The Georgetown Record
INDEPENDENT DOCUMENTARY ARCHIVE   /   SCOTT COUNTY, KY

Clyde BeverlyIIin Georgetown.

A housing board hired a pastor to lead its nonprofit. Within a year, directors were questioning the contract they had inherited. The local newspaper followed both sides of the dispute.

Publication timeline · 17 articles
SEP 2011DEC 2013
THE HOUSING BOARD

A contract in dispute

Georgetown Affordable Housing and the Georgetown Housing Authority were separate organizations. Beverly led the nonprofit. The distinction matters when reading the coverage of their finances, their boards and the litigation that followed.

Directors questioned whether the people who signed Beverly’s contract had authority to approve it. Beverly maintained that the agreement was valid and raised questions of his own about money moving between the two organizations.

CONTRACT AND SETTLEMENT

$70,000 a year

The salary reported when Beverly became executive director. In 2013 his attorney sought $300,000 to settle the employment dispute. The demand records what Beverly sought. The articles do not establish a payment.

Read the settlement report ↓

In a signed letter, Beverly asked for an investigation. His account appears alongside reporting on the board’s response and the defense filings. The source index gives each its publication date and author.

KENTUCKY PROPERTY RECORDS

The foreclosure question

On April 18, 2013, Commonwealth Land Title Insurance Co. filed a complaint against Zion Hill Missionary Baptist Church Inc. in Scott Circuit Court. It sought $81,033 in connection with mechanics’ liens and asked the court to liquidate the church’s assets. The newspaper identified Beverly as the pastor.

The defendant identified in the report was the church. The records reviewed contain neither a final order granting liquidation nor a foreclosure judgment or sale deed for property Beverly personally owned.

Read the April 30 court report · Scott Circuit Court clerk · County land records

KENTUCKY FILING HISTORY

Who approved the pond?

Two directors signed an $8,000 excavation check. The board chair later told the newspaper she could find no minutes approving the work. What did the directors authorize, and what did Beverly say the project was supposed to accomplish?

Read the chapter and examine the filings →

JANUARY 2024 · ALABAMA

Why does the name Clyde Beverly appear in Margaret?

A decade after the Georgetown coverage, the name appears in minutes from a January 9, 2024 council meeting in Margaret, Alabama. The minutes give a straightforward reason for the mention. A speaker listed as Clyde Beverly raised two local issues: acquiring land next to City Hall and addressing ZIP codes.

The minutes give no biographical details that would establish whether the speaker was the Kentucky pastor.

Read the council minutes

GEORGETOWN NEWS-GRAPHIC

The source index

Governance · Thomas Musgrave

Affordable Housing board gets new start

Following a HUD audit calling for separate boards, the existing Georgetown Affordable Housing directors stepped down and appointed Beverly as the sole member to rebuild the board. The housing authority and the nonprofit had previously shared directors.

Governance · Thomas Musgrave

Executive director appointed

The reorganized nonprofit board appointed Beverly executive director on October 24. He resigned his board seat upon becoming an employee. The newspaper also identified him as founder of the Genesis Foundation.

Finances · Thomas Musgrave

Housing boards unsure of loan/gift

The housing authority agreed to investigate the terms of a $150,000 transfer it had made to Georgetown Affordable Housing in 2003. Beverly viewed it as startup capital. The housing authority director said she had documentation requiring repayment.

Community programs · Nancy Royden

Home ownership workshop set for Saturday

Georgetown Affordable Housing announced a homeownership seminar at the Scott County Public Library. The program offered prospective buyers information about purchasing a home and named two participating banks as sponsors.

Finances · Nancy Royden

GHA receives “troubled” designation from HUD

HUD gave the Georgetown Housing Authority a score of 47 out of 100. Its director, Tom Wilson, attributed the rating to earlier problems. HUD assessed the housing authority, a distinct entity from the affordable housing nonprofit Beverly directed.

Governance · Nancy Royden

Georgetown Affordable Housing: Board members elects officers

The directors elected officers and discussed who could authorize engaging an attorney and a consultant. Beverly said multiple versions of the bylaws existed. Joy Harris sought clarification about which version governed the board.

Employment dispute · Nancy Royden

AFFORDABLE HOUSING: Director retains attorney

Attorney Brenda Dinkins Allen accompanied Beverly to a board meeting following the suspension. She sought clarification about the board’s challenge to the agreement. The chair and treasurer estimated that the organization had about $7,000 in its bank account.

Employment dispute · Nancy Royden

GEORGETOWN AFFORDABLE HOUSING: Board to pursue grant writer over new director

The nonprofit’s directors decided to seek a grant writer. Meeting minutes indicated Beverly could apply. Board attorney Rand Marshall questioned whether two directors had authority to approve Beverly’s executive director contract under bylaws providing for six seats.

Employment dispute · Nancy Royden

Executive director seeks $300,000 from GAH

Beverly’s attorney demanded $300,000 to settle claims arising from the suspension of his five-year employment contract. The agreement specified $70,000 annually. Counsel for the board disputed whether the contract had been validly authorized.

Governance · Nancy Royden

Volunteers offer assistance to affordable housing board

Two residents offered to help the nonprofit. Chairwoman Tracie Hoffman said two directors had missed multiple meetings but still held their seats, leaving no vacancy for a volunteer to fill.

Church litigation · Nancy Royden

Church instructed to ‘wind up affairs’ in lawsuit

Commonwealth Land Title Insurance sought $81,033 from Zion Hill Missionary Baptist Church Inc. for payments involving mechanics’ liens. The April 18 complaint asked the Scott Circuit Court to liquidate the church’s assets. The named defendant in this report was the church, where Beverly was pastor.

Aquaculture · Nancy Royden

Aquaculture project won’t hold water

The paper described an $8,000 July 2012 excavation check signed by Marnita Payton and Aaron Mason. The planned fish pond at the church site never became operational. A USDA official said the site would not hold water. Beverly said the former board had backed a relationship with Kentucky State University.

Letter to the editor · Clyde Beverly

Numerous issues should be investigated

In his signed letter, Beverly supported an outside investigation and said he had never been a bank signatory for Georgetown Affordable Housing. He questioned more than $60,000 in transfers and asserted the nonprofit had been entitled to $390,000 in co-developer fees. These figures describe his claims.

Employment dispute · Nancy Royden

Mayor, nonprofit directors named in suit

The newspaper reported in October that Beverly had filed suit in Fayette Circuit Court in June. He alleged whistleblower retaliation, wrongful termination and breach of contract, and claimed a $396,000 Harmony Village developer fee was missing. The newspaper said the defendants had yet to be served at the time of reporting.