Half Year Since Burr Ridge Official Attended Meeting

BURR RIDGE, IL – If Burr Ridge Trustee Joe Snyder shows up for Monday's Village Board meeting, it'll be his first in-person attendance in a half year.

That's translated into 26 weeks or 178 days or 4,272 hours.

Of the last seven regular board meetings, Snyder, who was elected in 2017, has missed four. He connected to three others remotely, mostly recently April 8. His last in-person attendance was Oct. 23.

Under the village's policy, a trustee must publicly state the reason for not being present at the regular meeting to vote in person.

But in the three instances over the last six months, Mayor Gary Grasso, not Snyder, has given the reason, usually because the trustee is on business in Florida.

In a phone interview, Grasso said trustees needed to be reminded of the rules.

"Joe has always followed the spirit of the rules," he said. "He is in the property casualty business in Florida, Illinois and elsewhere. It's been a very active business. He's very aware of the policy and has been reminded."

A previous Patch story found that Snyder's attendance rate was lower than a former trustee whom he criticized on that very issue.

Snyder owns a home in a gated subdivision that is a half hour south of Fort Myers, Florida.

On Thursday, it was 25 degrees warmer in Fort Myers than in Burr Ridge.

Snyder hasn't returned messages for comment.