CINCINNATI — Iris Roley, a consultant for the City of Cincinnati, hired her son to work with young people at Government Square, a part-time job that paid $4,400 a month, according to city records.
The city reimbursed Roley for her son’s salary and that of three other community care monitors who earned roughly $58 an hour for after-school work for three months in the fall, and again in the spring, according to her contract.
Many city leaders have praised the program for reducing youth violence at transit centers, but some question why Roley could hire her son, Rechah Showes.
“For the most part, it isn’t that easy to get a job with the city. So when you have somebody jumping to the front of the line and getting hired because their mother is going to be their boss, people don’t view that as fair,” said Todd Zinser, retired U.S. Inspector General who fought fraud and waste in the U.S. Department of Commerce and U.S. Department of Transportation, before retiring and taking on the role of citizen watchdog.
WATCH: Questions surrounding the city consultant's contract
Zinser examined Roley’s invoices and contracts with the city.
“It just doesn’t look good, it has a bad appearance,” Zinser said. “It wasn’t necessary to hire her son. She did it to benefit her son.”
Roley declined an interview for herself and her son.
She provided a statement to the WCPO 9 I-Team, which states in part: “For the work on Government Square, it has been effective to employ workers with lived experience in the criminal justice system. This is in keeping with past practices in the city … Experience coping with criminal charges can help the worker be credible with the youth who have engaged in problematic acts. That includes my son, Rechah. He has done a great job on the street with the youth. I am proud of his journey and his accomplishments and am pleased that he agreed to share his insights with the target youth.”
Hamilton County court records show that Showes was convicted of robbery in 2002, aggravated possession of drugs in 2010, and having a gun while under disability in 2016.
“There are circumstances where somebody who has a criminal record really can be effective in these sorts of roles,” said Steve Goodin, a former prosecutor and ex-Cincinnati City Council member who is running for re-election in November.
“I’m not the kind of person who believes that just because someone made a mistake when they were younger, that they need to be totally cast out of the job market," Goodin said.
However, Goodin questions how the city managed this particular contract.
“If the city is going to be handing out these kinds of large contracts, they ought to know who is administering them,” Goodin said. “If they’re not requiring background checks for their contractors, that is a huge hole.”
City Manager Sheryl Long declined an interview. Roley reports directly to Long or to an assistant city manager, according to her contract.
The I-Team asked if the city manager knew that Roley had hired her son or was aware of his criminal history. A city spokesperson did not answer those questions.
“The city does not conduct background checks for employees of any firm we contract with,” spokesperson Mollie Lair wrote in an email response to the I-Team’s questions.
Roley did not violate her contract or ethics laws because those rules only apply to public officials and not city contractors, Lair said.
“The real scandal here isn’t that she hired her son. The scandal is that she’s allowed to,” Goodin said.
Zinser agreed, “Take some of these provisions that generally apply to city officials and … those types of clauses should have been included in the contract.”
Government Square
Roley has been a community activist for 25 years and was inducted into the Ohio Civil Rights Hall of Fame in 2022.
The city hired Roley as a consultant in 2022 to advise on issues related to the Collaborative Agreement. Her role eventually expanded to oversee the Government Square Community Care Initiative, to address youth violence at transit centers after school.
Many city leaders praised her work for bringing food, personal care products and a safe space to young people. Roley said the program is a finalist for a Goldstein Award for excellence in problem-oriented policing.
Roley’s team handed out information on job opportunities and mental health resources, interacting with young people in a positive way.
Cincinnati police said in April 2025 that juvenile arrests were down 56% at Government Square compared to a year earlier, and violent crime there was down 50%.
“I am focused on my work and do not choose to do an interview at this time,” Roley wrote in an email to WCPO, which provided specifics about how the program was helping to de-escalate tensions and help youth.
Roley also sent an email responding to an interview request for Showes.
“Mr. Showes is focusing on the work. He wants to keep the focus on the children and all opportunities to assist them. We thank you,” Roley wrote.
Roley’s current contract, executed by the city manager on April 29, agreed to pay her $570,000 for a three-year extension of her 2024 contract through 2027.
This includes an annual fee of $105,000 for Roley. It also included $150,000 paid to Roley for two quarters of the Government Square Initiative, for 12-week periods in the fall and spring. This includes training, food, transportation, and school supplies. It also includes $52,800 in wages for four community care monitors over 12 weeks, at 75 hours per week.
Zinser said that breaks down to be $58 per hour in city money paid to monitors, including Showes, through reimbursements to Roley, according to the contract and invoices.
“The city or this contractor could have hired people with no conflict, no nepotism, because the qualification for the work that was being performed wasn’t that extraordinary,” Zinser said. “The qualifications, I’m sure, were fairly simple, and there were other people who could have been hired. So, you have to wonder, why didn’t they?”
Rules are much stricter for Cincinnati city employees, where background checks are required for sensitive jobs such as those in contact with children.
City employees must also avoid recommending a close relative for promotions or work assignments, “to maintain public confidence that employment decisions and personnel actions are based on principles of equal employment opportunity and merit rather than favoritism shown to a relative of a city employee,” according to the city’s nepotism policy.
“This sort of arrangement, where you are hiring a close family member, frankly, nepotism, would not be allowed in a state office, it would not be allowed in a county office, or a township office. They all have very firm rules,” Goodin said. “But Cincinnati is a home rule municipality. It doesn’t really police its contracts the way other government agencies do.”
Goodin blamed the city for poor contract management.
“Look, Iris Roley did nothing illegal here. The problem is that the city has created a circumstance where these kinds of contracts are legal,” said Goodin. “That’s the problem. Bottom line.”
