The newly hired sexton at the Eureka Springs Cemetery will no longer serve in that role after learning of demeaning comments made by members of the cemetery commission just moments after they voted to hire him.
Patrick Lujan, who was hired as sexton by the Eureka Springs Cemetery Commission in a June 1 special meeting, submitted a letter to the editor to the Lovely County Citizen saying he would not be moving forward in the position.
Lujan’s withdrawal came after a June 9 report in the Citizen revealed that the commission continued to meet and discuss business after adjourning the June 1 meeting, thinking a recording device had been turned off. The device was still recording, however, and members of the commission could be heard discussing Lujan’s hiring and the recent firing of former cemetery sexton and head groundskeeper David Helms.
The recording picked up commissioners calling Lujan “two-faced” and Helms a “narcissist.”
Commissioners L.B. Wilson, Bruce Wright, Robert Tollett and Judy Holden were all present at the June 1 meeting and each could be heard on the recording. Commissioner Glenna Booth was not at the meeting.
Lujan said he feels all commissioners who were at the meeting should step down.
“I believe that ALL the members of Eureka’s Cemetery Commission (except Glenna Booth) should immediately resign from their positions, and if not, then the city council should do its duty by removing them from said commission, as they have shown themselves incapable of following the FOIA rules which govern public commission procedures, not to mention their blatant defamation of both myself, Patrick Lujan, and the former groundskeeper, David Helms,” Lujan wrote in his letter to the Citizen.
“I am extremely disappointed in the commission’s actions and words, and needless to say, can no longer continue on as sexton. I am very grateful to the Citizen for its ongoing efforts to keep the city of Eureka Springs accountable, and its exposure of the cemetery commissioners’ misdoings.”
The Eureka Springs City Council did not mention the issue at its June 13 regular meeting. The cemetery commission was scheduled to meet June 15 — after the deadline for June 16 edition of the Citizen — in a regular monthly meeting.
HELMS NARRATIVE
The same day the cemetery commission met and voted to hire Lujan as sexton, a “narrative” was submitted by Wilson, the commission chair, to the Eureka Springs Human Resources Department outlining details of what transpired when Helms was informed of his termination.
Helms was terminated by the commission, without explanation, in a special meeting May 17.
“Following a special meeting of the Eureka Springs Cemetery Commission, a decision was made to dismiss Mr. Helms, our primary groundskeeper/sexton,” Wilson wrote in the statement, obtained from Helms’ personnel file through a Freedom of Information Act request. “Upon completion of a separation form, Bruce Wright and I engaged Mr. Helms at the cemetery. We located Mr. Helms in the cemetery and requested to visit with him at the workshop.” Wilson and Wright, who also serves as
Wilson and Wright, who also serves as the cemetery superintendent, then informed Helms he was being terminated, according to the statement.
“His response after hearing he was to be terminated was ‘What a relief,’ then he stated we needed a ‘child or mentally deficient person for this job,’ based on how we wanted to manage the cemetery,” Wilson writes. Helms then completed the termination
Helms then completed the termination form as requested and began to gather his personal belongings and return cemetery property, Wilson wrote.
“I asked Mr. Helms for contact information for a 4-H group he had scheduled as an activity in the cemetery on May 19,” Wilson continued in his statement. “He said ‘You’re f*****g with me so figure it out yourself.’ ”
“Mr. Helms returned the separation form and drove away.”
