Does Burr Ridge Trustee Still Live In Town?

BURR RIDGE, IL — Burr Ridge Trustee Zach Mottl's residency has become an issue. He put up his Garfield Avenue townshouse for sale in mid-February, and he accepted an offer late last month, with the transaction marked as contingent, according to real estate websites.

Mayor Gary Grasso said it was obvious Mottl has not been living where he had been.

"I'm told a moving van was there last week — don't know if in or out," Grasso said in an email to Patch on Tuesday. "Almost no water usage registered for that unit for the last two months. Weeks ago, the unit listed as seller has accepted offer. Do you need Sherlock 'Homes'?"

To serve, the mayor and trustees are required to live in the village.

In an email to Patch on Tuesday, Mottl said he has not changed his residence.

"My townhouse is for sale and under contract," Mottl said. "Once it closes, I will provide the village with my new address. One never knows with closings ... it’s a funny world out there. So until it officially closes, I do not have an official new address and remain at 7908 Garfield."

In April, a resident during the public input portion of a Village Board meeting suggested Mottl had moved out of his house and no longer lived in town. At Grasso's request, Karen Thomas, the village's clerk, emailed trustees asking them to verify their home addresses. All the trustees but Mottl gave the information. Mottl responded, "My residency has not changed," according to documents that Burr Patch obtained through a public records request.

On May 12, Thomas emailed Mottl asking for the exact address. Mottl answered again his residency had not changed.

"Do you ask other trustees for this information? Do you contact them multiple times? Did you confirm the mayor's residency information before swearing him in? Why are you treating me differently?" Mottl said. "Your behavior is making me feel uncomfortable, and I feel threatened. Please stop harassing me now."

In a reply, Thomas questioned how a question about residency could be threatening. She said the village understands Mottl had vacated his home.

"Please provide an address where you are residing in Burr Ridge," Thomas told Mottl. "If it is a temporary address, that is sufficient."

In DuPage County's property tax records, Mottl is still listed as the owner of the townhouse at 7908 Garfield Ave.

At Monday's Village Board meeting, the trustees are expected to vote on whether to direct Mottl to provide his current home address. This is being done on the advice of the village's attorney, Mike Durkin, according to a staff memo.

In the April 2019 mayoral election, Grasso defeated Mottl in a landslide. The two have tangled ever since. In recent months, Mottl has repeatedly called the mayor "a mobster." In response, the board has censured Mottl, saying the word "mobster" is an ethnic slur against the Italian American mayor. Mottl denied he used the word as a slur and accused another trustee of saying he did not want African Americans to come to Burr Ridge.

Last year, Mottl criticized the mayor for taking two homestead tax exemptions — one at his Burr Ridge house and another for a home in Chicago. Mottl called it "tax fraud," alleging the mayor cheated DuPage County taxpayers out of money. Last summer, Grasso filed a defamation lawsuit against Mottl over the tax allegation. 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.

In his email to Thomas, Mottl said the village never did anything when he brought up issues with Grasso's residency.

"Now please do your job to enforce the law to have Mayor Grasso removed from office immediately," he said.

In Tuesday's email to Patch, Mottl said the mayor is using the residency emails to harass and silence him.

"Just because we disagree and just because I challenged the Mayor, doesn’t mean they can harass, threaten, intimidate and remove me," Mottl said. "The staff, including the Clerk, should not allow themselves to be used as pawns by the Mayor for that purpose. They know better. They know this is wrong."