| Last week’s board and committee meetings covered several items. The most important was a discussion and resolution on the American Rescue Plan funding for municipalities which I saved for last in this update. At the committee meeting we approved several changes to our codes, including: Overweight vehicles – We added a permitting process for overweight vehicles to use our local roads. We are seeing more and more of this as logistics and warehouses become more prevalent in the region. This will allow us to collect fees to offset the repairs to the damage on our roads these vehicles cause.Recreation fee changes – Staff, the Recreation Advisory Board and the Civic Center Advisory Board recommended that we increase user fees for the Civic Center. Drop-in fees had not been changed since 2015 and were increased from $4 to $5 for residents and from $8 to $10 for non-residents. Similarly, gym and hourly rental rates had not changed since 2018, so small increases were put in place. The Civic Center changes were similar except we also added a resident fee that was lower for Orland Park businesses vs. out-of-town businesses.Land Development Code changes – Staff and the Planning Commission recommended changes to the land development codes. Some of it was simplifying language. Other changes involved bicycle rack requirements for townhomes, outdoor storage parking for businesses, front window transparency requirements for windows, and storm and sanitary sewers. In addition, at the board meeting we approved a contract for maintenance projects on our parking lots and paths throughout the village. We also approved stormwater improvement for Oakley Avenue and approved installing a monument sign at 159th & Harlem to match the Orland Park signs on LaGrange Road. Additionally, we passed a resolution Requesting that the Village of Orland Park Be treated Similar to Non-CDBG Cities in Illinois. The American Rescue Plan (ARP) distributed money to municipalities throughout the country. Community Development Block Grant as well as towns over 50,000 population received their money directly from the federal government through the higher of two formulas. The first formula is based on population, over-crowded housing and poverty. The second is based on population, housing stock built before 1940 and growth rate (lower gets more) since 1960. Based on this, it is pretty clear that this is a re-distribution of wealth program that Congress created to re-distribute wealth to poorly run urban areas. Here is the distribution in Illinois.  |
| As you can see, Orland Park received the lowest per capita allocation in the state. Over 1,300 other communities in Illinois received a per capita allocation of $135.94 per resident. If Orland Park had received this amount, we would have received $2.85 million more. I would like to know where Congresswoman Newman and Congressman Rush were when Congress placed a value on US citizens and valued Orland Park residents less than every other resident of Illinois, 36% less than the average Illinoisan, and 8 times less than Chicagoans. They certainly were NOT representing us when they voted to give wealthy Oak Park $38 million and Evanston $43 million while ignoring their district (Orland Park $5 million, Tinley Park $6 million). Pekau Comments (10.04.21) – YouTube Additionally, you can hear the whole discussion from the committee meeting here. Funding Formula Discussion (10.04.21) – YouTube & https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1b1pm1fEKYg After discussion with the US Treasury Department, the only viable option to make up this gap was to request the funds from the State of Illinois allotment. The state can make up the difference for all 11 communities that were shorted by using ~ $21 million of the billions in funding the state received to do so. Therefore, we requested that the Village of Orland Park be treated like other non-CDBG cities and villages with a population under 50,000 and that the State of Illinois make the Village of Orland Park whole by providing CSFRF or other funding in the amount of $2,851,914.30. Trustees Healy Closing Comments – Healy (10.04.21) – YouTube and Riordan had more comments on this in their closing comments. Closing Comments – Riordan (10.04.21) – YouTube Frankly, we do not expect much to come from these efforts. From the beginning of the pandemic, we have operated under the assumption that we would receive no help – which turned out to be a good assumption. When the state and county refused to provide masks to smaller medical offices, the village instituted the Masks for Medical program to get our Orland Park medical offices opened. When the state and county refused to provide vaccine doses to Orland Park, we partnered with a local pharmacy to provide over 1,300 doses to our vulnerable and over 65 population as well as educators (to help get our children back in school). While the state and federal government continue to value Orland Park residents less than other citizens, Orland Park will continue to operate well and set the example for other communities to follow. My closing comments requested that the state legislature and Congress stop allowing one person rule regarding vaccines and masks, do their job and legislate. (10.04.21) Closing Comments – Pekau – YouTube |
