Burr Ridge Trustee 'Reached New Low': Mayor

BURR RIDGE, IL — The Burr Ridge Village Board's plan last week was to adopt a resolution honoring Village Clerk Karen Thomas' more than four decades of service to the village, then give her words of praise. That all happened, but Trustee Zach Mottl was unwilling to go along. He voted against the resolution and blamed Thomas for letting Mayor Gary Grasso serve as mayor, saying Grasso did not meet the residency requirement. In last year's mayoral election, Grasso defeated Mottl.

After the meeting last week, Grasso said on Facebook that Mottl "reached a new low" for himself and his family name when he "disparaged" Thomas.

"He actually interrupted the reading of the resolution outlining Karen's distinguished career to complain about her not agreeing with Zach on one of his absurd theories, and then complained she ran unopposed. More Mottl hypocrisy: He ran unopposed — which won't happen if he tries to run for re-election in 2021. Zap Zach."

Mottl has said Thomas shouldn't have allowed Grasso to serve as mayor because the mayor had two homestead property tax exemptions — one at his Burr Ridge house and another for a home in Chicago. Mottl called it "property tax fraud," alleging the mayor cheated DuPage County taxpayers out of money. Grasso said he never sought a homestead exemption in Chicago, saying it was the result of a mistake in the Cook County assessor's office. Under state law, a person can only have one homestead exemption.

At last week's meeting, Mottl said Thomas had served too long and was "erroneous" in allowing Grasso to serve because of the residency issue.

In an email to Patch, Mottl said 40-plus years is way too long for anyone to serve.

"It stifles new ideas, innovation, and leads to entrenched interests, corruption, a lack of transparency and lack of oversight," Mottl said. "Like many parts of the BR village government, the clerk’s office has not modernized or pursued new ideas in a very long time. And like the entire village board, except for the mayor, Clerk Thomas was nearly always unopposed. Every single sitting trustee ran unopposed."

In the last election, he said village officials used maneuvers to keep an outsider off the ballot.

"That is how we ensure a healthy democracy and is a key part of what makes America great," Mottl said. "That’s not how America is supposed to work. I would love to see robust elections in BR with many challengers... Any residents who are interested in running and want help can reach out to me and I’d be happy to help them in the process of getting on the ballot."