Atlantic Beach resident blasts councilman over business dealings at meeting

Atlantic Beach council held a special meeting Monday night to address the town’s budget before the July 1 deadline, or risk the town’s government shutting down.

Members passes an extension that allows the town extra time to pass a budget by August.

Council allowed time for the public to address council before the meeting Monday where Atlantic Beach resident Mike Kelly listed several judgments and tax liens against town councilman Donnell Thompson.

Kelly listed more than $340,000 in liens and judgments against Thompson, a home builder and developer.

The cases Kelly listed span from New York State to Georgia against businesses owned and operated by Larry Donnell Thompson, the most recent case brought against Thompson was in Durham, NC filed on July 9, 2007.

In the Durham filing, the county and city of Durham seek judgments totaling $326,353 against Donnell Thompson Construction, a dissolved North Carolina corporation, according to the filing.

Kelly told council he brought the matter up because he said, “Mr. Thompson does not have the credibility, intellect, and integrity for me to be discussing my development with.”

Thompson also chairs the town’s development board after Atlantic Beach resident elected him to council in November.

Councilwoman Retha Pierce interrupted Kelly several times during the meeting calling Kelly’s remarks “personnel assassination,” and asked mayor pro-tem Charlene Taylor to stop Kelly.

Kelly told council, “Mr. Thompson decided to become a public official which means he encapsulated himself in a glass house. His life is public; it’s public record.”

Thompson told News13 that some of what Kelly said was true, but some was not, “I’m a business man and certainly you have issues that some people don’t and some people do. All that he said is not necessarily true, but when you’re in the public eye, anybody can say anything and you just listen and you carry out your business,” Thompson said after the meeting.

“If you talk to anybody that does business, there are things that happen; they get satisfied and things that are not yours that get worked out, so if someone wants to make statements, that’s their free will, that’s his free will to say whatever he chooses to say,” Thompson told News13.

Kelly took issue with Thompson again asking council to vote to fire interim town manager Charles Williams, a request Thompson asked for that ended two previous meetings with arguments.

Monday, Thompson and council asked Williams to start advertising for a permanent manager for the town.

Council will meet again Monday night to start work on the budget before taking a break until August.