Effort to clear the air in Buffalo Grove fails

The family known as the Buffalo Grove village board has grown increasingly dysfunctional.

That much was clear at Monday's meeting, when Village President Elliott Hartstein let Trustees Jeffrey Braiman and Lisa Stone air their differences.

Braiman delivered a prepared statement of around 12 pages, after which Stone delivered her rebuttal. They spent more time making their cases than the board spent on actual business in open session.

In the end, however, the Cold War atmosphere that has persisted between the two erstwhile election rivals not only failed to thaw, but grew even frostier.

Stone even seemed to dislodge Hartstein from his peacemaking perch with critical remarks about Village Manager William Brimm and Village Attorney William Raysa.

The major bone of contention was Stone's allegation that e-mail communications among village board members violated the Open Meetings Act. A major part of the discussion revolved around 213 documents that were missing from the response to Freedom of Information Act requests by a citizen and a Chicago newspaper.

Braiman said Monday that Stone left him no choice but to clarify the record after her "unwarranted and slanderous" attacks against him and other trustees.

Stone has accused board members of violating the act by holding "meetings" through e-mails.

After pointing out that Raysa examined the documents and found no violation, Braiman accused Stone of being "the driving force behind this apparent and manufactured controversy."

He noted that Stone herself has sent 12 e-mails to the entire board and various staff members since she was inaugurated.

"Have you been transparent?" he asked. "Or, don't rules apply to you?"

Braiman didn't stop there. He referred to "harassing" phone calls placed by Stone to village staff during nonbusiness hours - including calls on Saturday night and Sunday.

Shortly after Stone was sworn in, one of the trustees, Steven Trilling, introduced a measure approved by the board that limits the board from contacting staff during nonbusiness hours.

He concluded by saying, "We again are at a crossroad," adding that Stone can work in cooperation with the board or continue to be a disruptive force.

After Stone sat listening, her glasses pressed forward and her hands clasped, she spoke at length, responding to Braiman's points with frequent digressions referring to the board's haste to approve off-track betting and its treatment of her.

Stone said she found it odd that among the missing e-mails were ones "that made up the alleged violation" of the open meetings act.

Arguing, "What I'm trying to do is uphold laws and government and justice," she said the board should consider that there are two outside attorneys "that don't know any of us" who spotted violations of the Open Meetings Act.

Stone defended her calls to staff members, Brimm in particular, saying that on one occasion, in preparing for executive session, she needed to know whether she should read a particular document.

Stone did not reserve her ammunition for the board. She said that while Raysa "is a very skilled and knowledgeable attorney," the fact that he was copied on the suspect e-mails indicates that, "when he finds that there was no violation, I actually don't think that it's even right that he would be the one judging it."

This prompted a warning from Hartstein.

As for Brimm, Stone suggested that it would be better if an outside officer handled FOIA requests rather than Brimm, who stood to lose his job with four votes from the board. "You're putting a man under a lot of pressure."

This prompted Hartstein to declare Stone out of order. "You are impugning the integrity of the village manager," he said.

Stone said she agreed with Braiman that the board is at a crossroad.

"And believe me, every day I think to myself, 'Is this worth it?' Because this is not a lot of fun, to be struggling like this. And then I realize that I have no choice. Because I do live in an honest way. Perhaps too honest for some. I'm very direct. I think that this board has been together for so long that I don't even think you know what you're doing is inappropriate at this point."

Before the meeting went into executive session, Hartstein said, "I am hopeful that everyone sitting on this dais - remembers why we're here. We're not here to fight with one another. We're here to work for the community."