EVANSTON — A City of Evanston employee may find himself in hot water after leaving a voicemail for a citizen, but failing to hang up the phone which caught him talking disparagingly about the resident.

The voicemail was left by Evanston Community Development Director Rocco O’Neill after Gina Sundquist tried to express concern over a recent facility rental.

“Write a letter to the editor,” O’Neill is heard saying on the recording. “No one’s going to read your dumbass complaint.”

Sundquist rented the Evanston Machine Shop for her son’s June 29 wedding, and the heat made the event unbearable.

“I just don’t want this to happen to anyone else,” said Sundquist. “I knew it was going to be hot, but it was severely hot. This is Wyoming; we were sort of banking on clouds that day, or wind. There’s always wind here. Not that day — it was 90 degrees and still. Half of our 150 guests left early — they were sick and miserable from the heat.”

However, Sundquist said, her concern wasn’t handled appropriately — or even handled at all because she was told she couldn’t address the city council about the issue.

“A f--- up on your end, does not constitute an emergency on mine,” O’Neill can be heard saying on the voicemail, seemingly after he thought he had hung up with Sundquist.

Sundquist’s son, John Thompson, who is currently stationed in Japan with the Navy, was home on leave and she wanted to plan the perfect day for him after an agonizing couple of months. Thompson lost his father unexpectedly in April. Further compounding his devastation, one of his groomsmen, local 21-year-old Zachery Worthing, also passed away just two weeks before the wedding in a tragic motorcycle accident.

“It was already a really hard and emotional time,” she said of the celebration planning. “I just wanted to make it really special and beautiful.”

Sundquist, a fifth generation Evanstonian with a lengthy family history of railroad workers, desired the location for sentimental purposes.  She also knew the risks of leasing the venue for a summer event, as it does not have air conditioning. While the neighboring Roundhouse facility does, it was already booked that weekend.

“I take full responsibility for taking that chance of having it there and it not working out,” she said. “I just wanted to be heard.”

When Sundquist dropped by City Hall a couple of weeks later to collect items left behind at the wedding, she mentioned to Micki Cox, the facilities and business license tech with the City of Evanston, how insufferably hot the Machine Shop had been that day. Cox suggested that she bring it to the attention of the city council by requesting to be added to a work session agenda.

“Micki was really great; she was trying to be helpful,” Sundquist said.

“I just wanted to bring awareness to the issue and possibly even try to problem solve,” she continued. “I thought that bringing this to their attention should be on the record in an official meeting. Is there grant money available? If it costs so much to rent it, why isn’t that money being used to make the building more usable? Maybe it shouldn’t be rented out at all during the summer, or could the city at least purchase a few of those large, industrial-sized fans?”

According to Evanston City Clerk Diane Harris, the public can make comments during the public participation segment at a regular city council meeting. For a work session, a request can be proposed to Harris from an individual or a group, which is then shared with Mayor Kent Williams, who determines whether the request can be handled by himself, a council member or department head. If the mayor determines the matter should be placed on a work session agenda, Harris will add it accordingly.

Harris initially told Sundquist that she could be added to a work session agenda to voice her complaints, but then was later told she wouldn’t be added. Shortly thereafter, on July 23, Sundquist received the call and unexpected voicemail message from O’Neill. 

The following is a transcript of O’Neill’s voicemail to Sundquist in its entirety.

“Hey Gina, this is Rocco O’Neil with the City of Evanston.  Diane [Harris] made me aware that you had some concerns about the heat in the Machine Shop, during an event the past few weeks.

“I’m happy to talk with you about those facilities and the issues we face when we talk about central air, and air conditioning the Machine Shop specifically. I’m happy to meet with you, I don’t think this is a work session topic. The council is responsible for staff and budget. And because this is a facilities issue, that’s my department, I can handle that with you and we can come to an agreement. Give me a call back when you get this. … Thanks, bye.”

At this point, O’Neill believes he had hung up the phone.

“Good Job, Rocco,” said an unidentified female city employee.

“Yeah, you bet we’ll see if we can keep this off the work session,” O’Neill said.

Inaudible apology by an unidentified female city employee.

“There’s nothing to be sorry about,” O’Neill said. “This is what … when I worked at my old job, my old boss, he said this all the time, because we’d always have contract workers or truck drivers … They’d call and they’d want us to do something right now, and he’d always tell them on the phone, excuse my language, but he’d go ‘A f--- up on your end, does not constitute an emergency on mine.’ And then he’d hang up.”

Both parties laughed boisterously.

“Boom,” O’Neill continued. “Basically, it’s like just because it’s a big deal to you does not mean it’s a big deal.”

Inaudible comments from an unidentified female city employee.

“If it’s 90 degrees outside and you have a door open, guess what happens? It’s going to be 90 degrees inside of wherever you’re at,” O’Neill said.

Mostly inaudible from the same female city employee, “and then you can hear our side of story ... work session.”

“Write a letter to the editor. No one’s going to read your dumbass complaint,” O’Neill said before finally hanging up the phone.

Upon receiving the voicemail, a stunned Sundquist immediately confronted O’Neill at his office at City Hall, suggesting that he should make sure he hangs up the phone the next time he talks badly about a citizen.

During that interaction, O’Neill issued a refund of Sundquist’s $750 rental fee and a handwritten note, the contents are which as follows:

“Gina, I sincerely apologize for my actions related to your rental of the Machine Shop. In a moment of weakness, stress, and burnout I acted like a child. The City of Evanston prides itself on how we treat, respect, and honor this community and its citizens and I did not meet that standard. - Rocco O’Neill.”

Sundquist maintains that the incident — which was brought to the Herald’s attention on July 24 — isn’t at all about the money and it’s less about the stress of having rented an essentially unusable space in the summer heat, and more about the troubling nature of city leaders mocking and disregarding the concerns of the community they serve, then denying opportunities for civic discourse.

“This isn’t about the money, and I never said it was an emergency,” Sundquist told the Herald. “I actually want change. I wanted to speak to the city council to troubleshoot ideas so no one else has to experience this.”

She further explained that a friend of hers hosted a wedding at the air-conditioned Roundhouse two weeks after her son’s wedding, but that luxury was not working that day.

“The city council needs to come up with a solution,” Sundquist said. “People pay a lot of money to use those facilities.”

O’Neill’s actions not only cost the city $750. So far, two volunteers have resigned their posts with the city over his disparaging comments.

Sundquist’s father, Union Pacific retiree and Old Timer’s Club member Wayne Morrow, has been offering free tours of the railyard and its facilities since fall 2020. He and a fellow UP employee friend began hosting the tours to offer locals and tourists an escape from the cabin-fever-inducing pandemic and to honor the city’s historical roots. Morrow, however, was so appalled by the voicemail O’Neill left for his daughter, it compelled both him and his friend, Joe Dean, to resign from the community service they’d so prided themselves on. They immediately turned their facility key fobs in to the city.

“If I can add anything to the discussion, it’s that everyone that works in city hall should pay the utmost respect to the taxpayers of this community. They didn’t let her address the council — and they disrespected her, too. I’m leaving because they have the wrong attitude. O’Neill should be disciplined,” Morrow told the Herald.

Sundquist maintains there is impropriety afoot if citizens are actively being denied opportunities to share concerns with the city council.

“I feel like I’m being censored,” she said. “I’m hurt, I’m angry, and I was purposefully kept from the work session. He (O’Neill) explained to me that the city council only deals with personnel and budget — well, he just made it a staff issue. His voicemail added insult to injury.”

O’Neill was appointed to his position in 2019 by Mayor Williams, and the city council confirmed the appointment. O’Neill met with the Herald for a brief interview on Thursday, July 25. When asked numerous times to confirm the identity of the person he was talking  to and who was laughing about Sundquist’s complaint, he initially said he was alone and “talking to the wall.” He asserted that any background noise came from “people passing through the hall.”

When confronted with a typed transcription proving that it was indeed a two-way conversation, he admitted it was a discussion, but still refused to identify the second party. 

Of the unnamed woman on the voicemail, Sundquist said, “I know who she is. Our families were close growing up. To hear her laughing like that — a cackle, really — is so hurtful and degrading. She should be reprimanded.”

O’Neill told the Herald that the voicemail incident is a non-issue as apologies have been delivered in addition to a full refund. He was further incredulous at the idea that it would be sufficient-enough fodder to write about during a busy political year and suggested that the Herald save the print space for valuable election coverage.

When questioned whether Sundquist would have received a refund had the voicemail incident not occurred, O’Neill paused and replied, “We were likely going to refund it regardless of the call.”

Sundquist said O’Neill’s apology isn’t a sufficient consequence for his shocking behavior.

“Rocco was very unprofessional,” she said. “He should be fired or hand in his resignation because of how he treats people. If this is how he treats one citizen behind their back, he shouldn’t be allowed to represent Evanston and Uinta County. He doesn’t have the best interest of the citizens at heart.”

O’Neill issued a final official statement. “Regarding the recent accidental pocket call that occurred involving Gina Sundquist, I sincerely apologize for any offense or discomfort this may have caused her. Please know that this was entirely unintentional, and I value our community’s trust and respect immensely. I have personally apologized to Ms. Sundquist and am eager to refocus my efforts on serving our community.”

Sundquist said she plans to address the city council during public comments at the next regular city council meeting.

“It’s so unfortunate this all happened,” Sundquist said, noting an egregious lack of compassion from city employees. “But I’m proud of my son.  It was a beautiful wedding, especially for all the tragedy we’ve been through.”