Verde Valley Expectations dashed when Community College opened Career and Technical Education Center at the Prescott airport in 2006-07
In 2000 the voters in the Community College District approved a $69.5 million bond issue. The Bond provided revenue for Community College renovation and expansion throughout the County. Included in that bond issue was a promise from the Community College to set aside revenue to construct and support a major CTE training facility on the Verde Campus.
The Career and Technical Education facility on the Verde Campus was to be called the “Northern Arizona Regional Skills Center (NARSC).” Yavapai Community College teamed with the United States Department of Commerce to provide the funds to construct the Center on the Verde Campus. Yavapai Community College dedicated approximately $1.3 million from its $69.5 million bond while the federal government provided $1.2 million in additional capital funding for workforce development. Yavapai County residents expected that the Center would provide education and vocational learning opportunities for high school students and residents across much of Northern Arizona. The program was intended to serve Yavapai, Coconino, Apache, and Navajo counties.
Professor Paul Kessel, the chief operational officer for the Verde Campus, when interviewed in 2002 about the future of the Northern Arizona Regional Skills Center on the Verde Campus, was enthusiastic. He said: “[T]he (Center) will provide much‐needed educational space and resources to further develop job training programs to benefit residents of northern Arizona. This is an exciting and unique opportunity for northern Arizona residents to gain specific work related skills that will allow citizens to seek immediate employment or increase their level of income in a current or new position.(Daily Courier, December 11, 2002.)
According to interviews given to the local media, the Community College indicated that the curriculum, at least in part, would be developed based on recommendations from business operators in Northern Arizona seeking specific training for existing and potential future employees. The Community College also announced that it had already identified a number of programs that were in the developmental stage. Those programs included the following:
- Nursing Assistant
- Direct Patient Care Provider
- Medical Assistant‐ Front and Back Office
- General Office, Customer Service, Receptionist
- General Accounting, Receivable, Payable and Payroll
- Computer Repair
- Facilities Maintenance‐Plumbing, Carpentry, Electrical, Grounds keeping, Air Conditioning Automotive Technician
- Welding
- Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning, Refrigeration
- Cottage Industry and Small Business Operations
- Commercial Drivers’ License Training, Truck Driving, Bus Driving.
BUILDING “L” COMPLETED IN 2004
In February 2004, Building “L” that would house the Northern Arizona Regional Skills Center on the Verde Campus was dedicated. The Comprehensive Annual Financial Report published and distributed by the College on June 30, 2004 summarized the progress of the Center. It reads as follows: “The construction of the new 15,000 square foot Northern Arizona Regional Skill Center on the Verde Valley Campus was completed this year. The building was formally dedicated at the February 2004 District Governing Board meeting. Programs at the Center will focus on six key areas ‐ business and office technology, basic health‐related occupations, construction and building maintenance, hospitality and tourism, information technology management, and manufacturing/engineering technology. The new Center will serve the workforce training needs of residents living in Apache, Coconino, Navajo and Yavapai counties.”
As noted above, partial funding for the Center was provided by the U.S. Department of Commerce ‐ Economic Development Administration.
In 2006, Phelps‐Dodge (later Freeport‐McMoRan Copper & Gold), a Phoenix‐based global mining company, let the Community College administrators and some Govern Board members know that it would financially support the creation of a two‐year College apprenticeship program in diesel, industrial and electrical mechanics. Phelps‐Dodge agreed to build classrooms and pay faculty salaries for the first three years of the program.
Rather than put the diesel training facility on the East side of the County as a part of the fledgling Northern Arizona Regional Skills Center, the College administrators, with Governing Board approval, began looking for a facility in the Prescott area where a CTE Community College Career and Technical Education Center could be developed. The College Administrators found a large building at the Prescott airport for sale. They concluded it would be a perfect site for a CTE Community College Center. A funding scheme to purchase the building was quickly arranged. In April 2007, the College purchased the 108,000 square foot building under a lease purchase financing scheme for $5 million. An additional $750,000.00 was added for future renovations. (Recall the Northern Arizona Regional Skills Center was only 15,000 square feet.)
Once the decision to build a major CTE Campus at the Prescott airport was made, the College showed little further interest in developing the Northern Arizona Regional Skills Center on the Verde Campus in Building “L.” Most of the anticipated CTE courses that were listed above as in the development stage either never got off the ground at the Center or were eventually moved to the Prescott CTE Campus.
Much later, if one inquired about the reason for the closure of the Center, a typical response from College officials was that it failed for lack of enrollment. With the demise of the Northern Arizona Regional Skills Center the dreams and hopes of thousands of residents on the East side of the County for a vigorous CTE College training center in Building “L” vanished.
Once CTE training was moved to The Career and Technical Education Center at the Prescott Airport, Verde Valley residents were left to struggle to find ways to support CTE training at their three high schools, all of which had serious financial support issues. CTE was offered in a limited fashion at various high schools and financed by the District JTED with its tiny budget. The Verde Valley VACTE was mostly ignored by Community College officials after 2007. The decision to not develop the training program on the Verde Campus as originally intended also meant that VACTE would not have a significant partnership with the Community College on the East side of the County.
Building “L” has been struggling to find a proper use. It has been renovated for enology labs and modified in part for the Verde Campus nursing program. In the December 2013 College development plan, Building “L” was to play a central role of the shift in agriculture when the Chino Valley Campus was closed and many of its operations transferred to the Verde Campus. But that plan landed with a resounding thud in Chino Valley and has no chance to materialize.
RECENT HISTORY. The Yavapai Community College Facilities Management department announced at the February 2019 Board meeting that programming is underway regarding Building “L” on the Verde Campus. Faculty and staff review meetings were scheduled throughout January 2019, according to the College.
It also announced that it had selected a Design Team (SPS+ Architects Construction Team) and a construction team ( Kinney Construction Services).
During January the College held secret meetings with a hand-picked number of politicians and others in the Verde Valley where the future of Building L was discussed. Because there is no record available of that meeting and the press was not allowed to attend, it is not clear what was said and by whom.
The College must use Building “L” for some type of Career and Technical Education because it was constructed in part back in 2004 with the help of a Government grant and a promise that the federal funds would be used for that purpose. The most likely scenario is that it will be renovated for the nursing program.