Stephanie Gricius

In order for me to get to know my Elected Officials better, I sent them a questionnaire. This questionnaire contained questions about them personally, as well as some questions about their term in office. My goal was to get to know them better, and then to share that information with the residents of Eagle Mountain so they could also get to know them as the fathers/mothers/grandparents they are and not just what they see when they are wearing their elected official hat. Q: Of the US Founding Fathers, who do you think you see yourself agreeing with the most, and briefly why?

Hmm…they all have things I agree and disagree with but I’m going to go with George Mason. He refused to compromise on his fundamental beliefs, even though for him, that meant not signing the Constitution. I love and support the Constitution but the lesson is still there. Compromise is good but not when it means compromising your most basic beliefs.

Q: Please describe your family.

Well…I’m married to the most handsome guy in the world who also happens to be my best friend! We have three kiddos. Our oldest is a super sweet young man who enjoys building things and taking random objects apart to find out how they work. He also loves to read and talk philosophy. My older daughter is absolutely fearless. She loves doing all things that give her mommy a heart attack, art and makeup. My younger daughter has a passion for music, dinosaurs and Disney villains. My oldest and my youngest are only 26 months apart so they are all three very close in age but they’re also the best of friends and we can’t imagine life without them.

Q: What do you do in your free time? What are your hobbies besides being an elected official and politics?

Water sports and downhill skiing!

Q: What was the hardest thing you have had to do as an elected official? And why was it so hard for you to do?

The hardest times are the ones where the council is bound by a formerly signed agreement that no longer fits with where the city is at. There have been many times I would like to change something but cannot because there’s already a signed contract. I still push for as much as we can get for the residents but sometimes that’s not enough.

Q: What has been the most enjoyable part of being an elected official?

I love meeting everyone and helping solve the problems they are having in their areas. It’s so fulfilling to be able to accomplish something positive and improve the quality of life for those around me.

Q: If you could magically change on thing in the City, what would that be, and why?

ROADS!! They would all be widened and self maintaining 😉

Q: What are the biggest challenges you see the City facing in the next several years?

Transportation. It’s something we’ve been talking about a lot and making progress on but with our current level of growth it can be hard to keep up.

Q: Why Eagle Mountain? Of all of the places you could of picked to put down roots, why did you pick Eagle Mountain?

Why wouldn’t you pick Eagle Mountain? Sure we have our challenges out here but Eagle Mountain is amazing! We have a unique mixture of city and country plus incredible people who genuinely care about their neighbors.

I had the opportunity to go with Stephanie to several events over the weekend, including the March for Life event in Salt Lake City. During the course of talking to her, there were a couple of other interesting things that came up that I think would be interesting to share. Stephanie has a very real fear of Bull Sharks, and live fish. The fear comes from an incident when she was a little girl. She was with her family on a pier, and she was feeding the carp. The word spread, and the entire carp community migrated to the pier to join in the feeding frenzy. Things were going great, until she fell into the water. A quick thinking uncle grabbed her life jacket and hauled her out of the water. But it was not quick enough to stop the hundreds of hungry carp from leaving suction marks all over her legs. To this day, she has a fear of live fish, especially carps. I wonder if they will be adding carp to the pond in the Cory Wride Memorial Park. I want to thank Stephanie (aka Bull Shark Gricius) for giving us a little peek into what other hats she wears. Look forward to posting more from other Elected Officials.