Current Phoenix based law firm charges $485 per hour but gives College discount to $385 per hour; however it charges a flat fee to attend any Board meeting of $1,925 (will go to $2,100 flat fee if new contract approved); length of meeting irrelevant

The Contract with the Phoenix Law Firm of  Osborn Maledon is up for review at the Governing Board meeting on the Verde Campus this Tuesday, October 8.  Osborn Maledon is the law firm that represents only the Governing Board.

Other law firms are employed by the College to handle daily legal issues for it; they do not represent the  Board.  The College also employs special defense lawyers, such as those defending the College in the six-year old Hamilton v. Yavapai College lawsuit.

The bulk of the work provided by the firm representing the Board  involves attending Governing Board meetings on a regular basis mostly in Prescott (occasionally in Sedona, Verde Valley, Chino Valley, Prescott Valley). The remainder is office work done at the Phoenix location of the law firm.

It is not clear that the Governing Board has put out bids asking local Yavapai County based  law firms to bid on this contract. 

According to College documents, Osborn Maledon charges a regular hourly rate of $485.  However, the College documents indicate it charges a reduced rate of $385 an hour to the College for office work.   The firm currently charges the College a flat fee for attending a Board meeting of $1,925.  If the current contract is extended, it will increase that fee to $2,100 regardless of the length of the Board meeting.  

The Board lawyer has typically attended all Governing Board regular monthly meetings, retreats, and special meetings. Meetings vary in time from two to over four hours.

Goal is to achieve educational excellence

Yavapai Community College president Dr. Lisa Rhine has told her staff and faculty that there may be some organizational structure changes coming in the future.  She says that she believes that “reorganizing” will help “achieve service and learning excellence.”

No decisions have been made and there is a great deal of discussion expected before any formal re-organizational announcements are made.  Below is a note Dr. Rhine sent earlier this month to the faculty about the effort.  

Strong supporters and Founders of the Yavapai Community College Southwest Wine Center

In an email to students and faculty, Dr. Lisa Rhine lamented the deaths of Patricia Beitzinger and Neal Baltz, who died in a California boating accident September 2. They were on the boat “Conception,” which burned killing 34 people in California’s worst maritime fire in recent history.

Dr. Rhine wrote:

 “The Community College family and the Southwest Wine Center community lost two very important supporters, Patricia Beitzinger and Neal Baltz. Early Monday morning the couple was a part of a dive team on a boat that caught on fire killing at least 20 people. The U.S. Coast Guard has suspended the search for the remaining 14 passengers who have not been found.

“Patricia and Neal, were strong supporters and Founders of the Southwest Wine Center. Although they lived in the Valley, they were both frequent visitors to Yavapai College and the Southwest Wine Center. Neal was a 2017 YC Viticulture and Enology program Alumnus and also had endowed a Viticulture scholarship in his name

“Our thoughts and prayers are with both of their families during this tragic time. As soon as we learn of any funeral arraignments we will communicate that information to the college community.”

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Approximately 20,000 west side County residents will experience a variety of 37 cultural programs between August and December 31; approximately 500 east side County residents will experience seven cultural programs (six free) on that side of the County during same time period

If you want a real headache, consider the problem faced by the new Community College President, Lisa Rhine, to try and find ways to balance College cultural activities, programs and events between the west side of the County (Prescott/Prescott Valley and more) and the east side of the County (Clarkdale, Cottonwood, Camp Verde, Sedona and more). Historically, the imbalance has drawn only minimal concern from the College. Dr. Rhine is facing the issue head-on.

The current programing by the College from August thru December of 2019 lists 37 major culture driven programs the College will in some form be a participate.  (13 of these programs involve the College music and arts department.) On the east side of the County, it will sponsor seven programs, most of which are free.

With a Community College Performing Arts Center that seats around 1,100 persons, the west side of the County appears to have a huge advantage over the east side.  With more than 37 cultural programs scheduled in the next five months, many of which are sellouts, the Prescott Campus will be visited by at least 20,000 residents.  Meanwhile, about 500 persons will experience some cultural programming on the east side of the County.  (West side County population about 145,000; east side County population about 74,000.)

Cultural concert experiments on the east side of the County have failed to yield wide-spread audience appeal, with an exception here and there.

The new president is facing tough questions or assertions like the following:   (1) The Performing Arts Center should be sold and the College limit involvement and lease back time for its academic music and arts department programs only. (2) Any nonacademic program should pay for all of its costs including its portion of maintenance on building, equipment, and any use of faculty/staff time. It is currently believed that the costs of building and equipment maintenance and depreciation are not included in the costs associated with running non-academic programs (those such as Clint Black, Leann Rimes, Louie Anderson, Satellite series, and 20 more). (3) Taxpayers must not subsidize any portion of the non-academic programs, which some argue, has been the case since the Performing Arts Center was opened.

Solutions will not come easy.

Residents learn College Governing Board can provide little assistance to answer simple questions if they involve “operations”

Residents of Yavapai County are learning that their elected representatives on the Community College Governing Board are unwilling or unable to help them with answers to fairly simple questions about the Community College.  At least, that is what some believe after an effort was made by them to find out the cost and reasons for building new College Foundation offices in a portion of the library on the Prescott Campus.

One of the residents, for example, recently sent an email to Governing Board member Steve Irwin asking if he “could you shed some light on a . . .  report that the College plans to build a partition in the college library to provide office/meeting space for the Yavapai College Foundation?”

The Governing Board administrator, not Mr. Irwin, responded as follows:

“Thank you for your concern and for reaching out to our District Governing Board Member. Unfortunately the Board’s responsibility doesn’t include the day-to-day operations and activities on the campus. The president of the College has the responsibility to make decisions that are in the best interest of our students, employees, and the community, including operational decisions.”

There was no information or direction given to the resident about who  to contact or how to contact anyone at the college who could  deal with answering the question appropriately. There was no effort by Mr. Irwin to lend a hand regarding where to go with the question so it could be answered.

Later, this same constituent received a copy of the Community College Governing Board Policy Manual from the Governing Board administrator.  

As of today, exactly how operation questions from taxpayer residents like this are to be handled by the Community College appears to remain a mystery.  It is hoped the new College President will create a process where residents can ask questions about the College activities that involve “operations” and receive answers. “Operations” appear to be about 95% of what the President does.

Costs and reasons for construction of offices  in this area of the Prescott Campus library remain a mystery.

Dr. Diane Ryan will begin as VP of Strategic Initiatives September 3 at reported annual salary of $157,000

Yavapai Community College has hired Dr. Diane Ryan as its new vice president of strategic initiatives. She will begin her new role in the $157,000-per-year year position September  3. She was one of three finalist for the newly created Vice President of Strategic Initiatives position at  the College.  The candidates were:  Dr. Sean Abel, Dr. Diane Ryan, and Dr. Stephanie Duguid. 

Dr. Ryan earned a Ph.D. in Community College Leadership from Old Dominion University. She holds a B.A. and M.A. in Communication from Western Illinois University and graduate hours in English from Old Dominion University. Her academic research focuses on open educational resources (OER) and academic outcomes in the community college classroom.

“As Vice President of Strategic Initiatives, I look forward to working with different groups at the college to assess and enhance existing programs or create new ones to increase student access, enrollment and retention,” said Dr. Ryan. “Because of my academic background and former work experience, I am confident we will work together for what is in the best interest of our students.” 

“I couldn’t be happier that Dr. Diane Ryan is joining our YC team,” said Yavapai College President Dr. Lisa Rhine. “She brings a breadth of knowledge and experience from numerous areas of the college landscape that will be key in helping us shape the future for Yavapai College and our communities that we serve.”

Formerly a faculty member at Tidewater Community College in Virginia, she is currently the dean of engineering, science and mathematics. As an academic dean, she advocates for the use of open educational resources, flexible class schedules, online degrees supported with student services and robust dual enrollment programs. Dr. Ryan recruited 38 faculty members to teach with OER course materials, saving students thousands of dollars in textbook costs and retaining tuition for the college. She worked with a team to launch two online degrees and is familiar with the challenges and successes of online education. During a downturn in college enrollment she increased enrollment in the division by creating flexible class schedules, which appealed to a broader audience of students. Under her leadership dual enrollment offerings and enrollment grew by 90% in a college transfer pathway.”

In 2018 she was named Administrator of the Year at Tidewater Community College. Dr. Ryan desires to move into senior administration to use her leadership skills to shape policy and practices to remove student barriers to persistence and completion. In her spare time, she practices yoga and volunteers for a local organization that provides food and shelter for people without homes.

Sources:  Yavapai Community College press release; Verde Independent story of Wednesday, August 14, 2019.