The board meeting on May 7th was quite interesting.
First off, Nick Parisi was approved 7-0 as Chairman of the Planning Commission. I am certainly glad that this issue is behind us.
Next up was discussion on a concert for August 18th at Centennial Park West. On the Thursday prior to the meeting, two separate acts for shows on July 14th and August 18th backed out. From Friday afternoon to Monday morning I was able to find 4 separate acts to choose from for August 18th. I decided that RATT was not appropriate and Dickie Betts of the Allman Brothers Band was too expensive. That left Blue Oyster Cult/Mark Farner’s American Band (Grand Funk Railroad) or Cornerstones of Rock (Buckinghams, Cryan Shames, New Colony Six, Shadows of Night and Ides of March). Both were the same price for 2.5 hour shows. In both cases, Chicago Six was going to open. At $35 per ticket and allowing people to carry in food and drink, the break-even was 3,442 tickets.
Unfortunately for the people of Orland Park, it was voted down 4-3 with Trustees Carroll, Calandriello, Gira and Fenton voting against the concert. At the prior board meeting Trustee Gira had asked the other Trustees, “why wait?” Apparently, Carson’s announcing its closure threw her so a loop and used this as the reason to vote down the concert because of “budget considerations.” I have been talking about this possibility since last June, so it shouldn’t have been a surprise. We have a facility (Centennial Park West) that cost millions to build that is barely used -- we have an opportunity to bring a fun event that will likely be budget positive to the residents. Why would we not do this? “Too much risk”, “wait until next year”, etc. was what I heard even though all the trustees are “in favor of the concept.”
$65 million of risk on apartments wasn’t too much risk. Nobody questioned $200,000 for remediating mold in a parking lot. I wonder why we spent money on Centennial Park West in the first place? It was supposed to be for events like this, that we’ve never had. Staff and I worked hard to bring this table only to have it kicked down the road another year. I am letting all of the Trustees know that I will personally hold them to their statements to budget for these concerts next year.
Next up was video gaming. There were a lot of residents present to talk about it. Trustee Carroll motioned the ordinance and then none of the other Trustees seconded it. Discussion on the issue would have died for lack of second so I felt it was my duty to second it as the gaming issue deserved discussion. A lot of people who took time from their busy schedules would have been disappointed if the board had once again kicked the can down the road. After the discussion, there was a motion to table the item which passed 4 to 3. This meant that it won’t be voted on until a later date.
By now, you all know my position on this issue so I won’t repeat it. More importantly, this is a 50/50 issue for the residents of the village and is pitting neighbor against neighbor. This needs to end. The people deserve an up or down vote regardless of the outcome. I will be urging all of the Trustees to step up and cast a vote. Whichever way the vote goes, Orland Park will be just fine. Not voting and kicking the can down the road will continue the divisiveness around this issue and is not good for the Village. We need to move forward one way or the other.
Lastly, Trustee Gira motioned to have my pay and performance reviewed. None of the Trustees seconded this either. Nor did I. Later, during her closing arguments, Trustee Gira decided to question why I didn’t second it. The answer is simple.
I answer to the people of Orland Park and not to the Trustees. The review on my performance comes through elections. That is the foundation of our representative democracy.
However, since the Genie was let out of the bottle, I believe it brings into question the original decision to make the position of mayor full time without changing the form of government. After serving in this position for a year I believe I am uniquely qualified to judge both.
A mayor can certainly earn the salary the board voted on prior to my election, and there is plenty of work for a full-time mayor. In this case, given the makeup of the board versus one change agent -- me -- put in place by a substantial majority of the voters, being full-time has allowed me to work through a lot of obstacles this past year. As you are aware, a lot has been accomplished while overcoming those obstacles.
However, the problem is that the statutory manager council format and a full-time mayor are inconsistent with one another. Before making the mayor position full time, the current form of government in Orland Park should have been examined. Our current form of government certainly provides checks and balances for the mayor, but there really aren’t many checks and balances on the board or the Village Manager. In my opinion, this statutory form of government vests too much power in one individual, the village manager, who is not elected. The main idea behind this form is that it eliminates the politics by hiring a professional manager. I will let the people judge how this is working out.
By law, the mayor’s salary will remain in place for the remainder of this mayoral term and I am working very hard to earn it. In my opinion, if the form of government is not changed, then it should absolutely go back to part time to remain consistent with our form of government. However, if the form of government is changed, then the mayor’s position should adapt in whatever way to be consistent with the form of the government.
Regardless, of the outcome of this discussion and the resulting mayor’s role, one thing is for sure, elected officials should not be pension eligible – which takes a multi-million incentive off the table for elected officials.
In closing, there was a lot of “hand-wringing” over the loss of retail stores and lost revenue. While this is certainly the case, it is not the end of Orland Park. These are short term setbacks. Our Carson’s was #5 in their portfolio and our Toy’s R’ Us was their #1 store. Their overall businesses models did not adapt to changing times and closing stores is the unfortunate result.
Orland Park is thriving. That is why Orland Park has a $40M+ investment going into the mall with no incentives, why Structured Development and Edwards Realty Company are both submitting bids to develop ALL of the remaining pieces of the Triangle and why we’ve had many restaurants open in the last 2 months (with more to come). These transformations and other developments will lead Orland Park into the next decade from a position of strength. Contrary to others “doom and gloom” view, I think this an exciting time for Orland Park and I look forward to leading it into the next decade. I hope as time goes on, the other Trustees join Trustees Ruzich, Dodge and myself to lay the foundation for Orland’s success for the next 20 years!
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