My Testimony to the Orland Park Village Council, 12 May 2025

I’m Darold Barnum. I’m a professor emeritus of management in the UIC business school and also had an appointment in the public administration school. [To establish my credibility as an expert, a VERY exhaustive synopsis of my qualifications is at the end.]

Given the urgency of ensuring stable leadership and uninterrupted village operations, I believe it’s both practical and responsible to appoint a qualified village manager now rather than delay for a lengthy search. The normal hiring process makes sense under ordinary conditions, but after a hard-fought election and with critical decisions ahead, we need someone who can step in immediately and restore professional management. George is already familiar with our operations, has a proven track record, and can provide the continuity and stability we need right now.”

Let’s also be honest about the context: the former mayor had a track record of poor management, was highly opinionated, and often made questionable personnel decisions. I strongly suspect that any disciplinary action taken against George reflected more on the mayor’s flaws than on George’s performance. [Some of you may have read my many Patch articles about the dysfunction and politicization we saw under the prior administration.] Reinstating George would not only correct that wrong, it would also send a strong signal that we’re returning to professionalism, fairness, and competence

* * * * * * * * * * * *

I am an Emeritus Professor of Management and Decision Science in the College of Business, University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), where I also held appointments in the College of Pharmacy and the College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs (Public Administration) Throughout my 48 year career, my primary research and consulting focus was on local government performance. I worked directly with managers and administrators in governments nationwide, helping them analyze and improve their operations. For the last 20 years of my career, I developed and applied mathematical models measuring the relative efficiency of local government units. In addition to decades of hands-on experience with public organizations, my academic qualifications further support my ability to assess Orland Park’s administration: I hold an MBA in Industrial Relations and Finance and a PhD in Business and Applied Economics, both from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Over the course of my academic career, I published five books and more than 100 refereed articles on management, economics, and organizational performance. I served as Head of the Management Department and was the founding director of the University of Illinois Center for Human Resource Management, a consortium uniting corporate executives and senior faculty from UIC and UIUC to address real-world organizational challenges.