A VIEW FROM THE CHEAP SEATS
By Rich Trzupek
Stoves and Rybicki
Local government, as has often been observed in this column, has the best chance of being good government. This April Streamwood loses two individuals who embody that principle: Dave Stoves and Larry Rybicki.
What makes local government good, when it is good, is in large part that it is not run by professional politicians. The men and women who serve on village boards and city councils are honest to goodness working folks. They have to be. The total stipend they receive for attending board meetings each year wouldn�t cover your humble correspondent�s bar tab for a month.
While there are some who are motivated by ego, the fact that is that there isn�t a lot of glory to be found in small town government. And, what glory there might be is overwhelmed by the slings and arrows aimed their way whenever they must vote on a controversial issue.
Without much in the way of financial or ego fulfillment to offer, the position can often attract exactly the kind of person we want to represent us: a person who simply wants to make his or her community better. Everyone says that of course. It�s a joy to find people who actually do that. Stoves and Rybicki are two of these.
Few may realize it, but every Streamwood resident owes an enormous debt of gratitude to David Stoves. He took risks. He made difficult decisions. Ultimately, he did the right thing, not the safe thing, and we have the community we now enjoy because of him.
Streamwood�s dark days were the late �80s. Scandal rocked village hall. Infrastructure was crumbling. The town was at a crossroads, destined to become Carpentersville or a smaller version of Schaumburg, depending on what choices Streamwood�s leaders made next.
Billie Roth stepped into the spotlight, a diminutive nobody whom the old guard figured they could brush aside with a wave of their hand.
Billie knew what needed to be done: financial reform, attraction of commercial development and development of a long-range plan to fix infrastructure and keep it fixed.
Yet, for all her determination, Billie was only one person, one vote. Even when she was elected Village President, she could do nothing without securing three more votes on the village board.
Looking at the choice in purely pragmatic terms, Dave Stoves had a lot of reasons not to align himself with Billie. Conventional wisdom at the time said that Roth�s election was a fluke. She wold be a one-term mayor, at best. Her belt-tightening plans would be unpopular. The establishment had the real power, why fight it?
The reason, in the final analysis, was that it was the right thing to do. Stoves picked community service over self service. It was a decision that rocked Streamwood�s foundations, for the better, and ultimately set the stage for everything that was to come.
He was, and has continued to be over the years, a model of what an elected representative should be: hard-working, dedicated and sincere. He has served with distinction and honor.
By the time Larry Rybicki joined the board, in 1999, the village�s course was set. In fact, things had been running so well, for so long, that people often forgot how bad things could be. Steadily declining tax rates, economic diversity, balanced budgets and infrastructure maintenance were expected, not a pleasant surprise.
After a quiet decade of growth and consolidation, Roth�s administration was in the unenviable position of being the �old guard.� No matter how well the village was run, there would be people who were restless, who thought that the board had just been in office to damn long.
A dynamic, personable fellow, Rybicki could easily have cashed in on that sentiment. He had (and has) a large personal following. If he had chosen to put ambition in front of service, Larry could have easily played the �it�s time for a change� card, even though change was the last thing the village needed.
Like Stoves, Rybicki refused to put ambition in front of service. He was determined to make his town better by working within a system that worked, rather than trying to destroy it.
And then, when his personal commitments�family and church�called, Larry made yet another unselfish choice. He could have continued to occupy a chair on the village board, without putting much time into it. Few would know that he wasn�t prepared�that he had not carefully studied the issues and implications.
But that was never Larry�s way. If he couldn�t do his best�and serve his community as best he could�then he realized that it was time to surrender his chair to someone who could. He knew when to say good-bye, and that is a rare gift too.
These two examples of unselfish service are especially important as we look ahead to another election. It will not be easy to replace a Dave Stoves and a Larry Rybicki. As Streamwood residents, our challenge will be to find the people who best exemplify their tradition.
We live in a remarkably well-run village. I can say this, with absolute confidence, because I have seen a lot of villages and cities that are miserably operated.
We are lucky. Streamwood is not the norm. Municipalities don�t usually operate on a �pay as you go� basis. They don�t produce budgets in the black, year after year after year. They don�t have built-in institutions to ensure that infrastructure is paid for through dedicated funds. They aren�t clever enough to attract industry and retail development by understanding that this village, like every municipality, has to be clever and quick in a competitive world.
We need to find another David Stoves and another Larry Rybicki. We need to find more representatives who care less about the race and more about the job.
That�s our challenge. We live in a a remarkable town. If we make the right choices, it will become even more remarkable in the years to come. Here�s hoping.
