Archive for Politics – Page 12
Yes, lots of children are doing “fantastic” in the Verde Valley. However, “there is a significant and growing population of our students who are not doing
Claim they will do something about access for the underserved in the County
Commentary Bob Oliphant
Per the article in the Verde Independent of April 21, 2017 it appears that Yavapai Community College President Penelope Wills and Board President Ray Sigafoos have undergone a sudden epiphany when it comes to concern for the underserved student populations in the County. The article suggested they were “considering putting more money in the pockets of students who need it most.” It went on to say that they had “expressed interest in finding ways to increase access to education for the underserved lower socioeconomic populations within the County.”
The article quotes Sigafoos as claiming that: “I’ve made the point the last 10 or 12 years, that when we increase the tuition, we ought to be putting aside a bit of that tuition toward some sort of institutional scholarship, so we can keep those people who need those extra dollars.”
Pardon me if I find Mr. Sigafoos’ statement hard to swallow and the sudden change in direction by Penelope Wills less than persuasive. Here is why.
Staff are mum on her absence
Yavapai Community College President Penelope Wills was out of her office from March 21 through April 11. When asked about her whereabouts, her staff were tight-lipped and provided no information.
During her report to the District Governing Board on Tuesday, April 18 she did not mention her three-week absence from the College. Seems a little strange.
Wills receives about a quarter million dollars a year in salary. She is one of the highest-paid taxpayer supported bureaucrats in the County. Most believe she owes it to the taxpayers to let them know what she is doing in her professional capacity as President with her time—even if it is taking a vacation during the academic year.
One source reported to the Blog that Wills had traveled to Australia on a vacation and attendance at short conference. This report could not be confirmed.
Gone for three weeks
A message from President Wills’ office simply stated that “Dr. Wills will be out of the office beginning March 21st through April 11th.” No other information was provided?
So, does anyone out there know where she is? The Blog has received some rumors but cannot verify them. Let us know if you have reliable information.
Citizen writes Board Members asking for reprieve
The Yavapai Community College Governing Board members have been asked by Ms. Dana Dieterich to look into the decision by Dr. Penelope Wills to close the photo lab on the Prescott campus and auction off the equipment. The decision to close the lab is related to the rededication of building 15 on the Campus as a performing arts facility.
According to Dieterich, “the wet [photo] lab will be expensive to move, so I suggest leaving it where it is. If there are doors added to the outside, the inside doors can go away, allowing extra space where a hallway is now. The YC photo wet lab is an amazing space and should be left to operate and fulfill the needs of the Yavapai College community as well as the Prescott Community.”
Unfortunately, the Governing Board leaves decisions like this up to the administration. Neither the Governing Board nor the administration have shown a willingness to respond to citizen input or specific requests such as that being made by Dieterich. Because the College has so much revenue coming from primary property taxes, it can spend from six to eight million dollars a year on any projects it desires. Citizens have no voice on renovation, construction, or anything else for that matter. Completely arbitrary decisions are made by the administration with impunity.
Let us hope that in this case Wills’ will respond to the citizen request in a positive manner and prove the Blog wrong.
Joel Staadecker reminds Dr. Connie Harris that she reports to the “citizens,” not the Governing Board
At the March 7, 2017 Governing Board meeting held in the Verde Valley, Sedona resident and Verde Valley activist Joel Staadecker reminded newly appointed third District Governing Board representative Dr. Connie Harris that the College is “owned” by the citizens and that she reports to them, not the Governing Board. Dr. Harris, who has not lived in the Valley a year, was appointed in December to fill the seat of Al Filardo, who resigned in frustration with the Board’s treatment of the Valley. Her entire constituency is the Verde Valley.
You may view Mr. Staadecker’s short reminder to Dr. Harris below.
March 22, 2017 was her last day at Yavapai College
The sometimes controversial Yavapai Community College Economic Director, Alexandria Wright, has quit her job at Yavapai College. She begins work in August at the Ventura County Community College District in California.
The full announcement of her departure can be viewed in the on-line Verde Independent newspaper by clicking here.
As noted above, Ms. Wright has at times been controversial. For example, on September 15, 2015 she was removed from her seat for a variety of reasons on the Northern Arizona Council of Governments (NACOG) Workforce Development Board by a four – one vote of Yavapai County Supervisors. Scott Farnsworth, the College’s Dean of sciences, health and Public Safety, was subsequently appointed to that seat.
You may view more about her problems with NACOG in 2015 in an article in which she responded to beng replaced in the Verde Independent newspaper by clicking here.
If you disagree with a Board vote, too bad – – keep your mouth shut afterwards
Reporter Zachary Jernigan wrote in the Cottonwood Journal Extra of March 15, 2017 that “President Wills [is] having trouble with board members speaking to the press.” Mr. Jernigan was referring to the March 7, 2017 board meeting during which Wills complained that it took her and her staff an inordinate amount of effort to respond to questions if a Board member spoke to the media.
There was no doubt that the comments were aimed directly at Second District representative Deb McCasland. This was confirmed by Mr. Jernigan when he interviewed McCasland following the meeting. She told him: “I am sure that [statement] was in reference to me.”
Since joining the Governing Board, McCasland has been leading the fight for more equitable treatment by the College in the Verde Valley. For the past two years she was joined in that effort by former Governing Board member Mr. Al Filardo. During that time, while making it clear that she was not speaking for the governing board, McCasland often shared crucial information with the citizens of the Valley about the direction the College was taking in the County.
President Wills wants any dialogue between the Verde Valley’s elected representatives on the Board and the citizens of the Valley stopped. The effort to restrict information coming from the elective representatives was the major topic during the Board retreat February 13, 2017. As Wills indicated during her brief outburst at the March 7 meeting, she wants nothing to be shared outside a Board meeting with the public other than what she or current Governing Board spokesperson Ray Sigafoos feeds them.
Sigafoos is the leader of the West County voting bloc that controls Governing Board decisions and is a close ally of Wills. The voting bloc has rejected a long list of recommendations coming from the Verde Valley over the past three years. Sigafoos knows little about the Verde Valley and certainly would not provide the kind of crucial information that McCasland has been sharing with Verde Valley citizens and public meetings and in the press.
The constant pressure coming from Wills and the West County voting bloc to halt McCasland from speaking to her constituents may have had an indirect impact on the third District representative Connie Harris. She seems to buy into the idea that she is not to share information with her constituents and the press in the third District. Her District runs from Jerome to Sedona and includes Cottonwood, Clarkdale, and the Verde villages. Harris, in her third month as a replacement for Filardo, has yet to utter a single sentence in support of a Verde Valley project.
Overall, the effort to suppress the First Amendment right of an elected representative to fully inform his or her constituency is under a full-court attack from the West County voting bloc and Wills. You may view the one-minute statement at the March 7 meeting by Wills below.
20 Page pdf pamphlet can be obtained here
The 20 page pamphlet reviewing the decisions by the College and the Governing Board in 2016 that may have affected the Verde Valley can be downloaded by clicking here. 2016 IN REVIEW REVISED BOOKLET JAN 1 2017
Sedona resident Jessica Williamson speaks to Governing Board about their voting bloc
Sedona resident and former member of the Sedona City Council Jessica Williamson encouraged the District Governing Board to reflect on how the West County voting vote is treating the Verde Valley — the minority on the Board. Her theme, “The Tyranny of the majority.” Her short speech to the Governing Board is reproduced below.