Majority says video of Board minutes is sufficient record of what members say as ironically mikes fail to pick up members speaking during parts of meeting;  efficiency wins out over  “man hours” and producing more detailed paper record of Board minutes

The Governing Board’s long agenda and overworked administrative staff have caused the minutes of Board meetings to be shorter  and more succinct than in the past.  They no longer, for example,  contain brief summaries of positions taken by Board members. This has been a concern of Representative Ray Sigafoos. 

Ray Sigafoos

Representative Sigafoos urged the Board to adopt a policy that would require the minutes to contain in brief summary fashion relevant comments and positions taken by Board members during a Board meeting. He viewed a paper record as a more reliable historical record of various decisions made by the Governing Board.

Representative Chevalier agreed with Mr. Sigafoos regarding adding relevant comments and  in addition argued he was concerned with equality as  some Board member comments were included in the minutes but  some of his comments were not.  (See video tape link in re this discussion.)

A majority (Ms. McCasland, Mr. Padilla, Mr. Kuknyo) disagreed.  Mr. Padilla argued that a video recording of the meeting was sufficient for historical purposes.  When he weighed the number of hours it might take for an administrator to properly prepare minutes that included relevant summaries of positions taken by Board members against the availability of a video record, he came out on the side of the video record and administrative efficiency.  His arguments carried the day.

On the question of treating comments of Board members equally, the majority decided to remove comments from a May 17 meeting made by Mr. Sigafoos rather than include the comments of Mr. Chevalier made at the same meeting.

You may view the video of the meeting and discussion on this issue with audio missing in part because of microphone failure by clicking here.

No one filed for the District 2 seat in the upcoming November election other than McCasland

Yavapai Community College District Governing Board Chair Deb McCasland will remain on the Board for another six year term, beginning in January 2023.  McCasland’s current term ends this year. 

Board Chair Deb McCasland

Because no one other than McCasland filed for the District 2 Governing Board seat, she will remain on the Board for the next six years.

McCasland’s Yavapai County District (precinct) includes:  Aqua Fria, Beaver Creek, Camp Verde 1 and 2, Canyon, Cherry Creek, Cordes Lakes, Cornville, Crown King, Humboldt, Mayer, Middle Verde, Montezuma, Prescott Country Club, Stoneridge, Sugarloaf and Verde Lakes.

Of the five members on the Governing Board, McCasland’s seat was the only one up for election this year.  

Will become Justice of the Peace for the Prescott District in 2023, which makes him no longer eligible to hold a seat on the Board

Attorney Mitch Padilla will be leaving the Yavapai Community College District Governing Board at the end of this year.   He was sworn in to become a Board member on January 13, 2021. 

Mitch Padilla

Padilla won the primary election August 2 as a Republican against two other Republican candidates.  Because there was  no Democrat primary opponent, there will be no contest in the November general election. Padilla will take the seat as Justice of the Peace in January.

 Padilla served two years of a six year term on the District Board.  He represents District 5, which consists of Castle, Diamond Valley, Glassford, Granville, Groom Creek, Horseshoe, Lynx Creek, Mountain View, Prescott Valley 1/Navajo, Prescott Valley 2, Pronghorn View, Roundup, Superstition, and Yavapai Hills.

It is anticipated that the County Superintendent of Schools will appoint someone from District 5 to serve out the remainder of Padilla’s term.

Board Chair says items Chevalier wanted discussed based on March open call public comments were not appropriate Board matters but issues for President;  Chevalier asks that those matters not within President’s ambit be discussed at May  Board meeting

It’s sometimes tough, if not impossible,  to get an agenda item placed on the Governing Board agenda for discussion.  It’s even tougher to find a public way of getting a response from the Administration to concerns raised by citizens at various Board meetings if they are not discussed at a Board meeting.  Citizens are left pretty much in the dark without a public response from anyone.

Third District Representative Paul Chevalier

The difficulty of getting a particular item publicly discussed by the Community College Governing Board was illustrated  by the recent actions of Third District Community College Representative Paul Chevalier.

At the March 2022 Governing Board meeting in Sedona several citizens raised  a number of issues during the Open Call to the public. There was, of course, no response from the Governing Board to them at that time because they weren’t on an agenda.

Also at the March meeting, immediately following the citizen comments, Mr. Chevalier specifically requested that an agenda item be added to the April agenda so several of the citizen comments, 27 of them,  could be addressed by the Board. (Click here to view a video clip of Mr. Chevalier making the March request.)

Prior to  the April meeting, Mr. Chevalier spoke with the Governing Board Chair. She explained that “our agenda was full with Board matters. I had a conversation with you that we only discuss Board business and that is why it’s not on this agenda.” When Chevalier asked if the Chair would put the item on the next agenda, the Chair replied: “I think I told you that a lot of your request was not Board business.”  Chevalier then responded that he once again was formally requested that those items that were raised by the public at the March meeting that are Board matters be placed on the May agenda.  (Click here to view a video clip of Mr. Chevalier making the April request.)  

The Board meeting then moved on without further discussion. 

Exercising his right under Board policy, Chevalier asked Board Chair to place on the agenda for the next meeting discussion and possible action regarding statements and requests made by the public at the March 22 meeting | Published agenda for April does not clearly show such an item was placed there and will be discussed

Third District Paul Chevalier made an unusual request at the March 22 Governing Board meeting in Sedona.  He asked that the Governing Board Chair, Deb McCasland, pursuant to Board policy 34.33, place on the “next” agenda an item for discussion and possible action that focuses on the statements and requests made by the public during open call at the Sedona meeting. (See video clip below.)

Chevalier commented that “when members of the public come to speak to the Governing Board during open call, that the Board members should carefully consider what they said. After all,” he continued, “the public took the time” to attend the Board meeting and “what they say should not be ignored” by the Board.

An examination of the summary agenda posted by the Governing Board for the April meeting does not appear to include this item.  Possibly, it will be raised at a later time, or the agenda will be altered prior to Tuesday’s meeting to allow discussion and possible action on Mr. Chevalier’s request.

A short video clip of Mr. Chevalier’s request appears below.

Election for 2022 positions held during  Workshop at the Prescott Valley Center January 28

Chair Deb McCasland

Secretary Ray Sigafoos

The Yavapai Community College District Governing Board held is annual election for officers at its January 28 meeting at the Prescott Valley Center. District two Representative Deb McCasland was unanimously elected to continue for one year as Board Chair and District one Representative Ray Sigafoos was elected to continue for one year as Secretary. McCasland was first elected to the position of Chair of the Board in January of 2020.

Representative Paul Chevalier had initially nominated Representative Sigafoos as Chair. However, while he said he appreciated the nomination, he withdrew his name from consideration because his business did not allow him the time to manage the position. Chevalier then joined the other Governing Board members who unanimously elected McCasland and Sigafoos as Board officers for this year.

McCasland was first elected to the District Governing Board in 2014. Her background includes more than thirty years as a Community College employee. She retired in 2010. Sigafoos was first elected to the District Governing Board in 2005.