Some critics claim the expenditure is not educationally essential given the Prescott Valley training facility was claimed to be “state of the art”
The new training facility for the Northern Arizona Regional Training Academy (NARTA) on the Prescott Campus is nearing completion. The total cost to taxpayers associated with moving NARTA from the Prescott Valley Center to the Prescott Campus is put at $2,037,000. Taxpayers are picking up the entire cost of the transfer because no grant money is involved.
The change in location is a part of the College’s 2013 multi-million capital development Master Plan. This Plan has resulted in spending millions of dollars on the West side of the County for new parking lots, renovated and new classrooms and buildings.
Critics of the two million-dollar expenditure argue that the move is “nice,” but not educationally essential. They point out that the location on the Prescott Valley Campus has been described as a state-of-the-art training facility for NARTA. However, the Master Plan justified the move as minimizing travel for faculty and students and locating a program on the Prescott campus where housing is a little closer to the training. Critics say the 10 to 15 minute drive from Prescott Valley to the dorms on the Prescott Campus hardly justified the $2 million expenditure.
Critics also were concerned about the two million-dollar expenditure because the building will be used exclusively for training 25 to 30 students during only two 20 week semesters annually. This is unlike the Prescott Valley facility where NARTA shared classrooms with other students.
The Prescott Valley Chief of Police, Bryan Jarrell and the Prescott Chief of Police, Debora Black, both heavily lobbied the Governing Board at the March 2018 meeting for the project. The Board voted 4-1 to spend the $2 million with Second District Representative Deb McCasland the lone dissenter. She argued that while she strongly supported the NARTA program, she did not see that this was a wise expenditure of scarce educational funds.
NARTA acts as a regional training center serving city, county, tribal, and state law enforcement agencies throughout the state of Arizona. Recruits must be sponsored by an agency before entering the academy. Classes such as Drivers and Firearms Training and Stop and Approach are held at off-campus locations.
Yavapai County Sheriff’s Sgt. Karl Waak, the current academy commander, said in a College news release that the new headquarters is just what NARTA needed — functional space that isn’t shared with other college programs. He cited as a significant benefit the ability for cadets to conduct critical training drills indoors during inclement weather.