While the District Governing Board members comfortably zoomed into their  $120 million budget talks from home or elsewhere, residents in a county larger than El Salvador who wanted to comment at the public hearing on the budget were told to trek to the Rock House on the Prescott Campus if they wanted a say

Opinion:  The Yavapai Community College District Governing Board held its Budget Public Hearing on May 27, 2025, via Zoom—with one glaring exception. Any resident wishing to raise a question or praise the budget was required to drive to the Rock House on the Prescott Campus, as Zoom participation was strictly off-limits for public comments.

No residents showed up in person to comment.

The decision to not allow the public to comment via zoom was  apparently made by the Board Chair, Deb McCasland well ahead of the meeting. It was made without a Board vote on the process. Seen from the outside, the process gives the impression of outright contempt for the County’s residents.

Board members, or the Chair Deb McCasland, must be blind to the fact Yavapai County covers 8,125 square miles and compares in size with Connecticut, Delaware, Rhode Island and New Jersey.  It is about the size of the nation of Israel and larger than El Salvador.   It is only slightly smaller than Maricopa, County, Arizona. Maricopa covers 9,224 square miles and is the fourth largest county in the United States.

The County is divided by the Black Hills mountain range that runs west and east with Mingus mountain creating a natural physical barrier between the two sides of the County. There are few roads connecting the concentrated population centers in the west region of the County with the more rural areas in the east. For many, the most direct route in the east region to the west region is a single-lane alternate highway 89-A. It somewhat perilously crawls over Mingus Mountain at 7,815 feet.

Is the Governing Board blind to the struggles of the very people it’s supposed to represent? Yavapai County is home to one of Arizona’s largest elderly populations, alongside many disabled individuals and working residents who can’t take time off to travel to Prescott for a three-minute comment. Zoom participation isn’t just practical—it’s common sense!

The requirement for in-person attendance at the Rock House on the  Prescott campus when Zoom is available to comment on the $120 million budget effectively barred residents from participation, if anyone was interested. This restrictive approach—whether a calculated maneuver or an act of negligence—all but assured that the public would not be heard at the so-called “Budget Public Hearing.”

Appears from agenda published Thursday afternoon on website that the only business will be a secret executive session devoted to evaluating President Rhine (and normally involves a decision on her salary)

The Yavapai Community College District Governing Board will hold a meeting on Monday, May 19, 2022, at 1 p.m. via YouTube. According to the agenda posted on Thursday afternoon, May 15, the meeting will consist solely of a closed (secret) executive session to evaluate the performance of Dr. Lisa Rhine, the College president.

There will be no opportunity for public comment on this matter.

No other items appear on the agenda. A copy of the agenda, as published by the College, is provided below.

Kuykendall talks about “hate,” “negativity” and appears to blame Kiel for keeping meetings on zoom

At its March 26 meeting, Third District Yavapai Community College Governing Board member Toby Payne requested that the official minutes of an earlier meeting, now before the Board for approval, accurately reflect Representative Patrick Kuykendall’s comments directed at Board member William Kiel. He specifically asked that the following statement be included in the February minutes.  (Check video clip for accuracy.)

Also, at Board business (5)(c) I respectfully request the following be added:  (At 14:54:04.)  Board member Kuykendall said in part that he had seen nothing from Board member Kiel but “negativity and attacks on the Chairman and the president and the threats have got to end.” “Mr. Kiel since day one has made threats and been so disrespectful” and Kuykendall claimed he had never sat on a Board with so much “hate and discontent” coming from a Board member. He went on to ask what could be done legally to Mr. Kiel and claimed the reason the Board members were not holding in-person live meetings is when “somebody mentions firearms and they are unstable, it is a threat.”  Mr. Kiel was not allowed to respond to the allegation by Mr. Kuykendall that he was “unstable” or anything else despite a request from him to be allowed to do so.

During discussion of  Payne’s motion, Mr. Kuykendall said he had “no comment” and that he stood “by his actions.” Mr. Bracety said the motion didn’t “warrant comment.” Chair McCasland said she didn’t think the wording “was exactly accurate.” She also said she “did not approve of putting this into the minutes—the video will show it.” Moreover, she said she recalled the attorney at the meeting stating that the discussion must end because it was not appropriate.

Mr. Kiel commented, “It seems futile, but that is an accurate representation of what occurred during that meeting. I believe I was slandered at that meeting, and I have not yet decided how to proceed with that.”

The motion  was rejected by a 3-2 vote, with Chair Deb McCasland, Patrick Kuykendall, and Steve Bracety voting in favor. Only Representative William Kiel voted in support of Payne.

A video clip of this portion of the meeting may be viewed below:

Payne argued that he asked that a Board issue be placed on the agenda pursuant to Board Policy 308 but the Chair refused to do so – he  sought to have official minutes to reflect that refusal

At the March 26 Yavapai Community College District Governing Board meeting, Third District Representative Toby Payne requested that the formal minutes from the February 18 Board meeting be amended to reflect a concern he originally raised in January. Specifically, Payne asked that the minutes document his January 19 letter to Board Chair Deb McCasland, in which he formally requested that an agenda item be added to discuss potential conflicts between Higher Learning Commission (HLC) requirements and existing Board policy. The HLC accredits the Community College.

Payne’s proposed addition to the minutes read:

“Mr. Payne reported that on January 19 he sent Chair McCasland (Tape 14:42:44) a letter requesting that an agenda item be added to the next Board agenda pursuant to existing Governing Board policy. He also listed proposed actions. He was asking for a discussion regarding HLC alignment, delegation of authority, and overall governance and policy alignment with Board policies. The goal was to see that there is perfect alignment with the various Board policies and the Higher Learning Commission.”

In an interview, Payne explained that his effort stemmed from concerns that current Board policies may be out of step with HLC standards. He asserted that Chair McCasland’s refusal to place the item on the agenda violated Board Policy 308, which he interprets as requiring the Chair to honor such requests.

His motion to amend the minutes was denied in a 3-2 vote. Chair Deb McCasland, Patrick Kuykendall, and Steve Bracety voted against the amendment, while Payne and William Kiel voted in favor.

Payne argued his addition would make the minutes more transparent to the public; Board majority remained mostly silent, with the Chair claiming discussion was unnecessary since the motion concerning entering the executive session was on the meeting videotape

At the March 26 meeting, Third District Yavapai Community College Governing Board member Toby Payne requested that the official minutes accurately reflect what transpired when the Board voted to enter executive session on February 18. He specifically asked that the following statement be included in the February minutes. “I respectfully request the following to be added,” he said:

Mr. Kiel requested that the Board discuss an issue or issues prior to going into executive session.  The Chair did not open the floor for discussion after a second to go into executive session, so Mr. Kiel decided not to attend the executive session.  Mr. Payne stated that he was very concerned about the transparency to the public about why the Board is going into executive session or why the Board is holding a virtual meeting.  He did not attend the executive session.

Mr. Payne’s request to amend the minutes was rejected by a 3-2 vote, with Chair Deb McCasland, Patrick Kuykendall, and Steve Bracety voting in favor. Only Representative William Kiel voted against the motion in support of Payne. The majority members offered few comments before casting their votes. Chair McCasland stated that everything was documented in the meeting video and noted that she had never engaged in a discussion regarding the decision to enter an executive session.

A video clip of this portion of the meeting may be viewed below:

No details were released regarding the exact nature of the embarrassing failure to activate the link

The Yavapai Community College Governing Board unexpectedly rescheduled its zoom meeting set for March 25 to March 26. The change occurred when Board member William Kiel informed the Board’s lawyer on the morning of March 25 that the electronic link to the Board agenda had not been activated on the Board’s website. Because the link was not properly activated, members of the public were unable to access the agenda at least 24 hours before the meeting, as required by law.

Arizona law mandates that Board agendas be made publicly available at least 24 hours prior to a meeting. However, the Board’s lawyer believed that  the March 25 meeting could have proceeded despite the web notification failure because paper copies of the time, place, and summary agenda were properly posted elsewhere. However, she advised the Board to reschedule the meeting to ensure that the public, particularly those relying on the website link, had an opportunity to review the agenda and the topics to be discussed at least 24 hours before the event.

The written explanation offered by the Board lawyer is set out below:

“The Governing Board’s legal counsel learned late on the morning of March 25, 2025 that the link on the College’s website to the District Governing Board’s March 25 meeting agenda was inadvertently not activated until the morning of March 25.  The agenda was posted more than 24 hours in advance, but the link was not made “live” at the time.  Therefore, members of the public attempting to access the meeting agenda from the College’s website could not do so at least 24 hours in advance.

“The College physically posted the meeting agenda more than 24 hours in advance of the March 25 , 2025 meeting.

“The Open Meeting Law allows a governing board to proceed with a public meeting if a ‘technological problem or failure’ prevents the posting of the agenda on the website 24 hours in advance, as long as the agenda was physically posted in compliance with the Open Meeting Law.  Although the March 25 District Governing Board meeting could therefore proceed despite the technological agenda posting issue, the Board has been advised to reschedule the meeting to ensure that the public receives adequate notice of the meeting.”