VOP Fall 2013

Volume 31 - Number 4

Fall 2013

Orland Park Mayor Daniel J. McLaughlin presented with Moraine Valley 2013 Business Champion Award

the amount of open space for present and future generations. Under McLaughlin’s leadership for the past nine of 12 years, the Village of Orland Park has rebated a portion of the village’s property taxes to residents. The total amount rebated to Village of Orland Park residents from 2003 to 2012 was just over $30 million. “Dan McLaughlin continues to show excellent leadership in the Orland Park community as mayor and within the Southwest Conference of Mayors through his efforts and contributions,” said Palos Hills Mayor Gerald Bennett, President of the Southwest Conference of Mayors.

The Southwest Conference of Mayors nominated Mayor McLaughlin and he was awarded the Moraine Valley Community College Stars of the Southwest Suburbs 2013 Business Champion Award for Excellence in Government. “I am honored to receive this award and be included with some extraordinary recipients, including Priscilla Steinmetz of the Bridge Teen Center. I am humbled by the nomination,” said Mayor McLaughlin. “The honor can only be attributed to the exemplary teamwork by the Village of Orland Park staff as well as the entire community.” The Excellence in Government Award was presented to Mayor McLaughlin for progressing the village economically, environmentally, culturally, socially, and recreationally. McLaughlin has attracted a number of new businesses to the village, created the Residential Rewards Program, Ninety7Fifty on the Park Project, the Taste of Orland Park, and many other events. Under his leadership, ‘…the village has grown and maintained its vitality and low crime rate,” according to the announcement by the Moraine Valley Community College’s Corporate Community and Continuing Education subdivision. The Village of Orland Park remains on the forefront in preserving the environment. In an attempt to preserve open spaces, Mayor Dan McLaughlin instituted the Open Lands Fund. Since 2000, the Open Lands Program has purchased 270 acres of land to be preserved with the simple goal of improving the quality of life in Orland Park by increasing

“As a member of the Southwest Conference of Mayors, Mayor McLaughlin has greatly contributed to the sustainability of the southwest suburbs by working with the conference members on numerous issues including, but not limited to, transportation, economic development, environmental and legislative,” remarked Victoria Smith, executive director of the Southwest Conference of Mayors.

McLaughlin also represented both the Southwest Conference of Mayors and the South Suburban Mayors and Managers Association on the Regional Water Supply Group of CMAP (Chicago Metropolitan

Agency for Planning).

www.orlandpark.org

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