Peabody to get long-disputed grant after all
Staff writer
After months of pushing back and forth between Peabody Main Street Association and Kansas Department of Commerce, the two have resolved their differences and Main Street will get the second half of a grant awarded in 2023.
Lt. Gov. David Toland announced last week that Commerce would pay out the second half of Main Street’s $1.5 million COVID-19-era Building a Stronger Economy grant.
The grant came into dispute after Commerce learned the grant was being administered by a former Commerce employee and convicted felon still on probation in Pennsylvania for forgery, theft, and attempted theft. The former employee, Jonathan Clayton, still owed nearly $200,000 in restitution.
Clayton was not providing Commerce required documentation for the grant, which was used to renovate downtown buildings.
He went missing in August and was found dead three weeks later in his crashed pickup near Newton.
In December, Commerce announced it had canceled a payment of $740,000, the second installment of the Peabody grant. That money was intended to pay for sidewalk and lighting replacement related to a city waterline project; to fulfill obligations associated with Sunflower Theatre; and to pay for public infrastructure projects within Peabody’s downtown historic district.
Commerce spokesman Pat Lowry said Commerce diligently worked with Peabody to bring the grant back into compliance and mitigate damages caused by Clayton, the former dogcatcher who became Peabody’s interim city clerk.
At one point, Commerce threatened to make Main Street reimburse the first installment of the grant, which already had been spent renovating downtown businesses.
Part of the agreement between Commerce and Main Street was that a different organization would oversee spending of grant money.
Another part was that Clayton’s husband, Christopher King, would move his business, CK Vintage, out of a Main Street-owned building.
South Central Kansas Economic Development District will administer the second half of the grant.
“SCKEDD,” Lowry said, “will utilize the funds to complete virtually all the remaining elements of the original scope of work for the Peabody community, which will allow the overall project to go forward without further delay.
“The first $740,000 of the grant has been invested in renovating historic buildings on Peabody’s Main Street that, thanks to these investments, can now be utilized for new businesses. This is a massive investment in a town of 920 people that will provide new long-term economic opportunities.”
Peabody’s grant wasn’t the only one in dispute.
On Aug. 7, Commerce filed suit against Mullinville Community Foundation seeking return of a $425,398 grant awarded in 2022. Clayton, a Mullinville native who lived there at the time, also administered that grant.
Commerce said the foundation had not submitted required documentation. That case is ongoing.
At that time, Clayton was being investigated by the Kiowa County sheriff’s office for alleged theft of up to $70,000 from a Mullinville cemetery board.
Kiowa County Sheriff Kendal Lothman said Friday that the investigation was finished.
“Our investigation was turned over to the Kansas Bureau of Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation,” he said. “At their request due to ongoing investigations we are not releasing any information regarding our investigation.”
KBI referred questions to the FBI. FBI would neither confirm nor deny an investigation.
“Jonathan Clayton left a trail of wreckage that extended from Mullinville to Peabody, and it ensnared a lot of different people and did a lot of damage to those people who are all engaged in trying to better their communities,” Toland said. “He lied to a lot of people.”