College continues historic rigidity when it comes to locating advanced programs in the Verde Valley; some fear that sophisticated Community College career and technical training opportunities will be lost to the Verde Valley without local control over decision making and budgets
Editor Robert Oliphant
OPINION. The revelation by the newly elected mayor of Sedona, Scott Jablo, at the November District Governing Board meeting that Yavapai Community College has shown no interest when offered an opportunity to explore a sophisticated EV training program at no cost is consistent with the historic treatment of the east side of the County by the west side. Ask anyone, for example, who knows about the collapse of the ambitious east county CTE project back in 2005-2006 and the scramble on the west side to find a CTE campus to house diesel engine training.
When making the College’s reaction to the recent offer by Sedona known to the Governing Board, Jablo explained that Sedona is transitioning to an all-electric bus transportation fleet and will be constructing a maintenance and repair facility to house the vehicles. He said that the City was prepared to offer space to the Community College free of charge along with an opportunity to train alongside its staff of EV technicians.
Jablo said the offer of the training facility space was made a year or so ago. Since then, there has been silence in response from the Community College.
By comparison, on the west side of the County, the College readily found almost a half million dollars in its budget back in 2000 to purchase a huge 3D cement printer in an effort to create a highly sophisticated construction training program over there. Turns out that after the huge printer was received, it had to be rebuilt at a cost the College refuses to divulge. Worse, the College has yet to demonstrate that it understands how to use the sophisticated 3D cement construction printer to build anything.
Also, by comparison, on the west side of the County, the Community College executives in the last couple of years decided to add three more teams (more coaches, support staff, scholarships) to its growing list of sports programs. This has increased the annual budget by hundreds of thousands of dollars and in part is responsible for the College asking for a tax rate increase in 2023.
The sports program services almost exclusively the west side where virtually all matches and games are held and all baseball, softball and soccer fields are located. (The west side also has the only major sized gymnasium where its volleyball team plays its matches, with rare exception.) The west siders are breathlessly waiting to transform at a cost of hundreds of thousands the current soccer practice field into a field where matches will be held.
However, when it comes to the east side of the County, and the possibility of an advanced EV technical education training opportunity such as that proposed by the Sedona mayor, the west side executives have shown no interest in exploring such a venture.
There is little east side residents can do about decisions (or the absence of decisions) like this because control of the Yavapai Community College rests entirely in the hands of persons living in Prescott with what appears to be an obvious Prescott preference for seizing advanced CTE training programs and locating them over there. Until the local east County Community College Verde Campus and Sedona Center are run by local residents, and decision making for the future development is theirs alone, such conduct will continue well into the future.
So, a great opportunity is apparently lost. But watch where EV training will emerge. It won’t be on the east side of the County.
Newly elected Mayor outlines partnership where City will pay for construction of new EV facility, all costs associated with operating it; provide College space to train students on repairing EV buses; so far, College indicates no interest in offer
Sedona Mayor Elect Scott Jablow
The new incoming Mayor of Sedona, Scott Jablow, offered a superb educational opportunity for Yavapai College when speaking to the College’s Governing Board at its November meeting. Jablow told the Board that Sedona was embarking on plans to create an all-electric vehicle (EV) transportation fleet of buses (and possibly other city vehicles). He explained that the City as a part of its EV program intends to build a maintenance facility for the EVs, staff it with technicians, and pay all associated operating costs.
In a stunning revelation, he said a year ago he had proposed to the Chair of the Board that the city of Sedona would provide space where Yavapai Community College students could train on repairing EVs in its EV facility. The only cost to the College would be to provide a curriculum and a teacher for the program.
Despite the generous offer by the City, the Mayor reported that the College has shown absolutely no interest in such a partnership. “None.”
It seems like history, at least to a certain extent, is repeating itself when it comes to advanced CTE programs in the Verde Valley.
Recall that back in 2005-2006, Phelps-Dodge (later Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold), a Phoenix-based global mining company, let Community College executives know that it was looking for a place that would train students in diesel, industrial and electrical mechanics. It suggested that it would financially support the creation of a two-year College apprenticeship program and would help build classrooms and pay faculty salaries for the first three years of the program if the College initiated such a program.
The Prescott based College executives leaped at the offer and immediately began searching for a west Yavapai County facility to purchase. At the time the Prescott-based executives had the option of putting the diesel training facility on the Verde Valley Campus as a part of the newly created CTE program, which it called the Northern Arizona Regional Skills Center.
Rather than begin a new and exciting program on the Verde Campus as a part of its CTE development, the Governing Board authorized purchase of a 108,000 square foot building at a cost of five million dollars, located at the Prescott airport, to house the diesel project. Once the purchase was complete, it began renovating the facility with an initial investment of $750,000. The building is now called the Career and Technical Education Center (CTEC) and houses the diesel training program.
The decision to develop a diesel training program at the CTE campus at the Prescott airport marked the death knell for the Career and Technical Education program just started on the Verde Campus. The idea of seriously pushing the development of a major northern Arizona CTE Center on the Verde Campus soon evaporated.
Now, years later, Sedona is offering the east side of the County an opportunity to train technicians to repair EV engines with little cost to the College. It would be training students for the present and future. However, the west side executives, who control all major decisions on the east side of the County, are simply looking the other way. It’s what happens when local residents cannot control local programs at a local community college.
From the west side’s reaction, it’s fairly easy to see where EV training will go in the future. Only to Prescott’s CTE training facility.
You may view all of Mayor-elect Scott Jablow’s short presentation to the November Governing Board by clicking here. Note the first part of his speech has to do with the Brewery program being proposed for the Verde Campus.
Jobs in brewery industry on east side of County are few and low paying; focus should be on training for well-paid high tech CTE jobs
Sedona Mayor elect Scott Jablow
During his successful run in November for Sedona Mayor, current Vice Mayor Scott Jablow talked with prospective voters about Yavapai Community College. According to his brief report at the November 2022 College Governing Board meeting, many Sedona voters expressed little if any interest in seeing the College expend millions of dollars on a brewery on the east side of the County.
Jablow said that “many of the people” he spoke to “were concerned about” what the Governing Board and College were doing “with the taxpayer money from the Yavapai side of Sedona.” According to him, they told him that “a brewery was not necessary for our region. That the money being spent — $10 million dollars – is unheard of when we don’t have the need from any of our brewers . . ..” (See video clip for complete statement.) “They feel it is a waste of money,” he said.
The preference among voters with whom he spoke was for more training in hi-tech Career and Technical Education jobs.
You may view his brief report to the Yavapai Community College District Governing Board on video by clicking here.
Legislation allowing community colleges to start offering four-year degrees was approved in a bill signed by the Governor last year
The Higher Learning Commission has granted Maricopa County Community College District accreditation for seven bachelor’s degree programs. This is a result of legislation signed last year that allows community colleges to begin offering four year degrees.
The newly accredited degrees and the campuses in the Maricopa Community College District offering them are:
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Data analytics and programming, Bachelor of Applied Science, Mesa.
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Information technology, Bachelor of Applied Science, Phoenix.
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Nuclear medicine technology and computed tomography, Bachelor of Applied Science, GateWay.
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Public safety administration, Bachelor of Applied Science, Phoenix and Rio Salado.
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Early childhood education – dual language, Bachelor of Arts, Mesa.
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Elementary education and special education, Bachelor of Arts, Glendale, Paradise Valley and Rio Salado.
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Behavioral sciences, Bachelor of Arts, South Mountain.
Bracety will represent Yavapai County District 5 for the remaining four years of the term of outgoing Board member Mitch Padilla from January 1, 2023, through December 31, 2026
Yavapai County School Superintendent Tim Carter has announced the appointment of Mr. Stephen L. Bracety to the Yavapai College Governing Board to represent Yavapai County District 5. Mr. Bracety will complete the remaining four years of Mr. Mitch Padilla’s term on the Governing Board. Mr. Padilla resigned after he was elected to serve as Justice of the Peace, Prescott Precinct, beginning in January 2023.
Mr. Bracety will be sworn in at a public event at Yavapai College at 9:00 am on Monday, December 5, 2022.
Bracety was selected from three candidates forwarded to Superintendent Carter by a Candidate Review Committee who found all of the applicants qualified for the position. The other two candidates were Mr. Joseph Butner and Mr. Michael Ellegood. The candidate review committee consisted of the following:
Mrs. Mary Mallory, an elected official, who represents this same geographic district as the Chair of the Yavapai County Board of Supervisors. Mr. Chris Tenney, representing the faculty and staff, who is a Yavapai College Professor of Instrumental Music. Mr. Richard Hernandez, representing economic development and business interest, as the Director of the Regional Economic Development Center. Mr. Jacob Todd, representing students, who is studying medical science at Yavapai College. Mr. Matt Zurcher, representing taxpayers, as a realtor, a construction coordinator for Sparklight, and a member of the Central Yavapai Fire Board.
In announcing the selection, Superintendent Carter outlined Mr. Bracety’s background and many accomplishments. He wrote:
Mr. Bracety is well known in the community and has resided here for eighteen (18) years. He has held many positions within the hospitality industry, including service as the General Manager of the Prescott Resort and Conference Center. He is currently the Vice President of Operations and Talent Management with the Grace Hospitality Group.
Mr. Bracety holds a Bachelor of Science Degree from Buffalo State College and a Masters Degree in Business Administration from the University of Phoenix. Mr. Bracety is married, and the couple have a daughter that is a junior at Northern Arizona University.
He has served as the President of the Prescott Frontier Rotary, was named the 2014 Man of the Year by Prescott Area Leadership, has served as the Board Chair of the Prescott Valley Chamber of Commerce. He was formerly on the Board of Directors of the Arizona Hotel and Lodging Association. He has served on the Board of Directors for the Yavapai County Big Brothers and Big Sisters, is the Past President of the Prescott Fine Arts Association, and Past Board Chair of the Arizona Community Foundation. Mr. Bracety was the Founder of the City of Prescott Tourism Advisory Committee.
He has been working with various non-profits for many years on joint educational projects. An example was a recent early childhood literacy initiative, which had tremendous success, under the leadership of the Arizona Community Foundation of Yavapai County, which partnered with community stakeholders for financial support and was operated by the Yavapai County Education Service Agency (YCESA).
District 5 includes the following areas:
Aerie Townhouses Camp Pinerock Glassford Hill
Antelope Meadows Camp Wamatochick Golden Condos
Big Bug Creek Area Castle Canyon Granite Dells
Big Sky Coyote Springs Granville
Bradshaw Pines Camp Creekside of Prescott Groom Creek
Breezy Pine Dana Condominiums Hidden Valley
Camp Maripai Diamond Valley Highlands Center
Jasper Prescott Reamended Preston Condominiums
Kamp Kipa Prescott Valley Pronghorn Ranch
Leigh Condos Prescott Valley Santa Fe Quad Villas
Loba Estates Prescott Valley Superstition Addition Ranch at Prescott
Loma Estates Prescott Valley Unit 1 Roundup Condos
Lynx Creek Prescott Valley Unit 10 SkyYCamp
Lynx Lake Prescott Valley Unit 11 Small Tracts
Lynx Mountain View Prescott Valley Unit 12 Spruce Mountain Club
Millsite Village Prescott Valley Unit 13 Stevens Condominiums
Mingus View Prescott Valley Unit 14 Stoneridge
Mountain Glen Prescott Valley Unit 15 Storm Ranch
Mountain Pine Prescott Valley Unit 16 Tapestry at Granville Apartments
Mountain Shadows Prescott Valley Unit 17 The Ranch
Navajo Commons Prescott Valley Unit 18 The Viewpoint
Noah Berry Prescott Valley Unit 19 Upper Groom
Nugget Patch Prescott Valley Unit 2 Upper Little Copper Creek
Oak Knoll Prescott Valley Unit 20 Victorian Estates
Parbac Condominium Prescott Valley Unit 24 Viewpoint
Patterdell Pines Prescott Valley Unit 3 Walker
Pine Creek Area Prescott Valley Unit 4 Walker Final
Pine Hills Prescott Valley Unit 5 Webfoot Subdivision
Pinehurst Estates Prescott Valley Unit 6 Western Mesa
Poquito Valley Prescott Valley Unit 7 Whispering Pines Camp
Potato Patch Prescott Valley Unit 8 Yavapai Hills
Prescott Commerce Prescott Valley Unit 9 Zone 12
Prescott East Prescott Pines Camp
Must pay restitution of $7,500 (jointly with co-conspirator), fined $2,000, and must complete 100 hours of community service, for misusing grant funds
Lois Lamer in happier days.
In an announcement Monday, November 28 by the Arizona Attorney General’s office, the former superintendent of the Valley Academy for Career and Technical Education (VACTE), which is located in Cottonwood, was sentenced after pleading guilty to Class 6 felony charges related to the misuse of public funds. Dennis Fiscus, who was involved in the scheme with Lamer, received an identical sentence.
Dennis Fiscus is the former programs of study director for the Department of Career and Technical Education. Lamer and Fiscus were accused of submitting falsified documents related to certain purchase orders as well as misusing funds in September 2021.
The Attorney General’s Office reported that the pair will have to pay restitution of $7,500 together, were each fined $2,000 and will each have to complete 100 hours of community service.
The case was investigated by the Arizona Auditor General’s Office and prosecuted by the Arizona Attorney General’s Fraud and Special Prosecution’s Section. The investigation determined that Lamer and Fiscus had allegedly conspired to divert for personal use thousands of dollars in federal Carl D. Perkins grant money that had been awarded to VACTE.
BLOG STORIES ON THIS CASE:
See Blog posting of November 15, 2019 “AUDITORS FIND QUESTIONABLE COSTS AT VACTE TOTALING $638,716.” https://www.eyeonyavapaicollege.com/vacte/auditors-find-questionable-costs-at-vacte-totaling-638716/
See Blog posting of September 30, 2021 “FORMER VACTE SUPERINTENDENT INDICTED ON VARIETY OF FRAUD CHARGES INVOLVING MISUSE OF SCHOOL DISTRICT FUNDS. Follows former business manager Celestia Ziemkowski’s guilty pleas to felonies in 2020 involving embezzling VACTE money for personal use.” https://www.eyeonyavapaicollege.com/yavapai-community-college/former-vacte-superintendent-indicted-on-variety-of-fraud-charges-involving-misuse-of-school-district-funds/
Prescott based Director brings 30 years of nursing experience to the program along with extensive experience as a community college instructor
Yavapai Community College announced in a November 21 press release that Dr. Barbara Durham was selected as Director of Nursing. Dr. Durham is Prescott based and has been an employee of the Community College since 2017 when she moved from Hartnell community college in Salinas, California where she had taught for 12 years.
Dr. Durham holds a Doctorate in Nursing Practice from the University of San Francisco, a Master of Science in Nursing Practice from California State University Dominguez Hills and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing Practice from the University of Windsor (1987 – 1991).
While on the nursing faculty at Hartnell College (2005 – Jan 2017) she taught advanced adult med/surg concepts, and geriatric content in nursing theory. She has authored one article, which was written in 2013 entitled, “Medication Safety: The Role of the Nurse.” (See https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25785398/ for appropriate cite.)
The press release from Yavapai Community College, written by Tyler Rumsey, appears below.
TYLER RUMSEY 21 NOVEMBER 2022
Dr. Durham has been with Yavapai College since 2017 as a nursing faculty member and has worked in academia since 2005.
Her nursing career spans more than 30 years, from working with diverse patients and students at the bedside as a critical care nurse and clinical educator to her faculty role teaching in Associate Degree Nursing Programs.
“I am extremely excited to have Dr. Durham as the Director of Nursing at YC,” said Dr. Marylou Mercado, Dean of Health Sciences, Science, Math, ABE, Health, and Wellness. “She is passionate about high-quality nursing education, student success, and patient safety, and her impact on student training will be felt immensely in our communities.”
As Director of Nursing, Dr. Durham will oversee the nursing program at Yavapai College and will advocate for students and faculty. She will also assist Dr. Mercado in moving the nursing program toward seeking approval to offer an RN-BSN degree and work with Yavapai County community healthcare partners in advancing nursing education that benefits county residents.
The Yavapai College Nursing Program has a history of excellence in nursing education. The NLCEX pass rate for 2021 AT YC was 96.05% exceeding the 2021 National NCLEX pass rate of 82.4%. The job Placement rate for 2021 YC graduates was 94%.
Dr. Durham grew up in Ontario, Canada, and moved to California in 1992 after graduating with honors from the University of Windsor, in Ontario, with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing. She completed her Master of Science Degree in Nursing Education from CSU Dominguez Hills in 2005 and her Doctorate in Nursing Practice with an emphasis in Healthcare Systems Leadership from the University of San Francisco in 2014. Barbara enjoys golfing, hiking, and playing pickleball in her free time.
Since purchase in 2020 the Board has neither asked for nor received detailed information regarding the progress, problems, added costs or anything else about this experimental project. Turns out project has been taxing staff, huge printer rebuilt at unknown cost in labor and parts, two building experiments have failed, and future use depends on extremely well trained technicians – not students | Is it time to end the experiment rather than spend more taxpayer money on it but no one dares ask that question?
OPINION. The Yavapai Community College Governing Board has one employee who reports to it and for whom it is responsible: the President. Yet, the Board has made no demands that the President properly inform it on a regular basis in detail about certain projects and programs costing thousands in taxpayer dollars.
Foundation and walls printed for experimental Tempe Habitat for Humanity home.
POOR REPORTING TO BOARD. One vivid illustration of the Board’s lack of concern with the poor reporting record occurred during the October 2022 meeting when housing on the Verde Campus was a topic. The information about the Community College’s expensive 3D cement printer project begun in February 2020 arose only inadvertently during the discussion.
3D PRINTERS COST OVER $400,000.00 OF TAXPAYER MONEY. You may recall that in February 2020 the Yavapai Community College District Governing Board was asked by College administrators to amend its budget and authorize spending at least $400,000.00 dollars to purchase two futuristic 3D cement construction printers (a big one and a little one). It was an expensive investment in an experiment. (You may view the report made to the Governing Board in February 2020 about this project on the following video clip. https://www.screencast.com/t/Pbakk3g1
CHINO REPLACEMENT STILL NOT BUILT. When the announcement about the purchase was made in 2020, the College said the big machine could be used “that summer” to build a small home on the Chino Valley Campus to replace a manufactured one owned by the College that is need of repair. That idea seems to have been abandoned. Rather, three home sites have been created at the Chino Valley Campus. None as of October 2022 have apparently yet been successfully constructed.
Moreover, because the newly purchased machine had to rebuilt, the goal of using it in the summer of 2020 vanished. It has still not been used successfully.
Also, at the time of the original announcement, there was some thought the smaller machine would end up at the Verde Campus. However, the small machine ended up at CTEC where it is used experimentally to test various grades of cement.
Career and Technical Education Center Dean John Morgan, who has been in charge of the cement 3D printer project, provided the Board with some information about the 3D machine at the October meeting. (Click here to see video clip of Dean Morgan commenting to the Governing Board on the project at the October Governing Board meeting.)
MAJOR STAFF HEADACHE. It turns out that the project has been, at best, a major headache for Morgan and members of his staff. He described working with the 3D printer project as having “been a difficult journey.” He said the College has been “delayed on several fronts.” Astonishingly, he also said the large half million dollar machine purchased by the College “had to be completely rebuilt.” No one on the Board asked about the reason for rebuilding the machine or the cost to the Community College in terms of labor and parts.
BUILDING EFFORTS NOT SUCCESSFUL. Dean Morgan said that there had been at least two unsuccessful attempts at using the machine. However, he was hopeful that a third effort at utilizing it would be successful. No one on the Board asked for a clearer explanation regarding the reasons for the two failures.
Dean Morgan emphasized that operating the big 3D cement printing machine is very technical with a steep learning curve. The complexity appears to make it doubtful that it will find much use by students in building anything.
SHORTAGE OF CONCRETE. He also informed the Board that the project faces an immediate problem of a concrete shortage. “Local builders,” he said, are “allotted how much they can get in a week.” Because of the limited availability of concrete and its cost, the College is now trying to shift to using ash rather than concrete in its building experiment. According to Morgan, if ash can be used, it is 30% less than concrete.
NO COMMITTEE OVERSIGHT. The College apparently never set up a Committee to work with the development of this expensive venture, which seemed to one Board member as unusual.
UNIFORMED. The College has still not informed the Board in public of the major issues associated with building 3D constructed structures in Arizona such as the impact major daily temperatures have on construction, that at present engineering estimates are that it costs as much to build a 3D printed house as a stick-built house, or that there has been a tendency for cracks in concrete walls to show up in early experiments.
SHOULD IT CONTINUE? There is a major question at this point regarding the efficacy of going forward with the project. Are the future costs worth the potential benefits? It is a question no one on the Board is prepared to ask. Probably because the project remains pretty much in the dark as far as actual knowledge is concerned.
If you want to see one of the first efforts at building a concrete home in Arizona, with an engineer’s explanation of some of the problems, there is an excellent video in the ENR Engineering News-Record. Here is the link to the page that has the video on it (be careful, you only have one chance to open this page and see the video. After that, they want you to purchase a monthly subscription.) https://www.enr.com/articles/51972-house-made-of-3d-printed-concrete-goes-up-in-arizona .
You can view a video clip of Dean Morgan’s comments to the Governing Board about the two machines made at the October meeting by clicking here.
SOURCES FOR THIS STORY INCLUDE: October, 2022 Governing Board Business Meeting and various Blog articles listed below that you can view.
(Blog Article) https://www.eyeonyavapaicollege.com/ctec/college-purchased-two-3d-cement-construction-printers-with-half-million-dollar-decision/
(Blog Article) https://www.eyeonyavapaicollege.com/ctec/architect-explains-how-new-3d-cement-construction-printer-can-be-used/
Listed below for your information are some videos describing the problems associated with 3D printing of homes and some information about the first cement house built in Tempe, Arizona.
https://architizer.com/blog/practice/details/3d-printed-buildings-future-or-gimmick/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sz1LM9kwRLY (outlines general overall problems)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3N9UudQZVCs
The question of goals the President of Yavapai Community College should achieve came up during a secret executive meeting on November 15, 2022, with the College District Governing Board. Apparently, three goals were agreed upon.