Just a year into her first term as City Councilperson for Chipley, Florida, Tracy Andrews has been successful at developing teamwork on the City Council, asking the tough questions and not settling for less than satisfactory results.
During her short tenure, Andrews has been faced with some of the tougher issues, including the opportunity to decide the fate of the Mongoven Bank Building, a longtime eyesore and physical danger to downtown Chipley pedestrians, the volatile discussion about limited sales of alcohol in the City limits, the hot topic of signage in downtown Chipley, and now the hard decisions in respect to the cleanup after the devastating effects of Hurricane Michael.
On Tuesday evening, October 16, 2018, Andrews faced her toughest challenge to date- being elected as Mayor of the City of Chipley by the City Council.
Exacerbating the decision is the fact that Andrews has spent most of the last week at the Washington County Emergency Operations Center in Wausau, Florida, first monitoring Hurricane Michael in her role of Chipley Office Manager for Gulf Power Company, and later in the search and recovery and cleanup phases of this disaster.
Visibly moved, and taking a moment to regain her composure after the vote at Tuesday’s meeting, Andrews said ‘I am humbled, and I appreciate the opportunity to serve my community in this manner’.
Recently singled out by Gulf Power Company as Chipley, Florida’s first African-American city councilwoman and Gulf Power’s first female African-American local manager, Tracy is at once dynamic and reserved, and has a long history of involvement in the community, the city, county and region.
In a recent interview with Real Florida Magazine, Andrews pointed out, ‘God has wonderfully made all of us, and given us individual qualities to accomplish all things which can only be done when you are true to yourself’.
Thank you, Tracy Andrews, for what you bring to the community and for your service to Chipley, Washington County and Northwest Florida.
