5-year resident of Idaho Falls hoping to become the city’s next mayor
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EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is part of a series of profiles of the 2025 Idaho Falls mayoral candidates.
IDAHO FALLS — Jeff Alldridge is one of three candidates hoping to be the next mayor of Idaho Falls.
Three-term Mayor Rebecca Casper has announced she will not be seeking re-election. Among the other candidates running in her stead are current city councilwoman Lisa Burtenshaw and Christian Ashcraft.
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Alldridge, 42, who grew up in Washington State, moved to Idaho Falls in 2020. Although he’s never held public office before, he decided to throw his hat in the ring.
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He’s regularly attended city council meetings over the years and he tells EastIdahoNews.com his decision to run stemmed from a recurring pattern he’s seen among city leadership.
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“It’s disheartening for a city of our size how little engagement there is (with locals),” Alldridge says. “Mayor Casper is hard to get in touch with. She’s very … curt and rude, if they even get a chance to talk with her, and there’s a big disconnect.”
Alldridge feels this lack of engagement has become part of the culture and he wants it to change.
Alldridge is also unsatisfied with the city’s plan for future growth laid out in 2021.
“This is one of the last great places to raise a family and I don’t want it to just be another dense, urban-sprawled area that is indistinguishable from Boise and other areas. There’s something special about Idaho Falls. I love the character, I love the community,” Alldridge says. “So much of what the city does is they have their agenda and they just do it. It’s only when (there is an overwhelming response to a specific issue) that they even consider what the citizens actually want.”
He cites the recent proposal to implement paid parking in downtown Idaho Falls through an app-based parking meter. In a news release on August 14, the Idaho Falls Downtown Development Corporation announced it would not move forward with the idea after hearing input from frustrated business owners.
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Alldridge criticizes the city council’s initial reaction to people’s frustration.
“They laughed and they said, ‘There’s a few people who are not so happy, but they’ll come around.’ (They acted) as if they knew better and that it doesn’t matter what (citizens) have to say,” Alldridge recalls. “They weren’t even trying to sell it as new revenue that would benefit the community. From all appearances, it (was being presented as) a naked opportunity for new revenue from the citizens.”
If elected, Alldridge is hoping to help change the culture and “restore faith and trust with citizens again.” His main objective is to have strategic goals for growth with an emphasis on pathways to home ownership.
“Most of the development that’s been happening has been high-density rentals,” Alldridge explains. “We need to try and find opportunities and pathways for people to buy homes that build equity and put down roots.”
Idaho Falls stood out to Alldridge as a unique place to raise a family because of its “small town feel and charm.” He discovered after the fact that his great-grandfather, Melvin George Hixson, was a pastor at the now defunct Glad Tidings Assembly of God Church from 1936 to 1938.
Although he’s never held elected office, Alldridge feels his employment with F5 Inc., a publicly traded technology company that specializes in application delivery networking and security services to help organizations build, secure, and operate applications across various environments, qualifies him to lead the city.
He’s asking for your vote on Nov. 4.
“Eleven departments report to the mayor,” Alldridge says. “It’s incredibly relevant to my experience in business leading teams, making those management decisions. All the investment the company has put in to me … completely aligns and it’s what we need for a city leader. It’s great to have somebody who understands that and can use best practices from the free market and use it properly.”
Visit his website to learn more.