Mayor rebuts allegations over dismissal of rez caretaker and mowers

By Editor | March 27, 2024 |

A beautiful photo of the Roodhouse Rez taken in the fall of last year. (Carmen Ensinger/Greene Prairie Press)

By Carmen Ensinger

When the article came out last week over the dismissal of the Roodhouse Rez caretakers, Ralph, Drew and Jim Riley, no one from the city had returned messages left for them.
However, Mayor Charlie Huffines did contact this reporter to rebut the allegations made by the Riley’s and give the city’s version of what happened.
First of all, Huffines stressed that the positions at the Rez have, and always will be, a contracted position.
“At the Rez, all of the positions have always been done on a year-by-year contract basis,” Huffines said. “They did ask about becoming employees of the city and they were told no. It is a contract position and we are not going to change that.”
According to Huffines, the duties of the caretaker had never really been defined, so he asked Alderwoman Tina Cathers, who is also on the Park Board to draw up a more concise contract listing the specific duties of the caretaker, as well as listing how much each of them were going to be paid.
“The document we had at the meeting on Wednesday night was marked as a draft copy, so we, as a council passed it and we thought they would come up to the desk and ask what was next,” Huffines said. “Then we would have told them that Tina (Cathers) would take it home, take the word ‘draft’ off the document, reprint it, bring it to city hall and it would be available to them on Thursday. I’m not sure if the document stated that but it had been communicated to the Riley’s that they would be given time to review it and anything that they didn’t like or if there was something they wanted to add – that could be done through negotiation.”
This document stated that all three of them – Ralph, Drew and Jim – were going to be brought back for the 2024 season – Ralph as the caretaker and Drew and Jim as the mowing crew, with the salaries the same as in 2023.
“But they didn’t do that (come up and ask what was next),” Huffines said. “They went nuts. And this isn’t the first time that has happened. So, everyone went home on Wednesday night and on Thursday afternoon we started a text chain on how we were going to respond to what they did.”
At the end of the Wednesday meeting, voices were raised in the council room over the issue. Drew Riley was upset that they didn’t get to speak at the council meeting or weren’t called into the closed session when the contract was being discussed.
“Like I said, this wasn’t a first time occurrence – we went through all of this last year over the hayride,” Huffines said. “Tommy (Martin, former mayor) was in the hospital and he had told them that they could do the haunted hayride stuff but they couldn’t start building it until after Greene County Days because the pavilions are always kept open for yard sales or whatever and then they had a meltdown over that too.”
Huffines said he received a text from Ralph Riley on Thursday evening but held off on responding to it.
“I didn’t answer it right away until we had decided how we were going to respond to what went down on Wednesday night,” Huffines said. “Then, I sent him a text telling them that we were not going to give them a contract for 2024. I would have preferred to have talked to them, but at the same time I also wanted it in writing because I was sure they were going to try to contact the media and distort things. So, I just told them that I thought the behavior was disrespectful and it was embarrassing to the city. I told him I thought they would come up to the desk and politely ask their questions instead of screaming at people that were in the crowd and aldermen, employees and even guests that were there.”
Huffines said that the claim that they came in for the contract on Thursday and couldn’t get it is true.
“One of the girls in the office did say that the mother (Sue Riley) came in on Thursday to get a copy of the contract and apologized for what had happened the night before,” Huffines said. “I believe they were told that they would be contacted when it was at city hall and ready to go, but then once we started talking about how we were going to respond to this, I don’t think a copy ever made it to city hall.”
So, what is the city going to do about a caretaker and mower for the Rez?
“We are going to do it the same way it has been done in the past,” Huffines said. “The park opens on April 1, so we have got just a really short window to work with. In the past, as people come in to town, we ask the campers if they would be interested in being the caretaker so we really haven’t had to advertise in the past. Someone has always stepped up.”
Huffines did say that they are going to keep the caretaker position and the mowing position separate.
“We will advertise for that position,” he said. “The last few years, we were actually paying three different people – Mr. Riley as caretaker and then the two boys, Drew and Jim for the mowing. It came to around $20,000 for the three of them. I looked back into the history and this was by far the most we have ever paid.”
Huffines wanted to address another issue as well – the haunted hayride.
“I guess it has been posted all over social media that since the Riley’s got ‘fired’ that there won’t be a haunted hayride anymore,” Huffines said. “That was a volunteer thing they asked for. There were hayrides at that park before the Riley’s came along and we have not said we are going to end it so there could still be a haunted hayride.”