CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – As the City of Clarksville pursues a plan to move Ajax Turner Senior Citizens Center operations under the Parks & Recreation Department, documents obtained by Clarksville Now show the city is terminating the board’s lease to the Clark Street facility.
Documents show the center was given a notice of the termination of the lease agreement, in accordance with Section 11 of that lease, on March 20, with the letter addressed to Senior Citizens Board of Directors Chairwoman Beverly Guynn. “This notice is being delivered with 90 days’ advance notice; accordingly, the agreement shall terminate on June 30, 2026,” said the document.
Section 11 of the lease agreement says the landlord or the tenant has the ability to terminate the lease with 90 days’ written notice.
When asked by Clarksville Now why the City chose to cancel the lease instead of letting it expire, Mayor Joe Pitts said the lease runs on a year-to-year basis, so the city is just finishing it out. In addition, Pitts also said the proposal is to “create a more vibrant, and robust program of services at the Ajax Turner Senior Citizens Center, operated by our Parks and Recreation Department employees.”
‘What you are looking at is a government takedown of a nonprofit’
The conversation over the Senior Citizens Center carried over into the City Council’s meeting on Thursday, April 2. During public comments, Lois Greider, a former senior center board member and current volunteer, said there had been no discussion about the plan with members, volunteers or employees. “So, now, everybody is sitting in limbo not knowing what’s going to happen come July. There is no way we can find another facility for what we need, and the cost that we need, in 90 days,” Greider said.
“By law, if your landlord gives you a notice that he’s canceling your lease … that is an eviction,” she said. “I feel that, basically what you are looking at is a government takedown of a nonprofit. To roll this under the city and not be able to be independent without the city bureaucracy and the politics, it’s not going to work. It takes away our independence to service our seniors.”
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Greider said the Greater Nashville Regional Council (GNRC) has been approached to send funds to the city rather than to the center. “Being that Mr. Pitts is on the (GNRC) board, that’s kind of a conflict of interest,” she said.
Greider questioned where the city’s Title 6 funds for nonprofits go annually and whether or not the city is looking to acquire assets that were purchased by grant funds.
Mayor Pitts responds, set to address ‘misinformation’
At the end of the meeting, Pitts addressed the room and the passion of the members of the Senior Citizens Center. “And that’s a good thing,” he said. “But there are a growing number of concerns and issues with the operations of the Ajax Turner Senior Citizens Center. As a reminder, the city owns the building, and the city provides nearly 90% of the funding for that organization, in addition to making capital improvements to the building.”
Pitts said over the last year and a half, it’s become clear to him that two things need to be done:
- The center needs to be stabilized for the health and well-being of the members of the center, as well as the staff.
- The center needs to be put on a long-term plan for success.
“Those can only be achieved, I promise you, by moving the operations of the center under the Parks and Recreation Department. It’s not unprecedented, because other communities in our state have a senior center as part of their city government.”
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Pitts said he will share more information about all the issues going on, and he said he has met with the center’s board of directors several times to iron out those issues.
“But I have notified them of our intent. This is an operational administrative management decision, and I will be meeting with employees and the members of the center over the next two to three weeks, which should dispel some of the deliberate misinformation that some of these members are being given. I don’t fault those members who stood up here tonight, what I do is fault the person causing the division, and I will address that with them.”
Pitts said this is not a diversion of resources, rather, it will ensure that the center will be sustainable.
After the meeting, Clarksville Now asked Pitts for clarification on the misinformation. “As for (the) misinformation, the center will retain the name, ‘Ajax Turner Senior Citizens Center’, and it will be solely for senior citizen activities.”
Response to Pitts and his previous comments
Greider reached out to Clarksville Now about Pitts’ comments on the senior center’s turnover with center leadership and staff.
She said that yes, there has been extreme turnover in the executive director position, but the situation was out of the center’s control. “One director had passed away, one had resigned, and two others had to leave due to major health issues,” she said.
As for the mayor’s concerns about the care of the property at 953 Clark St., Greider said since it is a city-owned building, the city should be responsible for the condition of the building.
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