Amy Baldridge announces reelection bid for Village of Glendale, centers campaign on aging infrastructure and tight budget

Amy Baldridge announced her bid for reelection to the Village Council and used her remarks to outline a platform focused on infrastructure repairs, public safety equipment and what she called a chronically undersized operating budget.

Baldridge, who identified herself as a candidate for reelection, said the village is in a "midlife reset" of aging systems and needs multi‑year investment to update water mains, roads and other facilities rather than moving into a maintenance phase. "We're in an era of updating old infrastructure and improving systems that have reached the end of their useful lives," she said.

She cited several recent local projects as evidence of progress, saying village administration moved to a modern software and accounting system, remote‑read water meters were installed to improve accuracy and free maintenance time, a retention pond was dug on Oak to reduce flooding after heavy rainfall, and a playground on Summit Avenue was upgraded. "We replaced the oldest water mains in the village, along with fire hydrants," she said, adding that crews then discovered road beds in worse condition than expected and repaving was delayed.

Baldridge framed public safety investments as another priority: she said the village has trained more firefighter EMTs and installed FLOT cameras "which help police track down stolen vehicles and drivers with arrest warrants," and she noted a new fire truck is due to arrive soon. On capital planning, she advocated for scheduled road resurfacing and a policy to replace one of the village's two fire trucks every 10 years.

Her chief concern is the village's operating budget. "My main concern for the future is that our operating budget is too small," Baldridge said, arguing that the village has had "no revenue increase in many years" while costs rise and projects become harder to fund. She acknowledged that some needs have been met through grants but warned that a pattern of deferring routine planning has left the village in a reactive posture.

Baldridge closed by urging residents to support long‑term planning: "Let's not ride the coattails of the past, but actively build into a healthy and stable community for generations to come," she said. She did not outline specific revenue measures or timelines for the proposals.