YORKVILLE — The mayors of Yorkville and Rayland went toe to toe Thursday night during the Yorkville Village Council’s meeting over a charitable organization.

Rayland Mayor Tammy Morelli was at Thursday’s meeting to address Yorkville Mayor Sandy Reasbeck concerning YTR Sassy Saints, a community-based organization that serves local families and nursing homes in Yorkville, Tiltonsville and Rayland.

Morelli said during the meeting’s public forum that she had heard rumors of Reasbeck telling others not to donate to Sassy Saints because it was an illegal operation. Reasbeck denied saying that, but mentioned that there was conflict when she told the group it could no longer house its donations at the Yorkville Municipal Building.

“People were bringing clothes to the building like it was the Salvation Army. Every time you’d go there, there would be clothes, kids toys, and bikes everywhere,” Reasbeck said. “I said this is a city building, we have to clean it up, it can no longer look like this.”

Morelli was also in attendance at the council’s Tuesday meeting, which ended up postponed until Thursday due to lack of quorum. On Tuesday, Morelli addressed those who were in attendance that the Sassy Saints were planning a yard sale and a 50/50 raffle to raise money.

Morelli said that when she was there Tuesday, nobody had any questions or concerns about the Sassy Saints. Reasbeck responded that, because the Tuesday meeting was postponed, it wasn’t an official meeting, so she believes that the council wasn’t allowed to talk about anything officially.

“I mean I was asking you questions,” Morelli said. “You could have answered me or asked me questions but you went out and told everybody the next day that Sassy Saints is illegal.”

She then said that Reasbeck was asking for Tax ID numbers for the Sassy Saints organization.

“So let me tell you what Sassy Saints is,” Morelli said. “We’re a group of community people that is raising money or getting people to donate gifts for our needy children in our community. Do you know that 18.2% of people in our Buckeye Local School District in our YTR area are in poverty? That is 2% higher than the state level.”

According to Morelli, Sassy Saints don’t receive any money, but rather get sponsors who donate gifts to needy children.

“They help pregnant women that need help in our YTR area, not in Martins Ferry, Steubenville, Mount Pleasant, but in Tiltonsville, Yorkville, and Rayland,” she said. “A group of people got together just as citizens and there is no money.”

Council member Liza Presutti interjected saying, “You guys take cash, monetary, and checks.”

Utility Clerk Sher Destifanes responded to Presutti saying that she and Crystal Motto started the group.

“I am not the money person,” Destifanes said. “You can contact Jason Lucarelli or Kim (McKnight), they both said that this has nothing to do with the village.”

“This doesn’t have anything to do with the village,” Morelli said, “so stop going around telling people not to donate to it.”

Reasbeck responded that she never told anyone not to donate to the organization and that she believes it’s a great cause and isn’t against it. Morelli claimed Reasbeck said the 50/50 raffle is illegal, to which Reasbeck replied, “But that’s not saying that I’m against it, I never told anybody not to buy anything.”

Presutti added, “My primary concern lies with the affiliation of the village with a nonprofit organization that is not legally legitimized. This situation raises serious ethical and legal concerns for me which cannot be overlooked.”

The concern with the village of Yorkville being affiliated with the Sassy Saints is because on the Sassy Saints social media account it says that people wanting to donate can drop off funds or supplies to the Yorkville Municipal Building. Destifanes replied that it was posted on the social media page in 2020 before the organization moved from Yorkville to Rayland.

Reasbeck added that her concern is when the organization does the fundraising, that there is no paperwork in regards to the money brought in and where or how the money is dispersed.

“It’s a good cause,” Reasbeck said. “I never said it wasn’t a good cause.”

The two mayors ended the debate by agreeing that the Yorkville Municipal Building’s name will be taken off the social media as a drop-off location as a way to clarify that the Sassy Saints and the Village of Yorkville have zero affiliation with each other.