GOVERNING BOARD NEEDS BETTER PLANNING WHEN SCHEDULING ITS SECRET EXECUTIVE SESSION MEETINGS IF IT CHOOSES TO SHOW CONCERN AND RESPECT FOR SEDONA/VERDE VALLEY RESIDENTS ATTENDING THE MAIN MEETING

At the November 26 meeting, local residents were sent from the large, comfortable meeting room to stand huddled in an adjacent hallway or to sit outside in the cold because four Board members would not move to smaller space to hold secret executive meeting of unknown length before starting posted workshop and business agenda

Robert E. Oliphant

EDITORIAL:  The experience at the November 26 Yavapai Community College Governing Board meeting left many local residents attending it questioning the lack of a better plan for accommodating them when the Board meets in secret executive session.

The meeting had just begun when the Chair announced the executive session. Surprisingly, and to some attendees’ dismay, the four-member Board in the room (a fifth on zoom) chose to stay in the large meeting room, leaving dozens of residents to either wait for the regular meeting to resume by standing in the hallway or wander about the Verde Valley Campus with no idea of how long the secret executive session would last. Meanwhile, the four Governing Board members remained seated comfortably in the main meeting room, opting not to relocate to another space in the building or to an adjacent one for their secret executive meeting.

After about an hour or so with no indication of the secret meeting’s duration, many frustrated residents left.

This situation could have been easily avoided with proper planning and adequate consideration for those local residents who took time from their busy schedules to attend. For example, the secret meeting could have been moved on the agenda to the end of the workshop and business meeting. Or, it could have been held separately in the morning hours before the announced Workshop and Business meeting. 

Alternatively, the four members of the Board could have demonstrated concern for the local Sedona/Verde Valley residents by moving to a space in Building “M” or ‘to an adjacent classroom building, if Building “M” had no available rooms. The residents would at least had chairs to sit on rather than stand in the hallway outside the meeting room or sit outside in the cold.