Dupage Policy Journal

As voters in Burr Ridge consider increasing the mayor's annual pay from $6,000 to $12,000, current chief executive Gary Grasso is embroiled in a lawsuit against Trustee Zach Mottl alleging defamation and libel.

The lawsuit also got the village's legal counsel's attention, Storino, Ramello & Durkin, recently paid $35.50 for copies of the suit. Grasso said he was initially unaware of why the village's law firm would be interested in the suit, Patch.com reported in March.

"I checked with counsel today and confirmed that due to Trustee Mottl's bombastic attacks on my ethnicity at board meetings and the resulting amendments to the defamation complaint because of those attacks, they reviewed the pleadings to see if there was any exposure for the Village," Grasso, who is Italian American, told Patch by email. "Thus, Mottl's detrimental actions continue to cost the village and its taxpayers."

Mottl has not walked back statements he made during the campaign where he was defeated by Grasso, Patch reported. Those include criticism of his receiving a second homestead property tax exemption in Chicago — which Grasso claimed was the city's mistake – and his alleged dealings with questionable people.

"My criticisms of Mr. Grasso have nothing to do with his ethnicity and everything to do with his actions and behaviors," Mottle said, Patch reported.

The village trustees have previously censured Mottl for comments such as calling Grasso "godfather," which the trustees deemed an ethnic slur against him, Patch reported.

Area resident Patricia Davis raised additional criticisms against Grasso in a recent letter to the editor published in the Chicago Tribune. She said that the chief executives of other area communities make less or nothing and that if the mayor's salary were raised to $12,000 annually, he would be the second-highest paid chief executive in the area.

"How many among us have ever received a 100% raise in pay?" Davis said.