Too much information? Too soon?
Orland Park Trustee William Healy cried foul on information about the new Amazon facility being leaked prematurely, claiming a conflict of interest by the Plan Commission.
Trustee Joanna Leafblad constructed a timeline that absolved the Plan Commission from any wrongdoing and chastised Healy for slandering one of the Plan Commission’s members.
Mayor James Dodge disgustedly said Healy’s comments were “inherently political.”
When the smoke cleared during the Feb. 2 Committee of the Whole meeting, Healy’s proposal to appoint a committee to investigate a potential ethics breach over the Amazon development approvals was shot down 5-2 with Healy and trustee Cynthia Nelson Katsenes voting for it.
The controversy started when Healy took a Jan. 2 Facebook posting to task by Inform Orland Park informing Orland Park that Amazon was coming four days before the Plan Commission voted on it.
Inform Orland Park is a group that has been critical of People Over Politics members in 2024 and 2025. People Over Politics includes Healy, Katsenes, Trustee Michael Milani and former mayor Keith Pekau.
Healy said that former Orland Park trustee Kathy Fenton was a part of Inform Orland Park at the time of the posting and is a Plan Commission member – thus the conflict of interest.
“The posting being premature was harmful,” he said. “Not to be overlooked is the implication of having the announcement on a political website whose chairperson is a member of the Plan Commission.
“My look at this is that the actions of putting that out there served to undermine the legislative process…that the Plan Commission takes an impartial look at this and takes in, among other things, public comment.”
He said that if he was a member of the public, the posting implied that it was a done deal and it “corrupted the process.”
Healy said a full investigation of the cause of the announcement and a list of those involved should be done by an independent committee, which would also have the power of levying penalties and sanctions.
Leafblad told Healy that if this is about ethics, it should go before the Ethics Committee first.
She said that information about Amazon’s interest in Orland Park was revealed in a public legal notice in a daily newspaper on Dec. 22, so the information was already available.
“I’m pretty sure that that date in December is before the first date in January,” Dodge cracked. “Check me on that one.”
Leafblad said there is no proof of who actually posted the Jan. 2 item.
“There is a person’s name being batted around a lot because of their connection to something,” she said. “Is there any direct proof that this is the person who made that post?
“Or is this an opportunity to just slander somebody?”
Dodge said all of this lengthy back-and-forth could have been taken care of in an e-mail.
“This is inherently political,” Dodge said. “If I’m not mistaken, staff conclusively approved that this information became public in December.”
Dodge added that Amazon’s interest came in late April, before he was sworn in as the mayor, and it moved through a process that was known by many people.
“This has been generally out there in the media for a while,” Dodge said.
He also rebuked Healy for making comments that are “willful and wanton and trying to damage people’s reputations” and, like Leafblad, said he needs to take this issue up with the Ethics Committee.