Colwyn Borough manager locks herself in hall after firing

COLWYN, Pa. (WPVI) -- The borough manager of Colwyn, Pa. locked herself inside the borough hall after a vote to fire her.

Paula Brown eventually left the building shortly before 6 p.m. Friday. but it appears she's not going down without a fight.

It all began during a chaotic meeting on Thursday night.

That's when the four member majority of the borough council voted to fire Brown and the code enforcement director, which leaves only one employee left in the building.

However, another faction says the firing wasn't valid because the vote was taken after adjournment.

"They did fire me, but it was after the meeting was adjourned. So, how legitimate that is, a judge would have to decide that," Brown told Action News.

Mayor Michael Blue, who stands with Brown, says he's considering declaring a State of Emergency.

"People elected us to do a job not to see this borough get sunk under again," said Mayor Blue.

Brown is no stranger to controversy - and hunkering down in a public building. She did something similar when she was mayor of neighboring Darby Borough in a dispute with that town's veteran police chief.

In this recent incident, Brown says she won't exit because she says she's protecting financial records.

She alleges that past and present council members have misused taxpayer dollars.

Brown even accused the newly elected leader of the council Fred Lesher of extortion.

"I'm not trying to extort anybody. Things in Colwyn gotta change and the state said two things - cut spending and stop the nonsense at meetings and that's what we're trying to do," said Lesher.

On Friday morning, Delaware County detectives seized more boxes of financial records.

Delaware County District Attorney Jack Whelan says he's aware of many issues with Colwyn and they're still under investigation.

Brown has a message for the DA:

"Please hurry up and do what needs to be done. $1.1 million dollars was misspent and we need to have justice served here," she said.

On Monday, council is expected to have a closed door executive session to discuss the borough manager position.

Brown says, not only will she be there, she'll be working over the weekend taking care of business.