Keith Pekau, seeking a third term as Orland Park’s mayor, touts accomplishments under his watch including improving village streets and parks.

He is challenged in the April 1 election by Jim Dodge, a former longtime village trustee who has assembled a slate of candidates for trustee seats and village clerk.

Dodge said voters are concerned about issues in the Police Department, which he says suffers from low morale. He said the overall tax burden on residents also needs to be addressed.

Dodge said being better stewards of taxpayer money is a goal, and he is critical of spending on a concert venue at Centennial Park West.

Pekau said he and the Village Board have improved 32 neighborhood parks in the last five years and improved the condition of streets.

He said the village went from having 40% of streets rated as in poor or very poor condition to the current level of 17%.

“We are working on roads in subdivisions that were built over 30 years ago,” Pekau said.

Pekau, 58, was first elected mayor in 2017, defeating longtime Mayor Dan McLaughlin, who was seeking a seventh term at the time and who Pekau faced again in 2021.

Pekau heads the People Over Politics ticket, which includes recently appointed clerk Brian Gaspardo, as well as incumbent trustees Sean Kampas and Brian Riordan.

Also seeking one of three trustee seats on the ticket is Carol McGury.

Kampas, Riordan and Joni Radaszewski, who is not seeking reelection, were elected in the April 2021, running with Pekau on the People Over Politics ticket.

Dodge, 62, became village clerk in 1989 then was appointed trustee in 1996.

Dodge was the Republican nominee for state treasurer in 2018.

He did not run for reelection as trustee in the April 2021 election. Pekau was the Republican nominee in the 6th Congressional District in 2022.

Both are military veterans, with Pekau serving in the Air Force and Dodge in the National Guard.

The Dodge-headed Orland Park For All ticket also includes for clerk Mary Ryan Norwell, a former Cook County assistant state’s attorney and a municipal attorney for the last nine years.

Seeking trustee positions are John Lawler, Dina M. Lawrence, Joanna M. Liotine Leafblad,

Running independently for a trustee seat is Mohammed Jaber, a member of the Orland High School District 230 Board.

He is a special education teacher and former part-time adjunct instructor at Moraine Valley Community College.Dodge secured endorsements from the Chicago Tribune and the union representing Orland Park’s rank-and-file police officers.

Pekau touted fresh equipment police are being equipped with, and an indoor firing range due to open in coming months.

However, Chapter 159 of the Metropolitan Alliance of Police, in its endorsement of Dodge, said the village’s administration “imperils the independent, effective, and professional law enforcement service Orland Park’s citizens have earned and deserve.”

The union has said the village’s hiring of outside command staff, rather than promoting from within the ranks, runs counter to a 20-year tradition of promoting from within. Promotions from within the department ensure “that officers were well-trained and prepared for leadership roles,” the union said in its endorsement in January.

Pekau said that, since he became mayor, the village has added 5,000 jobs, seeing businesses such as Pete’s Fresh Market and furniture retailer Steinhafels.

He said that Brazilian steakhouse Fogo de Chao plans to open this fall on La Grange Road in the former TGI Fridays space.

Dodge said that, in campaigning, he has heard from voters concerned about taxes. Pekau said the village, through its tax levy, has limited control over a property owner’s overall property tax bill.

“People understand government costs money, but more than once I have heard about the overall tax burden,” Dodge said.

A village tax on electric and natural gas bills that took effect last year was estimated to generate $3.5 million to $3.9 million annually, and the village estimated the average resident would see an increase of $12.55 per month between gas and electric costs.

An increase in Orland Park’s home-rule sales tax also took effect last year. It doesn’t apply to groceries or medicine, but increased the village’s overall sales tax rate, in Cook County, to 10.25%.

Through 2027, the village proposes issuing $60 million in bonds to finance projects such as improving streets, parks, and water and sewer infrastructure, but paying principal and interest on that new debt is expected to be covered by property taxes along with the utility tax and higher local sales tax.

Sales taxes represent the largest revenue source for the village, accounting for more than 40% of annual revenue, compared with about 17% being derived from property taxes and about 15% from income taxes.

Because of the higher sales tax rate, Dodge said some residents are shopping outside of Orland Park.

“People in certain parts of town if they have option to shop elsewhere, like Tinley, they will,” he said.

Although Orland Park has a thriving retail and commercial tax base, Dodge said there can be a tipping point.

“At what point does Orland Park become uncompetitive,” Dodge said. “Shoppers have a choice.”

On the People Over Politics slate, Brian Gaspardo is village clerk and is managing partner of O’Neill & Gaspardo, Consultants and CPAs.

Kampas has more than 25 years of experience in technology, business and strategy consulting, according to People Over Politics. An attorney, Riordan is a shareholder and board member at the law firm Clausen Miller.

McGury retired recently, after 36 years having served as an executive vice president for Smithbucklin, a business management consulting firm in Chicago.

On the Orland Park for All ticket, clerk candidate Norwell is a former Cook County assistant state’s attorney and a municipal attorney for the last nine years.

Trustee candidate Lawler is a homebuilder while Lawrence holds a master’s in business administration from the University of Chicago and has a background as an evironmental engineer. Leafblad is president of the Orland Park Library Board and an assistant Cook County assistant state’s attorney, according to Orland Park For All.

Pekau’s Keith for Mayor election committee recorded receipts in the last three months of 2024 of nearly $26,500 and expenses of about $35,600 for services such as printing, advertising and consulting, according to state reports.

At the end of last year, Pekau’s committee recorded $138,000 available to spend on campaigning.

In recent weeks, Pekau’s committee has recorded receipts of more than $23,000, according to state election finance reports.

The People Over Politics ticket has, in recent weeks, seen contributions of just under $127,000, including $110,000 from the Keith for Mayor committee, according to state election board reports.

In recent weeks, Dodge’s Jim Dodge for Mayor committee recorded contributions of more than $90,000, including money from organized labor and money from his running mates on the Orland Park for All ticket.