't just a value—it's a practical necessity. A South Asian woman has never sat on this commission. The families who look like mine, who have lived here for decades and built this community alongside everyone else, deserve a seat at the table. I intend to take it—not to make a point, but because that seat comes with real power to make real decisions that affect real people.I'm running because my kids are growing up here, and the version of Forsyth County I leave them should look different than the one we have right now.That's it. That's why.

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Forsyth County has a sitting commissioner who was censured by his own colleagues for ethics violations. He has accepted significant donations from developers whose zoning and contract requests he then voted on. He has held this seat for four terms.None of that happened in secret. It happened in public, with public dollars, and it has continued because nobody has demanded it stop.I will demand it stop.What I will do:<ul><li>Publish my public calendar so residents know who I'm meeting with and when.</li><li>Recuse myself from any vote connected to a campaign donor. No exceptions.</li><li>Advocate for an independent county ethics commission with real enforcement authority—not a body that issues a censure and moves on.</li><li>Push for publicly accessible, plain-language budget reporting so residents don't need a finance degree to follow their own tax dollars.</li><li>Ask for competitive bidding on county contracts and push back on no-bid awards.</li></ul>I have spent 15 years in financial leadership. I know how budgets work. I know how to find what someone doesn't want you to find. That is exactly the skill set this commission needs right now.Taxpayer dollars belong to residents. Not donors. Not developers. Residents.

Forsyth County is growing rapidly. That growth requires careful planning, disciplined budgeting, and transparent reporting so residents can clearly see where their tax dollars are going. I will prioritize strong financial oversight, responsible long-term planning, and decision-making grounded in data, not politics.Taxpayer dollars should be managed carefully, publicly, and with integrity.

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Ethics, Accountability, &amp; Fiscal Transparency

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Forsyth County's population has changed dramatically over the past two decades. Its government has not. The commission does not reflect the people it serves. That is not a minor administrative oversight—it is a structural problem with real consequences for which residents get heard, which concerns get taken seriously, and whose quality of life gets protected.I am a South Asian woman who has lived in this community for 30 years. I am raising three kids here. I am not running in spite of who I am. I am running because of it—because the families who look like mine, who have built this community alongside everyone else, deserve a seat at the table.But this isn't just about me.What I will do:<ul><li>Advocate for county hiring and contracting practices that reflect the full diversity of Forsyth County.</li><li>Ensure county services and communications are accessible to non-English speaking residents. We have one of the largest South Asian and Latino communities in the state. Our government should be able to talk to them.</li><li>Push for consistent, equitable application of county services and code enforcement across all neighborhoods—not just the ones with the loudest voices or the most connected residents.</li><li>Show up. Attend community events. Hold regular constituent meetings in District 3. Be visible and accessible to every resident, not just the ones who already know how to navigate local government.</li></ul>Every resident deserves a government that sees them. Right now, not everyone gets that. That is what I'm running to change.

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Equity, Representation, &amp; Equal Access

Forsyth County has natural assets—Sawnee Mountain, the Etowah River corridor, our trails, our tree canopy—that once gone, do not come back. We are approving their replacement with subdivisions and strip malls at a rate that should alarm every resident who has watched this county change over the past decade.Environmental protection is not a luxury issue. It is a quality of life issue, a public health issue, and a long-term fiscal issue. Degraded watersheds, lost tree canopy, and overwhelmed stormwater systems cost money. The bill just comes later, after the developer is long gone.What I will do:<ul><li>Oppose development approvals that lack credible environmental impact assessments. "We'll manage the runoff" is not an environmental plan.</li><li>Advocate for meaningful tree canopy protection ordinances—with replacement requirements and penalties that actually deter clear-cutting for subdivisions.</li><li>Support the preservation and expansion of public green space, trails, and park access in District 3, particularly in areas facing the most development pressure.</li><li>Push for stormwater infrastructure investments that keep pace with development density, rather than approving density and deferring the infrastructure costs to future budgets.</li><li>Oppose any rezoning of protected green space or environmentally sensitive land for commercial or residential development.</li></ul>This county is beautiful. We are choosing, one approval at a time, to pave over it. I intend to be the vote that says no.

Environment &amp; Green Space Protections

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The people who teach our kids, staff our county offices, maintain our roads, and keep our public spaces running cannot afford to live in the county they serve. That is not an accident. It is the result of a commission that has consistently prioritized keeping costs low for the county budget over keeping wages livable for county workers.Those are not the same thing. And the difference matters enormously to the people on the wrong side of it.What I will do:<ul><li>Fight for a living wage floor for all county employees and contracted workers—not minimum wage, a living wage. There is a difference, and anyone working full time for Forsyth County should be able to afford to live here.</li><li>Require living wage compliance as a condition of county contracts. If you want to do business with Forsyth County, you pay your workers fairly.</li><li>Advocate for transparent pay equity reporting for county employees—across race, gender, and job classification—and push to close gaps where they exist.</li><li>Oppose any attempt to cut county workforce or outsource public services as a budget shortcut.</li></ul>Good government means being a good employer. We are not there yet.

Workers' Rights &amp; Living Wages

Forsyth County is one of the fastest-growing counties in Georgia. That is a fact. What is also a fact: we are approving development faster than our roads, schools, green space, and water infrastructure can absorb it. We call that growth. It isn't. It's extraction—developers profit, and residents pay the tab in traffic, overcrowded classrooms, and disappearing tree canopy.Growth is not the problem. Unaccountable, donor-driven growth with no infrastructure plan is the problem. And we have been choosing it, repeatedly, for years.What I will do:<ul><li>Require infrastructure capacity assessments—roads, schools, utilities—before new development approvals are granted. If the infrastructure isn't there, the approval waits.</li><li>Fight for tree canopy protections and green space preservation requirements with actual enforcement teeth, not guidelines that get waived at the next meeting.</li><li>Push for affordable housing requirements in new residential developments. The teachers, nurses, and service workers keeping this county running deserve to live here too.</li><li>Demand transparency on every zoning vote: who requested it, who donated to whom, and what the infrastructure impact is. On the record. Every time.</li><li>Invest in and protect existing public spaces—parks, libraries, trails—as essential infrastructure, not line items to cut when the budget gets tight.</li></ul>We didn't have to end up here. We made choices. We can make different ones.

Smart Growth &amp; Community Infrastructure

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Shuchita patel
for forsyth county commissioner district 3

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