Story posted Friday, March 12, 2010
Stone, Resident Clash
Board Reprimands Trustee For Landfill Activities
By TIM O'CONNOR Journal & Topics Reporter
Monday's Buffalo Grove Village Board meeting ended with trustee Lisa Stone entering into a shouting match with a resident after he questioned Stone's behavior.
The board was discussing reprimanding Stone for her activities confronting odors allegedly coming from the Land and Lakes landfill. The verbal scuffle began when Buffalo Grove resident Jeff Rotman expressed his support of the reprimand.
Rotman criticized Stone, whom he said needed to show more respect to the board's rules. Stone then began speaking over Rotman.
"Show me the same respect that you demanded from your peers," he shouted. "Got it, Mrs. Stone?"
The commotion died down momentarily as the board unanimously approved the reprimand. Stone abstained.
Stone then reminded those still in attendance at nearly 1:30 a.m. that Rotman's sister-in-law, Joanne Johnson, ran against her for the board last April.
If their first exchange was heated the second was a solar flare. Rotman shouted back and Stone leaned forward from her trustee chair and screamed that he was out of order.
"You're out of order!" he responded.
Village President Elliott Hartstein then repeatedly banged his gavel and held a get-out-of-Dodge adjournment vote.
The board voted for the resolution reprimanding Stone for breaking the village's recently approved code of conduct by representing herself as a trustee while investigating odors she claims are coming from Land and Lakes, where composting is occurring. The code states that a trustee should not represent him or herself as speaking on behalf of the village in such matters.
The resolution clarifies that Stone does not speak for the village or the rest of the board on the issue. Hartstein said it was necessary to protect the village if there is any legal blowback to Stone's actions.
There was no other punishment as part of the reprimand.
Stone had uploaded a video of board meeting clips to YouTube under the username "TrusteeLisaStone." She said the video shows Land and Lakes officials promising they would not use the land for composting when the village annexed the property in 2005. She also contacted several village officials and state agencies about the odor.
The village's agreement with Land and Lakes allows the company to continue the same operations from before the annexation, including composting, Hartstein said.
Several of the trustees said they were troubled by Stone's actions and took issue that she used her title of "trustee" in correspondence.
"The rules are for everyone else but they are not for trustee Stone," Trustee Steve Trilling said. "That is what concerns me."
Stone said she didn't believe she broke the rules but would do so if it were the right thing to do.
"My oath is to the people and my allegiance is to the people," she said.
Stone said the reprimand would not change her relationship with other board members.
"The relationship is no different from before I was elected," she said. "This board did not want me here."
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