YAVAPAI COMMUNITY COLLEGE PROPOSED BUDGET SHOWS EXPENDITURES UP BY $20 MILLION IN TWO YEARS

By R. Oliphant
Thursday, April 13th, 2023

College data reveals expenditures in 2021-22 were $82.854 million while 2023-24 proposed budget expenditures are at $102.728 million. Salaries and benefits (up 9.4%), capital projects and equipment (up 102.2%) account for $13 million of the proposed increase over last year’s budget

Yavapai Community College rolled out its final budget proposal at the April 11, 2023, Governing Board meeting.  It showed a $13 million increase over last year’s budget and a $20 million increase over the budget it adopted two years ago. 

Most of the proposed increase in the present budget was to cover  a 9.4 percent increase in employee salaries and benefits plus a 102.2 percent increase in capital expenditures over 2022-23. 

The chart below, which was presented to the Governing Board at the April meeting, provides additional information regarding the proposed expenditures for the 2023-24 budget year. 

A public hearing will be held Tuesday, May 16, 2023, at 1:00 p.m. on the Prescott Campus in its Community Room (19-147) where the public may address the Governing Board regarding the expenditures.  It is anticipated that the College will  request a 5% County Property tax  increase in order to pay for these expenditures.  The public may also address the tax increase at the May 16 hearing.

Categories : Budget

YAVAPAI COMMUNITY COLLEGE GOVERNING BOARD CHAIR McCASLAND NAMED NATIONAL TRUSTEE OF THE YEAR BY THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF COMMUNITY COLLEGES

By R. Oliphant
Monday, April 10th, 2023

The award recognizes her “significant contributions,” “demonstrated exceptional leadership” while presiding “over significant achievements” as Governing Board Chair

District Governing Board Chair Deb McCasland

Yavapai Community College District Governing Board Chair Deb McCasland was named national trustee of the year April 4, 2023, by the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) at its annual meeting in Denver, Colorado. Ms. McCasland is a Yavapai Community College almna  who has served on the District Governing Board for eight years, the last three as Chair. 

She was nominated for the AACC Trustee of the Year award by Dr. David B. Borofsky, Director of the Arizona Association of Community College Trustees. The award celebrates a trustee who has made significant contributions to the college, demonstrated exceptional leadership, and presided over significant achievements that benefit the college, district, state, system, or foundation.

In his nomination letter, Borofsky lauded McCasland’s “amazing growth” as a leader, her tireless community engagement and statewide advocacy efforts, and her unmatched passion for student success. “She is THE trustee who is focused on student success,” Borofsky wrote.

“Chair McCasland avidly supports [Yavapai Community College,] its students, and our communities. She is a true leader, and her passion and dedication towards student success never waivers,” said Dr. Lisa Rhine, President of the College. “There is nobody more deserving of this award than Deb.”

In 1976, McCasland began her 34-year career at the College as the Yavapai Community College Student Activities Director. Among her many achievements before joining the Community College Governing Board were founding and developing the Community Events program and the Performing Arts Charitable Endowment. In 2010, she was chosen as an Outstanding Yavapai College alumnus. She retired from Yavapai Community College in 2011 as Director of Major Gifts  for the Community College Foundation. She has been elected three times to represent District Two on the Yavapai College District Governing Board.

The AACC is a non-profit advocacy organization for the nation’s community colleges. It represents nearly 1,200 institutions and more than 11 million students. The Awards of Excellence reflect and advance the association’s priorities and spotlight “promising practices” among member colleges.

To learn more about YC, visit www.yc.edu.

Source:  Yavapai Community College press release of April 4, 2023, which you may view here:. https://www.yc.edu/v6/news/2023/04/deborah.html

Categories : GOVERNING BOARD

WHY HAVE THE LAST FOUR SEDONA/VERDE VALLEY DISTRICT THREE REPRESENTATIVES VOTED AGAINST A TAX RATE INCREASE FOR THE COMMUNITY COLLEGE?

By R. Oliphant
Saturday, April 8th, 2023

Reasons vary but they include: (1) Concerns with transparency and financial accountability to  Third District residents because budget is presented in unfamiliar form unlike that used by cities and towns on the east side of Mingus Mountain; (2) Half century of inequitable focus and expenditure of millions of Third District taxpayer dollars on developing Prescott Campus to the detriment of Third District residents; (3) Refusal to seriously consider creating Administrative College for Third District thus maintaining iron-fisted control with Prescott based executives; (4) Refusal to develop music and performing arts programs for east side residents; (5) Inequitable development of sports and cultural programs in the Third District that to the extreme benefit essentially only residents of Prescott and Prescott Valley; (6) Refusal to reform the Governing Board to provide its members (and public) with regular detailed information about District-wide operations and development.

OPINION. Since June 2013, when Third District Representative Robert Oliphant voted “no” on increasing the Yavapai County primary property tax rate, the three representatives who followed him have all also voted “no” when it came to increasing the property tax rate to support the Community College.  What are some of the reasons that explain this consistent opposition to increasing Sedona/Verde Valley  tax rates?  The following is a list of a few of those reasons:

  1. Repeatedly, Third District representatives have asked for greater financial transparency including a demand that the Community College provide an annual accounting to the Third District about the exact amount of revenue it provides the Community College through the District’s contribution via state and federal revenue, County primary taxes, secondary property taxes,  and new construction taxes.  It has only vaguely and very reluctantly provided some partial information.  In addition, the District Representatives have asked the College to provide an estimate of the tuition and government grants it receives because of the enrolled students in Sedona and the Verde Valley.  It has received no information about that. And then, an understandable detailed financial explanation of what revenue received was reinvested in the Third District.
  2. The College has been asked in the name of transparency to adopt a budget format that is similar to that used by almost all cities and towns in the County, which is highly transparent. It refuses to do so, and its budget remains less than transparent to the average citizen in the Third District.
  3. For a half century, the Community College has been developing a robust music education program on the Prescott Campus. It has done little to nothing to develop music programs on the Verde Campus or the Sedona Center.  Similarly, it has spent the significant resources to create and develop a performing arts program on the Prescott Campus but nowhere else.  Somewhere around 500 or more students attend the Performing Arts classes on the Prescott Campus annually; there are none on the Verde Campus or at the Sedona Center.  This has occurred despite the continual efforts of the Third District Representatives asking the College to address these issues.
  4. Third District Representatives have evinced concerns about the centralization of all major decision-making in Prescott based executives. The College has made it clear it will never allow the Verde Valley/Sedona District to have a major voice in operating the east side facilities; the total veto power over major decisions for Sedona and the Verde Campus are tightly retained in the hands of the executives headquarters on the Prescott campus. And supported by a majority of Governing Board members all of whom are from the west side of the County.
  5. Third District representatives efforts to improve community college development on the east side of the County have been thwarted by the west-county voting bloc on the Governing Board despite the fact that for more than a half century the Community College has used Third District revenue to develop programs and projects that are almost exclusively aimed at residents of Prescott and Prescott Valley.  Facilities exclusive to the west side of the County include: (1) Building a professional tennis court complex for Prescott residents—the College has no tennis team. (2) Building and maintaining an indoor swimming pool and wading/rehab facility for Prescott residents, especially the elderly – the College has no swim team.  (3) Since 1988, using Third District primary and secondary property taxes to build, support, and renovate at a cost of millions of dollars the Performing Arts Center, which is realistically a facility attracting and accessible only to persons on the West side of the County. (4) Spending millions of Third District taxpayer money over the years in developing a sports program with eight teams and  athletic fields, gymnasium, and all accoutrements with teams realistically only playing games and matches on the west side of the County.
  6. Third District Representatives have learned that the District now produces at least $2 million a year in tax revenue that is not spent in the District by the College, which they deem unfair. In the past, the Third District as provided many more millions of dollars anually that went into developing the Prescott Campus and other facilities on the west side of the County.
  7. After more than a half century, Third District Representatives were finally able to persuade Prescott-based executives to construct a Career and Technical Education Center on the Verde Campus. However, a small 10,000 square foot facility was constructed that hardly compares with the 110,000 square foot facility on the west side of the County.  Worse, development on the Verde Campus CTE facility is hampered because of the absence of a full-time Dean at the Verde Campus who would spend all of his or her time working with local businesses in the District on a daily basis recruiting students and leaning about local CTE needs.  Again, the development of CTE is hampered by the absolute control exerted by Prescott-based executives whose focus is on the west side of the County.
  8. Third District representatives have been concerned with the loss of full-time faculty on the Verde Campus and at the Sedona Center. Many were cut in 2010 and 2011 and were never replaced. However, the sports programs such as basketball that were cut back in 2010 and 2011 have been recently reinstated and expanded, i.e., men’s basketball, women’s basketball, women’s soccer.
  9. Third District Representatives have been concerned with the refusal of the Prescott-based executives to consider building student residence halls on the Verde Campus or elsewhere to initiate serious development on the east side of the County and as a practical matter make the east county facilities destination centers to assist in growing student enrollment. Student residence halls, which pay for themselves, can also help alleviate the need for students in the Verde Valley and Sedona to seek expensive private housing if they intend to attend the Community College on the east side of the mountain.
  10.  Third District Reps have expressed concern with the mechanics of how the public hearings involving tax rate increases, which are required by law, are held. For example: (1) The public hearings are only held on the Prescott Campus.  There could at least be zoom facilities created at various sites around the County so all County residents would have reasonable easy access to the hearing. (2) Prior to the May hearing in Prescott regarding increasing the tax rate, there are no presentations by College officials to the residents on the east side of the County about the need for the tax rate increase and no open forums in the Third District where the residents’ views can be expressed. (3) Rejection of the committee system entirely by the Governing Board.
Categories : Editorials/Essays

APPEARS THAT COMMUNITY COLLEGE WILL ASK GOVERNING BOARD TO APPROVE A 5% TAX RATE INCREASE FOR NEXT YEAR’S BUDGET

By R. Oliphant
Wednesday, April 5th, 2023

Inflation, additional sports programs, significant increase in employee salaries, no increase in four years, will be argued as driving forces that need  increase in primary tax money from County residents

Yavapai Community College indicated at the March 2023 District Governing Board meeting that it will be seeking a 5% primary property tax rate increase in May of 2023.  It will most likely argue that it needs more operating revenue, and the only available source appears at present to be Yavapai County residents’ primary property taxes. 

The anticipated arguments that the Prescott-based executives will make to the Governing Board are along these lines:  First, the College will note to the Governing Board that it has not asked for a primary tax rate increase for four years.  Typically, it will argue, it asks for an increase every three years. Second, it will argue that each year, when the College does not increase the property tax as allowed by law, the amount not used  is carried forward.  Thus, at present the College could ask  for an 18 percent increase, which the College will tell the Board it would never use. Thus, citizens implicitly should be grateful the increase is only 5%. Finally, it will emphasize that inflation is a main cause of the need for more funds.

It will not consider any major budget cuts, such as reducing or eliminating a sports program.   

State law provides the Governing Board with exclusive power to increase the County primary tax rate. The increase needs only a majority of the five member Governing Board to vote in favor of it.  While citizens will be given an opportunity to express their opinion about the tax rate increase at the May public meeting, there is no history of citizen opposition affecting whatever increase the College has requested.

Categories : Yavapai Community College

COLLEGE EXPECTED TO DISCLOSE HOW IT WILL SPEND $3.4 MILLION ON WORKFORCE HOUSING AT APRIL GOVERNING BOARD MEETING

By R. Oliphant
Wednesday, April 5th, 2023

April disclosure, if it occurs,  follows February 24, 2023,  Board Executive meeting where Community College staff received secret direction regarding “affordable housing” and  potential purchase of real property in Yavapai County near Prescott Valley, and negotiations for potential lease of real property in Yavapai County near Verde Valley

Yavapai Community College has included in its draft capital improvement budget, unwrapped at the March 2023 Governing Board meeting, an expenditure of $3.4 million for “Workforce Housing.” At that meeting the Community College’s  Prescott-based executives were unable or unwilling to disclose precisely how the money would be used. 

The executives indicated at the March meeting that how the funds would be used would be disclosed at the April meeting, where a final Capital budget  would be produced.  To date, neither the public nor the Blog have any further information about this expenditure.

Please click here to take you to the Blog story about the Executive meeting in February 2023 where the statement by the Board was made regarding the directions to the staff about the property lease and purchase was made.

 

Categories : GOVERNING BOARD

MEN’S BASKETBALL SEASON CLOSES ON LOW NOTE; HEAD COACH ANNOUNCES RESIGNATION MARCH 30 AFTER ONE SEASON WITH SEVEN WINS AND 23 LOSSES

By R. Oliphant
Saturday, April 1st, 2023

Hired in November 2022,  it was hoped he would rebuild the program that was closed down in 2010-2011  because of financial issues

Mr. Jay Joyner, Yavapai Community College Head basketball coach.

The Yavapai Community College Athletics Department announced March 30, 2023 that men’s head basketball coach, Jay Joyner, had resigned.  The Department said the resignation was a “personnel matter” and it had no further comment.

In the 2022-23 season, Joyner’s team overall won 7 games and lost 23, a .233 percentage.  In conference play, his team won four and lost 18, a .182 percentage.

When hired in November 2022,  Mr. Joyner said that “I’m truly humbled and honored to be the next head coach for men’s basketball at Yavapai College. I would like to thank Dr. Rhine, Vice President Jenkins and Athletic Director Brad Clifford for affording me this unbelievable opportunity. I look forward to building a program that the Yavapai College family will be proud of. Go Roughriders!”

“We are excited to have Jay leading the reinstitution of the men’s basketball program,” Director of Yavapai Community College Athletics Brad Clifford said. “He brings a wealth of knowledge and experience that will bring instant credibility to the new program!”

 

Joyner came to Yavapai from North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro, North Carolina, where he was the head coach of the men’s basketball team from 2016-20. While coaching the Aggies, Joyner helped turn the program around with the NCAA’s second-best single-season improvement (three to 20 wins) and consecutive winning seasons for the first time since 1993.

His 2019 team earned a 19-13 overall record with a 13-3 mark in MEAC play. In 2018, the Aggies enjoyed a banner season in which they earned a CIT Tournament appearance (their first since 2013), went 11-5 in the MEAC, went undefeated at home for the first time in 30 years and went 20-15 overall en route to Coach Joyner taking home MEAC and Region 15 Coach of the Year honors.

Prior to being the head coach at North Carolina A&T State, Joyner served there as the associate men’s basketball coach from 2012-16.

Coach Joyner earned his Bachelor of Science degree in physical education from Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and played college basketball at South Carolina State University in Orangeburg, South Carolina.

Recall that Men’s basketball last competed at Yavapai Community College during the 2010-11 season while the program started in 1970-71. Through 40 seasons, the program’s all-time record is 674-458. Joyner’s squad began the 2022-23 season as members of the ACCAC (Arizona Community College Athletic Conference)

Categories : Athletics

IS BURGEONING SPORTS PROGRAM WITH MANY NEW COACHES WITH SPECIFIC FUNDRAISING AND OTHER GOALS SETTLING DOWN?

By R. Oliphant
Saturday, April 1st, 2023

Vice President tells Governing Board in October 2022 that “previous coaches did everything they could to sabotage our program and we have moved past that.”

The Yavapai Community College sports program is burgeoning.   It has recently added the women’s basketball and soccer programs to its already established baseball, softball, volleyball, men’s soccer and e-sports programs. The student dormitories are beginning to fill with athletes. 

Once she was established and familiar with the Community College, President Dr. Lisa Rhine instituted major changes in the Athletic Department’s culture by  creating specific written goals for coaches to meet, including goals for fundraising, recruiting, community participation, and “team goals.” For the first time in its 50-year history, the College directed the coaches to focus more heavily on recruiting outstanding Yavapai County student athletes, with a goal of each team being made up of about 25% student athletes from the County.

However, the changes were apparently not well received by some coaches, as evidenced by the turnover last summer among the coaching staff. In July 2022, Yavapai Community College began looking for new head baseball and in August a new softball coach. According to a commentary written by Community College Governing Board Chair Deb McCasland in the September 7, 2022, Verde Independent newspaper, the coaches left because they refused to accept new recruiting and scholarship guidelines instituted by the college. 

In recent years, several Yavapai College Board members, especially those from the Sedona/Verde Valley Third District, have raised concerns about the College’s lack of focus on recruiting outstanding local athletes. They also expressed concern about the college’s practice of providing generous taxpayer-funded scholarships to out-of-state and international athletes, while rosters often included few or no local athletes.

According to Chair McCasland, the coaches were asked five years ago “to focus more attention on recruiting local student athletes (county/state).” A “mandate” was  instituted “that required 25% of all student athletes recruited had to be from local high schools,” she said.  Furthermore, the coaches were told “that the support for out-of-state and international students will decrease as we increased the scholarship support for local student-athletes.” “Those three coaches who decided to leave the college ignored those mandates,” wrote McCasland.

Several coaches reportedly ignored these mandates and resigned. In July 2022, 14-year veteran Ryan Cougill resigned as the Head Baseball Coach at Yavapai College. Assistant coach Miles Kizer also announced his resignation from Yavapai College at the same time. Then, in August 2022, the Athletic Department announced the resignation of Doug Eastman as the Head Coach of the Yavapai College softball team. Eastman won 343 games, making him the winningest softball coach in program history. His 300th win at Yavapai Community College (also the 800th of his career) came during the 2022 season.

At the October 2022 Board meeting, Vice President Rodney Jenkins commented that the previous coaches “did everything they could to sabotage our program.”  (See video tape.)

The College hired replacements for the coaches who left an faced issues such as rebuilding a program and quickly recruiting athletes for it.  It appeared from the October 2022 presentation to the Governing Board that it was relatively successful in its efforts.

Please see the 14 minute video clip of the October presentation to the Governing Board by clicking here.  Unfortunately, a small portion of the video at its beginning does not have sound.

Categories : Athletics

COMMUNITY COLLEGE INTENDS TO SPEND $15 MILLION OVER NEXT THREE YEARS TO CONVERT PRESCOTT CAMPUS LIBRARY INTO A DIGITAL LEARNING COMMONS

By R. Oliphant
Friday, March 31st, 2023

Digital Learning Commons is described as “a state-of-the-art, multimedia collaboration center, curated around the idea of enriching the student experience and providing students access to books and library resources, digital tools, and academic support systems they need to succeed in their program of study”

The Yavapai Community College Prescott-based executives have proposed spending $15 million over the next three years to convert Building 19 on the Prescott Campus into a Digital Learning Center.  The proposal came during a discussion of the 2023-24 capital budget at the March 21, 2023, meeting of the Yavapai Community College Governing Board in Sedona.

Although the Prescott-based executives shared only a draft of the budget they will ask the Board to approve in either April or May,  there was no opposition to the $15 million expenditure from any member of the Board. It appears to have clear sailing.

According to the Community College, a Learning/Digital Commons is a “state-of-the-art, multimedia collaboration center, curated around the idea of enriching the student experience and providing students access to books and library resources, digital tools, and academic support systems they need to succeed in their program of study. The Facilities Master Plan identifies a series of projects to support creation of Learning/Digital Commons in Building 19 at Prescott Campus and Building M at Verde Valley Campus, which include shared space for the library, information technology support, tutoring, collaboration, content creation, meetings, socialization, and studying.”

Building 19 is one of the largest facilities on the Prescott Campus. It contains the library, Common Grounds Café, and a community room on the 1st floor. A computer commons with classrooms, laboratories and faculty offices, as well as the eSports facility is located on the 2nd floor. The space utilization analysis noted that many of the classrooms and laboratories on the 2nd floor are underutilized. The library is dated and is lacking many of the spaces and technologies found in a modern facility. The Facilities Master Plan proposes reimagining these spaces into a learning hub for students and community members on the Prescott Campus. The 18,000 NSF library on the 1st floor is proposed to be renovated into an integrated Learning/Digital Commons with some compact shelving, one-button media studio, makerspace, study rooms, and open computer laboratory. It is envisioned that Digital technologies will permeate these spaces (Area 1) and a new retractable seating system (Area 2) is proposed to be installed in the Community Meeting Room (Room 147).

Classrooms and laboratories on the 2nd floor are proposed to be re-purposed into a modern Learning Commons for tutoring and academic support with open collaboration areas, study rooms, and staff offices. Adjacencies may include a digital media studio, TELS staff offices, and a technology helpdesk, managed by ITS. Decisions regarding the final location of the Computer Networking Technology program and eSports play area will be made during the programming phase.

Categories : Budget

YAVAPAI COMMUNITY COLLEGE SIDELINES SEDONA/VERDE VALLEY BREWERY PROJECT APPROVED IN MAY 2022 TO 2025-2026

By R. Oliphant
Thursday, March 30th, 2023

Says it is reformulating plans for  the project; estimated price tag now up to $12 million

The Yavapai Community College District Governing Board was informed by the Prescott-based College executives at the March 21 Board meeting that the College was delaying further action on developing a  brewing and distillery project somewhere in the Verde Valley until 2025-2026.  The price tag on the project is projected by the College to have jumped from around  $9.6 million approved in 2022 by the Board to around $12 million in the draft budget it presented to the Board at its March 2023 meeting. 

The College explained at the March meeting that it was “reformulating” its plans for the project.  But offered no further details. (See video clip of capital presentation to the Board by clicking here.)

Recall that back in May 2022 the Yavapai Community College Prescott-based  Executives asked the District Governing Board to approve a budget for the coming academic year that expended slightly less that $10 million for the brewery project.  The Governing Board’s formal vote  approving the expenditure was 4-1. Third District Board Representative Paul Chevalier voted  “no.” He explained his “no” vote saying he had serious concerns about the project and  was not provided with sufficient information by the College executives to make an intelligent decision about it.

(Note that the project was included among a host of projects approved “in concept” in November 2022 even though it had already been put into the budget and approved and an estimated price tag was a little over $8 million. See last chart appended.)

 When the Governing Board voted on the project in 2020 it possessed sparse information about it; only broad, generalized ideas.  Moreover, the Board had not debated or even discussed the pros and cons of using $10 million for a brewery project versus using it for other projects in the Sedona/Verde Valley area. 

Also recall that following the May 2022  meeting, Mr. Chevalier made several attempts to obtain additional information about the beer project from the Community College. However, its  executives shut the door on him at every turn, with approval from the Governing Board Chair. In frustration Chevalier was forced to submit a Public Records Request, which is allowed under Arizona law, to the Community College asking for details and data about the brewery project. In response to the legal request, the College finally provided him with more  information about the project.

A big surprise about the project came a mere five  months after approval in the College Facilities Management Newsletter of October 2022, which the Blog believes  few members of the public read, if they know it even exists. In a  brief statement in the newsletter the Administration said that it had  “postponed” development of the Verde Valley beer brewery project.  Nothing more.

In November 2022 the newly elected Sedona mayor, Scott Jablow, briefly spoke at the College Governing Board meeting. He said that many of the Sedona  voters he had met during his campaign for mayor had expressed little if any interest in seeing the College expend millions of dollars on a brewery on the east side of the County.

Jablow said that “many of the people” he spoke to “were concerned about” what the Governing Board and College were doing “with the taxpayer money from the Yavapai side of Sedona.”  According to him, they told him that “a brewery was not necessary for our region.  That the money being spent — $10 million dollars – is unheard of when we don’t have the need from any of our brewers . . ..”  (See video clip for complete statement.)  “They feel it is a waste of money,” he said.

Another surprise was in store for Sedona/Verde Valley residents when the Prescott executives announced  at the March 2023 Governing Board meeting in Sedona that the project was being delayed at least until 2025-2026. Associated with that surprise was the estimate that the price tag on the project had now grown  to an estimated $12 million.  (Prices attached to the project have varied from $8 million, possibly lower, to $10 million, and now $12 million. It is unclear if the estimates that appear in various charts are construction costs only or in some cases are construction plus other costs.)

One can only surmise if there are other surprises coming in the future for this project.

 

 

Categories : Career and Technical Education

WITHOUT EXTENSIVE DISCUSSION OR VOTE BY THE GOVERNING BOARD AND LITTLE PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE, HEAVY EQUIPMENT BEGAN LEVELING LAND IN MARCH FOR THE TEN-VEHICLE RV PARKING LOT ON THE VERDE CAMPUS IN CLARKDALE

By R. Oliphant
Sunday, March 26th, 2023

The RV park apparently aims to provide affordable housing for Yavapai Community College staff and students

You may be surprised to learn that construction has begun on building a ten-vehicle RV park on the Verde Campus in Clarkdale.  The construction was discreetly started in March.

Heavy equipment is already leveling the surface for the RV lot. It is anticipated that construction will be completed by the end of Spring this year.

The decision apparently reflects the concern of Community College president Dr. Lisa Rhine with the Community College’s working poor and lack of affordable housing.  The argument is that by providing employees a safe and affordable place to park and live in their RVs, that this will help address the housing issue and overall may improve their  quality of life.

According to a photo in the March 2023 Community College Management Facilities Newsletter, it will be called the “Verde Valley Campus Employee Housing RV Park.”  (Click here to go to the facilities-management newsletter.) 

The idea of building an RV parking lot on the Verde Campus was first mentioned briefly during a meeting of the Governing Board in October 2022. For those who might not have been listening very carefully to every word, the language used by Vice President Clint Ewell could have been interpreted as a project that when fully thought out by the administration would be brought to the Governing Board for approval. Typically, this is the approach used in the past.  However, since October 2022 the project has moved forward discreetly and  without any further discussion among the Board or information provided  to them by Dr. Rhine.  (You may view the one minute mention of the project at the October 2022 meeting by clicking here.) 

One of the concerning aspects surrounding  the decision is the absence of any mention of constructing an RV park to meet the employee housing shortage to be found anywhere in the College District-wide planning documents. For example, it is not mentioned in the Yavapai Community College Master Facilities Plan that was recently completed, nor is it mentioned in the Plan’s appendix. Furthermore, the March 2020 Housing report commissioned by the College with the consulting firm of Brailsford & Dunlavey also makes no mention of an RV park as a solution to the housing shortage apparently being experienced by employees on the Verde Campus.

Given the lack of information about the project, it is unclear how the construction is being funded, and the RV park does not appear anywhere in the current budget. Additionally, the College District Governing Board has never had it listed as a specific agenda item to discuss.

As noted above, during an hour-long discussion about student and employee housing at the October 2022 Governing Board meeting the idea of building an RV park on the Verde Campus was briefly mentioned. Third District Representative Paul Chevalier expressed his opposition to the idea at the meeting, stating that he did not think RVs belonged on campus as they would lower the quality of the campus’s appearance. Chair Deb McCasland, on the other hand, expressed support for the idea, noting that it would require only minimal investment in cement and utilities. However, no further discussion took place at the meeting.

It is important to note that Yavapai Community College is a publicly funded entity, supported by taxpayers in Sedona and the Verde Valley. As such, any project undertaken by the College, including the construction of an RV park it considers won’t cost a great deal, and with the best interests of its employees in mind, has implications for the public and their tax dollars. Therefore, the public has a right to know much more about the project and its associated costs.

Clearly, the College’s Prescott driven administration has not provided adequate information about the project  to the public nor have they engaged in open dialogue with the public or the Governing Board so the views of the public and the Board are heard. As a result, many questions and concerns regarding the project remain.

Some of the questions and concerns that the public might have about the project include the following:

      • Did the College ignore the March 2020 consulting report from Brailsford & Dunlavey that said “Employees want to live off site”?
      • Why wasn’t the project specifically placed on the Agenda for District Governing Board discussion and vote before it was approved?
      • What is the rationale behind the project?
      • Why wasn’t Third District Paul Chevalier kept informed about the decision to move forward with the project and provided any details about it?
      • What impact will the RV park have on the environment and the surrounding community?
      • Why wasn’t the project included in the just completed Master Facilities Plan?
      • Why wasn’t the project included in the just completed Appendix to the Facilities Plan?
      • Why wasn’t the Community College budget, which makes no mention of the project, amended so as to show total estimated costs of the project?
      • Will the RV park be available to full-time employees? 
      • Will it be available to part-time employees?
      • Will it be available to full-time students?
      • Will it be available to part-time students?
      • Will it be available to the public if it is not used by employees and students?
      • Will it have water hookups? If so, at what cost to the taxpayers?
      • Will it have sewer hookups? If so, at what cost to the taxpayers?
      • Will it have internet hookups? If so, at what cost to the taxpayers?
      • Will it have a sewer line to the Clarkdale sewer system? If so, at what cost to the taxpayers?
      • Will it have outdoor sanitation facilities? If so, at what cost to the taxpayers?
      • What are the construction costs associated with grading, cement, labor and materials?
      • How will it be policed 24-7 to prevent break ins? If so, at what cost to the taxpayers?  
      • How will the unimproved dirt road be improved to handle large RVs?
      • Will there be a limit on the number of families that may occupy a single RV? Or, if it is open to students, and if so, how many students per parked RV bus will be allowed? Or doesn’t it matter?
      • Will there be a limit on the size of RVs that are parked there? Can they be 35 feet?
      • Will it accommodate a single wide or double wide trailer home?
      • Will it allow any kind of RV from tent trailers to buses?
      • Will the College purchase RVS of its own to park there and rent them out?
      • What will the College charge persons to park at the RV park?
      • How will the money for parking be collected?
      • Will the property taxes of taxpayers of the third District be used to pay to subsidize payments of those who use the RV park? Or will it pay for itself? In other words, what is the business plan for the RV park?
      • Will the RV park attract the homeless and undesirables when the College is not in session during holidays and the summer? Will it become a public nuisance, especially during summer and vacation periods.
      • Will such a facility affect the value of the Verde Campus in the eyes of prospective students?
      • Will it affect the actual property values of the Clarkdale neighborhood adjacent to it because of noise and light pollution?
      • Will the College regularly practice dust remediation caused by traffic going to and from the site on the unimproved dirt road leading to it? At what cost to taxpayers?
      • What are the insurance costs associated with operating an RV park?
      • How many full-time or part-time employees will be added to staff it? At what cost to taxpayers?
      • What due diligence was carried out before the Prescott Executives secretly made this decision?
      • What is the experience of other community colleges, if any, that have created RV parks?
      • Can employees and students rent out space and then rent out their RV as an Airbnb rental?

    • The College administration must address these questions and engage in open dialogue with the public and the Governing Board to ensure transparency and accountability in the decision-making process. 

      Below photos from Community College Facilities Management Newsletter of March 2023.

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Categories : RV PARK ON VERDE CAMPUS
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