ONE TINLEY PARK
Michael Glotz
Running for Mayor of Tinley Park, IL
Family Man
As newlyweds, Michael and his wife Kristie moved to Tinley Park in 1994. Here they have raised their two children, Katie (25) and Kyle (24), taking advantage of the great schools and all that Tinley Park has to offer. Michael is very proud of his family and his 28-year commitment to Tinley Park. The entire family feels fortunate to have found such a close-knit community to start a family. Tinley Park has a wide range of housing options, progressive schools, and amazing youth sports programs. Michael also gave back directly to local families by coaching both his daughter’s softball team and his son’s travel baseball team.
Experienced
Michael began his public career in 2017 when he was elected to the Village Board as a Trustee. Seeing a community that had once led the way in the south suburbs for economic development, public safety and fiscal responsibility under the strong leadership of former Mayor Zabrocki start to erode, Michael could no longer watch from the outside. When Mayor Zabrocki retired, Tinley Park began to decline in ways that previously made Tinley Park the “best place to raise a family.” Then in 2021 Michael ran for and won the office of Mayor of Tinley Park to bring our community back on track and re-become the premier community it was meant to be. Over the past six years, Mike has reestablished the strong foundation that previous leadership worked so hard to create. It takes a great deal of time working through issues with staff and the other trustees to understand the intricacies of a working village. Transparency and integrity are keys to making the right decisions, but it also takes the experience, knowledge, and understanding of Village operations to keep it running successfully. Budget, public safety, public works, economic development, and planning are each complex facets of our local government, but it is the understanding of their interrelationships that has enabled Michael to make difficult decisions to move the Village in the right direction.
Proven Leader
As a Tinley Park Trustee, Michael was the liaison for the Community Development Department. There he worked closely with staff on business development and retention, and long-range planning for the community. Recent questions about the integrity of our code and its impacts on economic development have been key issues to sort through during Michael's time as a Trustee and that only expanded as Michael became Mayor. Michael has worked to ensure our codes do not hinder development and, in tandem with proactive recruitment, Tinley Park has begun to fill the vacancies in our commercial corridors. In addition, Michael recognizes the importance of having a strong downtown and has played an important role in negotiating the successful approval of “The Boulevard at Central Station.”
Later in his tenure as a Trustee Michael became the Village Board liaison for the Public Safety Committee, where has worked closely with the Public Works department to understand what is required to keep our local roads and infrastructure in good operating condition. Working with fellow Trustees Bill Brennan and Bill Brady Michael has ensured more police officers were hired to protect our families. Michael has also worked closely with the Fire Department and was very proud of the new state-of-the-art fire station constructed within the budget that now serves the community. Unlike other communities that operate under separate taxing districts, adding more layers of government and taxation, Tinley Park operates one of the more fiscally responsible fire departments in Illinois. Michael continues the strong legacy we have for compassionate, professional first responders.
Fiscally Responsible
Michael has worked very hard over the past years to learn all he can about the requirements necessary to lead a Village, and now that knowledge is being put to work. He has listened to the employees who know first-hand what improvements need to be made. As a Trustee, he worked through department budgets and researched economic development and the various programs we can use to compete in the marketplace, especially with those communities outside of Cook County. Michael believes our community is at a crucial point and we need to make intelligent decisions to attract the right developments for our community to ensure lasting economic benefits. The Mental Health Center presents the single greatest opportunity for the southern suburbs. Michael works closely with many in bringing his leadership and experience to help make the right decision for this property to legitimize our position as the premier community in the south suburbs.
As Mayor Michael has expanded on the strong foundation built by Mayor Zabrocki, with commercial developments like Brookside Marketplace and the Convention Center. Michael has been instrumental in the revitalization of the Harlem Avenue corridor. Projects such as the redevelopment of Tinley Park Plaza, and the former Kmart by Pete’s Fresh Market, will create a new vibrancy in this area that will prove to be contagious. Michael will continue the success we have had in our downtown by building on our support of local businesses and celebrating new developments such as The Boulevard at Central Station, sip. Wine Bar, Avocado Theory, and Banging Gavel Brewery. Through Michaels's leadership, we are now seeing a rebirth of 159th Street about which we can all be proud. A strong commercial base will lessen the tax burden on our citizens and improve government services with increased revenue.
Socially Conscious
Michaels's parents taught him that giving back to our community is the greatest reward in life. Together with Trustees Mueller, Trustee Brennan, and Kristin Thirioin conducted annual real estate tax seminars over the past seven years to assist residents in saving thousands of dollars annually. Michael helped started our first annual coat drive in 2019 for Together We Cope and filled two large vans with clothes for Christmas delivery. He also helped hold our first annual baseball clinic in 2020 and invited Frank Thomas and John Cangelosi to work with our kids. The young boys and girls were thrilled! In 2021 Michael spearheaded the hosting of our first annual blood drive for our neighbors. Blood donations are greatly needed, especially in our own community. Michael was a co-founder of the Tinley Park Senior Citizens Volunteer Committee which quickly assembled a group of volunteers who helped seniors at risk from the coronavirus by delivering their groceries, medications, and other needed items. We were lucky to have been able to help one senior who lost their car due to income issues and we were able to work with a local car dealer to donate a car to them.
