Yavapai County District 3 Supervisor Donna Michaels held a town hall meeting at the Sedona Public Library in the Village of Oak Creek on the afternoon of Thursday, Aug. 24, for about 30 community members.
Michaels provided updates on her “Heart of the Village” proposal for Yavapai County to enter a lease-to-purchase agreement with the Sedona-Oak Creek School District for the former Big Park Community School. Michaels said that she was able to discuss the proposed lease in greater detail after SOCSD approved her non-binding letter of intent at its board meeting on Tuesday, July 11.
The letter stated that it was “issued by and on behalf of District 3 Supervisor Donna Michaels individually and is therefore subject to review and approval by the Yavapai County Board of Supervisors.” SOCSD Governing Board President Randy Hawley and Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Kristin Greene said that there have been no updates to the proposal since the letter of intent was approved.
YCSO is looking at paying for the cost of roof repairs at BPCS in order to possibly set up a substation on the property. SOCSD also no longer intends to consider a proposed sublease of the former music classrooms and auditorium at BPCS to the Arts Academy of Sedona for performances by the AAS-affiliated Emerson Theatre Collaborative.
AAS had been operating for several years at 7000 SR 179, in The Collective plaza, before applying to rent space at the school.
“We are not doing any subletting at this point with anybody because we have an agreement with the county, we’re going to work with them,” Hawley said. “We’re not leasing to anybody else at this point. If the Arts Academy wants to go in there, they’ll have to go through the county once we have an agreement with the county.”
Hawley has offered his assurance that all existing leases on the property will be honored, including the existing lease with SPL.Michaels also told the audience that a satellite campus of Christian Faith Fellowship that is currently using the site would be permitted to retain its lease if the county purchases the property.
Michaels said she is attempting to present her proposal to the other supervisors as “a good investment.”
“I’m not trying to sell them something,” Michaels said. “I’m trying to demonstrate the quality … This is about a demonstration that I know from the parties to whom I’m already working with, for this campus, that they’re going to be successful. It would be a lease, and it’s a minimum lease per square foot. And we’ll structure if we get there. With the board’s approval, and I have legal involved, I have our county manager involved. I’m not doing this by myself, I have the entire leadership team of the county involved with me.”
“If I can show to my fellow board members that it’s important to have a memory café here for our seniors suffering from dementia, that that space is meaningful, that people will come to it. Moreover, they’re going to want to use the devices … to get their telehealth services met, then I’ve made my case. That’s the purpose of me putting things in that are self-funded, and that make a clear demonstration of meeting community need first.”
Michaels’ reference to a memory cafe referred to a June 21 letter from Verde Valley Caregivers Coalition Executive Director Kent Ellsworth that Michaels was distributing during the meeting.
“This facility could host a memory café where caregivers get the support they need, while their loved ones engage with others in a dementia-friendly environment,” the letter stated.
“Other services, such as virtual care assistance for telehealth appointments and various social activities, will relieve loneliness and isolation for older adults.”
The letter did not include any commitment by VVCC to lease space at the site or provide services there.
“VVCC’s Board of Directors is not actively considering any proposal regarding the Big Park facility at this time,” Ellsworth said.
Michaels’ letter of intent also discussed using Building C for affordable housing for county employees, such as “entry level law enforcement.”
“We’re talking about maybe five or seven, that number has not been determined, apartments so that they can start and live in the community where they serve and so that’ll be on this campus,” Michaels said.
“We want to preserve the values in our community,” Michaels said. “So that’s the beginning of the conversation with the school district leadership. The challenges to do that are financial … and also limited in scope of who could buy [BPCS] that would be acceptable. How many of you want adeveloper to come in and put apartments? Right, exactly. This is a way to stay within the guardrails of our community values, which by the way I live here, it’s important to me too, and what we want is the Heart of the Village, a place where we can come and gather for performance, for an activity of one sort or another, for kids to have dance class in the summer, for a theatre productions to happen.”
Northern Arizona Healthcare
“We can change this trajectory with NAH,” Michaels said. “I’m working very hard to do it. I’ve said it [in a paid political ad], I’ll say it to you. I think that board needs to step down. It’s a system that cannot work any longer with the leadership that is in place. We’ve had wonderful physicians leave. We’ve had wonderful nurses leave. We’ve had medical services that are no longer here, because the team won’t work with NAH, like breast cancer surgeons, for example.”
Michaels argued that there is a lack of primary and health care professionals in the Verde Valley, which has caused demand for Verde Valley Caregivers Coalition drivers to increase 150% over the last five years in order to get residents to health care appointments in Phoenix or Flagstaff.
