A seemingly ordinary act of business had some drama Monday night as the Orland Park Village Board voted 4-2 to hire PubliCity Communications LLC for $5,000 per month for a year to help generate more publicity for the village.
Trustees Michael Milani and Cynthia Katsenes voted “no.”
Former Orland Park Director of Communications and Marketing Nabeha Zegar is the president of PubliCity and that raised some eyebrows.
Carol McGury, who ran for trustee in the last election, was not pleased that Zegar’s company was hired shortly after the board re-hired Village Manager George Koczwara.
She was let go last year from her previous position with the village.
“Just as you did with hiring a village manager, there was no posting or consideration for other candidates,” she told the board. “You are basically re-hiring former employees who might have had issues or terminations.”
She likened Mayor Jim Dodge to Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson because of these moves.
Milani said the village already has a communications department and questioned the fact that she helped Dodge with his campaign, as did Koczwara.
Dodge said Zegar has 12 years of direct experience in the village and won multiple awards for her work.
“She has pretty strong credentials,” Dodge said. “We hired local for someone to do a critical function of trying to increase the volume, reach and sophistication of our communication to our residents.”