Orland Park Mayor Keith Pekau and the village board do not like seeing the Horton Group in the middle of a political crossfire.
The Horton Group is a long-established insurance broker and it found itself in the middle of an imbroglio between Pekau and his slate and Jim Dodge and his slate running for office in the April 1 election.
Pekau was piqued about a video that came out on social media recently made by the Inform Orland Park group and he addressed it at the Jan. 20 board meeting.
The video says that Pekau and the board are costing the village more than $1 million a year by choosing Horton over another insurance broker – the Intergovernmental Personnel Benefit Cooperative — because Horton is a top campaign donor.
“Keith Pekau claims to work for the taxpayers, but his actions tell a different story,” the narrator says.
The video was shown at the meeting, and the mayor and a couple of trustees took issue with it.
Pekau said the video’s information is false.
“These claims go beyond political rhetoric,” he said. “It impacts the village’s reputation, its partnerships with businesses and a longstanding local company.”
Pekau said that Horton has never donated to his campaign but said that three Horton employees have. He added former mayor Dan McLaughlin received $10,500 in contributions from Horton Insurance in the past.
Pekau also noted that Horton has been the village’s carrier since 2003, long before he took over the mayor’s chair in 2017.
The mayor also said his staff floated an idea of sharing insurance resources with other communities via the IPBC while keeping Horton as an advisor. But he said there were too many concerns about that including a question of protection from other municipalities’ losses and the idea was abandoned.
“It never was a choice,” Pekau said.
Trustee Bill Healy said that Pekau was being kind when he labelled the video as “misinformation” and had no problems with voting for the Horton Group as the insurance carrier of choice.
“It was so obvious which way to vote,” Healy said. “I would vote the same way again today.”
Trustee Brian Riordan said “They are barking up the wrong tree by going after Horton” about the video’s claims.
“I know them well,” Riordan said of Horton. “With my experience over the last four years, the service they provide…from what we get and the personal touch it’s by far anything better than we could get from these cooperatives.”
Orland bits
Darvin Furniture and Mattress was named Orland Park’s Business of the Month.
During the Committee of the Whole meeting on Jan. 20, the board listened to a presentation for the Founders of Orland Park planned development near Wolf Road but sent it back to the planning committee because the proposed 90 townhomes would cause density issues.
The summer program is being finalized but the village announced that Taste of Orland will take place Aug. 1-3 at Centennial Park West and the Fourth of July celebration will feature two bands instead of one in 2025.
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