Buffalo Grove trustee wants ethics panel

Although Buffalo Grove's village board OK'd an off-track betting facility two weeks ago, the dust raised by the issue not only has yet to settle, but was stirred up a bit Monday night.

Lisa Stone, the most vocal board opponent of the OTB at Adam's Rib and Ale House, announced the village has received Freedom of Information Act requests related to the issue from a Buffalo Grove citizen and a media outlet.

She also suggested the village form an ethics commission to promote greater transparency in government.

"I think a lot of what went on in the past couple months would have been avoided had we had a separate body (whose members) can't be related to anybody on the board, not even a first cousin," she said.

But that wasn't all. Noting trustees had criticized her for seeking resolutions against the OTB from neighboring towns Wheeling, Lincolnshire and Riverwoods, Stone reminded trustees they passed a resolution in 2004 opposing a condo project in Arlington Heights.

Two weeks ago, Buffalo Grove trustees stated Riverwoods would not dictate to them and, when Stone asked if they could remember ever passing resolutions advising other suburbs, none could.

Stone continued her criticism of the board's OTB vote, saying, "I think you guys lost the vision of the community."

Village President Elliott Hartstein said he has no problem with an ethics panel but took issue with the implication of any unethical activity by the board, calling it "baseless."

Hartstein added: "Our village is an open book."

Stone said the freedom of information request filed by the citizen regarded communication among trustees about the Adam's Rib and Ale House proposal, while the media's request focused on that and another proposal to put an OTB at the eSkape entertainment center near McHenry Road and Lake-Cook Road.

Trustee Jeffrey Braiman took offense at Stone's reference to relatives.

"She (inferred) that their was some connection between some of us here," he said. "That's exactly what you said, Lisa. That's what bothers me. And I'm offended by that comment."

He said he not only doesn't have a problem with creating an ethics commission, but also thinks it might be appropriate to establish a conduct code for board members, given the problems the board has had for the last two months.

After the meeting, Stone clarified that she was merely suggesting that in forming the panel, the board follow guidelines from Attorney General Lisa Madigan, which state that no relative of any board member occupy such a panel.

Braiman also noted there were important differences between the Riverwoods resolution and one adopted by Buffalo Grove aimed at the Arlington Heights development.

For one thing, he said, Buffalo Grove was reacting to concerns by its own residents over issues such as traffic affecting their neighborhood. By contrast, he said, Stone had urged other towns whose neighborhoods were unaffected by the OTB on Milwaukee Avenue to recommend against it.

Braiman also noted Stone had asked the question about past resolutions at 2:30 a.m. during a marathon meeting two weeks ago, when it was difficult to remember. He added Stone already had reminded the board of the 2004 resolution after the last meeting. He said he was not sure why she was bringing it up again, unless it was "just to stroke (her) own ego."

He added, "(The resolution) says, 'Be a good neighbor.' It doesn't say, 'Don't build.'"

Stone responded that if the board had trouble remembering its own resolution at 2:30 a.m., maybe it was too late to vote on such an important issue as an OTB.