Burr Ridge Spends $60K On Trustee's Issues: Village

ELMHURST, IL — Over 15 months, Burr Ridge spent more than $60,000 in dealing with Trustee Zach Mottl's public records requests and legal matters initiated by him, according to a village memo.

However, in an interview, Mottl questioned how the village classified the spending and contended much of it was at the request of the mayor and the other trustees.

In a memo on Wednesday, Interim Village Administrator Evan Walter laid out the details of the spending that he said was associated with Mottl. He said he was doing so at the request of Trustee Joe Snyder at Monday's Village Board meeting. The expenses were from Oct. 1, 2019, to Dec. 31, 2020.

Of the $60,310 spent, $25,635, or about 40 percent, went to the Rosemont-based Storino, Romello and Durkin law firm for responding to and managing Mottl's Freedom of Information Act requests. Another 25 percent, or $15,425, went to the law firm for legal matters initiated by Mottl, according to the memo.

The rest, $19,250, was spent on staff managing public records requests internally. According to the memo, staff spent 350 hours handling these matters, at a rate of $55 an hour.

Mottl said he just received the detailed legal bills, so he could determine how the village calculated its numbers. In his first review, he said he could see many of the legal expenditures in question were for the trustees' censure resolutions against him, efforts to block and remove him from meetings, and ways to frustrate his public records requests.

"If you disagree with me, fine. But let me talk. Let me sound stupid if that's what you think I am. Let me look ridiculous. Why spend all this money to shut me up?" Mottl said. "I think it's ridiculous that the board allows these legal bills. I'm clearly in the minority. No one seconds my motions. I'm not in charge of any of this spending. If they don't like how the spending is going, they can change it."

Mottl also noted a board resolution that requires that he only go through Mayor Gary Grasso for information. He said he has been unable to get the information from the village, forcing him to file public records requests. Other trustees, he said, do not have to do that.

Grasso disagreed.

"Very little comparably was spent on the censure motions compared to his 24 FOIA requests in the last 15 or so months," the mayor said in an email to Patch on Friday. "The more relevant point is that Mottl also caused those expenses by his disrespectful conduct at every turn to our police, staff and even a resident in 2019 and 2020. He did those things, not me or any Trustee. The other trustees all voted unanimously each time to censure him for his bad acts — six times. That’s on Mottl — no one else."