Burr Ridge Trustee Says Rival Wastes Village Money

Burr Ridge IL

24 February, 2021

2:01 PM

Description

BURR RIDGE, IL — A Burr Ridge trustee is making the case that a colleague's public records requests are burdensome for taxpayers and have produced nothing of value. The colleague says he is seeking information that is being kept away from him. Trustee Guy Franzese told Patch this week he wanted the public to know about the village's spending on issues related to Trustee Zach Mottl. Franzese and Mottl are among five trustee candidates vying for three seats on the Village Board in the April 6 election. A couple of weeks ago, the village released a document saying that it had spent $60,310 on handling Mottl's issues over the last 18 months. About three-fourths of that money was spent on handling the trustee's Freedom of Information Act requests and the rest on legal matters initiated by him, according to the village. In an email, Evan Walter, the village's interim administrator, released a spreadsheet with the details of Mottl's 24 public records requests. He sent the document to the trustees, except Mottl. Although the village counts 24, the number could be seen as 20 because, in four cases, Mottl withdrew his requests. It's unclear how much work, if any, the village put in before the requests were withdrawn. Many of Mottl's requests deal with Mayor Gary Grasso's communications. In one case, Mottl's asked for 10 months of the mayor's emails with the staff that included the trustee's name. He also sought emails dealing with Capri Ristorante, which he alleges maintains a cozy relationship with the mayor. In other requests, Mottl sought documents related to the Teamsters, a former Burr Ridge police chief, "Choctaw Nations of Indians," South Suburban Development, the village of Matteson and the Odelson & Sterk law firm. He also sought a form related to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. In an email to Patch, Franzese said taxpayers should be concerned about the public records requests because Mottl-related spending has reached $60,310. "We authorized spending $46,173 for an emergency road salt purchase last night," Franzese said. "I would have liked to have that wasted $60,130 available to use to purchase the road salt." He added that Mottl stands alone with his requests. "None of the other five Trustees has ever submitted a FOIA request. EVER," Franzese said in the email. "Total cumulative Trustee service of the other five Trustees is 51 years. 51 years, ZERO FOIA requests." Franzese said he would like to know what the Choctaw Nation, the retired police chief, the Teamsters or Matteson have to do with a trustee's job. He said Mottl has been asked twice in recent meetings to produce any information of value to the board related to the 24 requests. "To date, he has not produced anything, further confirming the waste of $60,310," Franzese said. Patch emailed Mottl a copy of the list of his public records requests. He said the 20 public records requests over 18 months is not excessive, "especially considering the vindictive and petty measures the board and Mayor have imposed to stifle my work protecting the people's interests." "These requests are legitimate and cover items of very real concern to the public," Mottl said in an email. "For example, the EEOC-4 form that shows if the village is discriminating in its hiring and is supposed to be available for anyone to see at Village hall. Or good-governance information that might reveal conflicts of interest or insider dealing." He blamed the village's lack of oversight of staff and attorneys for why his 20 "simple" requests cost so much money. "I would add they are trying to make it sound worse by lumping in a bunch of staff costs," Mottl said. "Those staff costs would not have gone away if FOIAs were not filed, so it's disingenuous to include them. They were working there anyway and part of their job is to respond to FOIA requests." Mottl also said the fact that the village did not include him in the email with the details of his records requests highlights the need for him to file such requests. However, Franzese noted the village's policy enacted in November with Grasso designating himself as the point of contact for Mottl, so the staff and other trustees do not have to deal with the trustee. "This policy was enacted due to Mr. Mottl's regular harassment and denigrating of Staff and the other Trustees," Franzese said. "He receives all of the information the other Trustees receive. He receives it separately from the Mayor." The trustees have censured Mottl six times since late 2019. The other trustee candidates in the village election are Anita Mital, Russell Smith and Elena Galinski.