After serving on the Board of Trustees for the Village of Baxter Estates for the last 15 years, Douglas Baldwin has announced that he is withdrawing his nomination for re-election in the upcoming election.
“COVID-19 has far reaching impacts, including cancellation of my return to the USA from a New Year’s celebration with family in Taiwan.” Baldwin wrote in a letter addressed to the Port Washington News. “This safest of democratic countries, with outstanding public health, has graciously extended my visa until the global pandemic subsides. I hope for a safe return to my home community of Baxter Estates in the very near future.”
For the last several months Baldwin has been attending board meetings virtually via Skype and Zoom but states that he is unsure when he will return to the village due to concerns regarding the pandemic.
“Without being physically present, it’s not possible for me,” Baldwin said. “For instance we are having a lot of roadwork done. [We had] an engineer assess all of our roads and step-by-step we’ve taken the most damaged roads and repaired them. Most recently we’ve repaired all of Hillside Road and all of Shoreview Road, after having done all of Hilltop and I’m not there to see any of it. That’s the kind of thing where it might be better to have someone local.”
Prior to publication, Baldwin had not notified the village of his intention to withdraw from the election.
“I want to make sure that withdrawing my candidacy is known by everyone at the same time, so that anyone who may be interested in the position [can] have just as much opportunity as anyone else,” Baldwin said.
Although Baldwin’s name will still remain on the ballot for the upcoming election he stated that he will miss the swearing-in ceremony and will ultimately not be able to serve. In his letter to residents, Baldwin asked the community to re-elect his running mate, Alice Pecklis and “to seek out and support a worthy write-in candidate to fill the open seat.”
“I encourage all civic-minded residents to consider organizing a write-in campaign for this open seat on the Village of Baxter Estates Board of Trustees,” Baldwin wrote.
The Village of Baxter Estates election will take place on September 15.
