It Appears the Commission and Village Administration Have Painted Themselves Into a Corner.

Last week, many of us received from the Village manager an e-blast.  The communication informed recipients that there were several board openings, and it asked recipients if they were interested in serving on a board.  Or, to put it slightly more directly and perhaps forcefully, it asked Village residents to apply to be on boards.  The boards-- the Village; we-- need the help.

Personally, I have been on a few boards since I moved here in 2005.  I started on Planning and Zoning, because then new Commissioner Kelly Mallette needed to make an appointment, and she asked me to be on that board.  That was in part how I got to know Kelly, whom I like very much, and it was my pleasure to participate.  As an outgrowth of being on P&Z, I also wound up on the Code Review committee.  Participation there was similarly my pleasure.  After a few years, the BP Foundation was formed, and I moved to that group.  Eventually, I resigned from the Foundation, because I ran for Commission, on which I served for three years.

When my Commission term ended, I was not on any board.  At some point, I applied again, and I was willing to be on any board, although I was thinking either the Foundation again, or maybe Parks and Parkways, would be a good place for me.

But in the meantime, I had run afoul of Tracy Truppman.  Well, you don't run afoul of Tracy Truppman without paying a price for it, and part of the price I paid was that Tracy would not permit me to be on any Village board.  (As a technical matter, Tracy cannot single-handedly prevent anyone from being on a board.  She needs confederates on the Commission for that.  She has them.  The mechanism Tracy and her confederates use is that if someone like me applies to be on any board at all, Tracy and her confederates/stooges/bobbleheads/whatever go lean on some other Village resident to apply for the same board-- I think it was maybe last year that she got these competing applications to happen on Sunday, April 1, which is pretty comical-- and Tracy and the kids just choose the other applicants.)

So, as I said, one of the boards for which I applied was the Foundation.  Tracy scared up Laura Graves and David Goehl, so she could keep me off that board.  David rarely or perhaps never attended meetings, Laura was very helpful, but now, Laura wants to be on P&Z instead.  If you're asking yourself why Laura, who appeared to have been committed and helpful on the Foundation, would want to be on P&Z instead, it's a good question.  I do know that Laura is a realtor, and P&Z have a lot to say about what construction and renovation plans are approved.  Does that create an opportunity for conflict of interest for a realtor?  I guess it could.  If it did, it wouldn't be the first time in recent years.

So, Tracy's two shills have run their courses, and Tracy is now back looking for applicants.  Or "Krishan" is.  But Tracy still has the same problem she always has.  There are people who would be happy to serve on boards, but Tracy won't allow it.  Tracy has created a problem about which she is now complaining.

And the funny thing about it is that what Tracy thinks she's accomplishing-- she thinks she's punishing or frustrating someone-- is actually the opposite of the reality.  People want to be on boards, because they feel a commitment to the Village, or almost as if they owe the Village and its residents something.  Unless you can find a way to derive personal and selfish benefit from something like conflict of interest, or you just like some sense of "power," being on a board is a task.  It's a kind of burden.  You have to attend meetings, and do research, and maintain diplomacy and deference for other people, even if you disapprove of them.  I mean Tracy doesn't do that, but normal people do.

I don't think there's any way to help Tracy.  She's completely out of control, and she lashes out at her neighbors and undermines the functioning of the Village.  She doesn't have to do that, but it's who she is.  And whatever this is about, she really does have mindless or fearful confederates.  Tracy and her stooges/bobbleheads prevent the Village from functioning, because Tracy thinks this is somehow all about her.  And her antipathies.  And her wars and crusades.  And she seems to think she's harming someone like me by telling me my life is easier, because I have fewer commitments.  It's pretty sad.