Last Monday’s board meeting had a few issues on the agenda.
We approved a replacement for Trustee Gira on the Civic Center board. It has taken almost 10 months to finally get Trustees out of voting positions on our citizen commissions. As you recall, I was fought on this 10 months ago. It was a long process, but the board members eventually came around to a unanimous vote.
I made another appointment to the Chairman of the planning commission. This time it was tabled. The rationale is that Trustee Dodge was absent. In my opinion, this isn’t a good reason to table the vote, but if the other board members wanted to wait, I was willing to wait another meeting.
We also had a long discussion on the potential concert at Centennial Park West. The board was divided 3 to 3 on whether or not to continue trying to find an act to book. Trustees Gira and Ruzich agreed with me that since the legwork is done, we should continue to try to find an act to book. Trustees Fenton, Calandriello and Carroll want to stop trying to make the concert happen. Contrary to some of what has been said, this concert is not replacing any of the “free” concerts that we do. This concert would be an addition, tickets would be sold and the event is being planned to break even at a minimum. We have about another 4 to 6 weeks to try to get an act booked, so we should make an effort to bring a fun event to Centennial Park West.
The issue of interior lighting changes came back to the board. The initial recommendation was to replace the outdated T-12 bulbs with T-8 bulbs rather than LEDs. At my request, this was put on hold to further examine LEDs. What I found out was that while LEDs cost more now, in the long run they are less expensive because of the energy savings and less need for maintenance. Therefore, the recommendation was changed to LEDs and the board unanimously agreed. I will continue to ask these questions so that we make the best long-term decisions.
The last thing that was discussed was the fact that the Village Manager had access to buildings changed. This decision resulted in me not being able to get into several buildings and offices. This was not acceptable. The board agreed. Ultimately, I am legally responsible for the Village. For example, I am responsible for the water system. While I may never use it, I should have access to everything because nobody knows what could happen. In the unlikely event of a village wide emergency, emergency powers and decision rests with the Village President. Hopefully, I will never need access to these locations but we should be prepared for those scenarios.
By now, you are all aware of the announcement of the closing of Carson’s. This is in addition to the Sears, Toys R Us and Baby’s R Us. While these will be sizable revenue reductions to the Village in the short term, I believe that in the long term it presents an opportunity.
First, this is why I pushed so hard for the redevelopment at the Sears location. This was done proactively and put is in a good position when Sears closed. This was not possible with Carson’s since it’s a corporate bankruptcy. The store itself was their #5 performing store in their portfolio. It will be an attractive property to someone to redevelop. I happened to meet with Simon (the mall owners) on Thursday and I was reminded that we first met after my election and before I was sworn in. It was this meeting a year ago that jump started Simon’s discussions with Seritage that resulted in the $40 million re-development. Being proactive, puts us a year ahead of the alternative. It also strongly signals to the market that Orland Park is a place to invest.
Second, the loss in revenue will force the Village to become more efficient and address it’s cost structure. While I have made some gains in this area in the last year, there is a lot more that can be done.
It will take 3 to 4 years to redevelop these locations and the “Triangle”, but Orland Park will be in a better place with a more diversified economy when all of the re-development is complete. I look forward to seeing how Orland Park improves with these changes.
Lastly, I have heard from many of you about the three newspaper articles about three Trustees questioning my performance. Apparently, they are going to discuss this on the board floor at either the May 7th or June 4th meeting. It should not be at the May 21stmeeting because I will be at the Global Retail Real Estate Convention at this time. I am not going to comment on their actions at this time. Feel free to attend those meetings and hear for yourself.
We finally had a spring-like weekend. I hope everyone enjoyed it!
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