A Rematch Between Burr Ridge Mayor And Chief Rival?

BURR RIDGE, IL — Tuesday's election in Burr Ridge could be interpreted as a rematch between Mayor Gary Grasso and his rival, Trustee Zach Mottl.

Let's be clear: Grasso is running unopposed, but three of his allies are on the ballot for trustee — incumbents Guy Franzese and Anita Mital and newcomer Russell Smith. They are in the race against Mottl and his ally, newcomer Elena Galinski, for three seats on the board.

Franzese, Mital and Smith are running as 1-2-3 for Burr Ridge. The slogan in their online advertising is "Return civility and professionalism to the Boardroom" — a thinly veiled reference to Mottl.

If the 1-2-3 for Burr Ridge candidates all win, then Grasso will have a board unanimous in its support of his leadership. At times, Grasso's board supporters have parted ways with him on certain issues.

Since late 2019, Mottl has been censured six times. In the April 2019 mayoral election, Grasso defeated Mottl with nearly two-thirds of the vote.

In that election, Trustee Joe Snyder supported Mottl, even donating to his campaign. Since, Snyder has joined the other trustees in denouncing Mottl. In fact, Snyder has written pieces on Patch critical of Mottl.

The censures have targeted a number of Mottl's statements. The first one was about his labeling of top Village Hall staffers as incompetent. The trustees also have accused Mottl of using ethnic slurs such as "godfather" against Grasso, who is an Italian-American.

In one case, Mottl said he hoped a resident who had spoken via Zoom at a board meeting had his pants on and wasn't masturbating, a reference to a scandal involving a CNN commentator. That drew one of the censures. Mottl later apologized.

In yet another censure, trustees said Mottl disrespected the police by failing to stand during a ceremony for police officers. They also took issue with Mottl's accusing the police chief of being dishonest.

Grasso has personally sued Mottl for defaming him during the 2019 election and afterward. Among other things, Mottl accused the mayor of "tax fraud," alleging he cheated taxpayers by taking homestead exemptions at homes in both Burr Ridge and Chicago. A taxpayer is allowed to have only one. Grasso said he did not know Cook County had attached the exemption to his Chicago property.

In one of the censure votes, Grasso, an attorney, prevented Mottl from voting, saying a trustee could not vote on an issue involving himself. However, after Patch asked Grasso about his power to do so, he could not point to any state law giving a mayor such authority. He later allowed Mottl to take part in censure votes.

As a minority on the board, Mottl has little power. But he has had victories. Along with Trustee Mital, Mottl opposed the referendum giving home rule powers to Burr Ridge, saying it would give the board too much authority to raise taxes. Grasso and the board majority argued in favor of the measure. In the March 2020 election, nearly 70 percent of voters sided with Mottl and Mital's position.

Also, early last year, Grasso informed all the trustees that the village would pay for them to attend an event involving Republican County Board Chairman Dan Cronin. It was a political event benefitting Cronin's campaign, which Mottl pointed out. Public money cannot be spent for political purposes, so Grasso rescinded the offer.

Last fall, Grasso and the Village Board majority arranged for the departure of Village Administrator Doug Pollock, who received nearly $40,000 in severance. The plan was to replace Pollock with Assistant Village Administrator Evan Walter.

But Mottl threw a wrench into the works when he divulged text messages that Walter sent to him earlier in the year. In those messages, Walter criticized Pollock, at least twice comparing Pollock to female genitalia. He also referred to the retirement of longtime Village Clerk Karen Thomas.

"I'm sorry to lose Karen's brain, but honestly I'm going to get someone 40 years younger to replace her for 70 percent of the cost," Walter wrote.

These messages showed Walter was exchanging private texts with the mayor's political rival, who had already been censured at least once.

The revelation of the text messages delayed the transition, as trustees weighed their options. Trustee Al Paveza, a mayoral ally, called Walter's comments "extremely juvenile." The mayor said Walter showed a "lapse in judgment" and had made the "appropriate apologies."

Walter was promoted to administrator on an interim basis, rather than permanently, as originally planned.

In recent weeks, Village Hall released information showing that it had spent $60,000 over 15 months in dealing with Mottl's public records requests and legal matters initiated by him.

Mottl said many of the legal expenditures in question were for the trustees' censure resolutions against him, efforts to block and remove him from meetings, and ways to frustrate his public records requests. He also said the lawyers were overcharging the village.

"If you disagree with me, fine. But let me talk. Let me sound stupid if that's what you think I am. Let me look ridiculous. Why spend all this money to shut me up?" Mottl said.

Grasso disagreed with Mottl's take.

"Very little comparably was spent on the censure motions compared to his 24 FOIA requests in the last 15 or so months," the mayor said in an email to Patch. "The more relevant point is that Mottl also caused those expenses by his disrespectful conduct at every turn to our police, staff and even a resident in 2019 and 2020. He did those things, not me or any Trustee. The other trustees all voted unanimously each time to censure him for his bad acts — six times. That's on Mottl — no one else."

Besides the trustee races, Burr Ridge voters are set to decide whether to increase the mayor's salary to $12,000, up from $6,000 currently. Last fall, Grasso proposed raising the pay to $30,000.

But the mayor's initial recommendation found no support on the board. Paveza called it "out of line," while Snyder said $12,000 was more appropriate, noting the salary had not gone up in more than a decade. Franzese opposed any increase for the mayor, saying the village had postponed raises for the staff because of the pandemic.

Others said they preferred placing the issue on the ballot.

It should come as no surprise that Mottl was the most vocal critic of the proposal.

"I'm not in favor of a raise for the mayor or trustees," Mottl said. "Team comes first, bosses come second. This is an inappropriate thing. I'm so disappointed in the mayor's actions."

Mottl and Franzese were the only trustees to vote against putting a raise on the ballot.

The polls are open 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday. For more information on polling locations, visit the DuPage County clerk's website or Cook County clerk's website.