Burr Ridge Trustee Still A No-Show

BURR RIDGE, IL – Burr Ridge Trustee Joe Snyder did not attend Monday's Village Board meeting, marking six months since he last showed up in person.

At the meeting, Mayor Gary Grasso said Snyder was traveling on business in Macedonia, an Eastern European country. The mayor said the trustee gave his feedback on the annual budget, which the board approved.

Snyder has connected remotely for a few meetings since he last showed up on Oct. 23. But he has not followed the procedures for remote attendance outlined in the village code.

Over the last year, Snyder has missed 40 percent of meetings and has connected remotely another 27 percent of the time.

His absence rate is higher than that of former Trustee Zach Mottl, whom Snyder criticized for missing 26 percent of meetings. He called that a "failing grade."

In 2021, Snyder submitted a piece to Patch focused on Mottl's attendance. It appeared shortly before the village election, which Mottl lost to allies of Grasso and Snyder.

Under the village code, a trustee who plans to connect remotely must give at least two days' written notice to the mayor and the village administrator. Snyder only has done so for the Jan. 8 and April 8 meetings, which he attended remotely, records indicate. (For Jan. 8, he only wrote the administrator, not the mayor.)

A public records request filed by resident Patricia Davis showed that Snyder did not give the required notice before his remote attendance Sept. 25, Jan. 8 and March 11.

The code also requires a member attending remotely to publicly state his reason. But in two cases, the mayor explained on behalf of Snyder.

The explanation has been that Snyder is away on business, typically Florida, where he owns a home.

In a recent email, Davis brought up the violations to Village Administrator Evan Walter.

He responded by saying the board plans to consider changing the code.

Davis, however, said her email had nothing to do with revisions.

"We already have codified rules for meetings and trustees’ absences, rules that the Village is not following," Davis told Walter in an email. "My email really was a demand that you change the affected meeting minutes in question since Trustee Snyder did not follow Village rules as I clearly delineated. Are you saying that you will not correct the record?"

Snyder has not returned messages for comment.

The board is set to meet next on May 13. If Snyder attends in person, it would be the first time he has done so in 203 days.