Orland Fire Protection District replaces fire commissioner who alleged he was being removed because of political retribution
ORLAND PARK, Ill. — An Orland Fire Protect District fire commissioner’s monthslong limbo is over, as the OFPD Board of Trustees officially appointed someone else to the position.
Glenn Kraemer, who was appointed to the Board of Fire Commissioners in November 2018, was formally replaced by Beth Kaspar in a 3-0 vote taken at the OFPD Board of Trustees meeting held on Tuesday, June 28. Board President Christopher Evoy and trustees John Brudnak and Jayne Schirmacher cast the ballots, with trustees James Hickey and Craig Schmidt absent.
All the present trustees participated remotely, and the vote almost did not take place. Schmidt — who was on the teleconference platform to start the meeting — asked Evoy to remove an item from the agenda. When Evoy refused, Schmidt left the call — meaning just two trustees were present, leading to a lack of a quorum. However, the remaining trustees and OFPD staff were able to get ahold of Brudnak, and he joined the call several minutes later.
The trustees then voted to move all of their New Business agenda items to a Consent Agenda. Then, they took a vote to approve the Consent Agenda, with the appointment of Kaspar to fill Kraemer’s commissioner role, without discussion. The meeting ended shortly after the vote.
Earlier in the meeting, Kraemer — who spoke with Richard Free Press in May and alleged that he was being removed from his position as an act of political retribution — spoke to the board members during public comment.
“The board has reappointed both Brian O’Neill and Matt Rafferty multiple times, yet neither of them have even bothered to attend a swearing-in ceremony in over three years,” Kraemer said. “This is an extremely important service that they were appointed to do. I have been there to swear in every single new member and promotion for three solid years.”
Kraemer told the trustees that his disappointment would not be that he was replaced, but rather that “this board can be influenced to this extent by meddling politicians or a family that thinks that they run the district from behind the scenes.”
“As you know, I have the backing of the rank-and-file members of this district, as well as most of the chiefs — from what I’ve been told personally,” he said. “Making this move will be a stick in the eye to all those hardworking members of our district. It will be an action showing them that this elected board does not care what they think. It will also be an action showing the voting taxpayers of the district that this board is more concerned about political influences from the outside than reappointing someone who has actually done the job that he was appointed to do.”
Kraemer said that he still had not heard from anyone on the Board of Trustees regarding who had directed the fire chief to send a letter to Kraemer in April telling him he would not be reappointed. He also said his Freedom of Information Act requests have been denied, as well.
“It’s still a complete mystery,” he said. “Will this ever be made public? Or will this independent taxing body and its insiders continue to cover up the source of the pressure to remove me?”
After the meeting, Kraemer spoke with Richard Free Press and further expanded on his comments made during the meeting.
“I put a request out to speak with any of the trustees that would like to have a conversation about this topic [prior to the meeting] and not one of them ever responded,” he said, adding that he still has not been given a reason as to why he was not reappointed.
With Kraemer officially not being reappointed, he reflected on the positive aspects of his three years of service to the fire district.
“Every bit of it was fantastic,” he said. “As I’ve always said, I’ve been completely honored to be involved with the hardworking men and women of the district — the interviewing of the new candidates, promoting people through the ranks, swearing in these fine people, and meeting them and joining them at other events that honored first responders. [At those], not one single other commissioner or trustee ever attended in the three years I was doing it. I was the only one for three solid years, but I’m the one who is not reappointed. But otherwise, it was an absolutely wonderful experience getting to know everybody in the district and finding out how great they all are.”
Kraemer also said he plans to stay involved in the community.
“I think I’m a volunteer at heart,” he said. “I work very diligently for the American Legion and veterans’ programs.
“I look forward to continuing to serve the community as best I can. It’s just who I am.”
Richard Free Press reached out to Evoy for comment but has not received a response as of presstime.