Dodge says Orland Park focused on civility, improved citizen engagement and maximizing services in SOTV
Orland Park Mayor Jim Dodge presented his first State of the Village address on expanding services to residents in sharp contrast to past SOTV's made by Keith Pekau who focused on politics and attacks
By Ray Hanania
Orland Park Mayor Jim Dodge presented a portrait of his vision for strengthening the village, increasing the engagement and involvement of residents, boosting retail, and increasing the Police Department during his State of the Village (SOTV) speech on Tuesday (March 31, 2026) at the Orland Civic Center.
Dodge shifted the focus of the SOTV, which, under his predecessor, Keith Pekau, focused almost exclusively on attacking critics and citizens who disagreed with his errant policies and on Pekau’s self-promotion.
Dodge addressed the issue of civility, noting that he was mentored in politics by one of Illinois’ most respected Governors, the late Jim Edgar, who advocated for “Civility, Compromise and Compassion.”
“That’s just a simple way of doing business in terms of being in politics or public service. Compromise. I’ve never thought it was a dirty word because it presumes you’re always right if you can’t compromise,” Dodge said.
“Then you’ve got compassion, which is why you're really there? How are you trying to help people? And one of the things we like to think about is what’s the greatest good for the greatest number. We’ve never said that implies perfect. We’ve never said everybody’s going to agree, but you really do have to say, ‘What is the greatest good you could do for the greatest number of people?”
Dodge’s message of civility resonated with the audience, which sharply contrasted with the confrontational tone of ousted mayor Pekau, who focused on politics and self-promotion, and political narcissism.
Dodge outlined many of his goals for the village and the residents for the audience in a style that sharply contrasted the past practices of his predecessor, Pekau, who focused on personal attacks and politics.
Expanding the Police Department to increase safety and response. “I thought, and the chief agreed, that given the demands on our police department and given the physical size of this town, we needed a bigger police department, which we’ve been working on,” Dodge said.
Restore and increase village government transparency by augmenting engagement between the village and citizens, and responding to them quickly and fully
Strengthen the village’s working relationship with all of the region’s elected officials to ensure Orland Park receives the maximum support from the county, the legislature, and the state
Energize support of Orland Park’s retail community, which accounts for 51 percent of village revenues to the village, a majority coming from consumers who don’t live in the village. “So, for everybody here who doesn’t live in Orland Park, we do thank you for shopping in Orland Park,” Dodge said.
“Transparency” is critical to strengthening the village, said Dodge, who has spent 32 years on the village board and 41 years in the private sector.
“In increasing transparency, we’ve settled on the name ‘VOP Connect.’ One of the things that we started talking about, as soon as we got in, is I don’t think there’s enough good, reliable ways for people to tell us what’s going on,” Dodge said, explaining re-engaging the public was one of the best ways to bring the community to work together for the betterment of the village.
“What we’re building under VOP Connect is a way for people to know, when they come to VOP Connect, you’re going to find a lot more information about what’s going on in the village with communication and details. We’re also going to make it two-way. We’re going to start doing more surveys. I want to have an opt-in panel, so when we have a big policy question, we can pop it out to a number of people in Orland Park and get turnaround.”
Dodge outlined how his administration was consolidating services and information to and from residents to “Stay connected. Stay informed. Get Involved.”
VOP Connect will include “tools to make it easy to engage and be part of the conversation.”
They include:
From the village to residents: “Opt-in Communications, Social media, newsletters, and community outreach.”
Transparency and Information Center: “Transparency & Accountability; civic participation, and upcoming projects.”
From citizens to the village: “OP311, digital suggestion box, surveys, FOIA.”
Dodge told the record-attending audience the village has hired 25 full-time and 40 part-time additional village staff, which includes 10 full-time police officers and 10 part-time positions in Police EMA.
“We’re going to enhance public safety. That was number one. We’re going to start aligning our resources with the community’s desired service levels. That’s a way of saying people in Orland Park, as customers, have pretty high service expectations,” Dodge said.
“I’m not going to ask you to show your hands if you’ve been pulled over recently- -and had a customer service engagement with the Orland Park Police Department. But we are investing in public safety because that’s what the citizens of Orland Park wanted, right? Infrastructure and operations.”
Public safety investment, there’s more positions in the police department. Has anybody seen more police cars?
Dodge added, “We hear it pretty quickly when there’s something not right in a park or on a street, and we’re gonna keep trying to serve that. And the other thing we’re doing, we’re setting the stage for being much more analytical, much more data-driven, and taking advantage of technology as we go forward.”
Dodge explained the added staff includes keeping up with the maintenance of village sidewalks, which he noted consist of 1,100 miles in total length.
Under the previous administration, all of the village committees were abolished and consolidated into one committee controlled by Pekau. Dodge outlined the many citizen committees that have been re-established and are already working to improve the village.
“If you’re in local government, your job is to do your job, right? To be straight about it, which is why you’re here. You’re here to serve. So, we added twenty-five, uh, staffers, and we added a bunch of, uh, part-time positions in the recent budget.”
Nearly 400 people attended the event, far more than past attendance under Pekau, filling the Civic Center’s two halls, and many acknowledged how the tone of the SOTV under Dodge of “civility and respect” had been shifted away from Pekau’s tone of confrontation and personal attacks.
Dodge acknowledged the many elected officials who attended the SOTV, something observers said was a significant effort to repair the isolation that Orland Park had been led into by the controversial policies of his predecessor, Pekau.
“I am thrilled we’ve got nine state representatives and senators that we can talk to,” Dodge said, acknowledging all of the officials who attended, along with those who sent representatives. … We are not an island, and we’re going to try and make sure that we continue to do collaboration.”
Dodge said he is working with the legislature to fund the expansion of 143rd Street, which has been prone to flooding that has not been addressed in six years, adding, “But that’s where we’re trying to get to, and I appreciate we have representatives from Senator Hastings here. I appreciate the fact that we’ve got nine folks of good intention that we can work with across the (legislative) aisle.
The officials included former Mayor Dan McLaughlin, whom Dodge praised for his leadership. Cook County Clerk Monica Gordon. Former State Senator Patrick O’Malley, who has often been praised as the voice of civility in the legislature. State Rep. Mary Gill, former State Rep. Frances Ann Hurley, now the Democratic nominee for State Senator, State Rep. Nicole La Ha, and State Senators Bill Cunningham and John Curan.
The audience also included State Senators Mike Hastings, Emil Jones III, and John Curan, and State Representatives Justin Slaughter, Bob Rita, and Patrick Sheehan.
Also in the audience were officials from School District 230, 135, and Moraine Valley Community College, the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District, and several union leaders, along with the huge attendance through the Orland Chamber of Commerce at the luncheon.
Also attending were Orland Democratic Committeewoman Beth McElroy Kirkwood, Republican Committeeman Ken Duffy, former Cook County Board Commissioner Elizabeth “Liz” Doody Gorman, and several officials from Orland Township.
Click this link to view the video (starting at the 55:20 minute mark.
Mayor Jim Dodge has brought common sense to local government. Working with others is key to success and great for the community.
Mayor Dodge gave a great presentation ... and has put the focus back on the taxpayers and citizens, in sharp contrast to Pekau who would attack people during his speeches