Officials say the consolidation rumors are "politically motivated."
Lauren Traut, Patch Staff
|Updated Fri, Mar 21, 2025 at 10:00 am CT
ORLAND PARK, IL — Fire officials and local leaders continue to debunk reports of impending consolidation of Tinley Park and Orland Park fire agencies, as the rumor polarizes residents and further politicizes pursuit of one fire district's trustee seats.
Fueled by what officials have called misinformation on social media and in some candidates' campaign literature, the rumors have prompted statements from several local officials, the latest by Tinley Park Fire Chief Steve Klotz.
"You may have heard a rumor that the Tinley Park Fire Department (TPFD) plans to merge with the Orland Fire Protection District (OFPD). I wanted to assure you that there is no basis to these claims," Klotz shared on March 12. "At no time was there any thought of the two departments becoming one, nor would any such merger be beneficial to either department. Like us, the OFPD already has a very capable team of dedicated firefighters who work diligently to protect their community. There is no need for us to combine forces, except during those times when we assist one another on automatic and mutual aid responses."
Similar statements have come from Orland Park Mayor Keith Pekau, Tinley Park Mayor Michael Glotz, and Orland Park mayoral candidate Jim Dodge, Orland Professional Firefighters Local 2754 said in a release to Patch (the latter group will be referred to as Orland Firefighters from this point).
Tinley Park Mayor Michael Glotz in a statement to Patch said a merger would never be supported.
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"Bottom line, I have never met or talked to them about merging," Glotz said. "It has never even been discussed with the board.
"As Mayor, I would never recommend merging to our board."
The spread has been attributed as "politically motivated to disparage the Orland Firefighters and the candidates they have endorsed."
In the April 1 consolidated election, two, six-year seats on the Orland Fire Protection District Board of Trustees are up for grabs, as well as one unexpired two-year seat. Six are vying for the former, and three for the latter.
Running for the six-year seats are incumbent Beth Damas Kaspar, incumbent Commissioner Donald "DJ" Jeffers, and Bridget Tolan on the Fiscal Voices for Fire Safety Slate. They're jockeying against the Together, Protecting & Supporting Orland Fire slate, with candidates Danielle Dorsey, Christian Barcelona and Jennifer May. A third slate also has two candidates—Mark Mitchell and Paris Stirrat—running for the six-year seats, and candidate Steven Troglio running for the two-year one.
Troglio, May and Tolan are all vying for the two-year seat.
The Together, Protecting and Supporting Orland Fire slate is publicly endorsed by Orland Firefighters.
Citing social media pushes and community-contributed pieces on Patch touting plans of a purported merger, the matter was brought before the Orland Fire Protection District's Board of Trustees at a meeting in late-February. At that meeting, Chief Michael Schofield "publicly took credit for all discussions of possible merger activities," Orland Professional Firefighters IAFF-AFFI Local 2754 said.
"He further explained that when he brought the idea to the Orland Firefighters, we did not want anything to do with it. He explained that Orland Firefighters has had no interactions with anyone regarding the issue."
Led by Fire District Trustee Tina Zekich, the board at that meeting unanimously passed a motion for District Spokesperson Ray Hanania to compose a press release negating the rumors. As of March 20, that has not happened.
As the election nears, talk of consolidation seems to be in tighter focus as a proverbial chess piece on the political board.
Fiscal Voices for Safety claim to be the sole slate against the proposed merger, issuing campaign rhetoric and robocalls saying such—but Together, Protecting, & Supporting Orland Fire rebuke that statement.
"We would like to express our firm opposition to any proposed merger or consolidation with other departments," the slate said. "... It is deeply disheartening to find that we are being linked to a merger, one that we neither proposed nor endorse. It is equally absurd that anyone would suggest we, or the firefighters, would be in favor of such a move. These claims do not reflect the priorities or interests of our team."
Fiscal Voices for Safety allege that plans for a merger originated within the local firefighters union; leadership there says they were drafted by Schofield and shared with them for consideration.
In an email from Patch seeking his comment, Schofield cited his comments at the meeting that "put to rest the consolidation talk rumors."
At that meeting, Schofield said Tinley Park had previously approached the Orland Fire Protection District "a few years ago" in an "off the record" conversation to broach the possibility of Orland expanding to encompass Tinley's service area. For context: Orland Fire Protection District covers Orland Park and Orland Hills, and fielded 12,423 calls for service in 2024. Tinley Park covers the village proper, and handled 11,459 calls in 2024.
"...We approached our union, and wanted to get their opinion on that type of off the record comment," Schofield said at the meeting. "Their response was they had no opinion, and they weren’t interested. Tinley Park never formally came to us, and the concept was never, ever brought up again."
Schofield declined further comment to Patch, stating that, "it is the Orland Fire Protection District’s policy to not comment on politics.
"The District’s efforts are focused on being the best Fire District in the state and it has worked hard to achieve the status of Internationally Accredited. The District is also one of only a handful in the country that holds an ISO Class 1and Accreditation. Our focus is on the fire district and its residents not on politics, or consolidations."
In emails and documents obtained by Patch, Schofield had shared a draft proposal with union leadership as recently as December 2024. Union representatives reportedly again denounced the idea to him, and publicly any connection to its origins then and now.
The "only official" merger discussions, they say, happened within the Decennial Committee. According to records, that committee comprised John Brudnak, Trustees Beth Damas Kaspar, Angela Greenfield, Tina Zekich, Jayne Schirmacher, as well as residents William Bonnar and Christopher Evoy. Chief Schofield also participated.
Minutes from March 2024 meeting of that committee indicate the group discussed it "could be a good time to discuss expanding and consolidating," noting previous mention of Tinley Park and Mokena.
Rumors of the merger have circulated in campaign literature, again attributing it as the brainchild of union leaders, local officials, and fire chiefs. Mayor Michael Glotz labels the chatter and his connection to it as a political attack against him, personally.
"There has been no thought given to the idea of the two fire departments merging, nor would it be beneficial to either department," Glotz told Patch.
"This is just another political attack by my opponents trying to create division by making something up in hopes that it will stick."
Orland Park mayoral candidate Jim Dodge told Patch that a merger would be unwise.
"This is nothing something that two bureaucracies should do," Dodge said. "This needs to be really understood and then put to the voters. It’s a purely political question: what are the numbers? How does this work? Who benefits? Who pays?
"I’m not convinced that a merger benefits the people of Orland Park. We’ll have to closely study this, if and when it becomes a real question of public policy. Anything of that magnitude, in my opinion, absolutely needs to go to a voter referendum. There’s just so much complexity, so much cost."
At a March 17 Orland Park Board of Trustee meetings, Mayor Keith Pekau again said the rumor is not true. He noted he'd been approached during early voting, by a resident asking why there was not a referendum question regarding the issue.
"That's because the rumor’s not true," Pekau said. "This is not happening. I’ve said it multiple times, and I will say it again. It is a rumor being spread to benefit candidates and those that support them.
"The mayor of Tinley Park, Tinley Park Fire Chief, the Orland Park Fire Chief, and myself have all said these rumors are false. Voters, think wisely. If people will lie to you to create fear in order to get you to vote, what do you think they’ll do when they get in office? So think before you vote.”
Pekau also stated that if ever proposed, he and his board would oppose it.
Orland Firefighters have called for the rumors to stop, especially those attributing supposed plans for a merger to union leadership.
"The Orland Firefighters have never participated in these meetings or discussions regarding the need for a merger," their statement reads. "These shameful attempts to create distrust in the firefighter/paramedics within the Orland community need to stop."