Orland Park Hires Firm To Improve Its Reputation

ORLAND PARK, IL — The Village of Orland Park says it has a public relations problem and it’s hiring a firm to help improve it.

The board hired Reputation Partners Communications, a Chicago-based public relations firm, to develop a media relations and communications strategy focused on pitching Orland Park as an ideal place to live.

“In recent years, some of the media coverage for the Village of Orland Park hasn’t reflected well on the village,” firm representatives wrote in their proposal to the board. “Too much of the coverage has focused on various political issues, rather than the innate advantages of living in the village, its many positive attributes and the significant progress that's been made toward the Village of Orland Park's economy and infrastructure.”

The proposal caused some trustees to bristle.

Trustees Jim Dodge and Kathleen Fenton opposed the measure because they said the proposal should have gone through committee review. Trustee Dan Calandriello’s attempt to table it for further committee review also did not pass. He, too, said that he believed the measure should have gone through committee. However, he voted for the contract in the end.

Dodge said he also opposed hiring the firm because of proposal’s focus on swaying political coverage in the news in order to get “better” coverage. He pointed to a clause in the firm’s proposal: “Engaging local and select regional media on an ongoing basis to secure positive media placements around the Village of Orland Park and its leaders on a number of subjects…”

“Quite frankly,” he said, “the first thing that popped to mind is Tom Sawyer: Reach for your brush and grab the white paint. I am concerned about that.”

Trustee Michael Milani countered: “Sometimes I feel like it’s a little self-inflicted,” he said about the need to “sharpen” Orland’s image. “Sometimes we make things political that might not be.”

He added that while he felt conflicted about the vote because he felt that the communications department should be able to handle the job, if there were gaps, he could support Reputation Partners filling them.

In June, Interim Village Manager Tom Dubelbeis told the board that the hiring of his replacement had been delayed for weeks because the village had not received enough resumes.

"I think some of the headlines the village has made over the past few months have not been conducive for highly qualified candidates for the Village of Orland Park," he said.

At the time, the village had been weathering two bidding scandals. In the first, trustees rescinded a controversial $3.5 million roads project and rewarded it by waving the bidding process in a five-minute special meeting. In the second, independent investigators recommended that Orland Park officials investigate contracts awarded to Mayor Keith Pekau's former landscaping business and the financial interests he holds with two village vendors, as well as fix its own flawed bidding, purchasing and ethics policies. In the report, known as the Jones Day report, investigators found no evidence of criminal activity and Pekau has denied any wrongdoing. The two issues are not related and the investigation was complete before the roads bid was approved by the board.

Before the meeting, Dubelbeis said the village had downsized its communications department from 2.5 positions to one, and was looking to use Reputation Partners’ work to supplement current communication manager Nabeha Zegar’s work while attempting to save money. Zegar will retain her position, he said.

Reputation Partners will craft its messaging around main themes: infrastructure improvements, new business generation, green space addition and revitalization, mall redevelopment and transportation access.

The new strategy will be put in place in September and will end in December. The firm will be paid up to $4,000 a month and the contract this year will not exceed $20,000. The contract will be revisited in 2020 as part of the budget process.

The vote passed 5 to 2.