While much attention has been focused on the April 7 elections, an obscure one got unexpectedly heated in Orland Park Thursday night — the election for the Orland Historical Society board.
The society’s president, Bob Elli, said he moved the election, typically held in May, to Thursday, fearing a “hostile takeover” by Orland Park and its mayor.
The society aims to preserve village history and maintains the John Humphrey House, 9830 W. 144th Place., that was built in 1881 by Humphrey, a state senator and Orland Park’s first mayor, and the Hostert Log Cabin.
A few minutes before the election began at Gatto’s Italian Restaurant and Bar in Orland Park, about 10 residents who said they had paid their society dues and received invitations were surprised when met with a closed door blocked by Elli’s attorney and a pair of security guards.
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Elli said the residents who were turned away had not followed proper procedures for joining and were recruited by village employees, not the society.
Village attorney Ken Friker, who was turned away about 10 minutes before the election began, said he was aware that their status as eligible voters was in dispute but wasn’t expecting security guards.
“It’s the craziest thing,” Friker said. “(Elli) has been a devoted member and president and at all times doing what he thought best. This is a historical society. We’re all in it for the same reason. There’s no money to be made, we’re just trying to protect the history of the village.”
Elli said he began working with the village about a year ago but came to fear that he was being pushed out after village officials sent out a news release, announcing that the society was looking for new members and officers and encouraging people to join at a meeting in late February.
Elli canceled the meeting and announced that the society would be holding elections early, saying he worried that the village was trying to bring in new members to elect leaders it backed.
“I thought they wanted to be cooperative. They didn’t say they were going to take over,” said Elli, who has been the society’s president for about a decade.
After Elli canceled the February meeting, Mayor Dan McLaughlin said he was worried whether Elli and the group’s shrinking membership were up to the task of taking care of the Humphrey House and its artifacts, noting a January 2014 inspection that found problems with the building’s foundation. A village building inspector estimated the cost of the repairs at between $125,000 and $150,000.
“I think Orland Park has a great history, and we want it well taken care of,” McLaughlin said. “If he was doing the job, we wouldn’t care.”
Elli said the society has $160,000 in a trust that funds the Humphrey House upkeep, along with another $84,000, and has the resources needed to make repairs.
Friker said he collected 36 membership forms and dues from people who attended the February meeting despite the cancellation. But Elli’s attorney, Tom Courtney, said they weren’t eligible to vote or run for the board of directors because they failed to hand over checks and paperwork by an earlier pre-election deadline.
On Thursday night, about 18 society members and 87 others whom Elli said had agreed to vote by proxy elected by a show of hands 10 people who volunteered to serve on the board, including Elli, proving correct his pre-election prediction that the society’s candidates would “beat [the village’s] fanny off.”
Diane Grah, a new board member from Orland Park, said she has been a member of the society since 2009, serves as executive director of the Historical Society of Forest Park and has been wanting to put her background in history and nonprofit management to work helping her local society.
Other new board members had a more spontaneous interest. For example, Courtney asked Paul Deppe if he were interested in volunteering for a director’s post after Deppe walked in to the meeting about 15 minutes late, and Deppe replied, “Sure.”
After the election, Courtney and Elli said the historical society has made several important moves recently — brining in new members and an archivist, purchasing fireproof boxes to protect photographs and documents and hiring a structural engineer to study the Humphrey House foundation and an accountant to help with financial records.
The society replaced its treasurer last year after discovering the person wasn’t paying the bills, Elli said.
“This organization has been around for 20 years. If they were interested, they could have taken the proper steps to join,” Courtney said, referring to the people who were turned away Thursday night. “The village shouldn’t be involved in a private organization.”
On Friday, Friker said he hasn’t decided whether he and the other prospective members will challenge being denied the right to vote for the board.
He said there’s nothing in the society’s bylaws about a deadline for membership forms before an election of the board. He again on Thursday tried to turn in the forms and dues collected at the February meeting and was refused, Friker said.
“I just don’t get it,” he said. “I’m kind of flabbergasted they would take this approach. I think it’s astounding that (Elli) came to the village for assistance, we got a bunch of people to help and he turned them away.”
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