Buffalo Grove residents debate right to recall

Buffalo Grove trustees Monday put off a decision on whether to give their citizens the right to recall their elected officials.

"I don't think we're going to be ready to vote on this tonight," said the recall ordinance's author, Trustee Jeffrey Berman.

The village board did amend the proposed ordinance to require a reason for a recall.

It was one of the amendments considered in what promised to be another marathon session before an audience of about 100.

If the ordinance passes, the majority of voters could remove the trustees, the village president or the village clerk if a recall referendum is placed on a ballot.

All trustees except Steven Trilling, who abstained, voted for Trustee Beverly Sussman's amendment to require a reason for the recall be placed on petitions for a recall referendum and the referendum itself, even though Village Attorney William Raysa said the law does not require a reason.

Sussman's idea gained broad support from members of the public who spoke.

One speaker, Frank Ladonne, said he was concerned about removing an elected official without due process or giving them an opportunity to mount a defense.

He also was concerned about the village rushing the ordinance. "It seems that this board is just hell bent on slapping something together," Ladonne said.

Another resident, attorney Donna Stolar, also criticized the board with being too hasty.

"I am disheartened and disillusioned with the haste that this ordinance is moving through the legislative process," Stolar said. She added, in a statement that seemed to allude to new Trustee Lisa Stone, who sees herself as targeted by the recall ordinance. "This should not be employed as a covert and conspiratorial weapon to silence a voice of dissent."

Gary Stone, Lisa Stone's husband, criticized the board for attempting to silence the voice of his wife, quoting his son Jordan, who characterized the board as having an "uncouth strain of insecurity in response to a single black sheep."

He said he is against recall, saying it would have a chilling effect on voter turnout.

Berman defended the ordinance against charges of targeting specific trustees.

He said it is a tool of democracy, giving voters the power to remove officials who are incompetent or not representing the citizens' best interests.

Lisa Stone herself submitted six amendments to the proposal, including one that would make a recall referendum the only referendum from the village that would appear on a ballot. Another amendment would allow any citizen, rather than someone registered to vote in Buffalo Grove, to circulate a recall petition.

Before the debate began, Village President Elliott Hartstein urged board members to consider an effective date of Jan. 1, 2010, "So we start the new year with this tool but we don't rush into it."

Stone came up with the suggestion for an ordinance of her own.

She suggested the village draft a term limits ordinance. She said she would ordinarily be opposed to such an ordinance but that if the recall ordinance were approved, then the village elections would be "rendered somewhat meaningless."