Has yet to even set up a committee to work on finding private/public partnership suggested in 2020 despite Dr. Rhine acknowledging possible student east County residential need in September 2021
Yavapai Community College continues to drag its feet on working on a solution to the serious lack of student housing that has plagued the Yavapai Community College’s Sedona Center since it opened in 2000. While it drags its feet, the Center struggles to survive.
Why is the College so slow to react? Is it because the Sedona Center is so far from the Community College’s executives based in Prescott that actual development will never be a priority in the lens of the administration? Maybe, in the far reaches of their minds, the Community College executives are still contemplating what the former president tried to do in 2013-14, that is, shutter the Center for good.
Does the College really care that low enrollment forced it to close down the Restaurant and Hotel Management program at the Sedona Center for this year? Is it seriously concerned that in the fall 2021 Culinary Institute registration was low? Or that for 20 years, the lack of student housing has been a constant, obvious problem?
In an interview with Sedona Red Rock News reporter Ron Eland in the October 13, 2021 newspaper, Vice President of Community Relations & Student Development for Yavapai College, Rodney Jenkins, lamented the lack of student housing for the Center. However, he seemed to imply that added housing would not help draw students from outside Sedona to the program. He is quoted in the newspaper article as saying:
“The problem with that is housing. We have to somehow address the housing issue if we want to expand the destination piece of it. On top of that, there is a tremendous amount of competition across the country. So, what’s the draw to bring someone from, say Ohio, to Sedona to take the course when there are like, 1,500 to 1,600 programs in between the two? We have to be very realistic. We are looking under every rock to breathe more life into the program.”
The lack of housing history for students is checkered, at best. Recall that back in 2001-2002, when enrollment was at an all-time high, the Community College considered purchasing land to expand the Center. But that effort went nowhere.
Also recall that in a letter to the District Governing Board in March 2018 Vice President of Finance Dr. Clint Ewell recommended the following:
“We recommend working with a consulting firm to develop a Public-Private Partnership (3P). In this arrangement, we would issue an RFP for a private company to find capital to build a residence hall (location TBD), and would strive to structure the deal in a way which eliminated College capital and minimized operational costs. ($7.6M, 30k sq ft).”
The recommendation was accepted by the District Governing Board at its April 2018 meeting.
Furthermore, at its March 2020 Board meeting, the Yavapai Community College District Governing Board members were presented with a detailed study commissioned by the College to determine the efficacy of purchasing land and locating a hotel on property adjacent the Sedona Center. The Board appeared most interested in purchasing an additional five acres adjacent the Center. If a purchase were made, the Board would then decide its best use.
The study claimed that “Market justification exists for development of a hotel adjacent to Yavapai College’s Sedona Center.” But so far, nothing has come of this study.
Finally, recall that as late as September 2021 Community College president Dr. Lisa Rhine suggested during a Governing Board meeting the possibility of an affordable residence hall on the east side of the County for Community College students. However, to many, Dr. Rhine appeared less than enthusiastic about the idea.
At a public meeting, a couple of weeks ago, a check by the Blog with Dr. Tina Redd, Verde Valley Community College Dean, indicated no committee had been created to look into the possibility of a public/private residence hall partnership on the east side of the County.
In other words, the Community College is “all talk” when it comes to establishing a residence hall anywhere in the Sedona/Verde Valley area. But “no action.”
While the Community College has built three residence halls on the west side (one was recently torn down), it has never seriously considered construction of a single one of the east side. Will that change? Very doubtful.