Burr Ridge Official Ousted, But Name Still On Site

Burr Ridge IL

13 September, 2021

10:04 AM

Description

BURR RIDGE, IL — Burr Ridge Mayor Gary Grasso wanted the village's finance director gone. The Village Board stood behind the mayor. In the effort, the village spent more than $200,000, including legal bills, to oust Finance Director Jerry Sapp. During the summer, officials reached a settlement in which Sapp received $90,000 and worked his final weeks in the office. His last day was Aug. 19. As of Monday, Sapp was still listed as the village's finance director on its website, more than three weeks after he left. (A couple of hours after this story was posted, Sapp's name was removed.) In the last few months, the village has seen limitations in its communications apparatus, the likely result of resignations among key employees. Shortly after Janet Kowal, the village's communications coordinator, left in early June, the village stopped its weekly newsletter and started a monthly one. Until a couple of months ago, Burr Ridge posted its meeting videos on YouTube a few days after its meetings. Now it's taking weeks for postings. For the meeting on Aug. 23, the board's last one, the video is still not online, nearly three weeks later. The village's police department used to post one of the most comprehensive police blotters for the media in the area. But in June, it stopped doing so. Instead, it publishes labels such as "disturbance" or "suspicious vehicle," along with times and locations, on its website, but no other information. Recently, Police Chief John Madden said the police department changed its systems, which caused the problem. But he said the police aim to return to giving the comprehensive information. Patch left a message with Grasso about Sapp's name being on the village's website and the delayed postings of meeting videos. Grasso has prohibited interim Village Administrator Evan Walter from speaking with Patch, with the village citing a 1990s policy about media communications that was previously unenforced. Sapp was the village's finance director for a quarter century. The village never gave a public reason for its effort to force out Sapp.