Orland Trustees Drop Pension Plan

ORLAND PARK, IL — Orland Park's trustees opted out of the state's pension system this week after a heated debate that hinged on whether Mayor Keith Pekau orchestrated the move in a kind of bait-and-switch move to increase his pension earnings later.

The trustees and clerk will be withdrawn from the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund July 1. Changes for the mayoral role will take effect after the 2021 election

Pekau's People Over Politics slate — William Healy, Cynthia Nelson Katsenes and Michael Milani — ran for election this spring on the promise that it would eliminate pensions for part-time public employees. Pekau withdrew from the fund two years ago.

All of the trustees said they backed the move in theory.

"This would never happen in the private sector and it shouldn't happen in the public sector," Milani, who introduced the resolution, said.

However, trustee Jim Dodge pointed out that Orland officials can buy as much as four years of time into the system if they served into the military, and future boards could opt Orland back into the pension system. Based on IMRF laws and funding formulas, an official who carefully calculated his or her pensions could retire with a multimillion-dollar cushion. The village, he said, needed to start budgeting for lifetime compensation values for employees.

"I want to make it crystal clear that these rules we operate under in IMRF allows within the system for people to do these kinds of things," he said. "If we want to check off a box on campaign literature, sure. Let's all recognize the magnitude of what happens if someone goes at this." It could cost millions, he said.

Pekau, who served in the U.S. Air Force, quickly picked up references to his position.

"He is hinting I will buy back my military time, that I will have a future board change this back so that I can take part in huge pension," Pekau said. "I've opted out."

"I don't believe in the pension system," he added. "Now we made sure no elected official can get it and if someone changes their mind, they'll have to do it in front of the public."

In 2017, Pekau won his seat because voters were not happy with trustees' decision to triple the mayor's salary to $150,000 and expand the role's duties and working hours. The pay bump came with an increase in pension. Pekau, when he took office, kept the salary and declined the pension. He has been criticized for keeping the salary.

He defended his position again Monday night at the board meeting, saying he worked full-time hours and deserved the salary. That sparked a heated exchange.

Pekau argued that his full-time status meant that trustees should keep the mayor's role in the pension fund until after the 2021 election to "be consistent." To do that required an amendment to the pension fund-opt out resolution and additional vote.

But Dodge pointed out that trustees voted in March to reduce the hours Pekau worked and that it was Pekau who was choosing his workload and full-time salary. Trustees Dodge and Daniel Calandriello argued that if Pekau wasn't full time and had already opted out of the pension system two years ago, then there was no reason not to terminate the mayor's enrollment in IMRF in July.

"Something is not right with this amendment," Calandriello said.

The measure to opt the trustees and clerk out of IMRF in July passed withe Kathleen Fenton abstaining because the issue affected her. The amendment to withdraw the mayor's role from the fund in 2021 passed with Dodge, Calandriello and Fenton dissenting.