Former councilman chastises Clayton leaders

CLAYTON — Jason Thompson still follows the town council he served on for many years.

“More often than not, I agree with you on most things,” he told the current council on Aug. 5. “But tonight I come to you because I don’t agree with you.”

Thompson was unhappy the council planned to redirect $1 million a state lawmaker had obtained for Clayton’s senior center. “You seem to have found a loophole to use that money for other means,” he said.

Thompson said he understood the council couldn’t spend money on a building it didn’t own. Clayton’s senior center, known formally as the Clayton Center for Active Aging, is housed in a building on the grounds of a senior living complex.

Still, “the spirit of the bill was to be used for senior center expansion,” Thompson said.

The former councilman said he had spoken with four people who attended a meeting earlier this year between town officials and senior center leaders. “I was told that a council member had the nerve to stand up in the meeting and say, basically, to paraphrase, we’re no longer doing anything for senior citizens; we’re a young and vibrant community,” he said.

Clayton leaders seem to think that senior services are solely the county’s responsibility, Thompson said. But “the reality is you provide a lot of services that are not your responsibility,” he said.

Clayton, for example, provides a library, Thompson said. “You have no obligation to do that; the county has one,” he said. “But you do it because it improves the quality of life for the citizens in Clayton.”

The same is true for parks and recreation, Thompson said. “You have zero obligation to do that,” he said. “But you do it because it improves the quality of life of the citizens of Clayton.”

“For you to double down and say we’re not providing for senior citizens when it could improve their quality of life, I think that’s a slap in the face to the people who paved the way for you to sit in the seats you’re sitting in,” Thompson said.

Councilman Michael Sims said he was at that meeting of town and senior center leaders, and he disputed Thompson’s secondhand account of what a council member supposedly said. “Those words were never spoken,” he said, daring anyone to challenge him. “My integrity and the things that I say are extremely important to me.”

Sims suggested someone was stirring the pot. “I don’t like to stir the pot. I only believe in things that are factual,” he said.

Past councils did nothing for the Clayton senior center, Sims said in what might have been a dig at Thompson. “Not all of a sudden we got all this concern for the senior center,” he said.

Both Sims and Councilman Porter Casey said Clayton had spent none of the $1 million from the state.

“As far as I know, there’s been no decision … made on that money,” Casey said.

And in any event, $1 million won’t build a new senior center, Casey said. “That money will not achieve what I think the ultimate goals are, what they would like to have,” he said. “It’s not just going to take the taxpayers of the town of Clayton to be able to do that.”

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