Burr Ridge Battle With Finance Chief Costs $28K So Far

BURR RIDGE, IL — Burr Ridge officials have highlighted how much they say Trustee Zach Mottl has cost taxpayers in legal bills and staff time.

But they are more reluctant to reveal the costs of the village's battle with its finance director, Jerry Sapp. He has been barred from returning to work since a medical emergency in early September.

Sapp has been getting paid all along, costing taxpayers more than $60,000 in salary while he stays at home.

So far, the village has spent at least $27,915 on lawyers in its dispute with Sapp, who started with the village nearly a quarter century ago.

Officials have been tight-lipped about their dispute with Sapp, who suffered a medical problem on the job Sept. 3. He said a doctor cleared him for work a few days later, but the village won't let him return.

A couple of weeks ago, Burr Ridge Patch sought the legal bills from November through January from the village's main law firm, Storino, Ramello & Durkin, to see how much has been spent on the Sapp matter.

In response, the village released bills with references to Sapp blacked out. However, Mottl received similar bills from earlier months unredacted. Asked about this, the village's public records officer told Patch that Mottl could get all the information because he was a trustee. So Patch asked Mottl to get the documents in question, which he did. Patch still needs the November bill.

In an email to Mottl on Wednesday, Mayor Gary Grasso released the legal bills. But he said Mottl could not be trusted with confidentiality, saying he continues to disclose private personnel and medical information to Patch. He accused Mottl of an apparent political agenda.

"To me, your actions have violated your oath of office," he said.

Grasso said the village already has received its February legal bill, but wouldn't release it to Mottl because officials had not reviewed it.

In a reply email, Mottl addressed his message to Evan Walter, the village's interim administrator, but copied the mayor and other village officials. He called Grasso a "vindictive and evil mobster" mayor. The Village Board had censured Mottl for such references before, accusing him of ethnic slurs against Italian Americans, which Mottl denies.

In the email, Mottl said he wanted the February bill.

"Despite Godfather Grasso’s creative interpretations of the law, there is no mechanism to withhold this information from me. As a trustee I am fully entitled to this by law...," Mottl said. "Finally, I did not release any confidential health information to the Patch."

Sapp, who is still listed as the finance director on the village's website, has declined to comment on his situation. The January legal bill indicated the village attorney was preparing for a settlement conference with Sapp's lawyer.