Due to what he claims was becoming a “toxic work environment,” Charleroi Borough’s full-time code enforcement officer decided to call it quits and took another job Wednesday.

Council unanimously accepted the resignation of Jeremy Hepple, who took over the role in May 2021.

Hepple turned in a handwritten letter to the borough, stating his resignation would take effect 3 p.m. yesterday — about three hours prior to the start of last night’s voting meeting.

Hepple, who was in attendance Wednesday, did not comment on his resignation during the public meeting.

Councilwoman Cathy Diess asked if his letter would be read publicly before a vote was taken, but was quickly shut down with a “no” from Council President Paul Pivovarnik, who instructed a roll call vote.

All council members voted to accept the resignation, though some expressed frustration, including Mayor Greg Doerfler, over Hepple’s decision to step away from the job.

In his letter, Hepple thanked “most” of council.

“I would like to thank most of council and all those I worked in the office with,” Hepple wrote. “As for the other three council members, if they would have put in that much effort to better the town as they did in trying to fire me, this would be one of the best councils. I’m not leaving because of money, I am leaving due to three council members and their poor attempts in getting me fired.”

CHARLEROI • A2 FROM A1 After the meeting, Hepple told the Mon Valley Independent he was referring to council members Jerry Jericho, Nancy Ellis and Jeannine Motycki.

He said after several instances, which he did not want to go into detail about, he began to look for other employment and accepted a different job Wednesday.

“It was starting to become a toxic work environment,” Hepple said. “I do want to apologize for leaving the borough short. I did not want to abandon the borough or the residents. I thought I did my job well and had been told I did my job well, but after so long I started to look for a new job because of the conflict.”

Before council discussed the resignation, Doerfler brought up his disappointment in what led Hepple to resign.

Doerfler said that employees walking out of their jobs with the borough unhappy is not acceptable.

“In the past four and a half years, we have lost five employees that have walked out of this borough unhappy, because of the way they were treated by certain council members and what not,” Doerfler said. “We can’t get people to work as it is, we get good people, then we chase them out the door.”

Two of those employees quit, Doerfler said, and the other three retired though they did not have to, he added.

“I think these employees need treated better, they don’t need harassed, they don’t need chased around. Let them do their jobs, that’s why we hired them. We can’t get anyone to work, but let’s shoe them out the door because ‘Oh, some body will come around.’ That’s ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous.” Neither Motycki, Ellis or Jericho commented during the meeting.

Councilman Larry Celaschi, however, was quick to express his frustration.

“Thank you for your body of work as code enforcement for this borough,” Celaschi said. “I know from past experience and dealing with you in this short period of time, you will certainly be missed. “This was a punch in the gut and no fault to you.”

Celaschi said his position will not be easy to fill.

“You think this is going to stop by defeating employee morale and chasing people out the door? You better think again. There will be accountability on this. I am not going to put Jeremy on the spot but this is an embarrassment. This is an embarrassment to this council,” Celaschi said. “You think it’s tough to get a police officer? Let me tell you what, the pool is not very large for code enforcement. After speaking to some agencies and former officers, it will be tough, especially coming into the busiest time of the year.”

There are currently more than 300 citations sitting on Hepple’s desk, waiting to be sent to the magistrate. He has arranged for any hearings to be pushed back until the borough finds a new person to take over his responsibilities. Motycki, after the meeting, said she never attempted to get Hepple fired, though she does feel “he was in over his head.”

“I never asked for him to be fired, or for him to be spoken to, or anything like that,” she said. “So, unfortunately, that is a lie. I don’t think he was doing the job, I think he was in over his head.”

Ellis said she did not assume she was one of the three council members accused in the letter, but after learning her name was given, had no comment on the matter.

Jericho did not return a request for comment following the meeting.

Pivovarnik said the decision was a result of “back and forth things and personality conflicts” but did not wish to comment on the matter further.

Other council members and staff thanked Hepple for his work and wished him luck on his future endeavors.

The borough will accept applications for a new full-time code enforcement officer until end of business day June 24 with hopes of hiring someone as soon as possible.