Keith Pekau, in search of a 3rd mandate as mayor of Orland Park, makes the outcomes beneath his watch together with the development of the streets and parks of the village.
He is challenged to the elections of April 1 by Jim Dodge, a protracted -standing former trustee of the village who introduced collectively a listing of candidates for seats of the trustee and worker of the village.
Dodge stated that the voters are anxious concerning the points within the police division, who in accordance with him suffers from low morality. He stated that the general tax burden for residents should even be addressed.
Dodge stated that being higher directors of taxpayers’s cash is a aim and is crucial of spending at a live performance workplace on the Centennial Park West.
Pekau stated he and the village council have improved 32 neighborhood parks within the final 5 years and improved highway situations.
He stated that the village went from 40% of the roads assessed as in poor or very poor situations on the present degree of 17%.
“We are engaged on roads within the divisions constructed over 30 years in the past,” stated Pekau.
Pekau, 58, was elected mayor for the primary time in 2017, defeating the longtime mayor Dan McLaughlin, who on the time was in search of a seventh mandate and who Pekau confronted once more in 2021.
Pekau directs the ticket for politics, which not too long ago contains worker of Brian Gaspardo, in addition to the trustees in workplace Sean Kampas and Brian Riordan.
The seek for one of many three seats of the trustee on the ticket can also be Carol McGury.
Kampas, Riordan and Joni Radaszewski, who usually are not in search of re -election, have been elected in April 2021, operating with Pekau on The People Over Politics ticket.
Dodge, 62, turned worker of the village in 1989, then was appointed trustee in 1996.
Dodge was appointed republican for state treasurer in 2018. He didn’t run for the re -election as a trustee within the elections of April 2021. Pekau was the Republican candidate within the sixth congress district in 2022.
Both are army veterans, with Pekau serving within the Air Force and Dodge within the National Guard.
The Orland Park with Dodge’s head for all tickets additionally contains Mary Ryan Norwell, a former state lawyer of the Cook County Assistant and a municipal lawyer for the worker within the final 9 years.
In search of positions of the trustee are John Lawler, Dina M. Lawrence, Joanna M. Liotine Leafblad,
Running independently for a trustee seat is Mohammed Jaber, a member of the Board of Directors of Orland High School District 230. He is a particular training trainer and a former part-time added teacher on the Moraine Valley Community College.
Dodge has obtained sponsorships from the Chicago Tribune and the Union representing the cops of Orland Park.
PEKAU has propagated the police of contemporary gear is supplied with an inside shot interval because of the opening within the coming months.
However, chapter 159 of the Metropolitan Alliance of Police, in its approval of Dodge, stated that the administration of the village “endangered impartial, efficient {and professional} residents of utility of the regulation that Orland Park have earned and deserved”.
The Union acknowledged that the hiring by the village of the exterior command employees, slightly than selling throughout the ranks, is towards a convention of 20 years of promotion from the within. The promotions throughout the Department be certain that “that the officers have been properly educated and ready for management roles,” stated the union in his approval in January.
Pekau stated that, since he turned mayor, the village has added 5,000 jobs, seeing corporations such because the contemporary Pete market and the Steinhafels furnishings retailer.
He stated that the Brazilian Steakhouse Fogo de Chao has deliberate to open this autumn on La Grange Road within the former TGI FRIDAYS house.
Dodge stated that, within the countryside, he listened to the voters anxious about taxes. Pekau stated that the village, via its tax levy, has restricted management over the general tax bill owned by an proprietor.
“People perceive that the federal government prices cash, however greater than as soon as I’ve heard of the general tax burden,” stated Dodge.
It has been estimated {that a} village tax on electrical payments and pure gasoline that passed off final yr from $ 3.5 million to $ 3.9 million per yr and the village estimated that the common resident would have seen a rise of $ 12.55 per 30 days among the many prices of gasoline and electrical.
An improve within the gross sales of ORland Park’s residence programs additionally entered into power final yr. It doesn’t apply to meals or drugs, however has elevated the general charge of the village gross sales tax, in Cook County, 10.25%.
Until 2027, the village proposes to situation $ 60 million in bonds to finance initiatives equivalent to the development of roads, parks and water and sewage infrastructures, however the fee of captains and pursuits on that new debt must be lined by taxes on the property along with the tax on utility and tax on larger native gross sales.
Sales taxes symbolize the most important income for the village, representing over 40% of the annual revenues, in comparison with about 17% derived from property taxes and about 15% from revenue taxes.
Due to the very best gross sales tax charge, Dodge stated that some residents store outdoors Orland Park.
“People in some elements of the town if they’ve the chance to buy elsewhere, like Tinley, will achieve this,” he stated.
Although Orland Park has a flourishing retail and industrial tax base, Dodge has stated that there could also be a turning level.
“At what level Orland Park turns into non -competitive,” stated Dodge. “Buyers have a alternative.”
On individuals’s artexia on politics, Brian Gaspardo is a village worker and is CEO of O’Neill & Gaspardo, consultants and CPA.
Kampas has greater than 25 years of expertise in technological, industrial and strategic consultancy, in accordance with individuals on politics. A lawyer, Riordan is the shareholder and member of the Council of the Clausen Miller Law Firm.
McGury has not too long ago retired, after 36 years having labored as an government vp of Smithbucklin, a enterprise administration consultancy firm in Chicago.
On the ORland Park for all tickets, the worker candidate Norwell is a former prosecutor of the state of the Cook County Assistant and a municipal lawyer within the final 9 years.
The trustee candidate Lawler is a producer of homes whereas Lawrence has achieved a grasp’s diploma in enterprise economics on the University of Chicago and has a background as an evicellante engineer. Leafblad is president of the Orland Park Library Board and an assistant to the state of the Cook County Assistant, in accordance with Orland Park for everybody.
The electoral committee of the mayor of Pekau recorded the entrances within the final three months of 2024 of virtually $ 26,500 and bills of about $ 35,600 for providers equivalent to printing, promoting and recommendation, in accordance with state relationships.
At the top of final yr, the Pekau Committee recorded $ 138,000 accessible for searching for the marketing campaign.
In latest weeks, the Pekau Committee has recorded receipts of over $ 23,000, in accordance with stories on state electoral funds.
The individuals of the individuals on politics has, in latest weeks, has seen contributions of just below $ 127,000, together with $ 110,000 from Keith for the Mayor’s Committee, in accordance with the stories of the state electoral council.
In latest weeks, Jim Dodge of Dodge Dodge for the Mayor’s Committee has recorded contributions from over $ 90,000, together with organized work cash and cash from his racing companions on Orland Park for all tickets.
