Orland Park Trustees Release Minutes Of Bid Investigation Meeting

ORLAND PARK, IL — Orland Park trustees waded deep into political weeds Monday night by publicly releasing minutes of a closed meeting they held to discuss the early stages of an investigation into the village's bidding practices.

The release of the minutes pits Mayor Keith Pekau against his three political opponents on the board. He said wanted the minutes that typically and legally remain closed to the public released in the interest of transparency. However, his opponents believe it is an incremental move to discredit them and at least one other employee.

"I personally think that this is just a way to ruin someone's reputation," said trustee Kathleen Fenton.

Pekau has been waging a war to protect his reputation, a fact he acknowledged at the board meeting Monday night.

"I guess from my perspective, it was someone trying to ruin my reputation," he said, responding to Fenton. "I want it to be over with, but I want it all out there."

In May, the results of an internal investigation of bidding irregularities involving Pekau was released to the public. Investigators did not find evidence of wrongdoing, but recommended the village continue its investigation. The four-month investigation began in January after a public works employee told former village manager Joseph La Margo that two vendors, Mid-America Tree of Mokena, and GroundsKeeper Landscape Care LLC, regularly came in as the lowest bidder with a margin of only $25 below competitors. Pekau owned GroundsKeeper Landscape Care LLC and contracted with the village until he sold the business in February 2019. Other allegations also emerged as part of the investigation.

La Margo hired an outside law firm called Jones Day to conduct the review. After La Margo was fired in early May, the village then conducted a second review that Pekau and Dubelbeis said "completed" the investigation. It is known as the Mitchell report because Joseph Mitchell, Orland's interim assistant village manager, conducted it.

Jones Day investigators suggested that the village continue looking into Pekau's former landscaping business and the financial interests he holds with two village vendors. They also said the village needed to fix its own flawed bidding, purchasing and ethics policies. The Mitchell report largely concurred.

However, on May 20, before the results were released to the public, the board held an executive session meeting where Interim Village Manger Tom Dubelbeis and Pekau briefed the trustees on the investigation, the report and costs associated with it. A portion of those verbatim minutes were released Monday night in line with Pekau's promises that they would be released.

The minutes reveal little new information. But according to Pekau, what they indicate is that trustees Jim Dodge, Dan Calandriello and Fenton lied to him and to the public. According to Pekau, they said they did not know about the investigation, which he maintains had been "held in secret" and that La Margo acted beyond his authority by conducting it. La Margo is the employee Fenton referred to in her statements about damaging reputations.

Yet records show that the trustees have said publicly and internally they did know about the investigation. And on Monday night, Dodge and Fenton pushed back, saying Pekau's assertion is wrong and pushes their comments out of context. Pekau, they said, is conflating "investigation" with "report," and while they both knew about the investigation, they knew little about the report and findings at the time of the May 20 briefing.

For example, on page five of the report, Pekau is recorded as saying "Certainly all three of you said you had nothing, you knew nothing about the investigation, so I’m going to take you at your word on that, that you knew nothing about it."

Fenton replied: "I mean I knew about the Public Works part, that there was a question, but I didn’t know this, all of this. I’ve never seen this."

Later in the conversation, on page 15, Dodge is recorded as saying: "Well, speaking of that, I don’t want a copy, so when you guys done with your paper." [Note: There likely is a problem with the transcription of his comments.] He then added: "I will come in and give it a proper reading at the Village Hall with a witness in the room."

Pekau has said he believes those comments establish his case about what the trustees said they knew.

At the meeting Monday, Dodge said: "That is not factually true. You asked a specific question. I gave you specific answers, and it was not about the investigation." Tapes from other meetings prove that Dodge was speaking about the "report," he said.

Fenton agreed. The question posed to her was about the "report," she said. Had it been about an "investigation," "I would have said yes," she said.

Pekau said he hoped the release of the minutes would put the issue to rest.

The minutes of the May 20 meeting can be found online through Patch.

The discussion trustees held before releasing the minutes also can be found through Patch. They assist with context for the minutes.