Even though he announced his intentions of running for another term in 2023, Orland Park Mayor Keith Pekau made a formal announcement on Sept. 30.
He also announced his slate of trustees and clerk for the April 1 election at a dinner following his golf outing for veterans at Silver Lake Country Club.
Current trustees Sean Kampas and Brian Riordan plus newly appointed clerk Brian Gaspardo will be running with Pekau. Trustee Joni Radaszewski will not run for re-election. She will be replaced on the slate by Carol McGury.
“Joni decided not to run and focus on her on-going health battles since her tragic car accident a few years ago,” Pekau said in an e-mail to residents. “Joni has been a dedicated board member through all of her challenges and every member of the board appreciates her determination and spirit. We are all better for having had her on the Village Board with us.”
Radaszewski was driving a car and was seriously injured and her parents – Adrian Spaargaren and Kathleen Repsis — died in an accident June 21, 2022, in Homer Glen.
She returned to the board on Sept. 6 that year via phone and made her first in-person appearance a month later.
McGury is a member of the village’s technology commission. She was an executive vice president of event and education services at Smithbucklin, a professional services company serving non-profits and industry associations.
Pekau has beaten longtime mayor Dan McLaughlin twice – in 2017 and 2021.
While Pekau’s shoot-from-the-hip style has made him plenty of political enemies — and some members of the public have threatened to vote him out — an opponent has not yet surfaced, although there is plenty of time for that to happen.
Meanwhile, Pekau likes the team he has assembled.
“The five of us, along with Trustees [Cindy] Katsenes, [Michael] Milani and [William] Healy are committed to continuing to implement our planned improvements and keep Orland Park a great place to live, work and raise a family,” Pekau said in his e-mail.
