Turlock Mayor Amy Bublak officially announced this week her intention to seek a third term, citing a record of fiscal discipline, strengthened public safety, and investment in the community.

“Turlock was in a tough spot when I took office,” said Bublak, who was elected to the city council in 2008 and became the city’s first female mayor 10 years later. “We made the hard calls, stabilized our finances and got to work. Today, our police and fire departments are fully staffed; our roads are finally getting the attention they deserve; and Columbia Pool is open again. That didn't happen by accident; it happened because this community demanded better and we delivered.”

Bublak was first elected as mayor in 2018 when she beat incumbent mayor Gary Soiseth and former mayor Brad Bates in a hotly contested three-way race. Four years later, she defeated former councilmember Gil Esquer with 52.9 percent of the vote.

Jim Reape, a nurse practitioner/physician assistant who serves on the city’s planning commission, has already announced his bid to unseat Bublak, as has private investigator Kelley Coelho, who named Bublak as a litigant in her lawsuit against the city.

A 1989 graduate of Stanislaus State where she competed in track and field, Bublak worked as a member of the Richmond and Modesto police departments for two decades.

In 2001, when Bublak was inducted into Stanislaus State’s Athletic Hall of Fame, she met CSUS’ then athletic director Milt Richards, Ed.D., who now serves as president of the Yosemite Community College District Board of Trustees. They married in 2005.

“We've built something real here,” Bublak said of the past eight years. “I’m not done. I’m running to make sure we protect what we’ve built and keep Turlock moving forward.”