Community College President avoids answering query about extending new program to the east side of the County 

It’s really challenging to get much actual detailed information about Yavapai  Community College’s future plans for the Sedona and the Verde Valley these days as Third District Yavapai College representative to the College Governing Board, Paul Chevalier, has found out. Chevalier, who consistently attempts to obtain details about College projects so he can report them to his constituents, has often run into a roadblock at Governing Board meetings when he sought this information.

Often, answers to his questions to a presenter are withheld or ruled out of order because of a present strict interpretation of a host of Governing Board rules plus what appears to be a  general reluctance by the College President to share information with him.  The saga of interfering with his questions about projects plus outright refusal to answer them continued  unabated  at the August 9 Special meeting called to discuss fees and tuition for the revived private pilot training program. (A special meeting video clip has been posted that you may view by clicking here.) 

Third District Yavapai Community College representative Paul Chevalier

Chevalier, who from the sound of his voice over zoom appeared to become quite emotional, attempted to ask a handful of questions about the new private pilot program being initiated by the Community College.  At times the interruptions and exchanges between the Governing Board lawyer, Board Chair, and Mr. Chevalier appeared to some listeners as painful.

The episode at the August 9 meeting  is nothing new to those who have watched Mr. Chevalier battle to represent the interests of residents of Sedona and the Verde Valley. Most close observers of the Board meetings will agree  that some members of the Governing Board have become increasingly  hostile toward him, his questions, and his efforts to uncover information for his constituents about programs and projects in Sedona and the Verde Valley.

Chevalier first got into trouble at the August 9 Board meeting with Board Lawyer Lynne Adams. She found some of his questions about liability insurance as potentially hypothetical and inappropriate, although she did not rule them out of order. There was a big back-and-forth exchange over whether she was trying to muzzle him, which she denied.

He also got into trouble with Board Chair Deb McCasland who commented at one point that the only question before the Board was the tuition and fees to be charged, implying his questions did not focus on that issue.  (As noted above, the presentation is posted to the Blog with these exchanges coming the last five minutes of the meeting.) Chevalier insisted  that his questions were designed to help him decide the tuition and fees issue and whether they would adequately cover the costs associated with such an expensive program.

It was learned during Chevalier’s questioning of the administration’s presenter, Dean John Morgan,  that the College will carry two million dollars liability insurance for the program.  It was also learned that the instructors for the program will be part-time Community College employees and limited to 19 and three quarter hours per week.  Thus, they will not necessarily enjoy benefits like those of full-time employees.

Most curious for some was the refusal near the end of the meeting to respond to Chevalier’s important question to Community College President Dr. Lisa Rhine about whether she would consider extending the Private pilot program to the east side of the District.  The lease vendor selected by the Community College, Leighnor Aviation, operates airplanes out of the Cottonwood airport and out of Prescott.  Chevalier noted that he had contacted Dr. Rhine about this well before the meeting so she would be prepared to answer it.

However, Dr. Rhine remained silent. Mr. Chevalier concluded from her silence that the answer must be “no.” The Board Chair stepped in and closed any discussion on the topic.

In the 4-1 vote approving the tuition and fees, Mr. Chevalier dissented stating the following:

“I believe that the college’s decision to not extend this program to Cottonwood is not well founded. Moreover, this decision creates another inequity against east side residents, particularly our east side veterans  – who are people who put themselves on the line to protect our freedom. I was one of them, I was in harm’s way and I know first hand what many of our veteran’s did for us. 

“I cannot in good conscience vote for this unnecessary and patently unfair inequity affecting our east side veterans and others. With grave disappoint at the college’s decision my vote is no.”

The presentation by the College and the above exchanges can be seen on the video posted by the Blog.  You may view the presentation by clicking on the following link.

Selects training program to begin immediately under FAA Part 61 regulation rather than wait for months to operate under more rigorous FAA Part 141 requirements

A special meeting of the Yavapai Community College Governing Board was held August 9 in an effort to save the collapsing aviation program at Yavapai Community College.  The Governing Board was asked to approve the tuition for the program.

The collapse of the aviation program apparently began five years ago, in the midst of a national scandal about the costs to veterans associated with helicopter training and an unrelated employment lawsuit with the College’s former Director of Aviation, which the College won. The administration began slowly shutting down its  helicopter training program and eliminated its private pilot license program at that time.

The College continued to offer commercial aviation training pilots training courses under a contract with NorthAire, a company based at the Prescott airport.  However, the number of students coming to the Community College to enroll in the commercial training program began a decline until it was less than a trickle by the spring, 2022.  (Assuming registration data published by the College on the Registration site is correct.)

The reason given for the reduction in enrollment by the College to the Governing Board was  that a student seeking advanced aviation training at the College had to first arrive with a certified private pilot license.  Few were selecting Yavapai with such a license.

During the past year the College attempted an initial revival of the aviation  curriculum by applying to the FAA to create a Part 141 private pilot license training program. After filing its application and waiting several months, it received word from the FAA that it was number 303 on the FAA  list for consideration as a Part 141 training facility.  This was interpreted by College officials as meaning  that it could be “months or possibly years” before the FAA considered the application.  With the aviation program at best on life support, something else had to be done and fast.

With time running out to enroll anyone for the fall semester in a private pilot’s program, a no doubt somewhat panicked administration came up with a new solution to try and save the aviation program.  According to its report to the District Governing Board on August 9, 2022,  it discovered another Federal Regulation called “Part 61” that it concluded was available to start its fall program. 

The Part 61 government regulation allows wide flexibility in a training program and has none of the stringent requirements demanded of a school operating under Part 141.  It is used by many private training facilities. According to the Community College administration, it is also used by several educational institutions who are training private pilots.

Essentially, all you need under Part 61 is to own or lease an aircraft and you can train free of most of the FAA’s prying eyes and high standards.  Most exciting for the College administration was its perception that it could to begin to offer courses immediately if it only owned or leased a training aircraft.

To meet its need for an aircraft, the College selected Leighnor Aviation as a lease vendor.  Leighnor is an aggressive start-up aviation company based in Prescott.     The estimated cost for leasing and related costs were lightly outlined to the Governing Board at the August Board meeting.  The costs to the College to lease a 172 Cessna airplane from Leighnor appear below as presented by the Administration.

The College also intends to hire its own instructors on a part-time basis.

The College claimed that for around $20,000 a student can obtain a private pilots license at Yavapai and then transfer to another facility for multi-engine commercial training where the cost may run as high as $80,000 to obtain a multi-engine license.

It was also claimed that in general for $100,000 invested in two years a student would be ready for a potential commercial job in aviation.  Along the way, if students remain in the Yavapai Community College program, it will be rewarded by being able to charge tuition at both its private pilot’s school and also under a contract for advanced training with NorthAire.

The Governing Board approved the tuition recommendation 4-1. 

You may view the video presentation to the Governing Board by clicking here.