2011 Election Issues: John Brudnak, Orland Park Village Board Candidate

Nine candidates are campaigning for three open seats on Orland Park’s board of trustees. Candidate spoke with Patch about slippery slopes, paying required fees and while not raising others.

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

It doesn’t seem like there’s much opposition to Mayor Dan and probably Maher. I think they have the votes they need to do anything they want. I’m not sure how much opposition there is. It may be listened to but eventually they’ll do what they want. There’s not enough discussion in public form, from what I heard. Many meetings are basic, cut and dry and then they go off the stage. There has to be a different voice in the village because right now it’ll just be status quo and it isn’t working.

You had an opportunity in the last questionnaire to name the biggest problem facing Orland Park. Are there any others? How do you plan to solve them?

You have to make it attractive for businesses to come here. There’s the mall at 143rd and LaGrange, P.F. Chang’s, Panera. One of the businesses in there wants to put out a banner on their property. The village will charge them $150 to put it up. How is that going to help them? You want a business to thrive and succeed? Why hit them with such a random fee? It’s to hang on their own properties. But they can’t have signage. The Dominick’s mall has a brick structure with business signs on it, but that other mall doesn’t have it. You don’t know there’s a Panera there without seeing it. Some stores could be going out of business and people don’t even know they are there, unless you have a backwards face to LaGrange and put lettering on side of the building. I’ve heard so many times, “there’s a Panera there?” People don’t know without signs. Something like that is so stupid.

Also, I’m not a smoker and I hate smoking, but why would they put a ban on smoking at restaurants before the state? Smokers went to Frankfort, Mokena. They went over to those nearby towns and the bars on LaGrange were decimated. We hurt our businesses by enacting a law 6 to 7 months before the state.

Then there’s the Triangle project. Forty million has been spent, and not one house or townhome has been built. We evicted a cement company, a lumber company, Ace Hardware, a carpet place, and now we’re getting rid of the one fully-occupied mall in the village. Well, it was fully occupied until about a week or two ago. They want to build a residential community. Then why in god’s name would you not make the plaza part of the development? People living there could walk to the train, walk to the super market, walk to the video store, the bank. They used eminent domain to get land, and there’s no explanation why. They want to extend Jefferson, and who the hell even knows where Jefferson is?

So what would it take to resolve the Triangle dispute?

Stop the lawsuits. Stop spending on lawyers’ fees. I would be for that from minute one. Do some remodeling and incorporate it into a housing development. Now they are talking about apartments on that development. What do you think will happen if this doesn’t take off? There will come pressure to make it into section 8 housing. Then what happens? This may not have been the intention, but the same developer did the same in Chicago Heights in 1970s and the rest is history. I don’t mean to knock Chicago Heights, as it is a great place. But I can assure you people in this area do not want that to happen.

Trustees and staff plugged a $1.8 million budget gap this fall by increasing certain fees and fines, including vehicle stickers, without cutting staff. Is there anything you would have done differently?

You have to look at cutting staff. At the school board we cut staff, now we’re looking at the administrative level. At my company, everybody took a hit, from top management to the lowest guy in the shop pay-wise. When business picks up you bring people and positions back. Doubling fees for stickers is not an answer. That’s a band-aid. Along with the staff not decreasing, there are also benefit costs and insurance on top of salary. I’m sorry but you have to make cuts where they are needed. Not decreasing staff is irresponsible. No one wants to make cuts or layoffs, but sometimes you have to make those decisions to keep things running the way they should.

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 keeping Orland Park accessible, competitive and desirable?

I can’t get into specifics into what they spend and what could change, but there’s so much waste with regard to…look at the waste in fire district. The budget is so bloated. They spend more than any other taxing body in the northern part of Illinois. They spend more than Naperville. And that’s all hand in hand with the village. We have to be more frugal. $1 million on renovating offices? Why do they have offices? You have that beautiful facility off of 108th, why not use that, or rent a room at the library?

What are your thoughts on the village’s use of TIF (Tax Increment Finance) districts? Has the village used them effectively? Why or why not? Would you do anything differently with TIF?

TIF districts are almost a necessary evil nowadays. If you do it right…the Wal-Mart TIF just came off, and that brings an influx (of tax money) now. It was done the right way. The Triangle is an abomination. Ok, you have a TIF on it, but nothing going in. When will it start to pay off? Because of a TIF like that, money is not going into schools, fire, village, police. Everyone else takes the burden. If it’s something you can make viable and short-term, then once an established business is in and entrenched, it takes off for the village like the Wal-Mart mall.

The board unanimously approved a resolution this fall that gives the board the power to award village contracts to local vendors, even if they haven’t offered the lowest bid (within limits). Is this a good policy? Why or why not?

You run into a slippery slope. Say they are bidding a job, one person use one type of material and gives a low price, but then someone offers a better product that is more expensive, but of more value. You really have to look at the entire package. We had instances on the school board where the lowest bid wasn’t the most opportune to take. I’d like to see bidding to make sure there’s no favoritism. It’s very important to keep a good value for the village. Everything has to be weighed. But if all things are equal, then the lowest price gets it.

The board on March 7 voted to add reasons for which police can impound the car of an alleged offender. These include, but are not limited to: motor vehicle accidents involving damage to the vehicle and public indecency. It costs the alleged offender $500 to retrieve their impounded car. Do you support expanding the reasons for impoundment?

I’m all for it. I’m sick of paying bills for people who don’t. How many times do you see in police reports suspended license, no insurance? I’m sick of people not pulling own weight. Impound the car, put in the fee, until they can show insurance is paid in full with a receipt. Owning a car is a privilege not a right. You have to pay fees. Anyone without insurance or a license, take them to jail.

When the village sold “open space” land to the Orland Fire Protection District last summer some residents worried that it would set a precedent that would result in loss of open space land. Do you agree with those residents?

If the status quo remains the same, absolutely. Who do you think allowed that? The president of the fire board, who chose not to run, and his father is on village board. Dan gave him $10,000 in the last campaign. People shouldn’t be surprised when it happens. It’s also a slippery slope. Once you give up land you can’t get it back.

Would you support a referendum to bring the Orland Fire Protection District back under the control of the village? Why?

I’d have to see what it would entail. But we have to get the budget under control. If it’s in the hands of trustees, or a sub board I don’t know. But as it is right now it’s out of control and it has to be under control. This taking over by the village, it was brought up to me by a resident. I didn’t know who would run it, so I’d have to look into it more.

Would you support term limits for trustees and village president? Why?

I don’t know. I’ve only lived here for eight years. I came from Evergreen Park where we had a mayor who passed away in office and did a lot of good in his time. Term limits should be decided by voters. If someone does bad, vote them out. If they did good, why change for change’s sake?

Do you have any past arrests and/or convictions?           

I was arrested once a number of years ago, and it was dismissed and expunged from my record.

I’d like to add that to go in thinking like I’ll change the world right away, it’s not realistic. I like Mayor Dan. He’s a great guy. I may not agree with him politically, but you treat each other with respect. Pat (Gira) has been wonderful to me, but I don’t agree with her on a few things. I know Ed (Schussler) a little. I have respect for these people, and I won’t call them names or steal signs. That’s not what I’m about. I work with people every day. Some I like some I don’t, but you treat them with respect. I look forward to working with everybody. Having a different opinion on a board opens eyes. I didn’t know Greg (Okon), and I only knew (Tom) Cunningham a little before joining District 135’s school board. It’s a good school board and I’ll miss it. There are so many different opinions and backgrounds. Cunningham and I are in business, Okon community safety, (John) Carmody is in finance, (Ann) Gentile works in real estate, and (Mary) Bragg worked as a schoolteacher. It’s an awesome group of opinions and experiences. I may not always agree but I do respect. I hope to look at different ways to do things. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and again and expecting a different result.