WEST SILOAM SPRINGS, Okla. -- The former West Siloam Springs, Okla., town manager is believed to have spent $147,110 of taxpayer money on personal expenses during the 14 months she worked in the position, according to the findings of an independent audit that were presented during a specially-called board of trustees meeting on Monday night.
The city hired Kathy Osbourn in August 2017 to serve as the town manager, a position that pays $70,000 per year, as well as town clerk, which pays $50 per month, according to an Oct. 17 report from the Herald-Leader.
While conducting a routine examination of the city's finances in September, irregularities found in the city's finances resulted in the board's decision on Oct. 16 to place Osbourn on medical leave until their meeting on Nov. 19, pending an investigation, the report states.
City Attorney Jot Hartley announced at the November meeting that Osbourn resigned on Nov. 16, and that Robert St. Pierre, a Stilwell, Oklahoma-based independent auditor would present a full report of his findings to the board in a special meeting on Monday, Dec. 10.
The board voted to go into executive session at the beginning of Monday's meeting, which lasted for about 55 minutes, and was followed by a presentation from St. Pierre.
St. Pierre began by briefly explaining the circumstances that led up to Monday's meeting and before getting into details, said that while he and city officials are confident in the report, the public should keep in mind that mistakes are always possible.
The primary method Osbourn is believed to have used to access the city's funds was the city credit card, but 21 cash advancements were also taken out on it, St. Pierre said.
It is also believed that earlier this year when the city closed one of its bank accounts containing $19,549, Osbourn transferred $10,000 to the city's water department, and of the remainder, a payment of $8,300 was made to Ally Bank to pay off a pick-up truck that was registered Osbourn's name and the $1,249 that was left was put into the form of a cashier's check that was made out to Osbourn.
Osbourn is also believed to have purchased items common to most grocery lists, such as eggs, bread, chocolate syrup, fabric softener, razor blades, makeup, diapers, mustard, salmon, steak or burritos, St. Pierre said.
Additional purchases include a 24-month car wash membership, a set of truck tires from Benton County Tire, auto-repairs from Superior Chevrolet Garage, a trampoline that remains unaccounted for, a backyard theater system, enrollment costs for astronomy classes and several transactions at a smoke shop in Siloam Springs.
More than than 150 charges to local restaurants like McDonalds or Taco Bell were also discovered, and purchases of gasoline were frequent, with 32 receipts from Conoco, 14 from Phillip's 66 and two from E.Z. Mart, St. Pierre said.
The city's credit card was also used to pay for internet and electric bills, wire transfers to a Kohl's card and a debt payment to a student loan account, St. Pierre said.
Following the presentation, City Attorney Jot Hartley recommended to the board that the findings be submitted to Osbourn and her attorney, Winston Connor, and that they be given the chance to appear at the Jan. 7 meeting and respond to them.
"We believe that we can verify and document every questionable charge that (St. Pierre) has mentioned tonight," Hartley said. "Now, out of an abundance of caution to ensure that rights are protected, it's my recommendation that this board direct and authorize Robert (St. Pierre) and myself to distribute his report and summary to the former town manager and her attorney -- her attorney is Winston Connor -- and give them an opportunity to respond to this town board as to all of these items that are questionable. I think it would be reasonable that we have Connor and his client at our January meeting to review and respond. It's taken our auditor almost two months to come up with everything ... My recommendation is that you do just that: Tell me and tell Robert to distribute this information to Kathy and her attorney and be back in January if you wish to respond to it. At that time, we will have some agenda items for action."
The board approved Hartley's recommendation.
Whether Osbourn and her attorney attend next month's meeting to respond to the allegations remains uncertain as does whether criminal charges will be filed and what steps the board will take at that time, Hartley said in an interview after the meeting.
A phone call to Connor, Osbourn's attorney, was not immediately returned.
The next West Siloam Springs board meeting in which the matter is scheduled to take place is 6:30 p.m. Jan. 7 at the West Siloam Springs City Hall building.
The board is scheduled to hold its regular meeting on Monday, Dec. 17.
General News on 12/12/2018