Three resignations rock small town of Skiatook

SKIATOOK, Okla. - Three major employee resignations in the past month have rocked the city of Skiatook.

The fire chief was the latest resignation on Friday.

Skiatook is considered a town, not a city, and is governed by a board of five trustees. One of those trustees accuses some of his peers of forcing out those employees.

Nearly 7,300 people call Skiatook home, but lately this small town has seen some big changes.

Its town attorney resigned and took another job. Then, Skiatook's town coordinator resigned. On Friday, the fire chief joined the list.

"I'm getting calls every day. What is going on with the town?" said trustee J.D. Prather.

Prather believes the town coordinator and fire chief were forced out by three other trustees, including the mayor.

"Those three, they're trying to make changes, they may think it's positive change but it's not," he said. "It's tearing up the town."

2News spoke with mayor Josh Brown by phone. He says those who resigned left by choice.

"Unfortunately we're losing three pillars of our government. Skiatook is a great town, and we plan to fill them," Brown said.

Prather disagrees with the mayor's explanation.

"That's not true. They were forced out. They've never been reprimanded," he said.

At a diner just a few blocks from city hall, the resignations are a hot topic.

"Yeah, it worries me. I think the town needs to come together, so we can move forward as a town or city," said resident Cody Fuentes.
 
Other then that, Fuentes says "all is well" in Skiatook. Resident James Wallace agrees.

"We have good service. We have good people that work here. People that work hard to maintain a good township," Wallace said.

But Wallace wonders who will fill those empty positions.

"I would think that the general public needs to participate more than what they're doing, and they need to be educated to the facts," he said.

The fire chief would not comment Friday.

2News spoke with former town administrator Martin Tucker, who says his contract was up and did not think it would be renewed, so he resigned.