After decades, Board puts an end to the enlightened view that Board activities should be fully transparent to the County taxpayers
After decades of openness, the Yavapai Community College District Governing Board has made a sudden shift in its approach to transparency. The Board now requires anyone seeking draft minutes of a meeting to follow the formal process outlined by Arizona’s Public Records Act. This marks a significant departure from the Board’s decades-long policy of readily providing such information by promptly posting it on its website. Furthermore, the Board has discontinued the practice of making videotapes of meetings available within three business days, if ever. This change appears to stem from concerns that the videotapes were fostering excessive accountability and transparency, elements the Board now is eager to avoid.
This retreat from openness may be driven by fears over what residents of Yavapai County might discover about the Board’s actions. For instance, during the January 16, 2024, meeting, there was allegedly an incident involving some Board members making remarks about a Prescott woman, which triggered a kerfuffle of sorts with the Board attorney over the remarks. 
The College has informed the Blog that it will not post a draft of the minutes from the January 16th Governing Board meeting without a formal Public Records request. This move seems designed to make accessing the draft minutes as difficult and obscure as possible. Moreover, the College is also neglecting the Blog’s request for an unedited copy of the video recording of the January 16 meeting, despite a formal public records request being made for it.
Below is the letter from the College telling the Blog it must make a formal statutory request using the College’s form if it wants to see a draft of the minutes (while ignoring the request for the videotape made by the Blog).
