Oct 23, 2018 5 min read

CHARLEROI – Charleroi Councilman Larry Celaschi spoke to a small gathering of residents outside the borough’s municipal building late Monday afternoon, accusing fellow council members of intentional negligence concerning a potential layoff.

Celaschi, who had to move the news conference to a sidewalk because the council room was locked for the evening, originally requested a special council meeting to address his concerns.

“We, as elected officials, have the responsibility to keep the citizens of Charleroi informed about borough operations and what goes on here,” said Celaschi, reading from a prepared statement. “I was left with no other alternative than to call for this gathering because I have done everything necessary to try and handle a very serious borough situation in-house. However, because I could not get the cooperation of the necessary three council signatures to hold a special meeting of the borough council, that led me to calling for this meeting of the public and the press.”

According to Celaschi, council held an executive session following the conclusion of its Oct. 12 voting meeting to discuss a personnel issue. Celaschi said council’s finance committee discussed the possibility of temporarily laying off Alec DiPiazza, a part-time street worker and son of former councilman Randy DiPiazza.

“They were already down one worker from the retirement of a former employee and that position was never filled. Now they would be down two people,” said Celaschi. Council ultimately did not vote to make any layoffs.

Celaschi then alleged on Oct. 13, council President Jerry Jericho broke the confidentiality of the executive session by telling Lew Farkas, a borough street department worker, about the layoff discussions.

“Then on the same day, I was blindsided by the next thing that took place,” said Celaschi. “Council President Jerry Jericho took it upon himself, without a majority vote of the borough council, to instruct our borough administrator to type up a letter to the borough’s part-time street department worker, Alec DiPiazza. He then signed and hand-delivered it to Alec DiPiazza at the street department office.”

The letter notified DiPiazza he would be laid off as of Nov. 1 with an estimated return to work April 1. It noted during those times, he would be able to apply for and receive unemployment compensation.

Added Celaschi, “I want you all to understand that what the council president did was first, violate executive session, which is illegal. He then, without a council majority vote, instructed the borough secretary to draft an illegal letter on borough letterhead, which he then signed.”

Calling this situation a violation of Pennsylvania Borough Code, Celaschi demanded council take immediate action.

“There are seven members of Charleroi Borough council and five members have not shown an interest or followed up on this serious matter because it is obvious that this council has a different set of rules than what is the norm in the real world,” said Celaschi. “In my opinion, this is intentional negligence by this council.”

Jericho, who was not at the news conference, said Monday evening the situation was a misunderstanding.

“We didn’t know that a majority vote was needed to lay someone off because this wasn’t considered hiring or firing. I thought we could do that administratively,” said Jericho. He said he apologized to DiPiazza about the way he learned of the layoff, and said the decision was made for financial reasons.

Jericho watched a video of Celaschi’s remarks and disputed most of the allegations that were made.

“His facts are totally wrong,” said Jericho. “Larry didn’t seem to have a problem with what the council was discussing at the executive session. He just sat there and didn’t say a word. All of this will come out at our next meeting.”

Councilwoman Jeannine Motycki, who was present for Celaschi’s news conference, along with fellow councilwomen Jody Cheplic and Nancy Ellis, also felt Celaschi should have raised concerns during the executive session.

“Larry was sitting in that room and was present at that meeting,” she said. “If he knew what we were doing was wrong, he didn’t stop it. He never spoke up. He’s just as guilty.”

Motycki anticipated council would address Celaschi’s concerns at its next meeting, which is scheduled for Nov. 1. If the council approves the layoff, it will take effect Nov. 2.

“This can be rectified at our next meeting,” she said. “But we will have to address it then. I’m not willing to spend the taxpayers’ money advertising for a special meeting when we can take this up at our next regularly scheduled meeting.”

Former borough manager Don Henderson said he experienced a similar situation when he was fired two years ago.

“Larry led the vote to get rid of me and they did that wrong,” said Henderson, following the news conference. “They had to come back the next month and do it by an ordinance, not by a vote. Larry was fully aware of how the process works.”