The Clarkdale campus of Yavapai College hosted an unusual event on April 23. The community college’s governing board, which usually meets in Prescott, had one of its few meetings on this side of Mingus Mountain. With Dr. Lisa Rhine having just started as the college’s president on Feb. 1, it was also the first chance for many in the Verde Valley to meet with the college’s new leadership.
The community took advantage of the opportunity. The meeting opened with a chance for public comment and featured a gallery of local officials from the area. Bob Oliphant, a former YC board member, made the case for the college fulfilling the promise of its Southwest Wine Center by expanding its scholarship program. Joe Butner, a Camp Verde town councilman, suggested the college take an interest in equestrian studies in order to cooperate with Camp Verde’s upcoming public rodeo arena.
However, the overwhelming bulk of the calls from the public focused on one topic: The desire for a Career and Technical Education facility in the Verde Valley, allowing for workforce training in trades.
“We really don’t have workforce here in the Verde Valley,” Cottonwood Mayor Tim Elinski told the YC board. “We’ve heard the same thing across the nation, but here’s it’s very important to us. We’re trying to do all we can to make sure we have the workforce ready — kids here, really — to build our community.”
Elinski said he was shocked recently meeting with the sophomore class at Mingus Union High School to discover how many students did not know where they planned on going after graduating and said that he believed this was an opportunity for the college to present them with options.
“There’s really a shortage of [trades] and it’s really approaching a crisis situation,” Elinski said.
Elinski was joined by Yavapai-Apache Nation Chairwoman Jane Russell-Winiecki and fellow Mayor Sandy Moriarty, who read a letter she had written to the board on behalf of the Sedona City Council, advocating for a dedicated CTE facility.
“The recent renovation of the Sedona campus to host the culinary arts and hospitality programs is an excellent example supporting our local economy by providing career and technical skills,” Moriarty read. “As Sedona and the Verde Valley aim to diversify our economy, there are other opportunities for specialized training and education that would be greatly enhanced by the dedicated CTE facility.”
The public officials were also joined by representatives local businesses, such as 360 Automotive in Cottonwood, which suffers from a lack of trained lock- smiths in the area to do necessary work.
The push for a CTE program at the college was organized by the Citizens Advocate Committee, a group comprised of residents from all over the Verde Valley — Camp Verde, Clarkdale, Cottonwood and Sedona — who have been advocating for the college to invest in the Verde Valley for the past four years.
“We’re concerned about the money that the Verde Valley pays in taxes,” Carol German, a member of the committee from Camp Verde, said. German argued that the over $14 million in property taxes collected from the Verde Valley more than covers the costs to pay for the Verde Campus facilities. “The rest of that money is gravy. They’ve used that to improve everything over there, to build new soccer fields and then they built that state of the art new tennis center. They have the money to do something over here.”
German said that the group, which has been advocating for years but had mostly been rebuffed by the YC board in the past, felt that now was a good opportunity to press their case, with the new president, who they hope they can convert to their cause.
“I am pleased that so many community leaders and members are passionate about the educational needs of our community and rightfully see the college as the entity that can fulfill those needs,” Rhine wrote in response to the requests. “I listened intently and I heard the cry loud and clear from the Verde Valley. [A CTE facility] is possible. My next step is to engage a few key stakeholders to explore the possibility and see how we can partner to meet the needs of the community.”
The CTE advocates found a sympathetic ear on Paul Chevalier, who won his seat on the Yavapai College board representing parts of the Verde Valley in the 2018 election. Chevalier joined in the call for more investment in the Verde Valley campus and argued that a CTE facility should take priority over renovations of building L on campus, which was allocated for this year’s budget. Chevalier gave in on that fight, but he made clear at the meeting his desire for action in the near future to fulfill the desires of the Verde Valley residents.
“I’d like to ask you to think about making a commitment, that over the next two years, not that you say we’re going to study whether we’re going to have it or not, but that you come up with a plan, two years from now, to begin building a Career and Technical Education center for automotive including diesel, building trades, for whatever else works well over on your side of the mountain that could fit here,” Chevalier said to a YC administrator at the meeting.
“Come up with a plan and, if you do that, you will have my 100% support in the community to say, ‘We’ll wait two years, they’re going to do that,’” he said. “If you’re just going to say ‘We’re going to study it and think about it,’ that’s been going on for 20 years. It’s got to stop. If you do that, I’ll go out to the community and I’ll say, ‘We didn’t get it right now. We’re going to get building L, but, in two years, they’re going to be ready to go.’”
