Orland Park Mayor Dan McLaughlin promised Monday that contract negotiations between the village and Metropolitan Alliance of Police Local 159 would not end up in arbitration at the end of February.

McLaughlin told Local 159 President Ron Ahrendt, “I’m very confident you will bargain in good faith — both sides,” McLaughlin said at Monday’s Village Board meeting.

Ahrendt had told the village board negotiations between union representatives and the municipality have been “at a standstill” since Sept. 29, and were headed to arbitration Feb. 29.

Ahrendt said a major sticking point has been the village’s insistence on contract language taken from an unspecified eastern municipality. The union wants contract language similar to what is found in contracts for police officers in Tinley Park, Oak Lawn and other nearby communities, he said.

In an apparent reference to the two sides’ differences about pay rates, Ahrendt also cited a presentation about Orland Park’s “good financial shape” by Village Manager Paul Grimes, who is representing the municipality in negotiations.

Both sides previously agreed to expand the length of the police union contract from the current three years to four years to make it consistent with the village’s other contracts with unionized employees.

But Ahrendt, with the Orland Park Police Department for the past 11 of his 15 years as a sworn police officer, stressed the 75 officers he represents aren’t typical municipal employees.

“No one has more ‘skin in the game’ than Orland Park Police officers,” he said, citing the physical and emotional dangers and hazards of front-line law enforcement.

McLaughlin assured Ahrendt he believes “we do have the best police department in the state. The board knows and supports the job you do.”

Ahrendt later told reporters the current contract would expire May 12. The contract doesn’t cover police sergeants, who are represented by a different union.