Dear Mayor: Public Service Isn’t About Fattening Your Wallet

I’m urging Burr Ridge residents to attend, in-person or virtually, the next two board meetings, this Monday, October 26, and the November 9 meeting, also on a Monday.

At either of those meetings, our mayor, Gary Grasso, could call a vote on a proposal to raise his pay from $6,000 a year to $30,000 a year, a five-fold increase. Judging from the letters I’ve received and quotes in the news reports, most of us agree that this level of a salary increase during these difficult times, or any time, is an outrage.

There have been plenty of instances in the past where Grasso has monetized the mayor’s office for his friends and family at the expense of the taxpayers. Now he’s cast off any attempts at being discrete and simply wants a massive cash-grab for himself.

On October 6, Grasso sent a letter to Burr Ridge residents – a letter that read like a campaign flyer - making a case for why the mayor deserves a pay increase.

The expense of mailing the letter, at a total cost of nearly $5,000 according to a response from a Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA - the fact that I, as a sitting Trustee, had to FOIA the village to get the information is another story - is one that should have been approved by the Board.

The Board should have also provided input on the content of the letter. That is how normal villages function but that isn’t how Grasso does it in Burr Ridge, where he acts like a dictator and does whatever he wants, legal or not. No one, outside of a few junior staff members knew of the letter before it showed up in our mailboxes.

Staff should be reporting to the Village Administrator, not directly to the mayor, according to the Village's organizational chart. The Village Administrator reports to the Board and it’s the Village Board, not the Mayor, which actually runs the town according to the Illinois Municipal Code and the Village Code.

Resident Alice Krampits sized up the salary request perfectly at last Monday’s board meeting. She called it “outrageous” when the mayors of surrounding communities, many with much larger populations than Burr Ridge’s, typically earn stipends in the $5,000 to $10,000 range. She added that the Trustees are not getting increases (they now make $3,000) even though they chair committees and have put in extra hours in the pandemic and Sterigenics fight – two items Grasso mentioned in his letter to justify the raise. Sterigencs is closed now so that fight is over. Krampits also pointed out the long hours and hard work put in by the members of the Planning Commission, a position that gets no stipend. Grasso isn’t fighting for them. In his usual style, he just wants more for himself.

Don’t feel bad that he is working so hard because Grasso chose to run for office and he chose to insert himself into these two hot issues, not because he cares, but because he wants to score political points and get his name out at taxpayer expense. No other local Mayors had daily virus updates. We have many highly-compensated staff members who should be taking care of this work.

Moreover, communications regarding these challenging issues should come from the Village as an organization, with the involvement of the whole Board, not from the Mayor at his sole discretion. These taxpayer-funded communications are more like political mailers than village communications and the Village should be concerned about crossing that line. Other towns allow their competent and well-compensated staff to handle these things, with board oversight.

Another resident, attorney Ellen Raymond, is looking into possible legal action over the unauthorized expenditures, according to a report in the DuPage Policy Journal. Residents should be concerned and ask, “How much liability is Burr Ridge is accumulating thanks to Grasso’s improprieties?”

And Alice Krampits rightly said that “money should not be the motivation to run for mayor of Burr Ridge.” However, it’s my opinion that money is Grasso’s primary motivation and that he will do anything, no matter what, to get more cash for himself.

To make matters worse, Grasso’s authorized October 6th letter has one more problem. Like an abusive spouse, Grasso seeks to control the narrative and have total control over all communications, including residents’ input. He directs residents to email or text him with their opinions on the issue and gives his personal cell phone number. Many residents, some who may need something in the future like a permit or a street fixed, fear Grasso’s wrath. They may be hesitant to give negative input and I understand that because, like a mobster, Grasso clearly is vindictive. After all, he sued me for running against him and he sued nearly all his former business and law partners, including his most recent partner, Attorney Anthony Bass, over a puzzling home refurbishing deal.

But more importantly, will Grasso share all the communications he has received with the Board or with residents, both positive and negative? Are these texts on his personal phone and emails subject to FOIA? Shouldn’t those comments be given to the whole Board, perhaps sent to the Village Administrator and collated for all to see, not just provided to the beneficiary of the raise who has a vested interest in steering the conversation?

If Grasso really wanted resident input, why didn’t he ask the Board to put an advisory referendum on April’s ballot? Then the Board could vote on the raise based on those election results. Perhaps it’s because Grasso needs the money now so he has disingenuously given an arbitrary deadline. We don't have to jump through this fake hoop. It can be put on the April ballot and become effective 4 years later.

As it stands now, the pay increase would go into effect at the start of the next term in May 2021. I would have been a “No” vote on the letter, if it were actually put before the Board and debated as it should have been, and I will be a “No” vote on the raise.

We have all suffered through this pandemic. Incomes have been cut or lost entirely. The Village is facing budget deficits and massive pension liabilities. It’s never right to increase the mayor’s salary far above that of mayors of our surrounding communities. Now is especially not the right time.

Here is how you can participate in these meetings. Keep in mind, if you are watching the video online or on your TV, there is often a delay of several minutes. I will try to make sure the board waits at least 5 minutes to give you a chance to comment based on what you see, but if you can’t attend in person, the best way that I have found is to use the phone number, keep the call going on your phone the whole time, mute your phone, and simply listen to the audio via phone so you stay with the meeting live, as its happening. Don’t forget to unmute your phone and you may also need to unmute the conference call by pressing *6 to mute or *6 to unmute when you want to comment.

Anyone who may want to provide public comment at the meeting may do so, either by: (1) attendance at the Village Hall; (2) logging into this link to watch, listen, and comment; (3) calling in at 1 (224) 441-6894 (and entering Meeting ID# 877 068 676) to listen and comment; or (4) sending public comments no later than 6:45 p.m. on October 26, 2020 via email at BRMeetings@burr-ridge.gov (e-mailed public comments should identify whether the comment is intended to address a specific agenda item or is intended for general public comment under Section 9 of this Agenda). All public participants will be muted upon entering the virtual meeting. Prior to voting on each agenda item, on-line or call-in participants will be unmuted and asked for comments and email public comments that were timely received will be read into the record. You may also have to dial *6 to unmute yourself when you want to talk.