T-L Photos/GAGE VOTA Yorkville Street and Sanitation Department employee Chance Mellinger, left, and Water and Sewage Department employee Bryan Sand, both volunteer firefighters, listen Wednesday as council discusses their resignations from their jobs. Both said they resigned due to an alleged hostile work environment they say was created by Mayor Sandy Reasbeck.

YORKVILLE — Yorkville Village Council held a special meeting Wednesday evening to discuss the resignations of Street and Sanitation Department employee Chance Mellinger and Water and Sewage Department employee Bryan Sand.

Mellinger and Sand both said they submitted their resignations due to what they deem a hostile work environment.

Mellinger put his resignation in on Jan. 31. Sand put his resignation in on Feb. 4.

Both residents, who also serve as volunteer firefighters, claim the hostile work environment stems from the behavior of Mayor Sandy Reasbeck.

“I don’t want to leave working here. I just want to be left alone to do my job. I mean who wants to be yelled at and screamed at?” Mellinger said.

Earlier this month, Street and Sanitation Supervisor Jesse Cordery was fired by Reasbeck, but he was reinstated by council after members deemed it an unjust firing.

Council member Doug Delvecchio asked Mellinger why he resigned.

“I’m always having to watch my back and wonder if I’m going to have a job,” Mellinger replied.

“I come to work and do my job and rarely call off. I’ve dug you guys out of holes multiple times and never asked for a pat on the back. I just want to be left alone and want to do my job.”

According to Mellinger, the last straw came on Jan. 31 when Reasbeck went to the Yorkville Volunteer Fire Department and contacted Mellinger for the access code. Reasbeck said a resident had contacted her about an issue with their property not having water and she told the resident that she would fill up containers of water for them at the fire department instead of purchasing water from a store.

Mellinger said he replied to Reasbeck, informing her that he could not give her the code. He said the department has a rule that anybody who is not a Yorkville volunteer firefighter or medical personnel must be accompanied by a member to have access to the building.

According to both Mellinger and Reasbeck, once she was denied access to the building she contacted the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.

Mellinger claimed that she called the sheriff’s office in an attempt to get him in trouble, while Reasbeck claimed that she called the sheriff’s office because she didn’t want to argue and just wanted to get the resident water.

Delvecchio then asked Reasbeck why she didn’t try to get the water from a sink in the village building. She replied that there’s only one sink in the village building and it leaks.

Council member Sarah Jokovich told Mellinger she was under the impression that he was fired and asked if he was fired or resigned. He replied that he put his resignation in and then was fired by Reasbeck in what he believes was retaliation for him putting in his resignation, which Reasbeck denied.

Jokovich asked him whether he wanted to continue working or not.

“I want to be working, but I would love to be left alone and just do my job,” he said. “I don’t want to be screamed at by the mayor all of the time.”

Sand added that his resignation was also due to what he considers a hostile work environment created by Reasbeck.

He said that he and Reasbeck were having a heated conversation on Jan. 31. During the argument, Cordery walked by and Reasbeck turned her attention to Cordery. That exchange ended in her firing Cordery on the spot.

“Just mainly the hostility,” Sand said about why he wanted to leave his position.

Reasbeck replied to Sand asking if there was any hostility when he asked her if he could take the work truck home instead of driving back to the village building after being out working until 4 a.m., which she said that she had no issue with.

“Was there hostility when you said you had to leave to get your daughter’s prescriptions? No. I said please take care of your family first,” she said. “There was no hostility with me.”

He replied that he had heard through the grapevine that she wanted to terminate him when he had to call off because he was sick.

Reasbeck asked him why he, Mellinger and Cordery never speak to her directly when there’s a potential issue.

“You guys listen to each other but never verify anything with me. It’s easy to say, ‘Oh, Doug said this,’ when Doug’s not here to defend himself,” she said. “I’ve never been hostile to any one of you. I’ve never been hostile to anyone.”

After the discussion, council went into a closed-door session to discuss whether they wanted to vote on accepting the resignations. Following the executive session, council voted unanimously not to accept either resignation and to reinstate both Sand and Mellinger to their positions.

Following the vote, Reasbeck said she would like it to be on record that she was opposed to both Sand and Mellinger continuing to work for the village.