Proposed Dog Park Fees and More at Tonight's Village Board Meet (Live Blog Transcript)

Orland Park trustees also discussed further Orland Plaza demolition during Monday night's meeting. Read our live blog transcript for more information from the meeting.

Orland Park Village Board trustees will talk fees for using a new dog park scheduled to open within Centennial Park later in the year, during Monday night's village board meeting. The village's Parks Department has proposed charging Orland Park and Orland Township residents $25 per year for park use, and $50 for non residents. The initial fee will be for one dog. Residents who want to bring multiple dogs to the park would pay an additional $10 per dog, while non-residents would pay $20 per added dog, if the board approves the rates. Bids for demolishing another portion of the former Orland Plaza will also be up for discussion Monday night. This contract would cover demolition of the remaining structures down to the basement and/or slab, …

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Ted Sadowski

7:24 am on Saturday, March 16, 2013

Orland Park is long overdue for a dog park. I was part of the city's efforts to win the PetSafe dog park and there are thousands of dog owners in Orland Park. We have a park in almost every neighborhood for kids. There's a park for skaters, swimmers, ice skaters and everyone else. It's time for our four legged friends to have a safe place to play. I'm looking forward to it.   more ›

2011 Election Issues: Rich Kelly, Orland Park Village Board Candidate

As a follow-up to our initial and more-biographical questionnaire, we asked candidates to answer issue-specific questions.

Nine candidates are competing for three seats in this year's Orland Park Village Board of Trustees race. Rich Kelly spoke with Patch about keeping businesses from Orland Plaza, towing vehicles and being careful with local deals. Does the current board engage in enough debate and discussion before voting? I feel the current board does not engage in enough debate and discussion before voting. Some of the trustees seem to be a “rubber stamp” for their leader. There are a few trustees that are independent thinkers but we need more. That is why I am running as an Independent Candidate. 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? As I stated…

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Rear View

In This Rear View: Maher Talks Exit, Paczkis and Fire Issues

We look back at a week where Patrick Maher spoke after leaving the Orland Fire Protection District race, more social media was spawned from House Bill 1886 and Bernard Murphy was honored for 26 years in the trustee hot seat.

Rear View is going to look a little different this time as we recap articles day by day. Let us know in the comments how it compares to our past format. After backing down on HB1886, Rita told District 146 board president Dean Casper that he is far from finished with the idea of combining school districts across Illinois. Rita will not be at the Monday evening Town Hall Meeting at Century Middle School, nor will he send a representative or even email a statement to be read. In brighter news, the Cluster Moms helped a whole slew of parents save money at one of their large sales of clothes, shoes, games, books, toys, strollers and many other items, especially for parents with twins, triplets and so on.  Twenty-six years is a long time to do …

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Reasons for More Towing, Reviews and A New Murphy

Highlights from Monday night's Orland Park Village Board meeting.

Updated at 2:30 p.m.: Village manager Paul Grimes said Tuesday possession has been stricken from the tow code additions completely. Police Chief Tim McCarthy is not expected to come back before the village's public safety committee with a possession amendment, as previously reported. Increased Reasons for Car Impounding The number of reasons Orland Park police can tow your car has gone up. Adults ticketed for public indecency or who abandon their car at the scene of an accident involving death, injury or car damage must now pay $500 punishment to retrieve their car from an impound lot, as will minors who consume a drop of alcohol and get behind the wheel. Police Chief Tim McCarthy told village trustees last month that all of these reasons …

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Open Session

Check or Credit: How Should Orland Park Pay Its Bills?

The village’s Finance Committee debated the pros and cons of paying bills with plastic, instead of checks or electronic payments.

Could the village reap the bonus rewards associated with credit cards by opting for plastic when paying vendors? Or would fees from the plastic payments deter vendors from doing business with the village, while a credit card company takes its own rewards from millions in transactions? The Orland Park Finance Committee was presented Monday with the possibility of taking out an American Express corporate card for paying vendors who say they’ll accept credit, including Waste Management for trash collection, as well as salt and office suppliers. Waste Management costs the village about $4 million a year, and the salt and office supplies add up to another $800,000 each year. Making those payments with the credit card could net about $48,000 a …

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New School Year, Same Fees

Orland School District 135 approved fees for the upcoming 2011-2012 school year, and they will appear to similar to families who paid for the current school year.

The Orland Park School District 135 unanimously approved school fees for the 2011-2012 school year, starting in Aug. 2011. Fees remained the same compared to the current 2010-2011 school year, though slightly higher than the 2009-2010 school year. District 135 Asst. Superintendent of Business Services John Reiniche said the district did not make any cuts in school services to keep fees consistent. The school board passed the new fees without discussion. *Optional **Optional only if not previously bought Kindergarten Breakdown *Optional *Optional **Students can keep novels after school year ***Optional only if not previously bought *Optional **Students can keep novels after school year ***Optional only if not previously bought Source: …

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