Trustee Says Burr Ridge Mayor 'Out of Line' Before New Chase Bank Approved

It appears Chase Bank will be heading to County Line Square, but the necessary Burr Ridge Board of Trustees votes didn’t come until after some heated discussion that eventually left one trustee incensed over a statement made by Mayor Mickey Straub. 

Trustees voted 4-3 on May 28, with Straub breaking the tie, to approve an agreement that allows the bank to operate in a retail area at 150 Burr Ridge Pwky. so long as a $12,000 fee is paid to the village annually by the landowner to offset the potential sales tax lost with a service business operating in a retail zone.
 
That “fee in lieu of sales tax” agreement is good for at least 20 years and $240,000, but only requires of HBG Corporation, the landowner, a line of credit worth $120,000. There is not a “covenant with the land” that requires the fee to be paid even if Chase leaves. 

Should Chase leave or the agreement be breached, the village has the right to drain the line of credit. HBG agreed to pay for any legal fees the village accrues pursuing any additional money from the landowner should a dispute arise.

“I would present to you … that this is the best deal we are going to get,” village administrator Steve Stricker said. 

But the fee-in-lieu agreement, which will be paid to HBG by Chase and then to the village by HBG, did not go far enough for some trustees. 

Trustee John Manieri said HBG should be required to make available a line of credit worth the entire $240,000 as a show of good faith. 

“There’s some bark to what I see in this language,” Manieri said. “I don’t see any bite.”

Manieri, Diane Bolos and Guy Franzese voted against the agreement. Janet Ryan Grasso, Al Paveza, Len Ruzak and Straub voted for it.

The Burr Ridge boardroom was tense throughout discussion of the new bank. Two residents called for Janet Ryan Grasso to recuse herself because of campaign contributions provided to her husband, former Mayor Gary Grasso, by HBG President Aristotle Halikias. 

Halikias made a $1,000 personal contribution to Citizens for Gary Grasso in 2012, according to the Illinois State Board of Elections, and Inter-Continental Real Estate Corp., which the Halikias family owns according to Crain's Chicago Business, made a $5,000 contribution to Gary Grasso in 2010.

Janet Ryan Grasso did not recuse herself, and Straub said that residents “must be very careful” when inferring that a trustee has a conflict of interest. 

He then used Bolos as an example, saying one could interpret the LNB Bancorp executive's lack of support for the Chase agreement as personally motivated because the applicant is a competitor.

"The point about being in banking could be construed wrong," Straub said.

Bolos called the statement “ridiculous” and “offensive" after saying she has "absolutely nothing" against Chase.  

“You are out of order,” the trustee said to Straub as murmurs were heard throughout the room and the mayor banged his gavel. “You can use that gavel all you like, you are out of order right now. You are out of line.”

Straub later apologized for his remark.

The fee-in-lieu agreement was approved by the board along with a special-use permit, setback exception, parking-ordinance amendment, and sign-approval ordinance.