Clayton commissioners reviewed a proposal to install wayfinding banners in the town's downtown and discussed a sponsorship model that would lower the town's share of the cost by allowing businesses to attach small sponsor tags.

The plan presented to commissioners calls for banners on a set of designated poles in the downtown area and near parks. The packet described either 24 signs total or, in an apparent count of components, 12 sets of poles with 12 banners and 12 brackets; commissioners asked staff to confirm the final count before ordering.

Under the proposed model each banner would carry a common historic‑downtown design. At the bottom a small, removable sponsorship tag would be attached with grommets to display a participating business's name or logo; the tag would be a narrower strip that hangs from the bottom of the banner. Commissioners discussed whether the town should cover 50 percent of the primary banner cost and require sponsors to buy the smaller tag, or set another split such as 75/25.

"So what will happen is this will be what every banner will look like hanging up. And then at the bottom, there will be 2 little grommets put in the banner," a participant explained when describing the sponsor tag attachment.

Why it matters: commissioners said the sponsorship approach would allow local businesses to fund signage while keeping a unified downtown identity. They directed staff to collect written commitments (nonbinding) from interested businesses and to bring the proposal to the town council when a cost and placement plan is finalized.

Next steps and details
- Confirm counts and pricing for poles, banners and brackets; staff will verify whether the packet's 24‑sign reference or the later 12‑set count reflects the correct order size.
- Solicit written (nonbinding) commitments from downtown businesses to participate and to indicate how many sponsor tags they would purchase.
- Prepare materials and an approach for the town council; the commission will not place banners until council input and any necessary permissions are obtained.

No vote was taken. Commissioners praised the design work from the volunteer committee and agreed to return with a clearer cost split and a list of interested businesses.