Burr Ridge Officials Lament Costs Of Records Requests

BURR RIDGE, IL – Burr Ridge officials on Monday lamented the nearly $10,000 in monthly costs for responding to public records requests.

But some of those requests revealed the village's dealings with developers.

The latest bills amounted to $9,916 related to Freedom of Information Act requests. The money went to the Rosemont-based Storino, Ramello & Durkin law firm.

Of those bills, $1,978 was spent answering requests from former Burr Ridge Trustee Zach Mottl, a political adversary of Mayor Gary Grasso.

The village's costs are higher than usual. The previous month, the village was billed $2,784 for records requests.

Trustee Russell Smith said the spending on such records requests could be better spent on roads and other village functions.

"It means we offer less services," he said.

Trustee Tony Schiappa said the attorney costs are only one part of it. He said the number does not include the expense of staff working on collecting the files – what he called the "soft costs."

Mottl has long alleged the law firm is overcharging for its services in relation to public records requests.

"It really makes me wonder what they are hiding because transparency is free," Mottl said in an email to Patch on Tuesday. "I also wonder why they tolerate that law firm from Rosemont grossly overcharging and wasting our taxpayer dollars because legal bills skyrocketed since they were hired."

For years, trustees have complained about Mottl's requests. Among the times was during a meeting in late 2021.

"It bothers me that some of the requests may be frivolous in nature," Trustee Guy Franzese said at the time.

At that point, Mottl's requests produced information that Patch later revealed to the public.

In one case, Mottl obtained emails showing that Grasso informed his son, who worked for a real estate services firm, about a possible business opportunity involving the vacant TCF Bank property in town. Another request revealed information about how the mayor would approach the redevelopment of County Line Square.

Recently, Patch has published information from public records requests that shed more light on the possible redevelopment of the CNH Industrial site in town.

Earlier this month, Patch revealed emails from Village Administrator Evan Walter in which he said Costco must be a part of any development of the site. Neighbors oppose such a plan.

Also, an email to Patch in April showed Walter denying any knowledge of the possibility of a Costco on the CNH site, even though he repeatedly emailed a Costco representative for months about just that.

Another public records request to the village showed the Burr Ridge Park District discussed the CNH development behind closed doors in possible violation of the Open Meetings Act.