Sparks Fly At Burr Ridge Meeting
BURR RIDGE, IL — A debate this week over a top Burr Ridge official's shifting statements about a possible restaurant investigation resulted in the mayor raising the possibility of censuring a trustee and the trustee calling the mayor a mobster. Their tempers flared during a meeting in which every elected official but the mayor participated by telephone because of the coronavirus.
At a Village Board meeting in early March, Village Administrator Doug Pollock said the state Department of Revenue was checking out the sales tax payments of a Burr Ridge restaurant. The state collects sales taxes from restaurants, while the village receives a 1 percent dining tax.
When the income numbers reported to the village and state diverge, Pollock said, Burr Ridge reports the discrepancy to the state. That has happened in two instances, he said.
"There was one I heard back from (the Department of Revenue). In fact, they're still looking at it. And another, we never heard from them. They do the auditing. They have the legal authority to audit," he said.
Seven years ago, the village discovered that a local restaurant had failed to report $1.5 million in income, which was years before Pollock became the administrator. Burr Ridge later settled with the business, but Trustee Zach Mottl has questioned whether the village informed the state of the irregularity. The village says it has no written record of a notification to the state, but indicates such notice was given verbally.
At the March 9 meeting, Mottl asked Pollock about the ongoing investigation.
"I would rather not say what business is under investigation or might be under investigation by the Department of Revenue at this time," Pollock said.
At Monday's meeting, when the village board was asked to approve the minutes for the March 9 session, Mottl requested the record include Pollock's statement about the restaurant investigation.
Mayor Gary Grasso said he did not recall such a statement, and Pollock said he must have misspoken.
"I recall being asked about a restaurant being audited," the administrator said. "If I said I knew a restaurant was being audited, I misspoke because I don't have that knowledge.
He said he was aware of the tax issue with the restaurant years ago. But he said the village was not in the position to know whether the state conducted an audit.
Later in Monday's meeting, when trustees were given an opportunity to comment, Mottl tried to play the audio from the March 9 meeting. But the mayor said it was impossible to hear.
Noting what Pollock said at the previous meeting, Mottl did not accept the official's explanation that he misspoke.
"I can't believe you reported on it, you remembered it, you knew all about it, and now you can't remember it," Mottl said. "This will be the second time you have lied to me when I asked you about audits at restaurants and sales tax information. You keep obscuring and lying, Doug."
Grasso responded that he thought Mottl was out of line and noted the board had already censured Mottl once for insulting village staff.
Mottl said he was holding employees accountable, not insulting them.
"I don't appreciate being lied to and having information obscured. I think that's improper," Mottl said. "If you want to censure me for it, go ahead and do it."
Grasso replied, "I think you're overreacting and jumping to conclusions."
Mottl shot back, "I think you're a mobster."
Another trustee could be heard asking the mayor to call Mottl to order.
Grasso then asked for "intelligent comments" from trustees. Several of them then praised the mayor and village staff for their handling of the coronarvirus emergency.
Trustee Anita Mital joined in the compliments.
"The mayor and everyone is handling it in a dignified way," she said.
In last April's election, Grasso defeated Mottl in a landslide. They have sharply disagreed over a number of issues. In March, a big majority of the village's voters rejected Grasso's proposal for making Burr Ridge a home rule town. Mottl led the opposition, saying such a move could result in a property tax increase.
This article originally appeared on the Burr Ridge Patch
