Burr Ridge Entities Differ Over Closed Meeting

BURR RIDGE, IL – The village and park governments in Burr Ridge are offering differing accounts of what happened during a park board closed session in July.

If the village's version is true, then it appears as if the Burr Ridge Park District's board violated the state's open meetings law.

Last week, the park board's lawyer gave the district's account of what was discussed. If it is accurate, at least part of the meeting likely complied with the state law.

The matter is before the attorney general's office. It received a recording of the July 12 closed session from the park board. That is likely to help determine whether the district followed the law.

The issue involves the redevelopment of the old CNH industrial property, which is next to Harvester Park. The preliminary plan is for a Costco store and other businesses.

In an Aug. 2 email to the Village Board, Village Administrator Evan Walter said the park board discussed "potential improvements to Harvester Park in conjunction with the potential (planned unit development) that may be brought forward via zoning petition by whomever eventually develops the CNH property."

By that description, it would be hard to argue the park board followed the law.

In his email to the board, Walter did not assert the park board broke the open meetings law.

Instead, Walter accused park board member Patti Malloy of breaching "executive session decorum" by distributing a sketch of the proposed development obtained during the closed meeting. (Malloy has not returned a message for comment.)

Until the release of the document, the village had kept the idea of a Costco store under wraps for more than a year. With word leaked out, the village issued a public statement about the Costco plan a few days after Walter's email.

In a letter a week ago to the attorney general's office, park board attorney Mary Dickson said the board discussed possibly acquiring some of the CNH property bordering Harvester Park.

Dickson said the district was considering more land for park needs and uses.

Public bodies are allowed to discuss the acquisition of real estate behind closed doors.

The attorney general is looking into the matter in response to complaints filed by area watchdog Edgar Pal and resident Lisa Turano.

They wrote the attorney general after Patch published a story questioning the legality of the park board's closed meeting.

Dickson dismissed the complaints as "predicated solely on (a) review of a news article by someone who was not in attendance at the meeting."

The attorney general's office blacked out the part of Dickson's four-page letter that she called "classified."

In her letter, Dickson said certain commentary from the closed meeting is not available because of the quality of the recording.

"This will be corrected for future recordings," she said.

Now, the attorney general decides whether the complaints have merit. That could take months.