| Last week’s board meeting had some interesting discussions that make it seem that some are back in campaign mode already. Seems a little early since the election is 9 months away. You may find this summary of the approval of our events for the remainder of the summer and approving the Back to Normal plan interesting. Last weekend we hosted several Independence Day events safely and successfully. I again want to thank Trustees Katsenes, Healy, Dodge and Miliani for voting with me to host our fireworks show and concert. The Liberty Run had over 350 participants throughout the day and was done safely with staggered start times. I want to thank staff for staying for the entire day to allow the event to be conducted differently but safely. On July 4th, our fireworks display and concert were a huge success. From my observations, more people attended this year than in years past, but many of them were in the parking lots and on the hills outside of the ball fields to practice social distancing. So, it was a little different, but at the end of the day, it was a great event! As for the meeting, first we held the Committee of the Whole meeting. It was there that we discussed our social media policy. Trustee Fenton had A LOT to say about the social media policy and kept asking questions about elected officials using social media. The attorney and staff kept saying that elected officials would be held to the same standard as staff. Trustee Fenton didn’t seem happy with this response and she wasn’t very clear about what she wanted to know. I found it interesting because she has declared many, many times that she is not on social media. Ultimately, however, the new policy passed unanimously with no changes. At the board meeting we honored Miroballi Shoes as the Orland Park business of the month. We were planning this in March when COVID hell broke loose. We are finally at a point where their business is operating again and once again serving their customers. The board unanimously approved the annexation of the Megan Ridge single family housing project. We did so with the stipulation that the HOA would be responsible for maintaining the pond and establishing a Special Service Area (SSA) in the event the HOA fails to maintain it. The board also unanimously discontinued the After-School Pals Program. District 135 is expanding their after-school program and this is a duplicative service. Additionally, the village will no longer have the liabilities associated with transporting these students. They now will be able to stay at their schools for after school services. This is good government to not duplicate services and to allow the students to receive those programs where they go to school. We then voted to pass a resolution approving our fall events. Trustee Calandriello questioned why we approved all our events together and didn’t do them separately. Village Manager Koczwara said this was to confirm the remainder of our summer events and that we had plans in place to account for alternative safety requirements if needed. Trustee Fenton and Calandriello both indicated that they didn’t want to do bigger events. However, neither offered an amendment to the resolution. Trustee Milani pointed out that this was a resolution to approve the summer events and that our July 4th celebration went well and safely. Trustee Dodge then offered an amendment to ask staff to bring information to the next board meeting about COVID statistics and details about when final decisions for each event needed to be made. The amendment passed 4 to 3, with Trustees Healy, Katsenes and Milani voting against it. I voted for it, because we track all of this information regularly and use it to ensure that we conduct the events safely. While redundant, there was no harm in adding it to the resolution. Trustee Calandriello went on to say that there is no good way to social distance at these events. He also went on to list several other reasons we shouldn’t have them. He said that it is hard on our staff (not sure why it is harder than any other year), that it costs too much (it costs money every year), and that we draw people from all over Illinois (so does our shopping and our restaurants). He then went on for several minutes to list all the events in other towns that have cancelled. Trustee Healy pointed out that we represent Orland Park and he resented that we had to suffer through the wasted time of listening to all of the other cancelled events while a “simple comment would have put more time back in our lives.” I also pointed out to Trustee Calandriello that he could have made an even longer list of those communities that cancelled their fireworks. We held our fireworks and concert and it was a tremendous success and it was done safely. The resolution then passed on a 5 to 2 vote. We then passed a resolution allowing for free tickets to the concerts for first responders, medical health care workers and military members as appreciation for their efforts through COVID-19. Their families would get resident pricing. Trustee Fenton declared that she was against the events (she previously said they were unsafe) but would never take anything away from our first responders, etc. Trustee Milani expressed his support for this and for thanking our front line medical, police and military. The motion passed 7 to 0. I find it illogical for someone to vote against hosting the events using the reasons that it is too dangerous and then turn around and vote to give free tickets to our first responders, military and front-line medical workers. My question to them would be, is it too dangerous, or not? It seems the 5 members of the board who voted for both of these resolutions understand that we have demonstrated we can host events safely and also want to support our first responders, military and front-line medical workers. I can tell you that if I did not think an event could be held safely, I wouldn’t vote to host it, nor would I give free tickets to anyone for it. As I’ve said many times before, we will continue to monitor developments closely and adjust or cancel events as warranted. We then increased the number of gaming licenses and passed it unanimously. I guess some board members have either changed their mind, forgot that they were against all things gaming up to this point, or maybe it is simply no longer the political issue of the day. Lastly, we discussed and voted on a resolution adopting the Village of Orland Park’s Back to Normal Plan because a court voided the governor’s executive orders since April 8th (essentially allowing everyone to open). From a legal standpoint, we don’t think we can enforce this, but we felt it was important to give guidance. Trustee Fenton went on to speak at length about masks and that she read that is was unconstitutional to mandate wearing masks and that we were saying that it was unconstitutional. However, there was nothing about this in either our resolution or our opening plan so none of us were sure what she was talking about. Our attorney explained that it would depend on the circumstances. She talked about this for a LONG TIME and kept repeating that our resolution was saying that it is unconstitutional and that our legislative background for this stated that wearing masks was unconstitutional. There was nothing stating this in the resolution or in the legislative background information. Ultimately, I think she was confused. I have said many times that the legal enforcement of the governor’s mandates was likely unconstitutional according to our attorneys (neighboring towns feel the same way). A court just upheld that the governor’s actions were unconstitutional, so as of now I think the advice we received from counsel was correct. Trustee Milani said he thought our Back to Normal Plan made sense, especially since we used expert guidance to build the plan and it follows “the science,” so he supports approving it. Trustee Dodge said that every step toward normal is an important step and that everyone in Orland Park should read this, including the attachments. Trustee Calandriello questioned the agenda item and then stated that he thought this was a violation of the Open Meetings Act. Our attorney corrected him and stated that it was not a violation of the act and that it was done properly. I would question that if Trustee Calandriello thought this was a violation of the Open Meetings Act, then why did he not say something before the meeting? Was he hoping to get the village jammed up legally to use as a political issue? It has become clear that he is no longer concerned with doing what is in the best interest of the village and simply is concerned with politics. Of course, he was WRONG – AGAIN. But I’m sure they’ll claim I’m a bully for pointing this out. Then he stated that this plan was rushed and this was the first time he was seeing the plan because it was uploaded at 3:30 on Monday. That’s disingenuous and he knows it: he’s seen the plan multiple times since April, it was explained at the meeting that what was uploaded was an update to the current situation and executive summary portions to include the latest developments but the plan itself hasn’t materially changed in months. Trustee Calandriello then moved to table the agenda item. That vote failed 5 to 2. Trustee Milani then tried to speak. Trustee Calandriello interrupted the meeting (inappropriately by the way) to say that Trustee Milani had already spoken twice. I asked him if he wanted a point of order but I also pointed out that this was Trustee Milani’s second comment. He declined to make a point of order. Trustee Milani then asked how many times the plan has been posted on our website for the public to read. Village Manger Koczwara pointed out that it had been on the website since April 24th. He also pointed out that we have been posting information on the plan regularly on social media via Facebook and videos and giving regular updates to the board on the plan. I would add that maybe Trustee Calandriello should have taken the time over the last 3 months to read the plan and provide input. He clearly found the time to research every cancelled event in the Chicagoland area. I would suggest that he focuses on researching important items affecting the lives of the people he represents if his time is so limited. Before the vote I pointed out that it is unfortunate that masks have become a political issue. I also gave a summary of what IDPH says on prevention measures (starting at 1:11:45) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uReTF30HYME. Ultimately the vote on the resolution was 6 to 1 with Trustee Calandriello voting against it. There were some interesting board comments. Trustee Fenton stated that since her voting record was brought up at a recent event on a couple of issues (I have never heard anyone talk about her voting record at any events and I think I was at all of the village events), that she loves our country and explained her vote against our July 4th events. She also stated that since her “voting record was out there” (not to my knowledge), that for the record she voted against suing because of the cost. That, frankly, was not her argument against suing. She had stated it was because of the fear of retaliation from the state and she had lived that in the past. She then stated that one of the reasons she is voting against this is because we are putting employees at risk. This is disingenuous when she is well aware that working these events is entirely voluntarily. She then said repeatedly that employees were forced to work these events, in spite of her having been briefed MANY times that working these events is voluntarily. Trying to make the Village Manager and his staff look bad to score political points is unfortunate. As long as Trustee Fenton has been on the board, she should know better. Trustee Calandriello also said he was going to correct the record and stated that he voted for the fireworks and against the band. Actually, that is not correct, he voted against the Independence Day events. Neither he nor Trustee Fenton tried to amend the motion and split them up. He also said he enjoyed the fireworks from a parking lot and watched it on YouTube (to get the music). He also commented that he is an attorney and swore to protect the Constitution as part of this safety discussion. We ALL took an oath to uphold the Constitution and I took an oath several times to defend it while in the military, so I am not sure what being an attorney has to do with it. I am glad that many of you got the choice to enjoy fireworks at Centennial Park where things were also done safely, and that those who chose to stay home and watch on YouTube also had that option. I am glad everyone was given the option to enjoy the fireworks in the manner of their choice. You can thank the 5 of us who voted to host the event. Trustee Katsenes stole my thunder and thanked Chief McCarthy for his service to Orland Park, and I couldn’t have agreed more with her comments. I can tell you that he will be sorely missed. He was a consummate professional since day one. I frequently turned to him for his wise counsel on a number of matters. My comments focused on the chief, the reasons for passing guidance, and a complete update on the recommendations for the use of masks. Here is the WHO’s guidance for the use of masks. https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/332293/WHO-2019-nCov-IPC_Masks-2020.4-eng.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y Tonight, we have a free concert at Crescent Park featuring Indigo Blues at 6 pm. Other upcoming events include our Concert Series on August 22nd and September 12th https://orlandpark.org/services/recreation/concert-series, and the Taste of Orland from July 31st to August 2nd. My first annual golf fundraiser will be held on August 31st, followed by dinner. The event is at Crystal Tree and is filling up fast. Please get your sponsorship, your foursome or dinner reservations here. http://www.keithpekau.com/Golf/?fbclid=IwAR0cFrTFJ9MTuufecMi_389DyOhLbooDQwmLhyFFqWlRTGogDjlFm6ukreY |
