Nathan Clay, current Elementary school teacher and former Delta Mayor, is running for the open District One Delta County Commissioner in November.
For KVNF, Lisa Young spoke with the Democrat on his bid to upset State Representative Matt Soper in the general election, and take the seat currently held by term-limited Republican Commissioner Mike Lane.
LISA YOUNG: Speaking today with Nathan Clay, who will be the Democratic candidate for District 1 for the Delta County Commissioner seat that will be open this year. Mike Lane is term limited. On the Republican side in the Republican primary is Representative Matt Soper.
Give us a little of your bio. Tell us a little bit about yourself. Introduce yourself to the KVNF listeners.
NATHAN CLAY: Well, thank you very much, first of all, Lisa, for having me here and talking with me. I really appreciate that.
I grew up here, not too far from where we are right now, just a little bit further away here in Delta. And I lived here for 18 years and graduated from Delta High School and moved away in 1999.
In Delta, I was very much involved in speech and debate and student council and things like that, television channels and different media stuff at DHS.
I was really into that. I recorded a lot of the football games and broadcast live events at Delta and things like that.
COLLEGE AND CAREER: Moved to Las Vegas there right after I graduated high school. Went to UNLV, where I met my wife, Amanda, and got a degree in film production and went into that industry and lived in Las Vegas for 18 years and worked in all different facets of film production and production in general. So, I started editing a lot using software that was kind of new at that time. I started film when we were still sending our reels off to be developed with chemicals.
And then, by the time I graduated, we were shooting on digital. So, it was kind of a cool time to be in film. And I worked doing that for a long time.
Ultimately, what that all taught me was really logistics and man-to-man communication, or I guess personnel communication is a better way to phrase it, because it's a series of very, very quick little events that have to occur. And so, I started managing, becoming a producer, moved into more corporate stuff. So, I went to like ballrooms in all over the United States and in Europe a little bit and produced corporate shows, which was really good money, but it took me away.
My family was growing at that time. My kids were really little, and I was missing a lot of, I was missing everything, really, three weeks out of the month or so. I'd be gone.
MOVED BACK TO DELTA: So, we made a change, and we moved back here. I tried to keep doing that for a little while, and ultimately couldn't really make it work. I've just added that much travel and that much more difficulty, I guess, for clients.
And ultimately, I probably didn't want to. That was at the same exact time that I was, at that time, I was also really paying attention to local politics because, I should say not politics, local government, because it just seemed very stale. I knew that the housing market was, at that time, great for us to buy, which wasn't great for the city.
CITY COUNCIL TO MAYOR: There was not a lot of, really, economy going at that time. It was just post-2008, about 12 years ago now. So, it became very apparent to me that when I went to city council, and there was no one in the seats, and the council meetings lasted, like, 12 minutes, and they were kind of happy about how quick they were getting business done, and it just didn't seem to be much happening.
And I knew that they were really hurting for funds, and so, I just wanted, started paying attention and wanted to get involved. So, I did, ran for city council, unopposed. No one ran opposed in those days because it was a bunch of very elderly gentlemen who were all kind of high-fiving each other, and not to disrespect any of them, but it was a very kind of a rubber-stamping, never-challenging situation.
It was very much a, we do what we've always done. This is the people who have always had our backs and have led us, and these are the same ones that are going to take us forward. And what I saw was a city really spinning its wheels.
So, and then we ran, and when I won, because I voted for myself, essentially, I went in, and we started, I started pressing. At that time, marijuana was a pretty big topic, and I was for the idea of at least exploring it so that we could try to add some additional revenue to the city funds, and that ended up being, I think, pretty overblown and overdrawn. There was some real concern in the community, and genuine concern, but it became an issue that really dominated the conversation for far longer than I think it should have or needed to.
It just kept coming up and up and up, and people got really upset. I did not foresee, and maybe it was naivety, but I just didn't perceive that people would get as aggressively antagonistic as they did, and so that kind of eventually died down. We did put it to the vote.
The folks voted to pass medicinal at that time, but not recreational, and so that's what happened. There's a store here now, and it does okay. We've heard mixed things, but anyway, that kind of went away, and then COVID happened, and that was two years into me being on city council, so two years in, COVID happens, and I am appointed the mayor because in Delta, we don't elect the mayor. We appoint them from the body. It's basically a rotational. It's a ceremonial position only.
They have no extra power. They have to sign a bunch of things and be the parliamentarian, essentially, and that's basically their only extra gig as a mayor, so I was appointed mayor right there in my living room over Skype during COVID in my shorts and a nice shirt because it was the strangest time, and so 2020 to 2022, I served as the mayor of the city of Delta.
We got a whole lot done. 9th Street Hill, we started the ball moving for the new police department. We worked with the county, with the library district in the city to move the three buildings between those three intergovernmental agreements and those agencies and those to make the new library possible, expand the jail at the same time, and move into a different place for the library, so that worked really well. The school district was also involved in that building at the time, so I worked with Don Suppes really closely on that.
It worked very well with Don. In fact, I really appreciated my time working with the county at that time. I think that we, like I say, we got a lot done, so the culture of the city at that time had become very siloed and very insular, in my opinion, and I think it's working much better now that we've got some different folks in there with some different ideas, reprioritized the efforts of the city, made sure that the city was on task, I guess, so to say, and really focusing on the right things and making sure that we make moves as well, because, you know, we can't just sit on our hands and wait for something to come along.
We have to be proactive, and I think for so long, and I understand that there's a real need for the citizens of our area to make sure that we guard ourselves and we guard the past and we guard our heritage, and that's all very important. So for me, I guess I was pushing and pushing, and so here we are now in Delta. I teach fifth grade.
I did a few other things in the meantime around COVID, because it was difficult times for everybody. Right after COVID lifted, I was hired by Delta County School District, and that's what I've been ever since, teaching fifth grade.
YOUNG: So I'm very curious about why you've decided to run for District 1, Delta County Commissioner. Tell us a little bit about that process.
CLAY: Well, there's so many reasons. First and foremost, for the same reason that I ran for city council.
It seems like, and I want to be very careful not to disparage anything that the county has done. I think that they've done really admirable work with zoning and land use regulation. It's imperative. It was imperative that it had to be done. I'm really happy that they got that stuff passed for the... I'm really happy that they got the land use regulations passed for our community, because I think that it can grow our county in the right way and a responsible way. It is more friendly for businesses.
It is more friendly for the future that we have this zoning and regulation. And so that's the primary reason is I want to, again, try to shift up a gear, I guess. Try to make sure that we're not just sitting with a healthy fund balance, which they do have a healthy fund balance.
And they talk about it all the time, and that's wonderful. So now let's leverage some of that ability. Let's talk about how to get some jobs and some industry back into our community.
YOUNG: With that, let's talk a little bit about what you see as the key issues in the county and what would you most be interested in personally addressing?
CLAY: Just those economic things. Jobs. Lack of jobs, more specifically.
I think that I'm a fairly progressive Democrat in that I miss the coal mines in the sense that I miss the labor. It was a great source of labor. It was a great place for folks that could get jobs, that could get entry-level jobs and work their way up, and all those jobs disappeared very quickly.
I don't believe that the county had anything to do with that, nor do I really believe that anything but market influence has anything to do with ultimately those coal mines closing. But I do think that the county could have been more responsive, again, proactive in shifting those folks into something different. We knew that renewable energy was a thing at that period of time.
All those jobs could have and should have been moved into things like windmill production, and I'm talking about fabrication. The same things, and I still think this could be, should be, what we should aim for. We can be a manufacturing hub or at least attract those types of businesses for solar, for wind.
We have rail right out here. We can utilize the rail. We do utilize the rail. We underutilize the rail. But I believe that we can create an environment that is more attractive for businesses. We have the ability.
We have the economic leverage. We're just not using it, I don't think.
YOUNG: I'm sure you're aware that Delta County is about 60% public lands that are supervised by the federal government. There has been talk about selling public lands to private entities and doing some other things with our resources, which could impact Delta County. Nathan, I want to know your stance on public lands here in the county and are you for or against seeing those lands change and maybe a little bit about their usage?
CLAY: I am for the retention of public land. I do not want to give up public land.
Having said that, I do recognize that growth is inevitable, and if some public land should be made available for the correct usage, and again, I'm not talking about, there's very limited use maybe in some areas. But in others, I do think that we have to be open. We have to be able, because if we want jobs, and we inevitably talk about jobs and jobs and growth and economics, we have to be able to understand that those things take land.
And I hope that they don't take public land. I don't want them to take public land. But I do understand that sometimes we have to grow economically so that we can better protect things.
And by that, I guess I mean, I want us to grow responsibly. I want us to grow in a way that doesn't shortcut our public lands, doesn't create a, well, I just want to make sure that we grow in a responsible way that doesn't utilize public land in an irresponsible way. Public land should retain and be made always public.
Growth has to happen, and the place where those two rub has to be dealt with very sensitively, very cautiously.
YOUNG: How do you think your time as Delta's mayor and currently as a teacher would benefit you as a Delta County Commissioner?
CLAY: Oh, I think that's basically down to people skills, the ability to interface with folks and understand where they're coming from.
Kids are just miniature versions of adults. They have the same needs and emotions as adults, right down to the most wealthy person that I've ever met, right? We just have the same basic fundamental human needs, and so I think it boils down to those experiences that I had as the mayor and the experiences that I have in the classroom are about interpersonal relationships.
YOUNG: Nathan, if you were to be elected as a Delta County Commissioner, you would be serving on a board where you would be in the minority. You'd have two Republican commissioners, and you would be the lone Democrat. What would be your plan and strategy to work with commissioners of the Republican Party and then also realizing we live in a very red community as far as politics?
CLAY: Well, there's something like 7,000 registered Republicans, 3,000 registered Democrats, and 11,000 unaffiliated in this county, and so I actually, the red seems to me to be purpling or purplish, however you want to describe that. I looked up and down my street. I see one sign that is in violation of the United States Constitution, and everyone else is basically running America as we normally should run America, and so I guess what I mean by that is we have to build bridges.
We cannot continue to operate our society locally or at a state level or at an international, federal level, international level. We can't continue to put up fences. We can't continue to build our fences higher and higher.
We have to start talking over our fences and amending those fences because I do believe that good fences make good neighbors, but fences are to be talked over and communicated over rather than to be put in between, and so what I mean is I would talk to those guys and try to make them see a different point of view, and I think that's actually why it's so important that I run is that they do have a different point of view. The voter does have someone else that will not be in lockstep. This country doesn't run on everyone agreeing.
That's how this country is built. It's how it runs the best from the bottom to the top. We should not be in agreement all the time. There should be healthy debate. There should be discussion. There should be a dialogue, and I hope that I can represent the other side of that discussion for folks out there that may not be happy with the status quo, that may be kind of ready for something doing different.
YOUNG: You will face current House District 54 Representative Matt Soper in the November election. What are some of your thoughts on your opponent? I know that you both grew up here in Delta and have known each other since probably childhood, but what are some of your thoughts on Matt Soper?
CLAY: Yeah, my thoughts on Matt. Matt's a friend. I've known Matt my whole life, yeah, basically, since childhood. I voted for Matt the first time, and Matt donated to my campaign the last time when I ran. We have a very good relationship. He's been here to the House with his wife for dinner.
It's important in America, like I said, to make sure that we have a checks and balances, and Matt, just as well as anybody, knows that it's important that we have a good competitive spirit in America, that we make sure that we give people a choice. And Matt has done some things at the state level, but I've done a lot of things here at local level, and I think that's the real difference. And I think I'm looking forward to seeing Matt on the debate stage or something like that. I like Matt. Thank you.
YOUNG: That pretty much concludes the questions that I have. Nathan, is there anything else that you would like to add about running for the county commissioner seat?
CLAY: I'd just like to say that I'm really looking forward to being a public servant again. I see my position in the school as public service. I see my position as the mayor of public service. I do not want to be a politician. I want to be a public servant.
I want to be someone who can listen to the majority, rather than the loud minority. And I think that's really what we have here in this county. And they're not evil folks, and that's a lot of the rhetoric that I want to get away from.
In my campaign, I won't be bashing Matt ever. It just won't happen, you know. So we need to take all of that out of our politics. And I think we need to take all of that out of our politics. And I think that we need to really pay attention to it at the local level. And then hopefully that spirit of good political discourse will grow and continue to prosper in the state and in the federal level.
We cannot abandon our principles as Americans. We have to make sure that we keep an honest and kind debate open in this country.
