Meet Oak Lawn Library Board Candidate Pat O'Donnell

Pat O’Donnell is seeking election to the Oak Lawn Public Library Board of Trustees. Five candidates are vying for two seats on the library board. Library trustees serve six-year terms. The library board is responsible for governance and overseeing the provision of library services to meet the needs of the Oak Lawn community. Local elections are April 2. Early voting is underway now.

1) Why are you running?

Several months ago, Sean Kelly and I were talking about what we loved about Oak Lawn and ways that we think it could be better. Sean and I have been volunteering for the Village for a combined 20+ years, Sean on the Special Events Committee, and myself as the Village’s Treasurer and member of the police and fire pension boards. These are not paid-positions (despite what you may see people say on social media) but rather 100% volunteer positions, and we have enjoyed our time and believe we have done good jobs for Oak Lawn residents. We want to do more. We both have a variety of interests, but one thing we both have in common is our love for Oak Lawn and our library. The library is an unbelievably important asset to the citizens of Oak Lawn, we wish it to play an even bigger role in the community's development going forward.

Oak Lawn’s property taxes are some of the highest in the nation due mainly to the many different taxing bodies that have. In addition to the library, other taxing bodies include: the village, the park district, our 2 school boards, Moraine Valley Community College, Worth Township, and others. The library like the rest of these government entities needs to be challenged to do more with less. By doing so we will make our community stronger.

2) What makes the library’s mission meaningful to you?

The library is an incredible place to learn, and I’m a huge advocate of education. It’s where my wife and I took our kids to their first book clubs, where they had piano recitals, and where we still bring our nieces and nephews to various events (the Lego exhibit is a must-see!). One of my proudest achievements as a parent is that all 4 of my kids have graduated from college, 2 with Master’s degrees. And my hope is to create an atmosphere and provide offerings at the library that “wow” people into making it a part of their everyday life, rather than a place they rarely patronize.

3) What skills, resources, and expertise do you bring to the OLPL board? What do you have to offer the library board?

I have a technical background (in computers and software) and I’ve held several different executive positions in the banking, telecom and software industries. I volunteered in a advisory capacity for former Chicago’s Mayor Richard M. Daley, and consulted to the CIO of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. As a result of my experiences, I’ve developed a pretty good process for prioritizing spending and eliminating waste and inefficiencies, which I believe was one of the reasons I was asked to serve as the Oak Lawn village treasurer. All of which I will bring to my role as a library board member if elected.

4) As a board member, what would you like to improve at the library?

I’d like to see us doing a better job of communicating to the citizens of Oak Lawn on what is happening. You shouldn’t have to go to board meetings or read the cryptic (at best) financial statements to find out how they are spending our taxpayers dollars. I’d like to reach out to even more people, using more social media, but also do a better job of reaching out to the elderly. I’d like to look at the programs and services that are working well for a large segment of our population and make them better and used more and maybe scale back on underutilized programs. I’d like us to be more metrics based, and be transparent on how our costs and services compare to other libraries.

5) How can the OLPL board work with the Oak Lawn Board of Trustees on the library’s annual budget?

From my perspective, and based on my experience as the village treasurer, I believe the current library board views the village board as just the entity that collects taxes for the library. I think that is a limited and short-sighted view and one that adds to distrust and dysfunction. I think an approach of improving our communications with the taxpayer will answer many of the trustee’s questions.

6) For the past several years the board has raised the library’s property tax levy? What can the library board do to trim operating expenses?

Every organization needs fiscal discipline, and too often in government that discipline doesn’t exist. It’s really easy to just raise taxes every year, when the terms “profit” and “loss” aren’t things you have to worry about. We need to analyze where the library spends our money. Figure out which services are working and expand them, which ones need to be modified, and finally which ones don’t give us the appropriate ‘bang for the buck’. Then we are going to have to gather the various stakeholders together and figure out how to proceed.

7) How would you improve transparency on the library board?

For folks that want to figure out how the library is doing information such as the number of village residents that come to the library per month, how many are using the ebooks program , how many books have been on the shelf for a decade and never been taken out, how many books were taken out last year after sitting on the shelf for a decade. If 60% of our 56,000 residents have library cards as the say, how many were used in the last year? All this information should be online.

8) How would you approach budget constraints and/or live within the library's means? Why would you be a good steward of taxpayers’ money?

I think my business background and experience have prepared me well for a position like this, and Oak Lawn taxpayers have the benefit of seeing (or finding out) some of the results of my work in this regard. When I was Oak Lawn Treasurer, I focused my efforts on eliminating waste, reducing property taxes, and making sure that the village was providing services to residents efficiently. I also lobbied – successfully – the village board to increase their pension funding and helped in the negotiations of difficult labor contracts. It is my belief that I will work well with the other library board members and its employees, and together we will rise to the challenge of doing more for less, and delivering offering and services that make Oak Lawn residents say "wow".

Follow us on O'Donnell and Kelly For 2019 Library Facebook.