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Politics & Government

Village Board Won't Give Bridge Teen Center a Break on Permit Fees

Mayor shuffles committee leadership, independent audit approved and more at Monday night's village board meeting.

The Orland Park Village Board of Trustees decided not to waive the permit fees for the recent expansion of the , an afterschool hangout for teenagers and their parents, despite the urging of one of its own trustees.

The teen center was constructed in 2010 and expanded in 2011 with . Several months ago, Bridge co-founders Rob and Priscilla Steinmetz wrote a letter to the village asking that the most recent building permit fees—totaling $1,232—be waived.

On Monday, Rob Steinmetz noted that a contractor donated hundreds of hours of his own time to help oversee both projects. The contractor even paid $300 to become licensed in Orland Park, and the teen center was asking the board for a reimbursement. This, too, was denied.

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Steinmetz said the contractor would otherwise not use that Orland Park license again.

“He did it just for us, so we were hoping to get that reimbursed so we didn’t have to reimburse him,” he said.

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Mayor Dan McLaughlin said the teen center isn’t the first not-for-profit organization to request permit waivers. Because of repeat requests from churches and other not-for-profit organizations, the village board adopted a building fee policy in 2009 that only gives certain permit waivers to other government entities.

In a prepared statement, the village’s development services department noted that "these permits do generate significant amount of work for ... staff," and that "consideration needs to been given in regard to revenue impact, as there are a large number of organizations, including churches, in Orland Park.”

McLaughlin said he donated $1,000 to the teen center last year and encouraged fellow trustees and the public to do the same. He also asked assistant manager Ellen Baer about fundraisers in which the village could include the teen center.

Trustee Edward Schussler disagreed with the board’s decision to deny the waiver, noting that the teen center isn’t like a church.

“Their organization is not in the same category as a church," Schussler said. "Both are not-for-profits, but this is an organization that provides the service to teenagers of our community which would normally be provided by our recreation and parks department."

Rob Steinmetz said he was disappointed but respectful of the village’s point of view.

“What we’re doing here in Orland Park is kind of unique in nature,” he said of the teen center. “This place was literally built by the community, for the community …We were hopeful the village would see what was going on here and see the number of people in the community who made sacrifices to make this happen, and they would follow suit. But, you know, at the same time we have to respect the position they’re in. If they approved ours, others would try to make similar cases.”

Also on the Village Board’s Radar:

  • The mayor assigned trustees to lead the following committees: Brad O’Halloran (Finance); James Dodge (Technology, Communication and Community Engagement); Pat Gira (Parks and Recreation); Fenton (Community Services and Planning); Schussler (Public Works and Engineering); Carole Griffin Ruzich (Public Safety). Special events have been scaled back to consider technology in Dodge’s committee.
  • Trustees hired Matrix Consulting Group to . Consultants are expected to make recommendations about staffing levels, costs and resources after a 12-week study. This is the first organizational review the village has ordered in 10 years and will cost $44,900.
  • The finance committee endorsed the hiring of a new collection agency, Municipal Collections of America, to retrieve unpaid police and municipal tickets. As of May 31, according to a village news release, Orland Park is owed approximately $4.2 million in parking fines and another $1.2 million in municipal fines.
  • The was approved.
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