The race for the Orland Fire Protection District Board of Trustees has four candidates vying for two open seats. Patch spoke with candidate Blair Rhode recently about how he believes the district is perceived and steps to rework the finances.

Orland Park Patch: What are the biggest problems facing the district? How do you propose to solve them?

Blair Rhode: When a Tinley trustee heard that I was going to run for Orland Fire Trustee he said, “Why would Blair want to muddy his name with that district? Everybody knows that it is the most corrupt district around.” That is a sad comment on a great group of fire fighters.  I know many of the Orland Firefighters and they are quality people. 

I have had several occasions to need the services of the Fire Department and they have always outperformed. I have set off my share of fire alarms at my building and their response times are superb. I have even had the need to have the fire department provide care to a patient in my surgery center that was in distress. They responded within minutes and were integral in my patient’s care. As a physician, I trust the Orland Firefighters with the safety and care of my own children. But something has gone wrong when the perception of the district is as above. Something is wrong when:

• A new law firm is given the district contract (no bid) and costs almost 10 times as much as the old law firm.
• There are four PR firms to manage district PR.
• A $4 million addition (no bid) is made to the administrative building for trustee offices.  In my building, I share a cubicle in a room with 3 office billers–and I’m the doctor.
• Trustees have district paid BlackBerrys and computers.

I have heard that contracts have been negotiated without attorneys between two people that own apartments together.

I have heard that non-official vehicles are filled with gas using district gas cards.

I have heard that people have used the remotes to change lights green for non-emergency situations.

The firefighters that I know and respect have told me that they want to see respect and transparency restored to the district.

The phrases “fiscally conservative” and “efficient use of taxpayer money” comes up regularly on the campaign trail. How do you propose keeping a tighter budget that doesn’t burden taxpayers, while giving staff the tools to do their job?

First and foremost, I think there is so much fat in the fire district's budget that it won't be too much of a problem getting a handle on a lot of this. Specifically, you look at what was done with the expansion of the administration office, and that was completely unnecessary. I'm not sure if there's anything we can do to shut that down. I would love to. I'm a businessman, I have my own practice. I'm doing this to do my part for the community. With that being said, I surely don't expect to have an office at the administrative building. I have my own office; I share it with four different people. I certainly don't need a $5 million expansion to house the trustees. I had heard that in the old administrative building they allowed the employees to come in and essentially come and take whatever they wanted from all of the chair and desks, and there was no accounting of that, and now they're going to buy new furniture. Well, my office doesn't have to need new furniture, again, because I've got my own furniture at my practice.

This training facility that was added on was completely unnecessary. I think that was something that—I don't know what could be done with that—but I certainly know that the training facility is top notch. I hope that all districts are paying their fair share for usage of that, and essentially the usage would be based upon the cost. I know that the facility was paid for, but certainly we could figure out what a normal mortgage would be on that. That should be brought into the usage of that facility.

Going line item through every employee in the administrative office, I know there was a significant number of patronage hires. They would all have to be looked at to see if any of these are necessary. This budget has gone from in 2000, I believe, $5 (million) to 2009 it's increased 64 percent. There's so many things to look at and try to cut. Specifically, and I think I've said this before, I think that transparency is of the utmost. I think all of the city contracts with the fire district have to be open and has to be an open-bid process. I think that there should be preference to Orland Park businesses. Off the top of my head, I think it's appropriate to give an Orland Park business that bids on a contract for the fire district a 10 percent advantage, so if there's an outside firm that's coming in bidding 10 percent over, I think it's fair to give the Orland Park business a 10 percent advantage. That's the only advantgage that should be given. It should be given to the people who pay their taxes in Orland and it should be fair. If they can't meet the cost and the price structure then they're going to lose the business.

I just want to see these books. I treat a lot of firefighters from other districts and they laugh. I just had one in from Downers Grove yesterday, he said, "Downers Grove is the same size, the same population." They run on $6 million a year; he said they're cutting costs every single year. Everyone knows that Orland Park is the fattest district out there and they just laugh. Part of me just wants to know how you can spend that much money on a fire district where everyone else around us is spending one-third to one-fifth as much.

(Editor's Note: Rhode said he accidentally forgot to answer this question. Patch noticed the omission and gave Rhode an opportunity to respond. He gave his answer on March 31 by telephone.)

The fire district purchased a small parcel of open space last summer for the addition of its administrative center. The land cost $68,500 and the project reportedly cost $4 million. Was this a worthy investment? Why or Why not?

No. An alternative use should be found for this construction if it cannot be aborted.  As a trustee, I would not want or use an office at the firehouse. 

The fire district is considering abating taxes for a third year. Is this a good idea? And, if the district has extra money to refund each year, is this an indication that the district taxes too much?

I believe that we shoulder lower taxes. We should dissolve all administrative contracts and open them to an open bid process. Preference should be given to Orland businesses as they are the taxpayers paying for the fire district in the first place. I believe that a bid that is made by an Orland business that is within 10% of the lowest bid should get preference. I believe that the books of the district should be opened and made public.  Abating versus lowering taxes is a non-entity to me. Just lower costs. 

The fire district is the largest around and one of the largest in the nation. Its 2009 tax rate was about twice as high as Orland Park’s, which includes the police department. Is the fire district’s size justified? Why or why not?

Should the Orland Fire District cost $28 million a year to run when every surrounding district runs on less than 1/3 of that amount? I would really like to see the books to explain that one. Even if every firefighter makes $120,000 a year, there is still $16 million left over to run the district. 

If somebody doesn’t start showing some responsibility, there will be no district to manage. Taxes keep going up, businesses continue to leave–revenues go down. This crisis is happening at all levels of government. 

There has been talk of putting a referendum on the 2012 election ballot to dismantle the autonomy of the fire district, bringing its control back under the village board. What do you think of this possibility?

I believe that the village and fire district needs to be managed by people that truly represent the taxpayer. I would love to fix/manage the fire district for two years and retire and turn over the reins to a responsible village board. I have a day job that I work at 100 hours a week. I just felt a calling to become involved in the fire district. 

Does the current board engage in enough debate and discussion before voting?

I do not know enough about the current process to comment. I do believe that the process should be transparent. An attempt should be made to make as much as possible open to the public. I am sure that there are issues that cannot always be handled in a public forum. 

Do you have any past arrests and/or convictions?     

I got a traffic ticket from a photo camera for a rolling right turn last month in Blue Island and had to pay $100. Otherwise, no arrests/no convictions.