In a vitriolic meeting and a show of their raw political power, the west county board representatives again name Sigafoos as Board Chair and reject McCasland, despite her credentials, as Board secretary
The West Yavapai County voting bloc (McCarver, Sigafoos, Irwin) made it clear at the somewhat vitriolic Tuesday, January 15 morning special meeting that it is unwilling to share even a modicum of Board leadership with a member of the east side of the County. In doing so, the west side politicos on the Board flexed their political muscle in a showing of raw political power.
Some observers at the meeting were startled by the hostile, almost angry voice of Pat McCarver when she nominated aging and occasionally rambling Ray Sigafoos for another term as the Board chair. To do this, she forcefully interrupted Paul Chevalier while he was speaking and refused (no kidding, look at the video) to allow him to speak. McCarver’s motion came only after an effort by the east county representatives to select a more neutral Governing Board Chair, Steve Irwin, had failed. The vote to continue with Sigfoos was 3-2 with east county representatives Deb McCasland and Paul Chevalier in the minority.
In a second effort to obtain a modicum of leadership for the east side of the county on the Board, Paul Chevalier nominated Deb McCasland to serve as Governing Board Secretary. He argued that she had made a life-long commitment to the College. She was also now entering her fifth year on the Governing Board. (McCasland was first elected to the Board in 2014). Despite his argument, the west county voting bloc (McCarver, Sigafoos, Irwin) selfishly voted her down.
Paul Chevalier commented that the Governing Board chair had gone back and forth between west county representatives over the past several years. He argued that the chair should be rotated among the members of the Board similar to how the Yavapai County Supervisors rotate their chair. In response, Ray Sigafoos claimed that this was talked about once 12 years ago and rejected. He also said the Board was not a “Rotary Club.”
The west Yavapai County voting bloc ended up giving the secretary’s position to Steve Irwin, which to some observers of the meeting appeared odd, to say the least. It was odd because only moments earlier he had told the Board members that medical issues prevented him taking the Board Chair’s position. He did not murmur anything about those issues when McCarver nominated him for the secretary position and astonishingly, he seconded his own nomination. To observers, it appeared that the medical issues disappeared when it came to ensuring that the west county politicos maintained total iron-fisted control of the Governing Board.
Unfortunately for the 70,000 residents living on the east side of the County, the west county voting bloc has once again cemented its position of control over them. The west side politicos, not east county residents and their representatives, will decide the future of post-secondary education on the east side of the county. And the west side politicos will ensure that the millions of dollars necessary to continue further developing the community college on that side of Mingus Mountain will contain to flow unabated.
The seven minute video clip of the proceeding appears below.