Belleville’s city engineer resigns abruptly in email to mayor
Belleville City Engineer Sal Elkott has resigned.
Elkott notified Mayor Patty Gregory by email on Friday morning. When contacted by the BND, he didn’t give a reason for the resignation, which is effective immediately. He reserved further comment for a later time.
Gregory referred questions to Bill Clay, the city’s director of human resources. He emailed the following statement on Friday afternoon:
“Mr. Sal Elkott resigned as City Engineer for the City of Belleville today via a Letter of Resignation. The city staff and elected officials have been notified. Mayor Gregory ‘wishes him well on his future endeavors.’”
Ward 3 Alderman Kent Randle, who worked closely with Elkott as chairman of the Streets and Grades Committee, said Elkott called him after submitting his resignation as a courtesy.
“I was stunned and disappointed,” Randle said.
Randle said he had a very good working relationship with Elkott and, to his knowledge, so did other Belleville City Council members who serve on the committee.
Randle said he didn’t feel comfortable sharing information from a private conversation with Elkott on his reasons for resigning. He called him a “true public servant.”
“We have accomplished more (under Elkott) in the way of street resurfacing and completed projects than we have in a number of years,” Randle said. “In a very short time, we have managed to make a great deal of progress for the residents of this city.”
Elkott joined Gregory’s administration in June 2021, replacing former City Engineer Michael Velloff, who resigned shortly after Gregory defeated former Mayor Mark Eckert in the April election.
Elkott later said he hadn’t sought out the position, but he was glad he accepted it because he believed in serving others and thought he could help the city engineering department, which he described as constrained by a “lack of staffing” and “lack of resources.”
“I have been fortunate that I have been offered this job, as reluctant as I was to take it on,” he said in August 2021.
Elkott formerly served as Stookey Township highway commissioner. He founded his own engineering firm in 2004 but agreed to suspend its operation while employed as city engineer.
Elkott began the city job as a part-time employee. He quickly concluded that it needed the engineer’s full-time attention, as well as a larger staff, including a construction inspector.
“It’s a little bit of a lack of wisdom on my part, but I thought I would be able to serve and get things done (on a part-time basis),” he said in 2021. “This is not for half measures.”
Gregory made the job full time with the blessing of Belleville City Council.
“Sal is doing an excellent job,” she said at the time.
Elkott’s annual salary is 120,819, according to Shelley Tarrant, the city’s payroll manager.
Earlier this year, local engineer Geri Boyer accused Elkott of providing false information to aldermen while recommending that they terminate her contract for a city road project and of shutting out her company, Kaskaskia Engineering, for political reasons.
Elkott countered that he was protecting taxpayer interests by insisting that design work and inspections on construction projects not be done by the same company, which Boyer maintains is standard practice in the industry.
This story was originally published August 26, 2023 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Belleville’s city engineer resigns abruptly in email to mayor."
