Dr. Emily Weinacker
Yavapai Community College has hired a new Director of Human Resources. She began August 12. She is. Dr. Emily Weinacker.
Dr. Weinacker most recently worked at Summit Healthcare Regional Medical Center in Show Low. Before that she was the Associate Dean of Human Resources at Mesa Community College for more than 5-years. She was also the Human Resources manager at Glendale Community College from January 2006 to August 2008.
As you may recall, the multimillion dollar lawsuit between the former director of aviation programs at Yavapai College, Dan Hamilton, and the College is headed for a jury trial. If it is not settled, the jury will be asked to decide whether the College took sufficient steps to inform the VA about how they were calculating the 85/15 rule. Hamilton alleges that Yavapai College and its airplane program partner, NorthAire Aviation, violated the Veteran’s Administration funding rule that limits VA beneficiary enrollment to 85% in any program. (In other words, the program must have at least 15% of its enrollees as civilians.)
In his most recent ruling the Judge touched on a number of factors not favoring the College. One of them was a possible conspiracy.
According to Federal District Court Judge Murray Snow, “Hamilton has presented evidence that the Defendants were engaged in emails discussing “85/15 permanent fixes” in July of 2012.” He went on to write that: “There is also evidence suggesting that the Defendants knew there were concerns regarding the legality of the JTED program during that time period. Finally, there is evidence that during a meeting attended by representatives of both Guidance and Yavapai, John Morgan claimed that the Defendants “are shackled by the VA” and the 85/15 Rule. In his deposition, John Morgan admitted that one of the purposes behind creating the JTED program was to increase veteran eligibility in the combined AVT program. These facts indicate that a reasonable juror could determine that the Defendants created the JTED program and the combined AVT program with the `purpose of getting’ the false record or statement to bring about the Government’s payment of a false or fraudulent claim.”
You may read Judge Snow’s entire ruling by clicking here. 620 ORDER on MSJs[5372]
Ron Liss, Yavapai College’s Vice President of Instruction and Student Development, told the District Governing Board at its March meeting that College spring enrollment District wide was about even. However, he noted that enrollment on the Verde Valley Campus for face-to-face instruction was down 17%.
Liss attributed the downturn to more students enrolling in on-line classes. Here is his report on enrollment for spring 2018 on video.
Yavapai Community College rolled out its proposed Preventive and Unplanned maintenance budget for 2018 – 19 at the March 6, 2018 Governing Board meeting. The College estimates it will spend about $4,224,000 for preventative and unplanned maintenance during that period. There appeared no opposition to expending this amount from the Board.
Although the Verde Valley property taxes make up about 30% of the tax revenue received annually by the College, only 6% of the Preventative and Unplanned maintenance costs will be spent on the Verde Valley Campus in Clarkdale and the Sedona Center. Below is the chart presented to the Governing Board by the College Administration.
Vice President of Community Relations, Rodney Jenkins, announced the scheduling of two alleged public forums to hear what the College described as “local feedback on the College’s performance and the role it can play in their communities going forward.” The College announced that the forums are private and neither the press nor the public can attend. Board members, however, can attend.
The College will decide who is invited and indicated its list includes certain members of the Chamber of Commerce, mayors, city managers, and superintendents. It will select certain alumni and donors. The individual views of the participants are to be kept anonymous from the public and contained in a report sent to the Governing Board. Board member Connie Harris described the event as “safe” with anonymous feedback. Ironically, the Board and President Wills added that the event results should be “transparent.”
The west county forum will be held April 12, at the Prescott Campus Community Room, from 9 to 10:30 a.m. The east county forum will take place April 13, in the Verde Valley Campus Community Room, from 10 to 11:30 a.m.
The five questions participants will be asked to discuss follow. Also, a short video of the College’s announcement made at the March 6 Governing Board meeting follows.
Here is the video.
The fiscal year for the College ended June 30, 2017. This is the detailed information given the Governing Board about its financial and enrollment situation when it ended the fiscal year in June 2017. It is worth reviewing as we close out the calendar year 2017.The College estimated in May it will lose an estimated $330,000 in 2017-18 state aid because of the decline in the number of students taking accredited classes. This estimate should change because student enrollment has leveled off.
The aviation program, which has already lost more than a million dollars in tuition and fees over the past two years, will lose another $160,000 in 2017-18 because of the continuing decline in enrollment in that particular program. So far, there is no indication this estimate will change.
County property taxes will not be increased in 2017. 2017 is the second year in a row the Governing Board has not increased the tax rate. Recall that a majority vote of three on this Board can increase the tax rate on the property taxes of Yavapai County voters. (And there is no oversight and no appeal.)
Tuition was increased for 2017-18 by about 5%. This is far above local inflation. The Governing Board has increased tuition in some form every year over the last decade. The tuition increases have far outpaced inflation every year.
What is called the County “new-construction tax” will bring in about $680,000 in additional revenue to the College in 2017-18.
When comparing student headcount from 2008-09 to 2015-16 (the last formal report from the College) there are 3,894 fewer students taking credit courses (14,139 vs. 10,245). This is a drop of 27.5% in student enrollment. The decline continued in 2016-17. While the Governing Board received a prediction in May 2017 that enrollment would decline by 4% in 2017-18, it actually increased slightly.
When comparing student tuition and fees 2008-09 to 2017-18 the College will be collecting $4,678,500 more in tuition and fees in 2017-18 than it did almost a decade ago despite the huge drop in student enrollment. ($6,927,300 vs. $11,605,800).
When comparing primary property tax revenue from 2008-09 to 2017-18 the College will be collecting $8,683,119 more in property taxes in 2017-18 that it did in 2008-09 ($35,227,381 vs. $43,910,500). Almost all of the increase is used to support capital expenditures. Traditionally, the College had to persuade voters to approve a General Obligation Bond before revenue was expended for capital improvements. The Bond was repaid by assessing a County-wide secondary property tax. The College now uses primary tax revenue, which was once intended primarily for programs and staff salaries, for capital projects. This keeps County citizens from asking questions about the projects; the process also gives the Administration almost total discretion to build and renovate whatever it desires without justifying the project to the citizens (and the expenditure of their tax money) or explaining the overall efficacy of the project to them.
Note that in 2008-09 state aid accounted for $4,761,000 in revenue coming to the College. It is estimated that in 2017-18 the College will receive about $1,979,100 from the state of Arizona in total support. That is a difference of $2,781,900.
Overall, it appears that College will have $10,579,719 more in revenue to spend in 2017-18 that it did in 2008-09 and a student body taking accredited courses that has shrunk by almost 30% (using headcount) over the past decade.
The workshop held by the four Yavapai Community College Governing Board members on Monday, December 11 on the Prescott campus (Irwin was not present) was remarkable in the determination by President Penelope Wills and Governing Board members Pat McCarver and Ray Sigafoos to keep Governing Board reporting standards as vague and abstract as possible. Deb McCasland fought a losing battle as she argued that the reporting provisions should be more transparent and provide greater detail so citizens and Board members could better understand and apply them.
The consultant hired by the Community College had rewritten many board policy statements associated with the goals that applied to President Wills. If adopted, the consultant’s suggestions would have provided greater clarity and understanding to Board members and the public. Consistently, McCarver, Sigafoos, and Wills vigorously opposed providing greater clarity. Third District representative Connie Harris joined with the West County representatives in opposing most of the clarifying statements. She showed little willingness to support McCasland’s effort to bring greater transparency and understanding to the Governing Board process.
The following is an example of a kind of clarity McCasland wanted. The suggestion came from the consultant and the discussion about it involved the limitations on President Wills treatment of employees. The free speech provision read:
The Yavapai Community College Verde Valley Campus Art Gallery is featuring an exhibit by Nathaniel Foley entitled, “flight of obscurity XII.” The Exhibit will be at the Art Galley until September 15.
The Community College describes the exhibit as sculptures “consisting of cones integrated with spires held together under tension, supported by utilitarian containers. This fragile relationship of forms exposes the delicate balance between grace and imminent danger, like the fleeting ballet of courting birds or hostile dogfight between foes. Referring to aeronautical form, the sculptures communicate tension and dance in direct opposition to fundamental forces.”
The Art Gallery is open from Tuesday through Friday from 10 AM to- 3 PM. It is closed Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. The Gallery is located at 601 Black Hills Dr. F-105, Clarkdale, Arizona 86324.
The Blog has attached a short essay that portrays the early political struggle between the Prescott and Verde Valley politicians over the location of the first Community College in Yavapai County. This was the first of many political confrontations between the two sides of Mingus Mountain over Yavapai community College.
The dispute began in 1965. Both sides recognized the significant impact of locating a community college in their community in terms of its economic impact and overall impact on the residents. As with almost all political battles over the past 50 years involving Yavapai Community College, Prescott came out the big winner.
The essay below is in PDF format and may be downloaded by you if you choose to do so.
THE POLITICAL STRUGGLE OVER WHERE TO LOCATE THE COMMUNITY COLLEGE
Verde Valley Executive Dean James Perey reported that he has been forced to cancel all hospitality certificate courses offered at the Sedona Center prior to the start of the 2017 fall semester. His report came during an interview with Zachary Jernigan, whose article about the Center appears in the August 30 2017 edition of the Cottonwood Journal Extra.
Perry was quoted in the article as saying: “We need to regroup and evaluate what happened. … Look at our demographic and who to target.” Perry is also apparently considering partnering with Northern Arizona University’s hospitality program to align coursework at the Sedona Center with offerings at NAU.
Perry was also quoted in the article is saying that the College “can’t do this without business and industry … Partnerships” in the local community.
The Blog recommends a small blue-ribbon committee of Sedona business and political leaders be immediately assembled to help the College assess the reasons for the failure of this certificate program to obtain sufficient enrollment.
