Grasso to resign as mayor of Burr Ridge, focus on county post

Burr Ridge Mayor Gary Grasso will resign his mayoral post Monday night so he can focus all of his attention on his duties as a newly elected member of the DuPage County Board, reversing course on initial plans to hold both offices.

Grasso said Sunday that stepping down from his municipal post during tonight's village board meeting will prevent him from becoming a “distraction” in Burr Ridge by holding two elected offices at the same time.

“I've been thinking about it and decided it's the appropriate thing to do,” he said. “I know there were questions about holding dual offices, and the last thing I want for Burr Ridge is to become a distraction.”

Grasso was elected to the county board last month by a razor-thin margin of 21 votes. He said during the campaign that if elected, he would hold both offices simultaneously.

But that same night, 90 percent of DuPage County voters who turned out to the polls answered “no” to a nonbinding referendum asking if public officials should be able to hold more than one office at the same time.

“I saw there were some strong feelings on the issue,” Grasso said.

Grasso has been mayor of Burr Ridge for eight years. He said he will miss leading the community, which the father of six referred to as “like my seventh child.”

“I'm proud of what we were able to accomplish during that time,” he said, pointing to projects like the Burr Ridge Village Center development. “We put Burr Ridge on the map, gave it an identity. And I say ‘we' because I didn't do it alone, I had so much wonderful help along the way.”

Grasso said that he's excited to begin his first term representing District 3 on the county board. He will attend his first meeting as a sworn member Tuesday.

“We have many issues in front of us, consolidation and sharing of services among them,” he said. “As the county's leaders, we will have to find ways to provide the services the residents expect despite smaller and smaller revenue sources.”

District 3 includes all or portions of Bolingbrook, Burr Ridge, Clarendon Hills, Hinsdale, Darien, Downers Grove, Lemont, Naperville, Westmont, Willowbrook and Woodridge.