Orland Trustees Award $1 M Fernway Contract After Heated Debate

ORLAND PARK, IL — Orland Park trustees' approval to give an Elwood construction firm a $1 million contract to improve roads in the Fernway subdivision Monday night was no surprise — the issue sailed through committee and had long been planned and budgeted. What was surprising, though was how much it irked the board and the mayor to talk about the contractor and the village's bidding process.

Although the contract was unanimously approved, at times trustees sounded like they were discussing it through clenched teeth.

Here's an example from trustees' comments at the end of the meeting:

"What I know for sure is arguing about the process and arguing about Austin Tyler just needs to end," Trustee Michael Milani said. "All we’re doing is wasting time, resources and the energy of too many people. I think as Trustee Dodge mentioned in one of his articles in his newspaper: 'Is this how we want to do things?' I have been up here since May 6 and it's already getting old."

Trustee Jim Dodge's response: "I think we are both big fans of the First Amendment. God bless."

What's that about? Politics, process and a perceived attack on Mayor Keith Pekau.

Austin Tyler Construction is the contractor that was awarded the Fernway subdivision. It was the lowest bidder for the roads and ditch project with a $1.075 million proposal. The next highest bidder, Christopher B. Burke Engineering of Rosemont, came in at $1.14 million.

The bid was one of three, sealed proposals that went through the village's standard process. Orland Park has awarded Austin Tyler has awarded several contracts in the past, including a controversial $3.5 million roads project in May.

Dodge has publicly questioned why a single contractor, Austin Tyler, consistently comes in as the lowest bidder with the narrowest of margins. Other trustees have had similar questions, but have not spoke about them publicly. Dodge's latest comments came at a committee meaning earlier this month when the bid was accepted and passed to the board for final approval.

These questions stem from much larger issues surrounding the village's bidding and contracting practices. In May, an investigation into Orland's bidding processes said that the village should take a deeper look into contracts awarded to Mayor Keith Pekau's former landscaping business and the financial interests he holds with two village vendors, as well into its overall bidding practices. No wrongdoing was found. A later internal investigation largely concurred with those findings, adding that Pekau had no conflicts of interest with the village. This internal investigation is viewed as a political attack by Pekau and his supporters: Trustees Bill Healy, Cynthia Nelson Katsenes and Milani.

However, that same month, trustees found that they violated state bidding laws when they first awarded Austin Tyler the $3.5 million roads project. The board was able to award the contract by waiving the bid requirements, but it is attempting a review to shore up its current bidding policies and practices. The violation is a sore spot for nearly all of the board members.

Even that review faces its own tough terrain. In a finance committee meeting Monday night that Trustee Dan Calandriello referred to as "spirited," Milani pushed against a proposal for the review he found too broad in scope and too expensive — and possibly politically motivated.

"I don't know what we're tying to find," he said. "But to go back and look at financial statements to see if we've done something wrong... there's nothing we can do about the past. We can only fix what's moving forward," he said.

Later that night, he apologized for his heated reaction.

But the tension nevertheless was thick at the board meeting. When the Austin Tyler proposal came up for a vote, Dodge reiterated his point about the firm's consistent underbidding.

"It caught my eye at the committee that Austin Tyler for example underbid other firms by essentially $19,000 on a $1 million bid," he said. "It just caught my eye."

Milani questioned why this was a problem when Austin Tyler had come in at lowest cost and had had bid processes waived every year since 2014.

"Everywhere I turn, Austin Tyler seems to be doing work in the southwest suburbs," he said.

Pekau, however, pushed Dodge on the point.

"Trustee Dodge, I am a little bit confused because you said... Austin Tyler underbid by $19,000 and it caught your eye," he said, adding that he listened to the recording of an earlier committee meeting Dodge attended. "I was concerned about a couple of comments that you made you said the following: 'I am just going to call out that Austin Tyler comes in tens of thousands of dollars under somebody else on a million-dollar bid. Hmmmmm.' Shortly after, you added: 'Call me skeptical, Madame Chair, it's magic when you get a $4 million-uptick in your business without thinking about it.'"

He turned to Dodge: "So my question is, is there some concern we need to about? Specifically?"

Dodge: "It caught my eye."

The tête-à-tête continued until a clearly exasperated Pekau asked staff whether they had any concerns about Austin Tyler, its work or the contract. They did not.

Pekau told Dodge it was "inexcusable" for a trustee to call out a contractor publicly and told the board proper procedure is to alert the village manager to any concerns or problems they witness. Dodge replied that he would flag any concerns when he was ready.The conversation starts just before the 19-minute mark at the archived meeting video.

The strain among board members doesn't appear to be ending soon. The bid review process hasn't yet begun and more public works projects are scheduled or needed in the village. A more minor tiff over hiring a contractor to work through the backlog of projects through an understaffed development services department erupted over scope and whether the contractor should be reviewing that department's policies procedures (it won't be). "Irksome" meetings may become the norm.

The one thing all of the trustees agreed on, though: The work at Fernway was sorely needed.

The work in the 1960s-era subdivision will be getting full pavement reconstruction with the addition of concrete shoulders to support the pavement edge. This year, the village will focus on Robinhood Drive from 167th Street to 165th Place, 166th Place and 166th Street. The improvements on Robinhood Drive also incorporate the construction of a new parking lot adjacent to Wlodarski Park at the northeast corner of 167th Street and Robinhood Drive.

Oh — about Milani's comment on Dodge's newspaper: Dodge founded a start-up news site. It can be seen here.