Village of Orland Park Press Release: A Rebuttal to Their Rebuttal

The Village of Orland Park (VOP) issued a press release that I just discovered, purporting to refute "misinformation" in my November 22 article published in Patch. Unfortunately, VOP's statement does more to illustrate my concerns than to rebut them. Their response manipulates language, selectively frames facts, and entirely ignores the central thesis of my article: that Orland Park government under Mayor Pekau has embraced an aggressive/defensive organizational culture that undermines public trust, transparency, and professionalism.

Let us look at each of their so-called "corrections."

My statement according to VOP: "The Village has not filed its audit for Fiscal Year 2022."

Village Response: The Village claims it "fully complied" with all financial reporting requirements for FY2022 and that the report is publicly available.

The Reality: VOP misrepresents my original words to invent a claim I never made. I did not say the Village had never filed its FY2022 audit. I wrote that the Village had "failed to file audited financial reports for 2021 and 2022, prompting intervention from the Illinois Comptroller." That is objectively true. The Comptroller did in fact suspend state offset payments to Orland Park on October 17, 2024, due to their failure to file both years' reports on time. The 2022 audit was accepted by the Comptroller only in mid-November 2024—years late and only after the Village lost state funds. So yes, the report was eventually filed, but not in a timely manner, and only under pressure. That is not compliance; it is damage control.

My statement according to VOP: "The Village’s 2021 and 2022 crime data were not submitted in the correct format."

Village Response: The Village asserts it complied with state law by submitting reports to the Illinois State Police and that any failures at the federal level are "beyond the Village's control."

The Reality: This response inadvertently confirms the issue. Other nearby municipalities—Tinley Park, Oak Lawn, Orland Hills, and Palos Heights—all managed to submit their data in the correct format, which is why their statistics appear in the FBI's national database. Orland Park’s data does not. Why? Because VOP failed to use the format required for federal inclusion. Pointing fingers at the Illinois State Police rather than owning the problem reinforces a core concern: evasion of responsibility.

My statement according to VOP: "The Centennial Park West project advanced with minimal public involvement."

Village Response: VOP lists a series of public meetings and claims broad community engagement.

The Reality: Their list—like Macbeth's "tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing"—distracts rather than addresses the issue. Yes, meetings occurred, but that does not equate to meaningful public involvement. Public engagement is not a checklist; it is a process of open communication, inclusion, and responsiveness. Posting a notice or checking a box does not equal transparency or consensus. For a deeper analysis of the bandshell fiasco, see https://bit.ly/MayorsCapitalProjects.

Final Irony: A Lecture on Transparency

VOP closes its press release with a lecture on the importance of transparency. I agree. But when an organization rewrites criticism into straw-man arguments, dodges substantive questions, and issues rebuttals in obscure press releases rather than in the forum where the original claims were made, that’s not transparency—it’s deflection.

If VOP truly believes that my article was riddled with “misleading and inaccurate statements,” then post your response on Patch, where it can be directly rebutted. The current approach—press releases buried on a municipal website—speaks volumes about the administration’s interest in honest, open dialogue.

Avoiding the Main Point

Curiously, VOP’s rebuttal avoids my article’s central point: that under Mayor Pekau, the Village has become a textbook example of an aggressive/defensive culture. In such a culture, criticism is met with attacks, not reflection. Power is centralized. Expertise is disregarded. Processes are opaque. Mistakes are spun rather than addressed. In short, the workplace is toxic and the public’s trust erodes—and for good reason.

VOP can attempt to deny individual symptoms. But they have said nothing to disprove the diagnosis.

Darold Barnum, PhD, MBA. Emeritus Professor of Management and Decision Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago. Co-Founder, University of Illinois Center for Human Resource Management.