Omits the one person who for the last several years has been a constant public voice and elected leader  urging greater Community College investment in the Verde Valley

Robert Oliphant, Editor

Opinion. Yavapai Community College has just issued a slick public relations/marketing publication boasting about how it is “Investing in The Verde” Valley.”  You may read the entire “Special Verde” Spring 2022 publication by clicking here.

One assumes that the persons prominently  pictured on the front cover (see below) and featured throughout the publication of  the “Special Edition” (see below) were carefully selected to show Verde Valley citizens the faces of those who have been and are the driving political and administrative forces behind investing  in the Verde Valley. Otherwise, why were they chosen?

There is, however, one person who is conspicuous by his absence from the publication. That person is Yavapai Community College District Three Representative, Paul Chevalier. In truth, Chevalier has been a vocal driving force behind efforts to persuade the Community College to invest  in the Valley for at least the last seven years.

When interviewed about his conspicuous absence from the publication, Chevalier said he was not contacted to participate and was not involved in any way with it.

Chevalier’s omission is all the more puzzling because his District makes up most of the Verde Valley including Jerome, Clarkdale, Cottonwood, Sedona, and the Verde Villages. Governing Board Representative and Chair Deb McCasland’s District encompasses only a portion of the Verde Valley, which includes  Cornville, Beaver Creek, and Camp Verde. She also represents a portion of the west side of her District, which includes the  Prescott Country Club, Stoneridge, Sugarloaf, and Verde Lakes.

Chevalier’s vocal and political efforts directed at encouraging the College to increase its investment in the Valley began in 2015 when he was the Chair of the Verde Valley Governing Board Advisory Committee. That Committee consisted  of  a group of outstanding local residents who represented every corner of the Verde Valley. It was created in 2015 by former Third District Representative Al Filardo.

Over a period of more than a year, the Advisory Committee  held dozens of community meetings in the Verde Valley with local educators and educational experts. The result was about twenty recommendations sent to the District Governing urging greater investment by the College in the Valley. Regrettably,  virtually all of the recommendations were rejected by the Governing Board, which was and is  completely under the political control of a West County Governing Board Representative voting bloc.

By September 2016 most suspect the West Side politicos on the Governing Board were seething because of the number of public recommendations for investment in the Valley streaming from the Advisory Committee chaired by Mr. Chevalier. The West County dominated Board either had to publicly reject or quietly ignore them, which was embarrassing. In retaliation, during the final hour of an all-day  retreat on September 11, 2016 at the Prescott Campus, the West side voting bloc Board members in stealth-like fashion joined together to quash the Verde Valley Advisory Committee. Quickly, and without adequate notice of their intentions to the public,  they voted 3-2 to abolish the Committee. Just like that, it vanished and was never heard from again.

However, in 2018 Chevalier returned to the public arena on behalf of Verde Valley citizens. This time he won a hotly contested election for the six-year term for the Third District Governing Board seat on the Yavapai  Community College Governing Board. He pledged to advocate on behalf of the Verde Valley and the entire County.

Going into his third year on the Board, Chevalier has been true to his word. He is a constant strong voice for additional Community College investment in the  Verde Valley. At times his efforts appear  to irritate some Governing  Board members.

Most close observers of Governing Board activities have found that Chevalier is by far one of the most well prepared, if not the best prepared, of the Board members when attending either a workshop or meeting. He is always present.

There is no  question about  his efforts to constantly persuade the College to make a greater investment  in the  Verde Valley. And he has been quite successful in his efforts, as the “Investing in the Verde” publication so beautifully illustrates. Yet, that publication contains not the slightest attribution to Mr. Chevalier.

It is not totally clear, of course, why the Community College chose to completely overlook Chevalier in the “Investing in the Verde” publication. It is not that they are ignorant of his efforts. Maybe he is seen enviously as far too devoted to his constituents. Or, that he is too focused in his persistent efforts to ensure  that every penny of a local taxpayer’s annual contribution to the College  is equitably returned to the Verde Valley. Who knows?

As René Descartes is quoted as saying:  “The last rule was to make enumerations so complete, and reviews so comprehensive, that I should be certain of omitting nothing.” This is apparently not a rule followed by Yavapai Community College.

(L to R): Verde Valley Dean, Dr. Tina Redd; Vice President Dr. Diane Ryan; District Governing Board Chair Deb McCasland; Yavapai College President Dr. Lisa Rhine; and YC Foundation Board President Valerie Wood. Photo for Yavapai Community College publication by Bill Leyden.

Representative Chevalier calls into question whether County communities really have equitable access to Community College social and cultural opportunities given the details in the report; Chair McCasland points out Prescott was selected 50 years ago as College site; also says there are opportunities for everyone to come to Prescott to participate in cultural activities and there have been some cultural activities in the Verde Valley

As a part of its report to the Yavapai Community College Governing Board at Tuesday’s meeting, the Yavapai Community College administration delivered a detailed, comprehensive 23-page report on its commitment to provide “access to social and cultural opportunities”  in the County.  This is one of three major goals adopted by Yavapai  Community College Administration and its Governing Board.

Third District Community College representative Paul Chevalier took the position that the College was not providing equitable access to social and cultural opportunities throughout  the County.  In particular, he argued that for a variety of reasons the east side of the County fails to  receive “equitable” access to these activities.  He provided a list of obvious differences as evidence of his view.

Chair Deb McCasland acknowledged the differences between the two sides of the County but said that history and open opportunities for persons on the east side to visit west side activities support concluding there is sufficient County-wide adequate access to cultural events as provided by the College.

Following presentation of the written report, Mr. Chevalier began to suggest an amendment to what is called the Governing Board’s  “ends” statement that was used by the Board to evaluate  the “access to cultural activities” report.  However, he was ruled out-of-order. He  promised to revisit the issue in June when the Governing Board reviews it policies and procedures.

In his written response to the report, Mr. Chevalier stated the following:

“Chevalier: Amend to clarify what we agree should be included here and discuss equity. If I am reading the report correctly, there is continuing inequity by the college between the West and East side of Mingus Mountain. It appears from this report that 176 college performance arts events were scheduled on the west side (mostly in Prescott) with 135 actually occurring but only six such events scheduled on the East side with only four occurring. That is inequality. In addition, all four current college athletic teams are located on the West side, with three more athletic teams being added by the college and all will be located in the West side (Prescott again). These teams are not filled with West side residents. The team athletes (63 or 68 currently) do not come from Yavapai County therefore they could just as well been placed in teams on the East side as the West side and housing could be found or created.

The East side has about 1/3 of the county population, pays about 1/3 of the college taxes but has never gotten anything close to a 1/3 share of social and cultural activities from the college. This is unfair.”

Board Chairperson Deb  McCasland’s written response to the report was short.  She stated: “An outstanding variety of opportunities for enrichment.”

Representative Ray Sigafoos wrote: “A broad range of cultural activities are part of the heritage of Yavapai College. The College continued that tradition under very difficult conditions last year. The staff and faculty involved in these endeavors deserve our hearty congratulations. This End is an appropriate allocation of our resources.”

The Governing Board’s newest member, Mr. Chris  Kuknyo wrote: “COVID has had an effect on this.”

The final vote on the report was 4-1 with only Mr. Chevalier dissenting. 

The discussion on this topic at the March 9 meeting can be viewed in full on the video clip below.  The entire Governing Board meeting can be viewed at the Community College’s District Governing Board web site.