Grady W. Smithey Jr.
Biographical Information
Grady Smithey is a native of Hill County. His grandparents were farmers and small business owners in the Mertens, Texas area. After World War II, his parents moved to Dallas County where they set an example of public service. His father was a Dallas City Fireman and his mother a Duncanville Public School Teacher. At Duncanville High School, Grady was an All District and Honorable Mention All Dallas County football player. After a knee injury ended his college football career, he earned his way through college by driving trucks and working on Dallas freight docks.
The longest tenured Councilman in Duncanville history Grady W. Smithey Jr. is serving in his 22nd year on the Council. Mr. Smithey, who has served seven terms as Mayor Pro Tem of Duncanville, was a member of the Regional Transportation Committee (RTC) of the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) for 13 years and is secretary of the Dallas Regional Mobility Coalition (DRMC). Also, he has served on the Trans Texas Corridor Advisory Committee and on National League of Cities Transportation Committee. In his 22 years of elective office, he has extensive experience in transportation and other issues facing local governments and has become known in transportation circles as the "Road Warrior." Appointed by Governor Rick Perry, Grady served on the Study Committee on Private Participation in Toll Projects pursuant to SB 792 passed by the Texas Legislature. Grady currently serves as Dallas County’s representative for Segment 2 of the My 35 Committee to improve Interstate 35.
One of the original founding members of the Dallas Regional Mobility Coalition, Grady has been secretary of DRMC since the group's inception in 1990. With the adoption of "Transportation 2000" in 1985, the lack of representation for southwest Dallas County cities on the Regional Transportation Council of NCTCOG came to his attention. To ensure representation on the RTC, in 1989 Grady devised and presented to Dallas County Judge Lee Jackson a plan whereby smaller cities would be given a voice. In the fall of 1989, Grady and Henry Wilson became RTC's first two "Cluster City" representatives. Grady was the choice of the city councils of Duncanville, Cedar Hill, DeSoto, Glenn Heights and Lancaster and represented them for 13 years.
In 2005, Grady was named by TxDOT Commission Chair Ric Williamson to serve on the Trans Texas Corridor Advisory Committee. His fellow committee members selected him to chair the Locations Subcommittee. He earned the respect of corridor advocates and TxDOT staff in the Dallas, Ellis and Hill county public hearings with his testimony on the necessity of the 1-35 segment of the Trans Texas Corridor. In January 2007, at the only meeting of the TxDOT Commission ever held in Duncanville, Grady was presented the "Road Hand Award", the department's highest volunteer recognition.
Grady is retired from 33 years service with the Food and Nutrition Service of the U.S. Agriculture Department. He received a number of performance awards for his work in disaster relief and the expansion of federal food assistance programs. He holds a Bachelors Degree in Political Science and a Masters in Public Administration from North Texas State University. Grady taught State and Local Government at Dallas Baptist University as an adjunct professor for several semesters.
In 1973, Grady was selected by the American Political Science Association as a Fellow in Congressional Operations in Washington, D.C. While working for U.S. Senator Pete Domenici (R-NM), Grady authored several pieces of legislation, including two sections of the Disaster Relief Act of 1974. U.S. Congressman W.R. 'Bob' Poage (D-TX) selected Grady to serve as Legislative Assistant on the U.S. House Committee of Agriculture, where he drafted HR 14992. He served on the staff of two conference committees on legislation that he had authored.
On the state level, Grady served as president of the nine counties that comprise the Texas Municipal League's Region 13 and was appointed to serve on TML Finance and Administration and Personnel Committees. Nationally, Grady was a member of the Southwestern Regional Selection Panel for the Harry S Truman Scholarship Foundation and the Selection Panel for American Political Science Association Fellows in Congressional Operation. Grady served for several years on Region 13 Board of Directors of the American Public Administration Association and on the University of North Texas Public Administration Advisory Committee.
Seizing an opportunity provided by the state Legislature, Grady lead efforts for passage of the additional one-cent sales tax with half a cent dedicated to tax relief and half a cent dedicated for economic and community development. That half cent tax relief resulted in a thirteen cent city property tax rate reduction. As a result Duncanville citizens’ property tax was reduced by almost twenty percent.
The Duncanville City Council appointed Grady to the Economic and Community Development Corporation and he was elected by the members of the board to be its first president. In 1998, Grady was selected by the Duncanville Chamber of Commerce as "Man of the Year".
Additionally, Grady served on Duncanville’s Parks and Recreation Board for six years, three as Chair. Grady coached Optimist League Youth Football and Girls Softball for eight years. Grady and his wife Judy were co-founders of the Duncanville Tennis Association.
Grady has been a member of the First Baptist Church of Duncanville for 59 years. He and his wife Judy have been married for 46 years and have one son, Grady Smithey III, a certified software engineer at Research In Motion (RIM) Corp. in Las Colinas and one daughter, Dr. Shannon Smithey, a political science professor at Westminster College in New Wilmington, PA. Grady and Judy are proud grandparents of three granddaughters, Kate, Claire and Lucy.
Grady W. Smithey. Jr.
1806 Cedar Hill Road
Duncanville, Texas 75137
972.298.2775 / home
972.345.2909/ cell
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May 19, 2011