Burr Ridge Officials Laugh At Finance Director's Situation

BURR RIDGE, IL — Burr Ridge trustees got a laugh Monday when discussing the situation of the finance director, who has been on leave with pay since September.

Finance Director Jerry Sapp suffered a medical emergency in early September, but said doctors cleared him to return to work days later. But the village has barred him from coming back.

At Monday's Village Board meeting, trustees were set to vote on the appointment of Assistant Finance Director Amy Nelson to the top finance job on a temporary basis. But Trustee Zach Mottl turned the discussion to Sapp. He questioned why the village has not brought back Sapp, the finance director for nearly a quarter century.

"I don't think he's going to go away quietly," Mottl said. "So what are we going to do when he wants to come back?"

Trustee Joe Snyder quipped, "He's going to go to work for you."

Several trustees laughed as Mayor Gary Grasso responded the village would have to discuss Sapp's situation as things develop.

"That is still an issue between Mr. Sapp and the village," Grasso said. "He has his attorney. We have our attorneys."

Mottl, whom the board has censured six times, chided his colleagues for laughing at an employee who has spent much of his career with the village.

"This is a cruel, cruel trick you're doing to him," Mottl said.

And he questioned why Evan Walter, now the village's interim administrator, would file a hostile work environment complaint against Sapp shortly after the director was taken to the hospital.

"What kind of co-worker would file a grievance against a co-worker while they were in the hospital for a panic attack?" Mottl said.

Others noted Mottl called Sapp a liar in 2019, which drew the trustee's first censure.

But Mottl pointed out he apologized a couple of months ago at a board meeting, saying Walter gave him bad information about village officials. Walter, then the assistant administrator, sent texts to Mottl portraying then-Administrator Doug Pollock as incompetent and calling Pollock a "p---y" at least twice.

At Monday's meeting, Trustee Al Paveza said he had questions about Sapp's situation. But he said Nelson would be in a temporary position "until Jerry comes back or he doesn't."

On Friday, Sapp sent documents to the mayor and trustees that he said showed six medical professionals cleared him for work. Sapp told Patch Monday the village's medical report about him was full of errors, obsolete and more than 100 days old.

Grasso acknowledged Sapp's documents and said the village has turned over the information to its lawyers. He said Mottl apparently sent the medical records to Burr Ridge Patch. Patch, however, does not have the documents in question.

Trustee Guy Franzese and others said private personnel matters involving Sapp should be discussed behind closed doors.

"We don't do that at the boardroom level, and you don't do it most certainly at the Patch level," Franzese said.

The board voted 5-1 for Nelson's interim appointment, with Mottl dissenting.

Contacted Tuesday by Patch, Trustee Joe Snyder was asked whether his joke about Sapp's situation implied that Sapp and Mottl were in an alliance.

"I have no comment for the simple reason we'll have a closed session," he said.

Snyder supported and donated to Mottl's political campaign, but he has since condemned the trustee and backed all six censures.