The most recent board meeting handled routine business for the most part.  I will give you a brief update of the meeting but also give you an update on road projects as well as what the new board has already accomplished in just a month and a half.

We discussed the Electrical Municipal Aggregation Program and this year no energy suppliers could beat ComEd’s rate.  However, an alternative was presented where we could by Renewable Energy at the ComEd rate for a one-year period at which time we can take our annual look to see what suppliers’ offering is.

Clearly, we are not being serviced by renewable energy, but in fact these are credits as we all know that renewable energy cannot provide the base load required for electricity supply.  Additionally, my concern was that we are contributing to the subsidy for renewable energy by creating inflated demand through this program.  However, the committee was told that ComEd is required by law to supply 25% of it’s energy through renewables so we wouldn’t be adding to this.  There was no harm to approve this for one-year so we approved it.

In Board comments Trustee Dodge asked Deputy Chief Joe Mitchell about the “body of work” around the investigation which found no evidence.  Deputy Chief Mitchell indicated that there was no evidence of any wrong doing.  I’m not sure of the reason for the question. I’m ready to move on and I hope Trustee Dodge is too.

Trustee Dodge also stated that the investigation started because of looking into Village bid processes.  I disagree. It was clearly a political attack.  The stated allegations were all directed at me and my company not the processes.  The only outcome was a recommendation to review the Village processes.

Trustee Dodge also stated that our bid processes need to be reviewed.  I am glad after over 30 years as an elected official in the Village, that Trustee Dodge wants to review our bid processes.  On the 2012 bid in question in the investigation the village incorrectly presented the RFP as prevailing wage.  It was not the Trustees, the former Mayor, the staff or the attorneys who found this bid issue, but me who pointed out this problem.  The Village corrected the RFP to state that is was not prevailing wage.  My actions saved the village over $1 Million, 5 years before I was even Mayor.

The county, state and federal government continually pass new laws that often complicate these processes which requires us to continually make improvements to our bidding processes.  This is been ongoing since I have been in office.   I agree that we need to continually do this, but I also believe that the issues from 2012, seven years ago, have long since been resolved.

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ROAD UPDATE 
IDOT

• 159^th construction from Ravinia to I-355 is supposed to open by September 1^st.  Landscaping will be completed next year.
• 179^th and Southwest Highway intersection – IDOT states that it will be done this year.  Currently they are waiting for BP to do some work on the underground pipelines before continuing.  Our engineer doesn’t think that finishing this year is likely and that it won’t be complete until next year.
• Wolf Road repaving has started and will be complete in 2019
• LaGrange road, north of Orland Park to Route 83 will be repaved in 2019
• 159^th Street from 94^th Ave to West of Harlem will be repaved in 2019

Village

• 151^st Street widening repaving and roundabout – currently there is still some land acquisition that needs to take place.  When that is completed work will begin.  More than likely utility work will begin this year and the project will be completed next year.
• Village Hall parking lot – this should be complete before the Taste of Orland.
• John Humphrey Complex – some soil problems have been discovered that will likely push the completion of the project into 2020.
• Annual road resurfacing and repairs are slightly behind due to weather but all is expected to be completed including a 1” mill of Wheeler drive, 11 subdivisions resurfaced, and the 2019 portions of the Fairway and Fernway multi-year road construction programs.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS IN FIRST 6 WEEKS

• The new Trustees joined me in refusing to take the pensions.
• The future pension eligibility for elected officials has been eliminated.  Only a future board action can reverse this and they would need to do it publicly.
• Permanently eliminated the loophole created by the Village Board in the early 2000’s that allowed elected officials to buy back an indefinite amount of pension time (time where they didn’t participate in the pension plan).  This cannot be resurrected by a future board.
• Approved an ethics commission of 5 residents to develop recommendations to improve our current ethics ordinance.  (As an aside there have been no ethics complaints in at least the last 10 years.)
• Approved several projects including a hotel and a redesign of the AMC project
• Named Tom Dubelbeis interim Village Manager and Deputy Chief Joe Mitchell interim Assistant Village Manager.
• Oversaw hiring of two critical vacancies – Our new Technology Director started last week and our new Assistant Village Manager will start in mid-July allowing Deputy Chief Mitchell to return to his normal duties after a transition period.
• Approved additional required funding for the additional required John Humphrey Complex repairs due to soil issues.
• Accelerated our local road program to add 9.5 additional subdivisions for this year.
• Started our new concert program by adding an August 24^th concert featuring Loverboy and Jefferson Starship.  Tickets are on sale now! https://www.universe.com/events/loverboy-and-jefferson-starship-tickets-orland-park-F09L2X?ref=universe-discover&fbclid=IwAR0_YW7GXyvK5LGuZWH3HzFBuN5nzaxNb8d_E525y62dyPXE8LKP2ekLARo

This is a quick start to their first terms and is a nice addition to what was already accomplished in the last 2 years, including:

• Reduced waste, eliminated redundancies and employed resources more efficiently – Reduced the budget by approximately $4M since taking office and eliminated 18 full time positions in 2019.
• Payed down debt – reduced debt by over $47M
• Reduced property tax rates – rates down 13% since taking office
• Term limit referendum – on the ballot for November of 2020
• Worked with Simon (owners of the mall) to encourage expansion and/or new formats to revitalize Orland Square Mall –AMC (expected opening summer of 2020) in the Sears anchor location and Von Maur (opening planned for November 2019) in the Carson’s locations.  Additionally, Carson’s will be returning to the Carson’s home goods and we worked with the mall to upgrade lighting in the Macy’s parking lot.
• Encourage market-based solutions for the Triangle – Chose Structured Development to develop the entire site and are working to complete this MDA
• Broadcast all public meetings – now on audio and Facebook live

• Partner with neighboring communities to attract STEM industries to the region – started Chicago Southland Interstate Alliance with Mokena and Tinley Park to focus on I-80 corridor development.

Together with the Village Board, I am looking forward to leading Orland Park into the next decade and ensuring that the Village thrives for many decades to come!

Please join me at Southfork Restaurant on June 28th at 8:30AM for the coffee I am hosting.

Keith