Burr Ridge Mayor's 2020 Edict Fell By Wayside

BURR RIDGE, IL – Four years ago this month, Burr Ridge Mayor Gary Grasso ordered the village's staff to conduct annual residency checks of the mayor and trustees.

It was done once, but not in 2021, 2022 or 2023.

Last week, Patch filed a public records request for the last time the residency check was done. The village said the request prompted it to conduct the check again in the last few days. That check showed the mayor and trustees live in Burr Ridge, as state law requires, according to the village.

On May 1, 2020, Grasso ordered Clerk Karen Thomas and Village Administrator Doug Pollock, who both left later that year, to conduct the annual checks. He furnished the wording of the request for address information.

At the time, the checks were inspired by questions over the home address of then-Trustee Zach Mottl, a Grasso critic. Mottl's townhome was under contract, but he said he did not have an official new address. He later said he stayed at his parents' local house until he moved to the Cambridge Estates subdivision.

In a public letter in September 2020, the trustees said Mottl had not owned property in Burr Ridge. That was not true. He had owned the townhome for a dozen years.

Grasso's allies defeated Mottl in his bid for re-election in April 2021.

In an email to Patch on Monday, Mottl said Grasso never cared about trustees' residency, saying Grasso runs the village for the benefit of himself, his donors and supporters, and "his buddies on the rubber-stamp board."

"It’s a management style that is more akin to an episode of the Sopranos than a wealthy suburban town," Mottl said. "That’s why rules like this never apply. We have example after example, unless they are being used to get rid of a political opponent or punish someone who has dared to cross Gary Grasso."

Patch left a message for comment with Grasso.