Elmhurst Alderman Takes Heat For Absence

ELMHURST, IL — Elmhurst Alderman Bob Dunn was in the hot seat at Monday's City Council meeting.

Well, he actually wasn't in his seat. He was absent, and that angered his constituents.

The big topic at the meeting was a neighborhood's opposition to a zoning request by a sober living home at 348 N. Larch Ave., which is in Dunn's Ward 2.

The mayor said Dunn was on a business trip. The City Council delayed consideration until next month.

In an email Wednesday morning, Dunn noted an alderman gets $2,000 a year, so most of the members must have a full-time job.

"My job requires regular travel," he said. "Since this topic was going to be pulled until next meeting, it was not compelling for me to call in. In fact, having 1 Alderman Zoom in creates much more communications issues for the entire Council."

In late April, Dunn and the other two members of the council's Development, Planning and Zoning Committee recommended approval of the sober home's zoning request.

Dunn arrived late to that meeting, which apparently prompted the chairman, Michael Honquest, to delay public input on the sober home proposal.

That input occurred after the committee made its decision. In response, residents questioned why comments were delayed until after the aldermen took action. The delay also drew criticism from incoming Mayor Scott Levin and then-Alderman Michael Bram.

At Monday's meeting, resident Sarah Dacre, one of the neighbors of the sober home, said Larch Avenue residents' concerns were being ignored, "even by our own alderman, who is not here tonight to acknowledge any of the comments."

Later, another neighbor, Adam Smeets, passed out documents to the City Council.

"I'll leave one on Dunn's desk, even though he didn't bother to attend today," Smeets said.

Resident Liz Ryan noted one of the council seats was vacant.

"That's our alderman, Dunn," she said. "I can't imagine why in the world he is not here tonight."

When the council was prepared to take up the sober home issue, the other Ward 2 alderman, Jacob Hill, immediately proposed to delay a vote until the June 7 meeting. The council voted 10-2 for his motion.

Mayor Scott Levin explained that Dunn was out of town on business and knew that a motion would be made for the delay. He added some residents also requested it, particularly because some public records requests related to the issue have yet to be answered.

"He elected to stay on his business trip because he knew that there was very little possibility that it would be voted upon today," Levin said.

He said Dunn planned to review the video of the meeting.

Patch left a message for comment with Dunn.