Public comments at OP board meeting show divide over lawsuit against governor, viability of summer events

By Jon DePaolis

ORLAND PARK, Ill. — A microcosm of a debate happening in towns around the country took center stage Monday, July 6, during the Village of Orland Park Board of Trustees meeting.

A group of Orland Park and south suburban residents gathered in the atrium of Village Hall during the meeting because of limited space in the board room due to social distancing requirements. Eight of them spoke during the public comment portion of the meeting to ask the Village to drop its lawsuit against Gov. J.B. Pritzker and to cancel some of the larger planned summer events, such as the Centennial Park West concert series.

Suzanna Ibarra, chairperson of the Will County Progressives, said she shares the frustration of how people are currently being asked to live and noted the difficulty of potentially being asked to stay home while not working.

“Our small businesses are suffering, and people want to go back to normal,” she said. “But I think I also speak for everyone in this room when I say that nobody is willing to die for that kind of normalcy. No one is willing to get severely sick for a month or put their loved ones at risk to pretend that our lives are normal.”

Ibarra called the lawsuit against Pritzker “frivolous” and a “political ploy.”

Tarek Cattan said the lawsuit was a “waste of time” and “that [it] will go nowhere except waste thousands of taxpayer dollars.” He also said holding summer events would be a “public health nightmare.”

“Please do not waste our money, our time and risk our lives,” he said.

Two Orland Park residents, however, spoke out in favor of the Village’s stance on the concerts.

“I can understand people being very upset about this COVID situation,” Yvonne Shurley said. “This is never going to be solved until there is a vaccine, and people have to move on from this. Those that don’t want to go to the concerts certainly don’t have to go. They don’t have to compromise themselves in any way.”

As for the Pritzker lawsuit, Shurley said it was “OK for him to allow thousands upon thousands of protestors to be out in the streets and nobody said anything about that.”

“But just because we are going to have some summer concerts and people need to get away from the house and people need to find themselves doing something for a change, everybody is upset about this now,” she said. “You cannot please all the people all the time.”

Shurley said she believes there are more people who are looking forward to the concerts than those who are not.

“At this point, everyone needs to take their chance,” she said. “If you want to participate, do it. If you don’t, then just don’t do it.”

During board comments, Trustee James Dodge thanked those who came up to the podium to tell the elected officials what they thought.

“Clearly, there is a lot of energy and passion and sincerity on these topics on both sides,” Dodge said. “People coming up and engaging public officials is exactly the right thing to do.”

Mayor Keith Pekau also addressed the public commenters during his own comments to the board at the end of the meeting. He recited guidance from the World Health Organization and other agencies about wearing masks, including listing some of the safety concerns and physical drawbacks. He also pushed back against the notion that the actions taken by the Village were done so only by the mayor.

“The mayor is one vote,” Pekau said. “The board has done this, because the legislative body has acted. Tonight, the legislative body [approved a reopening] plan. The legislative body decided to file the lawsuit. The legislative body has taken all of these actions, because that is the way it is supposed to work. We have discussion on the board floor. We don’t always agree. Sometimes, it is 5-2, and sometimes it is 4-3. Sometimes, it is 7-0 and 6-1. We have disagreements, but that’s OK. But we vote because we are a legislative body. We’re not one person making these decisions. That’s the problem with what’s happening with the state. It’s one person making the decisions.”

Earlier in the meeting, the board voted 6-1 to approve the Village’s Back to Normal Plan to guide businesses and residents as they prepare to reopen if the governor’s executive orders are lifted. Trustee Dan Calandriello cast the dissenting ballot.

On July 2, a judge in the Clay County Circuit Court declared that the governor’s orders had no constitutional authority — prompting the Village to act by putting together a modified version of a plan it already has worked on since the spring.

As of the morning of July 9, no decision had been made regarding the Village’s lawsuit against Pritzker.