Buffalo Grove Village President Elliott Hartstein's letter to residents

Buffalo Grove Village President Elliott Hartstein released an open letter Monday to village residents asking them to vote in favor of a recall measure Nov. 2 that would remove controversial Village Trustee Lisa Stone from office. A copy of the letter is below.

As a concerned citizen and voter who cares about our community, I feel I would be remiss if I did not speak out on the Recall Referendum that gives the citizens of Buffalo Grove the opportunity to recall and remove Trustee Lisa Stone from office. It is important to emphasize that this election is probably one of the most significant elections ever facing our residents. I had hoped that when the Village Board unanimously adopted the recall ordinance earlier this year that the community would never feel the need to utilize it. Unfortunately, that has not turned out to be the case. When one person has distracted the community from focusing in a positive way from making a great community even greater by her relentless negative and improper conduct and approach for over a year and a half, the time has come to say enough is enough.

This is not a situation that has arisen from an isolated incident or disagreement over an issue, but stems from a continuum of ongoing conduct that ignores rules, process, decorum and civility. It has become difficult to focus on what needs to be done in our community, whether by the Board or our staff, when an individual trustee constantly harangues and attacks the integrity of dedicated fellow board members, volunteers and staff through baseless and mean spirited innuendo. Her dwelling and ranting on issues and questions which have been asked and answered countless times for month after month has diverted the village staff and board from spending time on more productive tasks for our community. It has included her fear mongering and raising questions about environmental safety of a local business and potential development site which has regularly been monitored by state and county agencies which have jurisdiction of such issues. It is significant that while she raised these questions, she failed to share detailed facts from a federal agency which gave the site a clean bill of health. This continuing conduct was potentially damaging to much needed economic development and created potential legal exposure and cost to our community. Her overall conduct and disparaging of staff, board members and volunteers has created an undesirable work environment which has affected or potentially affects the retention and attraction of quality volunteers, board members and staff. If one wants to get an idea of what I am referring to, I would urge you to visit the village web page and sample the videos of our meetings over the last year. Unfortunately, not only the meetings have been affected, but there has been a day to day negative impact on our staff and the community as a whole. This misguided approach and conduct of one trustee has put an unwarranted blemish on our community.

I had hoped that some constructive ideas I have shared with Trustee Stone about the nature of legislative and policy formation and collaboration would be embraced. Instead of her derogatory comments or suggesting wrongful conduct by innuendo, I have urged her to use a positive approach. I suggested she would be more persuasive in making her case on any issue by presenting herself in a clear and simple manner with supporting reasons. However, she has chosen to maintain her negative approach. She has even said that she would break our rules as she sees fit. The village board has always welcomed the civil debate of new ideas. However, the nature of village government requires convincing a majority to support a position before the Board takes action on a given issue. Sometimes one may be successful, while other times one may not be able to garner support. That is the process. Trustee Stone chooses to blaze her own path not caring what the position of the Board is and doesn't seem to care who she disparages along the way, including the community she was elected to serve.

I personally would like to thank the individual community members who initiated and worked on the recall, and the over 2000 citizens who signed the petitions to give the entire community the opportunity to cast their votes on this important referendum. Please vote “yes for the recall of Lisa Stone and urge your friends and neighbors to join you. This is truly a serious matter that affects the well being of our community.

Elliott Hartstein

THESE ARE MY PERSONAL VIEWS AS A CITIZEN AND ARE NOT OFFICIAL VIEWS OF THE VILLAGE OR IN MY CAPACITY AS AN ELECTED OFFICIAL