Public mum in three Orland Park public TIF hearings

There were no tiffs over TIFs.

The Village of Orland Park Board of Trustees hosted three public hearings for the downtown Main Street Triangle project without a peep from the public.

The Sept. 3 hearings dealt with an amended Tax Increment Financing, a proposed TIF and the plans for the proposed business district. All three times, the board asked for members of the public to comment. All three times…crickets.

The board passed what it needed to pass and after a couple of more votes on items in the next two board meetings, the Triangle District should become a reality.

What’s interesting about the public’s silence is that District 230 school board member Mohammed Jaber, via an August 29 press release sent by omnipresent public relations representative Ray Hanania, demanded the board to put three other TIF projects on hold until it releases two audits that have not been filed.

“The truth is no one knows what the real financial status is of the Village of Orland Park because the village refuses to release its audits,” Jaber wrote. “And when they were asked to produce the audits, they dodged public demands.”

Jaber urged residents to speak out and demand the TIF districts – including the former Andrew Company, the former Petey’s II Restaurant and the former Lincoln-Way Mercury dealership – be put on hold.

But no one came to question the board on the Triangle TIFs.

As for the audits, at a past meeting Trustee William Healy said that the previous audit firm they used had a hard time staffing and the village had to hire a new firm. He said that slowed the process down, as well as the village changing finance directors in that timeframe.

“The old firm was fired, and we replaced a finance director and we got a new audit firm,” Mayor Keith Pekau said as a past meeting. “That’s all it is, It’s really that simple.”

At the Sept. 3 meeting, Trustee Cynthia Nelson Katsenes said she saw “attacks on the TIF” from Jaber and Hanania, who also does public relations work with the Orland Fire Protection District and is an opinion columnist for SouthWest Regional Publishing newspapers.

“It confused me, because it’s my understanding that taxing bodies were invited to these meetings that approved these TIFs,” she said and asked Assistant Village Manager Jim Culotta if District 230 or anyone from the fire district showed up.

Culotta confirmed that “District 230 did show up, but we did not have a representative from the fire district.

She asked if any elected officials attended any previous TIF meetings and Culotta and he said “I’m not aware of any participation by elected officials.

Pekau said over the last three TIF meetings, he was the only elected official present.

Pekau said the Main Street Triangle project will have a final approval vote on Sept. 16 and at the Oct. 7 meeting, the staff will present a final redevelopment agreement with Edwards Realty Company.

“After that approval, Edwards will be able to seek and secure permits to actually get the redevelopment project to get underway,” he said.