It appears clear from January 2023 Board Workshop that a preferred outcome for many on the Governing Board and the Prescott based Community College executives would be a District  representative who quietly brushes under the table the inequitable treatment afforded  Sedona and Verde Valley when it comes to major development, programming, and expenditures

Editor Robert Oliphant

OPINION. With the resignation of Paul Chevalier, the effort is under way to find a replacement for him.  It is clear to most observers of Governing Board meetings over the past four years that there is a  preferred outcome among the Board and Prescott based executives when it comes to the next Third District representative. First, there’s a strong preference for a Representative  who will appropriately rubber stamp anything proposed by the Prescott-based Community College executives that comes before the District Governing Board for approval. 

Second, there’s a similar strong preference for a Representative who will not raise embarrassing questions during Governing Board meetings about the domination of Prescott in the operation of the Community College.   Third, there is a preference for a Representative who will not speak critically to the press, local political leaders,  or the public the Representative represents,  about the direction the Community College is taking in Sedona and the Verde Valley.

If you need proof about these preferences, spend some time reviewing the Workshop held by the District Governing Board on January 31.  It’s easily available.  You can view it by clicking  DGB Workshop (panopto.com).

Once appointed, should the new Representative appear to be stepping out of line, the Board has tools ready to bring the Representative back in-line. One of those tools is peer pressure. Something the Board has used to try and quelch Paul Chevalier’s advocacy for the last four years. If that doesn’t work, the Prescott-area dominated Governing Board will resort to applying and enforcing new Governing Board policies. They  have been specifically tailored to protect Prescott Community College interests from significant critical public disclosure relating to operations or inequitable treatment of areas outside Prescott. 

These tools are poised and ready because the District Board members and College executives fear having another strong advocate in the mold of Mr. Chevalier appointed. The fear is  a result of Mr. Chevalier’s persistent championing of Sedona and the Verde Valley during Board meetings.  It is also a result of his courageous revelations to the public during his tenure about the extraordinary inequitable treatment the east side of the County has received at the hands of the majority west side Governing Board and Prescott based College executives.   

It is clear that the College Administration and the west county Board members want to put an end to being constantly reminded of the enormous inequity in treatment and operation between the two sides of Mingus Mountain.

Chevalier exposed the inequity in such matters as the use of taxpayer money along with an almost total absence of  programming in many  areas on the east side of the County including aviation, athletics, music and the performing arts. He questioned the nonexistence of residence halls, athletic facilities, and  major cultural events on the east side of the County while all these  were exploding  on the west side of the County. It made him extremely  unpopular with the Board and the College executives.

Recall that the Prescott based Community College executives even refused on occasion to provide Mr. Chevalier with detailed information about plans for future Community College development in the Verde Valley and Sedona — forcing him to resort to Arizona’s Open Meeting law to obtain the information.  Also recall that he often asked that matters brought to the Board’s attention by the public during the call to the public be discussed by the Board. He was consistently rebuffed in those efforts. 

At times Mr. Chevalier was sternly lectured about never talking about operations, never speaking out critically of a Governing Board decision, never talking to students or faculty, and never talking with the press. He was admonished during one meeting, for example, for a truthful public comment he made about the lack of Community College involvement with  Camp Verde. 

If history is any teacher of what is ahead, the final appointment for the remaining two years of Mr. Chevalier’s seat will be made by County Education Superintendent Tim Carter. He just did this for the District five seat.  Recall that Mr. Carter, with a small committee, back in 2016  selected a third District representative who had not even lived in the area for one year to replace long-time resident Al Filardo on the Board. The appointment was made despite the fact that a candidate from Sedona, who was intimately  knowledgeable about the Community College and had lived in the area for several years, was rejected.  That 2016 appointment was a “safe” milk-toast appointment. Once in office, there was no rocking of the boat being captained by Prescott interests during the next two years.  (Chevalier ran a spirted campaign for the seat that ousted that person in 2018.)

So, goodbye to courage and serious openness when it comes to Yavapai Community College.  And goodbye to seriously enhancing the educational needs of the Verde Valley and Sedona. The College PR department will talk a good game over the next two years, the word “transparency” will be repeatedly heard, while College executives and the west county majority on the Board simultaneously ensure that Prescott interests are protected from public exposure to any criticism.

 Sedona and the Verde Valley will fade into the background and experience another period of little major development or programming. The most the 70,000 residents on the east side of Mingus Mountain can expect is receipt of leftover scraps from the Governing Board banquet table while  the main meal with all the trimmings remains ready to be devoured by Prescott interests.

Let us hope with the next District Three appointment that I can be proven totally wrong!

Also encourages Board to accept members’ diversity of views

Deb McCasland

Second District Representative Deb McCasland continues to urge the members of the Governing Board to consider open discussions about the future of the College and to respect diverse opinions.  The self-evaluation conducted by the Board at the end of the January meeting reflects McCasland’s concern with these issues.  Since elected in 2014,  McCasland has consistently made these suggestions to the Board.  So far, the Board has refused to openly discuss the future of the College other than to touch on it in its vague ends statements that shed little actual light on the issue.  Ray Sigafoos and Pat McCarver appear dead set against discussing the future of the College in any concrete way that would give citizens a hit of its direction.  However, McCarver seemed to grasp McCasland’s point on open discussion and respect for different points of view.

——————————————————————————-

Under crude application of Carver Model of Governance, the refusal to set goals leaves citizens in the dark when it comes to assessing Wills’ annual performance

The Yavapai Community College Governing Board has set no specific goals for President Penelope Wills to meet in 2018. The reason there are no goals for Wills is the Board’s love and inaccurate understanding of the Carver model of policy governance.  For example, the Board could set a goal for Wills to increase enrollment by 1%.  Or, direct Wills to reduce the annual capital spending of primary tax dollars of from $6 to $8 million by 50% and put that revenue into educational programs and faculty salaries. But nothing as specific as this appears anywhere in the Yavapai Community College District Governing Board world.

As a consequence, Yavapai County citizens, whose property taxes now provide a majority of the funding for the College, are left in the dark about the President Penelope Wills’ performance during a given period. President Wills no doubt loves the approach because it removes here from being accountable to the citizens who pay her salary.

———————————————————————

County Attorney and Tim Carter remain mum when asked to explain the  basis for sudden revision of residency requirement that allowed Connie Harris to be appointed to College Governing Board;  Public left in the dark

The question being asked by citizens in Yavapai County of Yavapai County Attorney and Yavapai County School superintendent Tim Carter is this: “What was the basis for changing the long-standing residency eligibility requirement for  anyone seeking to sit on the College District Governing Board?”

Recall that for years the requirement was a one-year residency in the District. Applicant Connie Harris did not meet that residency requirement and the County Attorney and Carter changed it in December 2016.  Carter said the state statute setting out requirements to sit on  a school board did not apply.  However, he did not explain how the current requirements were reached.

In response to a request from the Blog for an explanation for the changed residency requirement, the Yavapai County Attorney claimed attorney/client privilege, saying the following:

“Thank you for contacting the Yavapai County Attorney’s Office. No. Any legal advice we may have given to an elected official is covered by the attorney/client privilege.
Penny Cramer, Administrative Assistant to:
Sheila Polk, Yavapai County Attorney
Dennis McGrane, Chief Deputy Yavapai County Attorney
255 E. Gurley Street
Prescott, AZ 86301” 

Here is the history of this issue. Recall that in the fall 2016 Mr. Carter posted an announcement of the opening on the Governing Board following the resignation of Mr. Al Filardo.  As originally posted, the requirements were stated as follows:

To be eligible to hold this seat a person must be a registered voter in Yavapai County, be a citizen of the United States of America, be at least 18 years of age, possess their civil rights, have continually resided within the school district for at least one year immediately preceding taking office, and the candidate or their spouse cannot be employed by the district. [You may view the original posting by clicking here.]

When it was learned that applicant Connie Harris did not meet the one-year residency requirement, Carter contacted the County Attorney.  According to Carter, he was advised by the County Attorney that there was no one-year residency requirement for the Board position. 

Carter stated in the announcement eliminating the residency requirement that “It has now come to Superintendent Carter’s attention, and has been verified by the Yavapai County Attorney’s Office, that this [residency] requirement only applies to `School District Governing Boards’ and NOT to `Community College Governing Boards’”. He stated, “I am the responsible party for the posting and apologize for this error. As a result, I feel it is my obligation to re-post this position, so no resident is disenfranchised in any way. The integrity and fairness of the ultimate appointment is critical.” [You may view the revised posting by clicking here.]

The revised residency criteria then read:

To be eligible to hold the seat, a person must be a registered voter in Yavapai College District 3, a U.S. citizen, at least 18 years of age and possess their civil rights. The candidate and spouse may not be employed by Yavapai College.  You may view the revised posting by clicking here. 

The problem is that neither the County Attorney nor Mr. Carter will explain the statutory basis for the revised criteria, if one exists.  How was this revised criteria reached?  As noted above, the County Attorney refuses to disclose the criteria claiming attorney/client privilege.  Mr. Carter has not responded to an email request for an explanation.

So, citizens in the County can only guess at how the revised criteria was arrived at. Why won’t the County public officials thoroughly explain the basis for the sudden change?  Your guess is as good as mine.

College accountability shrinks as information to taxpayers narrows; Wills in full agreement with elimination of the three public meeting dates

The Yavapai Community College Governing Board voted 4-1 (McCasland “no”) to  eliminate monthly meetings in June, July, and August of each year. (A June meeting could be called if the budget was not approved in May.) The result is that the sparse information now flowing from the College to County taxpayers is reduced even more.

Chair Sigafoos suggested three reasons for eliminating the monthly meetings. One involved the amount of time to drive from Prescott to the East side of the County.  A second involved a statement that he would like “to have the meetings have more content that is meaningful.”  He said “we hear reports that are nice but let’s try and do something with the content of the meeting.” A third suggestion was that staff weren’t around much during those months.

President Wills had been contacted by Sigafoos before the meeting and said at the meeting that she was in total agreement with the idea of eliminating 25% of the yearly public meetings.  

From the Blog’s perspective, the Board and College are increasingly developing a closed-door process that keeps from the County owner-taxpayers’ view most of the College’s operation.  This decision fits like a glove and strikes at the very heart of government accountability by publicly supported institutions. 

Deb McCasland dissented indicating her concern about taxpayers having more knowledge and providing the Board with more stakeholder input. She is the only Board member who consistently raises the interests of the stakeholders who are the citizens residing in the County and who pay the property taxes to support the Community College.

You may view the highlights of the discussion in the video below. You may also view the entire video by going to the Agenda for September 2017  Click here to see Meeting Videos and follow instructions.