Citizen writes Board Members asking for reprieve
The Yavapai Community College Governing Board members have been asked by Ms. Dana Dieterich to look into the decision by Dr. Penelope Wills to close the photo lab on the Prescott campus and auction off the equipment. The decision to close the lab is related to the rededication of building 15 on the Campus as a performing arts facility.
According to Dieterich, “the wet [photo] lab will be expensive to move, so I suggest leaving it where it is. If there are doors added to the outside, the inside doors can go away, allowing extra space where a hallway is now. The YC photo wet lab is an amazing space and should be left to operate and fulfill the needs of the Yavapai College community as well as the Prescott Community.”
Unfortunately, the Governing Board leaves decisions like this up to the administration. Neither the Governing Board nor the administration have shown a willingness to respond to citizen input or specific requests such as that being made by Dieterich. Because the College has so much revenue coming from primary property taxes, it can spend from six to eight million dollars a year on any projects it desires. Citizens have no voice on renovation, construction, or anything else for that matter. Completely arbitrary decisions are made by the administration with impunity.
Let us hope that in this case Wills’ will respond to the citizen request in a positive manner and prove the Blog wrong.