Orchard Park residents are being played by their own town officials. Those residents – who are both taxpayers and voters – are being asked to dig deep to pay a generous severance packaged for Mark Pacholec, the town’s mysteriously terminated ex-police chief, but they are being kept in the dark about the reasons.

Indeed, the town initially tried to shroud the whole event from public discussion, claiming that its agreement with Pacholec was covered by a confidentiality agreement. Such agreements are illegal, according to Robert J. Freeman, executive director of the state Committee on Open Government.

Even then, the town tried to deceive the public. Its initial description of Pacholec’s going-away present was off by $100,000. The deception was revealed earlier this week after The News obtained a copy of the agreement. On Tuesday, the former chief’s wife took to social media to give her side of events.

It’s a mess.

Whether Bridget Pacholec’s report of her husband’s departure from office is accurate or shaded, it only adds to the need for the town and the former chief to come clean. They must candidly explain what occurred to cause Pacholec to abandon, at taxpayer cost, the position he held since 2013. Expensive secrets won’t do.

The former chief retired from the town on May 3 with a severance package that had been described as a 20% pay increase for days he worked this year, an additional 80 comp days and up to $12,500 in longevity pay. But Town Board members kept two secrets from their constituents: why the chief was ushered out the door and the disturbing fact that they gave him $100,000 more than they let on.

The town had illegally attempted to keep its contract with Pacholec secret, in blatant violation of the state Freedom of Information Law. It coughed up the document after The Buffalo News filed a formal Freedom of Information request. The 16-page agreement revealed the additional payment.

The departure remains mysterious. Town officials in March intimated that a disciplinary issue was involved, but Pacholec’s attorney disputed that description and, in the end, both the town and the former chief issued complimentary statements about each other.

Nevertheless, the April agreement stipulated that Pacholec would be fired on May 3 unless he agreed to the contract. With his assent, though, his departure was called a retirement, with all of its benefits, including health insurance. That hardly sounds amicable.

Enter Bridget Pacholec, who said she was not restricted by confidentiality. Speaking to a reporter after commenting about the events on the News’ Facebook page, she contended that her husband was forced out after Town Councilman Michael J. Sherry tried to cut her husband’s pay after he realized the contract he negotiated with police officers and their commanders was too generous.

“Basically OP has lost a chief of police who was well liked, worked hard, was fiscally responsible because Mike Sherry got embarrassed,” she said. Town officials rejected her version of events but still offered no clarity.

Town residents have a right to be angry. Their pockets are being picked in a secretive maneuver to shove a 22-year employee out the door. They have a right to know how and why their money is being spent, and it’s hard to believe that the truth won’t come out.

If they are wise, Pacholec and the Town Board will get over their shyness and explain why they have run roughshod over the interests of Orchard Park’s taxpayers. Clearly, there is something they don’t want the public to know about this shady deal, but it will look better if they explain it now rather than letting it leak out later.