'No one's in charge': Braddock Borough appears to be in disarray
BRADDOCK, Pa. (KDKA) — After confusion, allegations and a wave of resignations, Braddock Borough appears to be in disarray.
The borough building was closed all last week, and as KDKA Investigator Andy Sheehan reports it's not clear who, if anyone, is in charge now.
Braddock doesn't seem to have a functioning government. Last month, the new borough council forced out Braddock Police Chief Guy Collins and the council still does not have a replacement.
Two weeks ago, borough manager Selena Bulter resigned citing a hostile work environment created by council president Dominique Davis-Sanders, who she calls abusive. Her chief assistant Patricia Kelley followed suit.
"I felt there was no way I could move forward doing my job under him," Kelley said. "So, I turned in my resignation as well, and my last day was her last day because I didn't want to work in there by myself."
Outside of the verbal abuse, Kelley said she had reported Davis-Sanders to the rest of the council for ordering the improper payment of bills.
"I strongly feel like they were being done improperly because there is a process and a procedure that needs to be followed," Kelley said.
The borough building was closed all last week and people couldn't pay tax bills or parking tickets. It was opened briefly Monday, where KDKA-TV found Davis-Sanders and tried to get some answers.
Sheehan: "You're council president. People are resigning. So, what's going on here in the borough?"
Davis-Sanders: "No comment."
Davis-Sanders also abruptly canceled Tuesday night's council meeting where he was seeking the approval of a new borough manager and has apparently gone ahead and hired the man without a council vote, raising questions on whether the appointment is legal.
"Some of council said they didn't vote or they were not in on hiring the new manager," former Braddock Mayor Chardae Jones said. "For transparency, they should have at least gotten to meet him or ask him questions, and none of that happened."
Jones said it's now the people who suffer.
"Some people have to pay their bills or their parking tickets," Jones said. "Just the little things that add up to big things."
And they can't do those things now.
"It's just terrible," Keeley said. "No one's in charge."