Posted hand scrawled message says in part,  “Community College has decided to us Hi-Line Vending again” to replace Café, which will apparently feature canned soft drinks and other items from vending machines—Original plans to utilize the Café as chef training lab while  showcasing fresh garden foods appears to have vanished

OPINION:  As students arrived at the Verde Valley Campus for the start of the fall term last week, they were met with an unexpected announcement: the Verde Valley Greenhouse student café had closed its doors. A hastily scrawled message on a chalkboard sign delivered the news, leaving many surprised and disappointed. It read in part,  “Yavapai College has decided to use Hi-line again.”

You may recall that in June 2022, the Community College invested substantial funds in kitchen equipment and facility upgrades for  the Cafe. It proudly announced the Café would function as a “laboratory for aspiring culinary artists and entrepreneurs” and a “showcase for the vegetables and herbs cultivated by horticulture students in the on-campus greenhouse.” This initiative envisioned the Café as a “teaching restaurant” that would not only provide practical experience for students but also serve lunches to the campus community.

Once opened, even with limited hours, the Café  immediately  drew accolades from students and members of the nearby Cottonwood Ranch community for the quality of its food.

Yet, just two years later, the Café has been shuttered, leaving many questions unanswered. Was the decision to close  influenced by the limited course offerings at the Sedona Culinary School, preventing it from supplying trainees for the Café? Could it have been closed because of a serious lack of overall development  support from the Prescott-based Community College leadership, whose focus appears firmly fixated on building the Prescott campus and associated centers?  Perhaps it failed to generate the amount of revenue  to satisfy  its operation in the eyes of Prescott executives, who recently invested somewhere around a half million for a CTEC highway sign and the land on which it was located?  (Which generate no revenue.) Was there an overall shortage of students at the Community College and Sedona Center because of recruiting problems? Or were there other, less apparent reasons?

Will Sedona/Verde Valley taxpayers even be supplied with an explanation for its closing from the current administration?

The College has yet to provide any information regarding the status of the staff who operated the Verde Valley Campus Café over the past two years. Their future remains uncertain, adding to the concern surrounding the closure.

Whatever the cause, the closure represents yet another disappointing chapter for a campus that, in this blog’s view, deserves far more attention, better development, and stronger financial support. It’s time for the taxes paid by Sedona and Verde Valley residents for community college education to be invested in our community college and Sedona Center on this side of Mingus Mountain, rather than siphoned off to fund millions in development over dozens of years on the Prescott campus and its associated westside centers.