Silence on the lam

Trustee Lisa Stone revealed at  Monday's Village Board meeting that it's not only what she says that is offensive, arrogant, disrespectful and otherwise demeaning -- it's what she does not say.

In fact, her silence is perhaps most insulting to the people she should care about  -- but does not.  The men and women who work for the village.

Case in point.  Fire Chief Terry Vavra addressed the Board regarding the "ISO Rating" -- the insurance rating of the village's fire department, he detailed the success the village has had.  Buffalo Grove continues to have an ISO rating of 2 -- which is excellent. Only five departments in the state have an ISO rating of 1, so an rating of 2 is pretty damn good.

It's not, as Vavra pointed out, just a departmental rating--  three categories factor into the final rating -- the fire department, the water operation, and communications operations.  The village did exceptionally well -- Out of 50 possible points, the fire department scored 36.12 points; the water score was 39.12 out of 40 and the communications rating was an equally impressive 9.8 out of 10.

Nice numbers.  If you wondering why the fire department did not score higher, Vavra says proximity was a factor -- which means if the village had more fire stations it would likely improve out score, but not guarantee an ISO rating of 1.

Perhaps the most telling remark Vavra made was that it was "not the fire department that got the rating, it was the village."  Great job, chief.

The village -- as in the staff working together to keep the excellence associated with the village in tact.  Granted, it's not perfect, but comments by several trustees expressed interest in what it would take to improve the rating to a 1 and improve things for the entire village.

What we did not hear were any comments from Stone.  No questions, no praise, no interest.  Nothing. Nada. Zippo.

Ask yourself why.  The answer, as shown by what transpired at the meeting is simple -- there was nothing "in it" for her.  It seems as though Stone cannot stand when someone else -- staff, residents, colleagues on the board makes a positive contribution to the community.

That may be why she rips the B.G. Days Committee (aside the fact that she doesn't like many of the members), or the efforts of the Fire Department's "Pink  Heals" effort, or the efforts of the schools to put on drug awareness program (she was, however, quick to rip their efforts to promote them).

The silence is, in this case, not deafening.  It's as loud as can be.  It's loud enough to tell everyone that Stone is only interested in her agenda and if you don't bow down and embrace it, she unleashes her venomous verbiage.

She continues to say that the "whole community" wants to know why the board didn't do what she wanted them to do.

Whole community following Lisa Stone? Watch the video and maybe you'll find out why the "Whole Community" is not following Lisa Stone.

You may wonder why Village President Elliott Hartstein has become curt.  To every action, there's a reaction and Stone's actions have done little, correction, nothing, to foster any positive reactions by other board members.

What her actions have done is given the village a black eye.

What her actions have done is made a mockery of municipal government.

What her actions have done has raised the ire of the community.   Whether it's the whole community or not remains to be seen.

We'll know by Nov. 2.

And Lisa Stone won't have anything constructive to say.  Which wouldn't be the first time.