Ald. Charlie Melidosian will not seek reelection to his seat on Park Ridge’s city council next year.
Melidosian has served as 5th Ward alderman since 2017. He confirmed that he would not seek reelection in a message to Pioneer Press and in a Facebook post to his personal account.
Advertisement
In that statement, Melidosian said he was confident that a qualified candidate would take his seat and he felt he was leaving Park Ridge in a good state after six years on City Council.
“We have many vibrant restaurant offerings, extremely healthy financial reserves and a dedicated team of city employees focused on delivering great results for our residents,” he wrote.
Advertisement
In an email to Pioneer Press, Park Ridge Mayor Marty Maloney commended Melidosian’s work on City Council, noting he had a tough act to follow in replacing deceased Alderman Dan Knight.
“I truly appreciate everything that Charlie has given to the City Council, residents of his ward and City overall,” Maloney wrote. “I know Dan would have been proud to see the work that Charlie put into being an alderman.”
Maloney added that any candidate taking Melidosian’s seat will have “very large shoes to fill.”
One possible candidate, Joseph Steinfels, has already declared his intention to run for the seat and begun circulating petitions for the spring elections. The primary takes place Feb. 28 and the general election will be held April 4.
In an email sent last weekend, Steinfels recounted some of his memories of growing up in Park Ridge and said he’d decided to run for the seat after discussing with neighbors.
“My primary goal in taking on this new challenge is to ensure that the Park Ridge we all know and love remains a wonderful place for all of our children and tomorrow’s residents,” he wrote.
Steinfels said he intended to spend the next several weeks collecting signatures for his petition and listening to “thoughts or concerns” of Park Ridge residents as he prepared to launch his candidacy.
