YEADON, Pa. - The Yeadon Borough Council will reconvene on Thursday to discuss the future of embattled police chief Anthony ‘Chachi’ Paparo a week after he was granted a due process hearing to defend accusations of overspending.
Paparo, who has led the Yeadon Borough Police Department for five years, claims that the newly-elected council members want to oust him because he is white.
He recently turned down a three-month severance package in a meeting with Yeadon Mayor Rohan K. Hepkins and Borough Council President Sharon Council-Harris.He expected to be fired during last week's meeting, but an outpouring of support from the community forced the council to grant a due process hearing after two recesses.
Council-Harris has vehemently denied Paparo's accusations of racism, calling them "unbelievable and outrageous." She said that Paparo's future is in question for violating a Fraternal Order of Police contract clause with years of overspending."Chief Paparo was responsible for two consecutive years of violating FOP contract clause by providing over hours to part-timers to the tune of $387,000 grievance and fine," Council-Harris said. "So that is really the heart of this issue."RELATED HEADLINES: During last week's meeting, the council displayed a lottery-style check for $387k with "The Yeadon Taxpayers" in the signature line and "Missmanaged overtime" in the memo section.