Orland Park Mayor Keith Pekau to seek re-election in April 2021
Orland Park Mayor Keith Pekau speaks during a Memorial Day event held earlier this year. Pekau is seeking re-election in the April 2021 municipal election. JON DEPAOLIS/RICHARD FREE PRESS
By Jon DePaolis
ORLAND PARK, Ill. – Keith Pekau will ask Orland Park residents for a second term as mayor this April.
Pekau – a U.S. Air Force veteran who was elected mayor in April 2017 by defeating longtime incumbent Dan McLaughlin – told Richard Free Press of his plans to run for re-election on Tuesday, Nov. 10.
“I think you get to make a difference for people,” said Pekau, when asked what he has enjoyed most about being mayor. “I grew up here and I was raised here. I moved back here and raised my family here. I’ve gotten to see parts of the town [as mayor] that even though I’ve spent the bulk of my life here, I didn’t know existed. It’s been great to be able to experience and be involved with that stuff. That’s a lot of fun.
“I also get to give back to the community that I was raised in and helped mold me into who I am and helped mold my three kids. To be able to give back to that community is very rewarding to me.”
Looking back on his first term, Pekau said he feels he has done what he told voters he would do while on the campaign trail. That has included working to eliminate the elected officials’ pensions and lowering the mayor’s salary following the April 2021 election. He also said he focused on protecting Orland Square Mall by helping court the Von Maur development.
But he also pointed to the difficulty he had early on in his first term when he presided over a Village Board that did not support him.
“The first couple of years, if you look at what my agenda was – and it’s still there on my website – I probably accomplished 75% of it,” Pekau said. “It’s not [done] completely, but we’ve at least gotten things started and the ball rolling on [most of it]. But the amount of obstruction and just difficulty in getting that done was significant.”
He said that part of that obstruction came in form of lack of a email or building access.
“Just things that were done just to try to thwart the will of the people who voted me into office,” Pekau said. “So, that was obviously a challenge.”
After the 2019 election that saw three trustees elected who were supported by the mayor, Pekau said he has been able to get other things accomplished for the Village, such as road and park improvements and other infrastructure projects. He also said he was able to get about $40 million in debt “off the books,” which better equipped the Village to be able to handle the challenges brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.
“Now, we have a team that is functioning well together,” Pekau said. “But there’s still a lot of improvements that can be made.”
Pekau pointed to technological upgrades and customer service improvements as examples.
“For me, it’s four more years of seeing that be completed and to see those changes completely engrained,” he said. “And to see all the effort we’ve made to change how we look at our infrastructure and how we invest in it and change how we focus on economic development and diversify our base.
“It’s been a great start and we’ve gotten a lot of it completed or started. I just want to see that to fruition over the next four years.”