DECEMBER AT YAVAPAI COMMUNITY COLLEGE: OUTSTANDING EVENTS SCHEDULED AT THE PRESCOTT CAMPUS’S JIM AND LINDA LEE PERFORMING ARTS CENTER

By R. Oliphant
Saturday, November 18th, 2023

Prescott Residents Invited to Enjoy Nine Major Events at the Center, Including Jake Shimabukuro’s Christmas in Hawai’I, Handel’s Messiah, the Nutcracker Ballet, and More

Yavapai Community College is presenting an impressive lineup of diverse holiday programs this December at the Jim and Linda Lee Performing Arts Center on the Prescott Campus. Residents of Prescott can look forward to an array of nine outstanding scheduled events including Jake Shimabukuro’s festive “Christmas in Hawai’i,” the timeless “Handel’s Messiah,” the enchanting “Nutcracker” ballet, and many more captivating performances.

Categories : Performing Arts Center

CHINO VALLEY AGRIBUSINESS CENTER GREENHOUSE INFRASTRUCTURE REPLACEMENT AND UPGRADES – IN PROCESS

By R. Oliphant
Friday, November 17th, 2023

Building 55 torn down; unclear what, if anything, will replace it; cost of possible replacement and overall purpose of project not found in Master Plan or most current approved budget

Building 55 at the Chino Valley Center was recently demolished. From all appearances, it seemed old and in need of repair or replacement.  However, attempts to find details regarding the cost, purpose, or even the existence of a planned replacement building in Community College records have been unsuccessful. No mention of the project appears in the latest Master Plan or the $100 million budget. The Blog has reached out to the College for more information about the project and will update readers with any new developments.

SOURCE: Yavapai Community College Pagebook posting by unknown author.

 

Categories : Chino Valley campus

NEW APARTMENT ON PRESCOTT CAMPUS OF YAVAPAI COMMUNITY COLLEGE APPEARS READY FOR TEMPORARY OCCUPANCY

By R. Oliphant
Thursday, November 16th, 2023

College says it completely “gutted” Building 30 to transform it from a storage facility to a furnished apartment with modern appliances and laundry

Yavapai Community College has completed the construction of a new apartment on the Prescott Campus. According to Community College authorities, the remodeling effort began with a complete gut of Building 30 to transform it from storage to a furnished apartment. The apartment comes complete with all modern kitchen appliances and laundry facilities.

The campus apartment is intended to provide temporary housing for new faculty and staff transitioning to Yavapai Community College. The College has found housing in the Prescott area for its new faculty and staff challenging, so it is attempting to help out with a temporary solution.

According to Community College officials, ‘The new apartment is comparable to the Verde Valley Campus RV park and will help new employees with this temporary solution.’

The total cost of the apartment renovation is not yet known.

Categories : Construction, Prescott Campus

COMMUNITY STAR GAZING NIGHT NOVEMBER 17 5-7 P.M.

By R. Oliphant
Wednesday, November 15th, 2023

A night to gave at the stars will be held November 17 from 5 to 7 p.m. on the Verde Valley Campus.  The event will be held on the Southwest Wine Center patio.  For more information, contact Bobbi Evans at 928-634-6511.

Categories : Verde Campus

ESTIMATED COST FOR CONSTRUCTING COMMUNITY COLLEGE PRESCOTT VALLEY HEALTH SCIENCES CENTER LEAPS IN LESS THAN 12 MONTHS FROM ESTIMATED $14.52 MILLION TO $39 MILLION; TOTAL SQUARE FOOTAGE JUMPED FROM SEPT ESTIMATE OF 30,000 TO OCTOBER ESTIMATE OF 56,000

By R. Oliphant
Thursday, November 9th, 2023

New plans also include an 18,000 square foot Conference Center as part of project that will compete with private resorts and public centers for business. College  already has spent $5.8 million improving Prescott Valley Center in 2017; plus unknown amounts in 2019 and 2023 to purchase land and complete phase 2 of its expansion

In November 2022, Yavapai Community College executives presented a list of priority projects to the residents of Yavapai County and the District Governing Board, one of which involved expanding the Health Sciences Center now located at the Prescott Valley Center.  At the time, the experts estimated the expansion to cost about $14.52 million. The District Governing Board approved the request in concept, except for the Third District’s representative at the time, Mr. Paul Chevalier. 

In May 2023, when the 2023-2024 budget was unanimously approved, the Prescott Valley Center Health Sciences project in concept was scheduled to begin the planning stage in 2026. However, it now appears from the timeline sketch provided by the College at the October 2023 District Governing Board meeting (see sketch below), that plans for beginning the project  from concept to reality began only a month  following the May meeting.  A huge change!

The plans, as unveiled in October, include an 18,000 square foot conference center on the third floor. The total cost of the project has increased from $14.52 million to $39 million with $9 million allocated for the third floor conference center. The College suggests that it may obtain funding assistance from the state and federal governments for the project.

When the Community College announced its $39 million project in October 2023 some County residents pondered whether they may have been intentionally misled by the November 2022 presentation and the $14.52 price tag, only to discover eleven months later that the College was now intending a $39 million dollar project. Other community members are also questioning the wisdom of adding a conference center as a part of the Health Sciences building for an estimated $9 million that may directly compete with private resorts and small cities for conference business. That idea for a conference center does not appear in the Master Plan and was not discussed in November 2022 when the concept was approved.

However, residents’ concerns will have little or no impact. Residents have learned that incredible differences in estimates and actual construction mean little to a sleepy District Governing Board dominated by west county politicos. They will essentially rubber-stamp whatever the College brings forth when it asks for final approval of a project on the west side of Mingus Mountain.

In one sense, the District Governing Board’s approval process for College projects is like a train that has already left the station. Residents’ concerns are akin to a small pebble on the tracks that the train will simply pass over. The train’s destination is predetermined, and the Board’s approval is a mere formality.  Moreover, there is never any serious follow-up by the Board on such projects.

*Note:  Since 2017 the Community College has been spending millions to upgrade the existing Prescott Valley Center.  It completed a $5.8 million dollar phase one construction project at the Center in 2017.  Between then and 2023, additional hundreds of thousands of dollars have been spent on phase two of renovation and improvements along with land acquisition.

Categories : Career and Technical Education, Nursing

ARE PRESCOTT HIGH SCHOOL TENNIS COURTS TAKING OVER AFTER COMMUNITY COLLEGE FIRED LONG-TIME TENNIS PROFESSIONAL ICON CHRIS HOWARD IN MARCH?

By R. Oliphant
Wednesday, November 8th, 2023

Major physical improvements, five certified professionals ready to teach, and a reservation system that guarantees a court will be available to residents at a nominal price now make the high school courts a first choice for many in the tennis community.  In addition, there appears to have been a migration of tennis professionals away from the College’s tennis complex to the high school facility following Mr. Howard’s firing

The firing of Dennis Howard in March deeply disturbed the local tennis community. Howard, a revered coach at Yavapai Community College, was dismissed for reportedly breaching a College policy. He had gone to the College’s tennis complex on snow days to check its condition while the Campus was officially closed. As a result of this infraction, the dedicated coach was fired and also prohibited from accessing the College’s tennis courts for several months

Despite pleas in April by most, if not all, of the local tennis community asking the College and District Governing Board to reconsider the firing, the College remained as unyielding as a block wall in its decision. Now, the College and the Governing Board might be reaping the consequences and paying a price for stubbornness and in the minds of many a lack of judgment.

One significant outcome appears to be the professional tennis community’s migration away from the College’s tennis complex. Their attention has turned to the freshly upgraded six-court complex at Prescott High School. This shift in focus serves as a stark indicator of the firing’s stain on the College’s reputation and its ripple effect through the local tennis scene.

Moreover, the Phoenix High School facility has been recently renovated, updated, and modernized.  The old asphalt six-court tennis facility was rebuilt with post-tensioned concrete, new LED lights, side fencing between courts, benches and chairs, wheelchair access, clean restrooms, a daily junior tennis academy, weekly lessons, and five open clinics. The facility has five certified tennis professionals available to work with local residents seven days a week.

The transformation process was driven by Prescott High School coach and USPTA Tennis Professional, Sterling Fetty, and Athletic Director Missy Townsend. They created a program that allows everyday use for students and the general public. They also created a unique reservation system that guarantees a court will be available for residents at a nominal price. Additionally, tennis professionals in the community volunteer at the High School tennis center to maintain it, lock and unlock gates as needed, keep the courts cleaned off and ready, and help with any needs that take place there.

Kudos to Fetty, Townsend, and the many local volunteers for their efforts in rebuilding and renovating the Prescott High School tennis courts. The facility is now open for public use day and night, and offers an opportunity for first-class instruction to tennis enthusiasts. Prescott’s tennis fans can now look forward to a bright future with this new and improved facility.  Meanwhile, those same fans may well have turned their backs on Yavapai Community College because of its treatment of Mr. Howard and the refusal to simply consider the tennis community’s request for a careful review of the circumstances involving the decision.

Categories : Athletics, Sports in General, Tennis Court

DR. RHINE TELLS FACULTY THAT YAVAPAI COMMUNITY COLLEGE HAS NOW FORMALLY PARTNERED WITH THE COBOD CORPORATION TO TRAIN 3D HOUSE ROBOTIC PRINTER OPERATORS

By R. Oliphant
Monday, November 6th, 2023

The College has most likely agreed to train COBOD 3D home printer purchasers nationwide.

Dr. Lisa Rhine, in an internal televised address to the Yavapai Community College faculty during the first week of November, announced that the College  “has now become a partner” with the COBOD Corporation. COBOD is an acronym for “Construction of Buildings on Demand.” 

The November announcement came on the heels of  September’s enthusiastic pitch to the District Governing Board about  partnering with COBOD given by the Dean of Career and Technical Education, John Mogan, and others.  It was suggested that the College might agree to a five-year training partnership contract of some sort.   However,  at the time Morgan spoke to the Governing Board, he cautioned that “we’re not quite there yet with financials on how this whole deal will come together.”  The parties apparently reached a mutually satisfactory arrangement.  The terms of the agreement have not been made public.

COBOD  was formed in 2017. It has its International Headquarters in Copenhagen, and corporate offices in Florida, Kuwait, and Thailand. The company has targeted annual U.S. sales of 40 3D house robotic printer machines. It claims to have already printed 41 homes in the United States, 5 in Latin America, 17 in Africa, 17 in the Middle East, 22 in Europe, and 28 in Asia in 2022.

The College presenters indicated at the September Board meeting  that Yavapai Community College would train new buyers of the expensive machines nationally. Currently, according to the College, the training occurs in Copenhagen, Denmark and it takes six weeks. It was claimed that by locating training in the U.S.,  the cost will be significantly reduced.

 

Categories : CTEC

YAVAPAI COMMUNITY COLLEGE OFFERS EXPLANATION FOR MOVING CONSTRUCTION OF PRESCOTT VALLEY HEALTH CENTER AHEAD BY YEARS – CRITICS PONDER WHETHER SCRAPPING/DELAYING TWO LARGE PROJECTS IN THE VERDE VALLEY MADE FUNDS SUDDENLY AVAILABLE FOR WEST SIDE DEVELOPMENT

By R. Oliphant
Saturday, November 4th, 2023

Total cost of potential new Prescott/Prescott Valley/CTEC projects  range from $55 to $65 million. Meanwhile most projects delayed or more likely abandoned on the Sedona/Verde Valley side of Mingus Mountain

Sedona, Cottonwood, Clarkdale, Camp Verde ask:

As we approach 2024, the Community College has decided to invest potentially in total between $55 million and $65 million in capital projects at the Prescott Campus, CTEC and the Prescott Valley Center. The proposed expenditures include:

  • $15 million to renovate the Prescott Campus library. (Approved.)

  • $10 million to expand CTEC at the Prescott airport. (Approved.)

  • $3 million for workforce housing, with some portion of the funds allegedly going to the Verde Valley Campus. (Approved.)

  • $30 million to $40 million to construct the Health Science building, which may also include a conference center as a part of it, at the Prescott Valley Center. (Pending final approval; concept approved.)

Meanwhile, projects at the Sedona Center and Verde Valley Campus on the east side of Mingus Mountain have been delayed and in some cases possibly abandoned.  The only major approved development project is $3 million to renovate Building “M” on the Verde Valley Campus. 

How did the enormous disparity occur?

Read More→

Categories : Health Summit, Nursing, Residence halls, RV PARK ON VERDE CAMPUS, Sedona Campus, Verde Campus

WINE AND DINE ANNUAL EVENT ON VERDE VALLEY CAMPUS RAISES $50,000 TO SUPPORT STUDENT SCHOLARSHIPS AND THE COLLEGE’S VITICULTURE & ENOLOGY PROGRAM

By R. Oliphant
Tuesday, October 31st, 2023

In its 14th year, the event sold out to capacity early with 250 attendees

The 14th annual Wine & Dine fundraiser was held Saturday evening, October 21 on the Verde Valley Campus in Clarkdale.   The event, which was begun back in 2009 by the Greater Verde Valley Chapter of the Yavapai Community College Foundation and later carried on by the Southwest Wine Center Board, was very successful. It drew a capacity crowd with an estimated $50,000 received in donations.

The funds will go to support student scholarships and the College’s Viticulture & Enology program.

The highlight of the evening was a speech by Julia Dixon, the award-winning Owner and Manager of 1764 Vineyards and Four Tails vineyards. Dixon, a 2016 Yavapai College Viticulture & Enology graduate, spoke enthusiastically about the value of her education at Yavapai Community College and the Southwest Wine Center’s influence on the Verde Valley community.

Janet Regner, Secretary of the Friends of the Southwest Wine Center Board, expressed heartfelt gratitude towards everyone involved — attendees, sponsors, partnering restaurants, and donors — for making the event extraordinarily successful and memorable.

Categories : Wine Center

YAVAPAI COLLEGE’S NEW TRAILER PARK ON VERDE VALLEY CAMPUS: WAS IT A BADLY PLANNED AND LOCATED HOUSING SOLUTION?

By R. Oliphant
Saturday, October 28th, 2023

Poorly maintained maintenance road separates neighbors and park,  may face future sewer environmental issues | Board and College should have listened to Paul Chevalier who represented the District where the Verde Valley Campus is located when the issue came up for brief discussion last year, not ignore him

Editor: Robert E. Oliphant

EDITORIAL:  The decision to construct a small 10-space trailer park on the Yavapai Community College’s Verde Campus, right next to the backyards of Clarkdale homeowners, is nothing short of a colossal blunder. This is particularly concerning because the only barrier separating the private homes’ backyards from the trailer park located a few feet away is the College’s poorly maintained maintenance road.

Already, this decision has compelled some neighbors to take matters into their own hands by putting up a substantial metal privacy/security fence to create a barrier between themselves and the trailer park. As apparent from  photos contained in a previous Blog post, construction of the fence must have caused neighbors to expend a lot of extra money to guarantee security and privacy because of the College’s location decision.   (Click here to see earlier Blog story and photos of fence.) 

What’s even more baffling about the location decision is the fact that there are an estimated whopping 50-60 acres of undeveloped land owned by the College immediately adjacent to the main Campus buildings. These vast, unused expanses were readily available for the creation of a small trailer park. Opting to place the trailer park in a location away from the back yards of Clarkdale neighbors would have not only shown respect for the neighborhood but also provided a location with significantly fewer potential problems.

One cannot help but question whether the planners gave any serious thought to the choice of location and the myriad challenges that come with locating a trailer park in such close proximity to a residential neighborhood. Can the College reasonably expect anything but a chorus of future complaints about noise, putrid smells coming from the large septic system, lighting, dogs barking, and litter strewn about the ground stemming from this decision? In addition to these concerns, some residents are already beginning to view the results of the extra-frugal investment in constructing the current trailer park as a Campus eyesore.

During his tenure as the District Governing Board representative, Mr. Paul Chevalier cautioned both the Board and the College executives against proceeding with this particular endeavor. Regrettably, his warning fell on deaf ears.

What’s even more disheartening is that not only were Mr. Chevalier’s concerns disregarded, but the College initiated construction of the park in March 2022 without his involvement or even his awareness. Astonishingly, the matter was never subjected to a specific budgetary vote by the Governing Board. This oversight failure occurred as the executives based in Prescott, who hold sway over all decisions affecting the Verde Valley Campus, deemed the construction cost associated with building the park inconsequential and unworthy of a detailed discussion or a specific vote.

Yet another potential future problem has been spawned by the incredibly ill-advised decision to construct a substantial septic system for use in disposing of waste coming from the trailer park. It would have been far more prudent to consider connecting to Cottonwood’s convenient sewer system, or even directly connecting with the main Cottonwood sewer plant, which is located  is a mere mile or so from the border of the Campus property.  

The planners ought to have been acutely aware of the environmental situation of the eleven thousand inhabitants of the Verde Villages, and that portions of the Verde Villages almost abut the College’s property. In response to their own concerns, the Verde Villages residents have convened a committee to deliberate on the fate of their hundreds of home and business septic systems. They’ve received expert advice indicating that while they may not currently be in violation of the Clean Water Act of 1972, it’s not a question of “if” but “when” they will be. Experts have underscored that the Environmental Protection Agency is deeply concerned about per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, durable chemicals that degrade extremely slowly and are present in the effluent associated with septic systems.

The College’s septic tanks dug into the ground for the trailer park will only exacerbate the ongoing concerns in this area related to groundwater pollution.

It’s natural for Sedona/Verde Valley residents to wonder whether the Community College executives genuinely care about their area or if their primary focus is on the annual excess tax revenue generated by property owners in Sedona and the Verde Valley that can used on Prescott/Prescott Valley projects. The establishment of this tiny trailer park for students and faculty is just one of the decisions that raise doubts about the College’s commitment to Sedona and the Verde Valley. If anything, it highlights the urgent need for total  local engagement, control, and decision-making when it comes to the residents of Sedona, the Verde Valley, and the Yavapai Community College Verde Valley Campus and Sedona Center.

Categories : Editorials/Essays
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