Offers experience and in-depth understanding of local Yavapai Community College educational issues
Mr. Paul Chevalier has announced that he will be a candidate for the Third District seat on the Yavapai Community College Governing Board that will be filled by voters in November. That seat is currently held by Ms. Connie Harris. She moved into the District less than a year before she was appointed to fill the Third District vacancy created when Mr. Al Filardo resigned in protest at the end of 2016.
Chavalier is a Navy veteran and graduate of both the Columbia University School of Business and the Columbia University School of Law. He worked with Carter Hawley Hale Stores Inc., once the largest department store chain on the West Coast, and Montgomery Ward for almost 30 years before retiring to Sedona.
He has chaired the Sedona Community Foundation and the Sedona Art’s and Culture Commission. He has been active in many other community events for several years.
Chavalier gained in-depth knowledge about the College when he chaired the seven-member Verde Valley Board Advisory Committee. The Committee was chosen by local politicians to represent the post-secondary educational views of residents living on the East side of Yavapai County. The Committee worked tirelessly for two years and generated almost two dozen recommendations to improve post-secondary Community College educational opportunities for East County residents.
The Committee chaired by Chavlier was shut down before it had completed its work in an almost secret Governing Board retreat in September 2016 by the three members on the Board who represent West-County Districts (vote was 3-2). The shuttering resulted in an outcry of unfairness from throughout the East side of the County. It stunned residents, triggered newspaper editorials, angered East County Community College Governing Board representatives, and upset local politicians.