BOYNTON — The resignation of the town clerk isn’t the only problem facing Boynton these days, citizens were told as they attended a special meeting of the trustees Thursday night.

Clerk/treasurer Pauline Osburn submitted her resignation Tuesday. She has pleaded innocent to two misdemeanor charges of violation of the state Open Records Act for her alleged failure to allow town trustees to view public records.

When officials got to see the records, they learned some citizens had been allowed to accrue water bill balances of $400 to more than $8,000.

“This town has been operating for years under the guise that we were helping people,” said Trustee Mike Lance. “It has been said you teach children to swim before you let them get in deep water. Our clerk put them out in the deep water, and now we have individuals drowning in debt.”

Not only does the town have a lot of accounts receivable, it has been unable to pay the town of Haskell for the water it sells, Lance said.

“Our last check to Haskell bounced,” he said.

Kay Lang, a retired Oklahoma Natural Gas billing employee, was named temporary clerk by the board and is to serve until a new clerk/treasurer can be appointed.

She will only collect bills and issue new ones, Lance said. She will not have check-writing authority.

Getting the bills out and the books balanced aren’t the only problem the town faces, those attending the meeting were told after it adjourned.

James R. DeJarnett, an environmental programs specialist with the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality, said the town has critical and major violations at its wastewater lagoons.

DEQ has been working with town officials to get the problems corrected rather than just writing them up, DeJarnett said. However, the first deadlines for making corrections is this week and apparently will be missed.

The town built new sewage lagoons a few years ago, but the contractor failed to put in any manholes for inspection of the lines between the new and the old lagoons, he said.

It is believed those lines are stopped up, but there is no way to access them, he said. He said he has been told the town has received a grant for installation of the manholes, but isn’t certain who he should be working with on the matter.

He has asked the city of Muskogee to help flush the lines once the manholes are installed, DeJarnett said.

It is expected the matter will be on the trustees’ June 8 meeting agenda, along with consideration of accepting the resignation of Mayor Erma Wilson. She has submitted her resignation, said Trustee Marie Wilson. However, Erma Wilson was at Thursday’s meeting but sat in the audience and did not answer roll call.



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