Buffalo Grove board tries to limit meeting length
The Buffalo Grove village board is taking steps to make their meetings, which have lasted as late as 3 a.m., more efficient.
Trustee reports will be limited to "reporting on committees or commissions or announcements or comments of general community interest."
If a trustee has an issue that is not on the agenda, that issue can be presented under "new business." Once it is introduced, that trustee will have five minutes to speak or enter a motion to put the item on a future agenda.
Village Board President Elliott Hartstein said the new procedures, which were proposed Monday, are just codifying what has been informal board procedure all along.
He said they will give the board the tools to move the meetings along and ensure full and ample discussion by every member of the board.
Trustee Lisa Stone, however, complained that these rules will blot out the sunshine on the board's activities, and said it is not the first time the board wants to pass rules that restrict what they can say and how long they take doing it.
"If we're in a rush to get out of here ... that's an indication there is too much on your plate perhaps," Stone said.
"My biggest concern is that in government there is an importance to having various different thoughts and different input," she added.
"I find this ordinance, as I have found the other ordinances or the other resolutions ... to be a little bit of a muzzle, I have to be honest with you."
Stone also predicted that if she "says something" about another member of the board, "I will get reprimanded and I'll have another resolution against me."
Hartstein said the rules would not "preclude anyone from saying anything, other than conducting themselves in a proper and civil manner and not addressing matters which basically are otherwise demeaning or otherwise inappropriate."
Hartstein added it is not his intent to limit discussion but to structure it.
Trustee Jeffrey Berman pointed out the board can appeal and overrule the board president by majority vote. The board can also suspend the rules, he said.
Berman said it is inevitable the board will have to revisit the issue.
"We're going to have to be vigilant as we go forward and revisit the question to ensure that balance really is achieved," he said. "I would hate to see us descend into a constant battle of wills over process as opposed to substance."
Trustee Steven Trilling said the meetings have been taking too long, with too much repetition.
"And we're not conducting the business that we need to conduct in a reasonable period of time," he added.
"I don't happen to work well at three o'clock in the morning," said Trustee DeAnn Glover.
Stone took issue with that, noting the 3 a.m. meeting was the one where the board discussed off-track betting. She said one of the contributing factors to the overwhelming attendance and length of that meeting was that the board had not adequately informed the community on the issue.
Stone said she would like to see a provision added that would protect whistle-blowers or community watchdogs.