Regner outlines post-secondary needs for the Verde Valley

Bill Regner, the vice chair of the Verde Valley Advisory Committee of the Yavapai College District Governing Board, outlined the post-secondary needs of the Verde Valley in his commentary in the Verde Independent of June 21, 2015. The full commentary can be ready by clicking here.

Mr. Bill Regner

According to Mr. Regner, the following are most the most important issues for the Verde Valley when considering how to improve post-secondary learning opportunities.

• Residents want affordable, relevant, and quality post-secondary education opportunities.

• Accessibility under the current Community College scheme for many Verde Valley residents is hindered if they are required to travel around or over a mountain range.

• The College must approach the delivery of post-secondary education in the eastern and western portions of the County differently.

• Career and technical education programs need to become more centralized in the Verde Valley.

• There must be increased recruitment and marketing both locally and outside of the region.

• If affordable housing for students does not exist in the Verde Valley through the local housing market, then it becomes in the interest of the College to explore providing it through dormitories or contracts with private providers.
Consider a new approach to Foundation fundraising if the current model is not working.

• The Verde Valley needs an advocate with a strong Verde Valley regional identity either home grown or adopted. This person must be able to advocate effectively with the College administration and/or the District Governing Board.

•Make certain that every motivated student in the Verde Valley has the opportunity to get their first two years of core subjects completed while still benefitting from the support system of family and community.

• The Valley needs state-of-the-art broadband capacity.

• The Valley needs a hybrid model of centralized campuses and remote learning centers.

The  full Committee report can be found by clicking here. 

Paul Chevalier, Chair of the Verde Valley Board Advisory Committee, reports to Governing Board; reviews 4 recommendations

Paul Chevalier, Chair of the Verde Valley Board Advisory Committee, gave the following report to the Yavapai College District Governing Board on Tuesday. (Unfortunately, the Blog does not have the handouts referred to by Mr. Chevalier.)

Good morning Madame Chair, members of the Governing Board, and Madame President.

My name is Paul Chevalier and I am here today representing the Yavapai College Verde Valley Board Advisory Committee.

Today I will be presenting two new recommendations to you but first I would like to clarify the recommendation and the request our committee presented at the Governing Board’s March meeting.

In March our committee proposed that the Governing Board postpone making a decision on capital improvement projects until you have studied strategic plans from both sides of the mountain. Executive Dean Perey has stated to you that he will be presenting the strategic plan for the Verde Valley to the Governing Board in August.

The College has asked you to approve their capital improvement budget plans this June for the next two years. If you do that without having considered and integrated the Verde Valley strategic plan for capital improvements you will be doing the owners of the Verde Valley a great disservice. The college’s capital improvement money will then have been allocated for the next two years without having any opportunity for the strategic plan capital improvement to being considered. Read More→

Verde Valley Board Advisory Committee to District Board makes four recommendations

The Verde Valley Board Advisory Committee to the District Governing Board has made four specific recommendations.  They are:

(1)  Postpone capital improvement projects until a strategic plan has been created and approved.

(2)  Increase marketing and recruiting efforts to students and parents in the Verde Valley.

(3)  Amend the Campus Master Plan to remove any language about divesting of the Sedona Campus.

(4)  Do not raise property taxes this year.

The Committee was appointed by local and County officials to advise the District Governing Board.  The District Governing Board will decide whether to raise property taxes by at least 2 percent at its June meeting.

Sedona Mayor (as private citizen) urges Governing Board to support Committee recommendations

Mayor Moriarty

Sedona Mayor Sandy Moriarty, speaking as a private citizen, thanked the Governing Board for creating the Verde Valley advisory Committees. She urged the Governing Board at its March 3 meeting to support the recommendations of the [Board Advisory] Committee that were made just a few minutes before she spoke. She said that the original reason for creating the Committees (Advisory Committee to the Board and Advisory Committee to Executive Dean Perey) was that citizens in Sedona and the Verde Valley realized that the Ten-Year-Development-Plan did not receive the input it should have from them.

She asked that the Board allow the Board Advisory Committee to comment on the capital budget and comment on the College’s strategic plan. Mayor Moriarty’s comments to the Board may be viewed by clicking here.

Governing Board Chair lectures Verde Committee on Board “limits” and independence of College in deciding operations

Showing less than enthusiastic support for the first report to the Board by the Verde Valley Governing Board Advisory Committee, the Chair of the Governing Board made clear the restrictions on the Board and impliedly the Committee when dealing with the Community College administration. The comments by the Chair can be seen and heard by clicking here.

The Chair said that “the Board’s role is policy, . . . it is not operational.” She continued that the “Board does not dictate to the President . . . the way that those . . . goals are carried out.”

She said that the recommendations given to the Board by the Committee involved details “on how you would like the needs that you have identified to be resolved. . . . That is not the Board’s job.”

She also said the Board is not going to decide or dictate to the [College] president how to carry out the activities that need to be done. She said she wanted to “make sure” everyone was on the “same page here.”

District two representative, Deb McCasland pointed out that the Board sets the budget, which dictates whether it will follow the proposed operational plan put before it by the College administrators.

Verde Valley Board Advisory Committee recommends Governing Board halt Ten-Year-Master Plan development; create a strategic plan

The Chair of the Verde Valley Governing Board Advisory Committee, Mr. Paul Chevalier, reported on the Committee’s work over the past several months at the March 3 Governing Board meeting. The full videotape of the report given to the Governing Board can be accessed by clicking here.

The Committee recommended that  no further capital construction be approved by the Board until (a) the College produces a strategic development plan for both sides of the mountain and (b) the Advisory Committee has had a reasonable opportunity to comment on it before any action is taken. 

Mr. Chevalier expressed concern that the present capital improvement plan, like last year’s Ten-Year-Plan, strongly favors the west side of the County. As a result, there is little capital improvement money for the Verde Valley. He said the Committee may be recommending capital improvements for the Verde Valley “but such recommendations would be moot if all the money is [already] allocated” to the west side of the County.

The Committee also asked for the opportunity to study whether some of the capital improvements proposed in the Ten-Year-Plan on the west side of the County might be better put in the Verde Valley. He explained that “this is why a strategic plan for both sides of the mountain, with our comments about it, should be submitted to you” before any further capital improvements are made. Read More→