Orland Park Village Board Votes To Halt Investigation Decision

ORLAND PARK, IL — Orland Park officials on the Board of Trustees decided to hold off on whether they will proceed to hire a third-party legal firm to investigate village purchases of single-family homes, after weeks of controversy and accusations made at previous meetings.

A 6-0 vote across the board tabled a motion, that would have approved the hiring of a special counsel to investigate the homes and accusations that former Mayor Dan McLaughlin hid his ownership of a Beacon Avenue property, while voting on actions for it during his time as mayor.

"With outside agencies reviewing this item, I would like to move to table this item," Trustee Cynthia Nelson Katsenes said at Monday evening's meeting.

Like what you're reading? Invite a friend to subscribe to free Orland Park Patch newsletters and real-time email alerts.

In January, Katsenes and Trustee Michael R. Milani questioned the purchases of homes by the village between 2004 and 2016. In spring 2017 — when McLaughlin was mayor — a privately owned property located at 14332 Beacon Ave., was brought to the Village's Development Services Department, Plan Commission and Board of Trustees, as part of a proposal to establish a multi-use building on the site.

Katsenes later found that McLaughlin is listed as the owner of the property on its property tax bill, and March 2016's demolition permit. This prompted her and other trustees to question whether McLaughlin was trying to hide his ownership when the property was brought to the board for development.

The former mayor denied he hid ownership of the property and said that anyone who asked "would have gotten an answer."

"I purposely did not want to make an issue with staff or have staff know that I was one of the owners, only because I don't want the staff to feel obligated or feel under some kind of pressure to do something different or favorable to me or to this property," McLaughlin said at a press conference in January. "I believe that it was better to not have the staff feel obligated or somehow feel under some kind of pressure to have the mayor's property different. They certainly didn't."

Katsenes had also pointed a finger in former Trustee Michael Carroll's direction, saying he also voted on the property and was the lawyer who represented McLaughlin at the time. Carroll said the accusation is not true and asked Katsenes to retract her statements made at the following board meeting and "call it a day," and if she did not, he would sue her for defamation.

"Not only was that false, but when I pulled up the minutes from the June 2017 meeting, I made the motion to pull that item from the consent agenda, then I abstained from voting on it," Carroll said. "She falsely claimed that I voted in favor of it, which was absolutely 100 percent false, and she had access to that data because she even mentioned the month. So she clearly knew what the minutes showed, which was that I pulled it from the consent agenda by my motion, and then I abstained from voting on it.

"Having known Cindy Nelson Katsenes for as long as I have, it doesn't thrill me to have to sue her. But when given an opportunity to clear my reputation, my professional reputation — which she has damaged — she chose to double down with Keith Pekau instead. And so I have really no [other] option at this point in time."

Related:

Former Orland Trustee Threatens To Sue Over Ethics Allegations | Orland Park, IL Patch

Former Orland Mayor Denies 'Secret Deals' With Purchased Property | Orland Park, IL Patch