Heather Gracy Looking to 'Come in Fresh'

A lot of eyes are on Heather Gracy this election season.

“But the ones that matter most are my kids’,” she said. “The type of depiction I can set for my kids, for my girls, that’s the most paramount thing in my life.”

Gracy, wife of Andrew Gracy of  and stay-at-home mother of three (Jillian, 14, Jolie, 11, and Jessica, almost 5), is challenging in her first run for city commissioner because she wants to help make Dunedin a better place.

Gracy wants to improve the city by increasing awareness of the arts, parks and recreation opportunities available to a younger demographic.

"Dunedin very much defines me now," she said. "I don’t have an agenda other than what is best for Dunedin according to the charter."

Gracy, orginally from Detroit, does not see her political inexperience as a handicap.

"I think what that affords me is the opportunity to come in fresh," she explained. 

She points to her experience as the chairwoman on the school advisory committee and Saints & Sinners Ball, an annual fundraiser for Our Lady of Lourdes School.

Gracy said she pushed the church to approve a racy Babylon theme during her second year as coordinator.

"I knew how much that school needed the money," she said. "We were about to close at that time."

"I was convinced we were gonna make (the Babylon theme) work, and break some records," she said. "My aha moment came when the Black Honkeys were playing and the live tigers were moving around in their cages. ... Standing out and looking back in, that was one of the greatest moments. It’s a fundraiser, but I do know how to fundraise."

Gracy also pointed to two other life experiences that prepared her for a seat on the city commission. The first, her parents' divorce.

"I think (my parents') divorce has enabled me to see both sides of issues. I identified with my dad and I identified with my mom, and I love them both, but I had to learn how to do it separately," she said. "There’s gonna be people who are offended by a vote or don’t like the vote, and there are people that are gonna applaud it and be very happy with it. And so it's finding that middle ground —"

The second, was her short-lived career as a legal analyst for Franklin Templeton Investments in Fort Lauderdale, where she was "making it happen as both a mom and a breadwinner" while husband Andrew focused on law school.

Gracy said she was analyzing and editing materials like the semi-annual reports — right down to the little footnotes at the bottom "so they could put their stamp of approval on it," she said.

What does this mean for Dunedin?

"It translates into a lot about what city government is all about."