Globe-Miami and Local First Arizona join hands to promote rural development

The Rural Policy Forum, hosted by Local First Arizona, is one of the premier conferences in the state, bringing together a host of people working in diverse fields for the betterment of rural communities. The success of this conference stems partly from the “deep bench” they draw from, and we are all the better for it. People attending the conference are those who are making a difference in communities throughout Arizona.

Each year Local First Arizona chooses a location from one of Arizona’s many rural communities to host the event. It is both an honor and a huge responsibility for the host. And as a community, Globe-Miami rose to the occasion when we were selected as this year’s host. Key among the partners was Bullion Plaza Museum, headed by Executive Director Tom Foster, which provided the main facility for the conference’s keynote speakers and breakout sessions.

But a big shout out goes to the following local businesses as well, from Cobre Valley Center for the Arts and Demarco’s, who hosted the dinner on Thursday night, and Jordan Baker and her staff at Vida e Caffe, who catered breakfasts for over 300 people on both Thursday and Friday.

Strong mention also needs to go out to the Copper City Players - Kim Stone and Lee Ann Powers - who provided history and entertainment on Thursday evening for those who came downtown. The City had hoped to showcase Globe’s First Fridays, which has begun to attract thousands to the downtown district each month, but the event was canceled due to the unbelievable heat wave we’ve been experiencing. Still, the City brought in a live band on Oak Street, and Sip and Saddle were set up outside to serve the attendees on Thursday night.

Local First Arizona reported a sold-out conference, with 340 tribal and rural leaders attending this year. Workshops over the two-day event featured presentations on innovative ways people tackle community needs, such as building affordable housing, launching farmers’ markets, training a new generation of skilled workers, attracting families to move to small towns, finding grant funding to build infrastructure and renewable energy projects and more.

“It’s one of the best conferences I go to all year,” said Sally Holcomb of Bisbee, who works for Arizona Complete Health, a health insurer. “It’s outstanding for networking, and it’s truly representative of rural. It’s not being talked at, like ‘We know better.’ It’s,‘Here’s how this can help you. I always walk away with new connections and great resources I didn’t expect to have.”

Drake Meinke, director of the Arizona Copper Museum in Clarkdale, said he was the only person from his town to attend, but he planned to bring back what he learned to other residents and business owners who are part of the downtown business alliance.

Meinke said he is energized to see rural communities in Arizona experiencing a rebirth.

“The image in many folks’ heads about a rural community isn’t good, but then they come to a rural community, and they are blown away,” he said. “They are almost always overwhelmed at how good things are in my little town.”

According to Rebekah Sanders with Local First Arizona, one of the exciting new programs they’ve launched is the Arizona Economic Recovery Center.

Sanders explained that after the Great Recession in 2008, Arizona was the last state to return to pre-recession economic health.

Local First Arizona didn’t want to see that happen after the COVID-19 pandemic too. So the organization launched the Arizona Economic Recovery Center in May 2021 to enable qualified Arizona cities, towns, counties, tribal communities, and nonprofits to win competitive federal, state, and foundation grants by increasing their capacity to compete.

Grant writing and grant management were two of the biggest barriers to successfully competing for grant dollars. Local First now has over 30 grant writers on their roster, all with different areas of expertise.

“We provide no-cost grant research, writing, and management services to organizations throughout the state,” says Sanders. The program has assisted more than 800 organizations in securing more than $33 million to fund projects including recreation facility renovations, tourism marketing, health care initiatives, bike paths, infrastructure, and more.

“None of the towns, tribes, and nonprofits we work with have a dedicated fundraising staff,” says Sanders. “Their employees are playing multiple roles so that grant-writing may be relegated to the wayside, or the staff may not have the expertise to write grants.” The Economic Recovery Center provides a successful, no-cost way to fill that gap.

You can find a step-by-step guide to working with the Recovery Center by visiting their website at www.localfirstaz. com/economic-recovery-center. Or contact Katie@localfirstaz.com for more information.

The Rural Policy Forum and the Economic Recovery Center are just two of the ways Local First Arizona is supporting small communities like Globe-Miami - and Globe-Miami’s civic organizations and small businesses are proud to partner with Local First in helping transform our state’s rural regions for the better.

KAYAK, Continued from page 1

Storms’ friend Vince Mariscal founded a Facebook group called Paddle Pirates after discovering a Valley group that paddles Canyon Lake. Once he created Paddle Pirates Mariscal invited Storms to join in moonlight paddles on Roosevelt Lake.

“We started doing it at the end of COVID and thought it was safer because we weren’t sharing boats and were spread out,” Storms says. “It’s grown organically since then, but it’s not really a club, club. We just post when the weather’s nice, when the full moon dates are, and then kind of see who shows up.”

The Paddle Pirates like to meet at nearby launch points such as School House Campground or, in the case of the upcoming Aug. 29 excursion, Windy Hill Recreation Site, that are close enough for participants to attend even if they work during the week.

“Those places are a little less busy with boats, so it’s a little bit safer,” Storms says. “We always tell people to bring lights to be safe on the water, then we just go and hang out, talk and chat and then watch the moon come up.”

Organizers bring glow sticks and in certain situations even loan out spare kayaks, if they are available, for people who don’t have them. Storms says there is a core of five or six people who show up fairly regularly, but they’ve had as many as 13 or 14. There was even a pair of paddle boarders on one excursion last year.

Storms prefers hardshell kayaks and has a vehicle that can handle transport. Given that there are no outfitters in Globe-Miami, he purchased his kayaks at Tractor Supply Hardware and since they get such gentle use, they have worked fine for his purposes.

According to NASA, this August will see two full moons: One appeared on the first of the month and the second, a “Super

Blue Moon,” will take place on Wednesday, Aug. 30. The group has plans to go out on Tuesday, Aug. 29 for the Blue Moon Paddling event that can be found on its Facebook page.

Participants must have lights and safety equipment to participate, but otherwise it’s a mellow event that doesn’t go out more than a few hundred yards from the dock.

The Paddle Pirates also avoid cold weather, so there are no events scheduled in the winter months.

“It’s not very organized, we just show up and hang out and watch the moon come up,” Storms says. “It’s pretty awesome and the group’s nice.”

Lazing in the moonlight is a good use of kayaks, but for the more adventurous souls amongst us, there are more daring options and a wide range of equipment to get them there.

“I’ve been an outdoors person all my life, an avid bicyclist—road and mountain—so I decided to invest in kayaks because we’re so close to all these lakes and rivers,” says retired orthopedic surgeon Bryan Gunnoe. “I’m not a fisherman, I just paddle to get out in the boonies to enjoy the outdoors.”

Gunnoe and his partner GMT writer Patti Daley moved to Globe in 2015 after Gunnoe accepted a position at Cobre Valley Medical Center. An early retirement left the couple with a lot of free time for the outdoor activities they love, so Gunnoe invested in a pair of inflatable kayaks.

And while he enjoys “getting out in the boonies,” his idea of getting out also includes hitting the rapids whenever he has a chance.

He chose inflatables because they were easier to transport and store. His first kayak was one designed for whitewater adventures—he has used it with organized excursions down the Salt River through the Forestry Department—and the second is designed for calmer waters when the pair are looking for leisure on Roosevelt Lake.

“We can decide, spur of the moment, to go out to Roosevelt and within an hour we can be on the water,” Gunnoe says. “We like to go super early in the morning or late in the evening when we can avoid the boats.”

While he enjoys the eastern end of the lake with its shallows, flora and fauna, Gunnoe has been on a mission to hit every body of water or lake he can within driving distance.

Lying between Globe and Show Low on SR77 is one of his favorites, Seneca Lake, which requires a permit from the San Carlos Tribe. But there are plenty of other nearby options such as Apache Lake, Canyon Lake and both the upper and lower arms of the Salt River, which makes its way west through the Superstition Wilderness west to Saguaro Lake.

He particularly enjoys the water up on the Mogollon Rim and the Coconino National Forest and says it is well worth the drive.

There are several State Parks in every region of the state from north to south and there is even a website devoted to activity at azstateparks.com/kayaking-in-arizona.

As to Gunnoe’s gear choices, ease of transport is important, but there is always the chance his kayak can spring a leak. He stressed the importance of knowing how to patch his own equipment, particularly if something happens out on the water.

In a graphic reminder of the importance of self-reliance on the repair front, Gunnoe learned an important lesson when a rat chewed a hole through his kayak.

“I was keeping it in the garage semiinflated and a rat got into it and chewed about a 6-inch hole in my $900 kayak,” Gunnoe says. “I’m kind of a DIY guy and a surgeon and seem to recall Patti teasing me about operating on the kayak. Working on those little holes and trying to reach places was very much like operating, but fortunately, nobody was gonna die.”

Although there are no true outfitters in the Copper Corridor, there are plenty of options down in the Valley.

Riverbound Sports in Tempe about a mile from the Arizona State University campus is licensed to operate in the Tonto National Forest and offers services from sales to rentals to organized tours, lessons and events on the waterways around the Valley.

Owners Teri and Corey Carlin came to Arizona from Southern California in 1998 and found there was nowhere in the area that served kayakers and paddleboarders. The couple celebrated 10 years in the business in July.

TOPO JOES, which just opened up in downtown Globe, is focused on bikes, but is looking into handling kayaks and rentals in the future. Plus, they have a 15-passenger van to shuttle both bikes or kayaks to a location of your choice. Check them out!

Open Wed-Sat, 10am-6pm (928) 351-6411.

“When we arrived, there were no resources in the Valley so we eventually quit our day corporate jobs and figured we’d give it a chance,” says Teri, who has been heavily involved in the sport for about 14 years. “This kind of work is not very lucrative, it’s a labor of love.”

Corey still works his day job, but Teri devotes her days to caring for the business and answering phones, even on days when the business is closed.

She says it took more than a year to get licensed to operate in the Tonto National Forest, and Riverbound has recruited a lineup of licensed, qualified tour guides to lead their excursions.

The shop is open year-round, with reduced winter hours as March through November are the busiest months.

“The best paddling is in the winter though, because there is more to see and it’s less crowded,” she says. “A lot of people see the Salt and don’t understand how the water flows all the time, but it’s very controlled and they do a spectacular job preserving the flows. It’s a very special place.”

A basic start-up kit for the novice kayaker starts at between $450 to $550, but the avid sportsperson can spend thousands of dollars for a wide range of equipment and accessories. Beginners can sign up for lessons and groups can plan tours.

“We recently did a tour with 40 people and it’s very popular for bachelorette parties,” Teri says. “There are many different types of kayaking and paddleboarding, even paddleboard yoga. It’s a nice, fun way to get out and burn calories.”

The company’s website offers a wealth of information about everything from river flows to the latest watersport apparel.

For more information, go to riverboundsports.com. u

Within the next 48 hours, Petersen intervened with the threat of legislative action to re-open negotiations leading to an extension of the contract through 2025.

The contract was penned in 2019 and expired in June 2022. According to GCC Interim President Janice Lawhorn, it automatically extended for one year, “unless either party provides notice of termination,”allowing either party a way out with a 90-day notice.

Quest for independence

Under the terms of the agreement, EAC provides accredited courses, programs and services such as IT and human resources, including payroll.

GCC’s budget is nearly $6 million, according to Jan Brocker, president of the GCC governing board. Gila County reimburses EAC to cover expenses, which charges an additional 25% for administrative fees, amounting to about $1.2 million annually from the Gila County coffers above operational costs.

“Most of our income comes from Gila County, but we do have state funding primarily for workforce development,” Brocker says. “I don’t think people understand that and think EAC gives us our operating budget. No, we pay them.”

The district owns all of its property, equipment and facilities, including the Gila Pueblo Campus in Globe and the Payson Campus, the Globe/Miami Regional Training Center and the Hayden Wellness Center. GCC has operated for 20 years and, according to Brocker and Lawhorn, is completely debt free.

Independence would allow local control for Gila County and save more than $1 million annually. It would also consolidate all of the school’s functions and administration within the boundaries of the county.

Additionally, the legislation that initially created provisional districts in the state mandated those districts seek independence at some point in the future.

In the fall of 2022, GCC and EAC representatives met to discuss finances and personnel issues to replace two retired deans on the Payson and Gila campuses. Two previous searches had failed and GCC wanted to reopen the search.

That December, the GCC board also approved a new marketing position, but EAC did not follow up to fill the position, according to Lawhorn. EAC subsequently cut off all communications between the GCC board and students or employees of the district.

The board interpreted these actions as a way for EAC to assert control and impede the district’s ability to manage personnel as well as its chances for a successful bid for independence. It also believed EAC wanted to keep Gila County students taking online classes on the books to up enrollment counts in order to increase state revenues.

“In April of this year, I met with the two vice presidents at Eastern Arizona College,” Lawhorn said. “At that time, they told me that there would not be any additional communication between me and the senior dean or financial coordinator or the campus coordinators or anyone on either of the campuses, or they as the employee would face disciplinary action.”

The threat led to frustration on the part of both the GCC board and the staff and students of the college due an informational vacuum that followed as the issue was publicly aired on social media with no opportunity for the district to respond to increasingly heated criticism and unsupported theories.

On May 9, Brocker and Lawhorn released a statement indicating that GCC would terminate its agreement with EAC, effective June 30, 2024, in order to “work through its impending transition” and give students the opportunity to finish programs in a timely manner.

The board reasoned that it had not recommended any changes to the agreement with EAC, and that the extra time it proposed would facilitate a more orderly transition to any future agreement with another institution.

But EAC was not on board with that schedule, and on June 12 informed the GCC governing board that it would “terminate the already terminated contract” on Sept. 10, 2023, leaving students, faculty and administrators in a state of chaos as the beginning of the school year rapidly approached.

Public backlash

The kibosh on communications did not sit well with the community, which was quick to blame GCC for the mess.

“The community felt like they were put in the middle between us and the board. To threaten disciplinary action for communicating was a little harsh,” Lawhorn says. “We certainly didn’t want to jeopardize any of the students or employees. We said that very clearly. That was the last straw for us, because it was totally inappropriate.”

Regardless, two Town Halls—a second was held in Payson on July 27—brought waves of angry citizens questioning the GCC board’s decisions.

Many of the people on hand were either employees of the district, alumni or students expressing dismay at the idea they would either lose their jobs or educational opportunities if the district collapsed.

Globe native and local business owner Erica Flores, who earned her teaching credential through the GCC/ EAC partnership, called the GCC board to task for what she considered a series of bad decisions.

“It has been such a service to our rural communities to get certified teachers in the classrooms and this decision directly impacts that,” Flores said. “There should have been a plan in place and part of that plan should have been knowing at least who some of these new partners would be.”

Lawhorn responded that schools are not run the same way as private business, due to the regulatory framework involved, the way in which funding is allocated, and relationships with multiple public entities.

Throughout the forum, Lawhorn and Brocker indicated there was a potential partner in the wings, but the GCC board was unable to pursue that option while the district was still in an agreement with EAC.

“How many of you have gone through a divorce?,” Lawhorn posited. “How many of you could start a new relationship while you were still married? Not a good idea. Right?”

Formation of the provisional district

There are 10 community college districts in the State of Arizona with 61 locations serving nearly 300,000 students, 1,400 of whom are in Gila County.

Due to a small population and limited tax base—94% of Gila County is on vast tracts of federal or Tribal land— the County did not qualify to have its own independent community college, so access was limited for many residents.

In 1999, two provisional districts were created as a result of legislation enacted allowing counties to levy taxes to create schools offering accredited courses through partnerships with accredited independent community college districts.

In 2002, Gila County voters passed Proposition 400, giving a green light to the tax levy and in March 2003 the Gila County Provisional Community College District filed articles of incorporation.

After a brief and acrimonious relationship with Pima Community College, GCC entered into an agreement with EAC in 2005. It is not clear why the previous relationship ended, although Lawhorn and Brocker believe it had something to do with a disagreement over property ownership.

In 2009, the State ended the creation of new provisional districts, but GCC was grandfathered in and the threshold for the number of students required for enrollment, should the school gain independence, was reduced from 900 to 450, thanks to the efforts of Representative David Cook in 2011.

The other provisional district is in Santa Cruz County, located in Nogales, which has a contract with Pima Community College. The school’s website states that its governing board is “investigating the possibility of developing a pathway to future accreditation.”

The problem for both districts is that when the State Legislature gave the green light to create the districts, it provided no pathway, or even any breadcrumbs, to attain that goal.

Nevertheless, the statute directs them to “maintain a regional accreditation and oversight relationship with another community college district until the district achieves initial candidacy status from a regional accrediting agency,” but must “actively seek accreditation from a regional accrediting agency recognized by the United States Department of Education or by the Council on Postsecondary Accreditation.”

In GCC’s case, that agency is the The Higher Learning Commission (HLC), an independent corporation based in Chicago, Illinois, founded in 1895 as one of six regional organizations in the U.S. that accredits degree-granting postsecondary educational institutions.

“We are definitely establishing our own organizational structure we had to get in place,” says Lawhorn. “And now I feel like we can move forward more efficiently.”

Lawhorn is uniquely qualified to lead the transition, as she was employed by EAC as an instructor and administrator for more than two decades. She is now working with GCC’s five-member volunteer governing board, composed of Gila County residents from regions created through the legislation.

Her salary is paid through a five-year intergovernmental agreement (IGA) with Gila County that provides GCC with $250,000 annually to hire consultants in the bid for independence, which was addressed in executive session at the board of supervisor’s Aug. 1 meeting.

At the end of the session, the supervisors returned to open session to unanimously authorize county attorneys to work with GCC’s attorney on any potential new contract between GCC, the county and any future community college partner.

“If it wasn’t for this agreement, we would not have been able to contract with Interim President Janice Lawhorn, or any of our other specialists/consultants,” Brocker stated in an email to GMT. Due to the nature of the meeting, Brocker was unable to provide more details, but stated that “the Supervisors are very supportive of our moving forward toward independent status.”

Decisions that affect important programs and the local workforce

Despite the number of community college districts in the state, there are only a select few with the ability to accredit the school’s nursing program, one of the best in the state that brought many concerned citizens to the Town Halls.

The program must receive the blessings of the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing (ACEN), a national certification the current program has.

“We know that when we partner with someone else, we need to ensure that they have at least that ACEN accreditation,” Lawhorn says. “Our first priority is to ensure that, because we think everything else can fall in place. … An accredited nursing program is a top priority for us.”

As a result of a meeting with Petersen earlier in the day on July 25, on Friday, July 28 GCC announced that thanks to that intervention, EAC had agreed in principle to extend the contract through June 30, 2025.

The extended date allows one final group of students to enroll in two-year programs that can be completed at the Gila Pueblo and Payson campuses, including high school students in dual-enrollment classes and job training programs.

After the upcoming fall semester, there will be no two-year program enrollments and students in one-year programs can enroll through the fall of 2024. Single-semester programs will be available through the spring 2025 semester.

The announcement elicited a sigh of relief to Mike O’Neal, superintendent of the Cobre Valley Institute of Technology (CVIT), which has operating agreements through both GCC and EAC.

CVIT is one of 14 Career and Technical Education Districts (CTED) in the state, working with school districts and private business partners throughout the region.

O’Neal, who has been in the position for nearly three years and has worked hard to stabilize the district’s seven certification programs that range from Cosmetology to Welding, has been on a roller coaster in the wake of COVID and now has to maneuver through this potential setback.

He says that if EAC had ended the contract this fall it would have put CVIT’s efforts back at least three years.

“The impact would have been that our largest program, medical systems, would not be available to new students,” O’Neal says. “Traditionally, we get about 30 students a year in the first year of the two-year program. That would have impacted us significantly for funding student opportunities and it would impact our local workforce needs because about 80% of our students are placed right after they complete the program, when they’re done with high school, with some of them placed while they’re still in high school.”

He says that while CVIT is still “behind the 8-ball,” now that the timeline has been extended, he and his staff members can work to get back on track.

“Unfortunately, we had to turn some students away so hopefully we can recoup those and recover,” O’Neal says. “I am really, really thrilled EAC was able to come to these terms and make this possible for our students, because it’s what’s best for our students, it’s what’s best for our community, it’s what’s best for our local workforce needs.”

An uneasy peace

On July 28, GCC released a statement announcing the extension of the contract, praising Petersen and EAC for the work that went into the agreement that is pending approval from both school’s boards.

“We’re elated that EAC has agreed to do what’s right for the students of Gila County,” Brocker stated. “We look forward to implementing the orderly transition we proposed when we gave EAC 14 months’ notice that GCC would seek a new accreditation solution.”

The announcement caught EAC off guard, as Kris McBride, EAC’s director of marketing and public relations, expected there would be a joint press release at some later point.

“We always had the best interest of Gila County students at heart,” McBride said in a subsequent interview. “When we received the initial notice [from GCC] and asked who the new provider would be, we were concerned because there was no provider in place.”

As to the halt of communications with the GCC board, McBride stated that EAC was not stopping communication, but “enforcing best practices for effective board governance,” since EAC expected all communication to go through its president or vice president.

“While the Gila Board can certainly be cordial with our employees, it is not their role to provide direction to individual employees,” McBride wrote in an email.

According to McBride’s office, EAC reversed its position on the extension of the contract through June 2025 after the GCC board paid nearly $2 million in overdue payments.

“EAC’s contract extension temporarily bridges the gap for students caught in the middle,” McBride stated in EAC’s press release on Aug. 2.

In response, the GCC board stated that the invoice it received was $500,000 higher than expected, but no documentation or itemized invoice explained the charges.

“When it became clear that this payment would be a sticking point in terminating the contract, we made the payment immediately,” Lawhorn stated. “To date, we have not received all the documentation from EAC about the entirety of this billing.”

Now the clock is ticking for the governing board, but everything appears to be falling into place. The district is financially stable with the support of the Gila County Board of Supervisors and the plans that were briefly derailed can now get back on track.

With a bit of luck, the college can take its next step to independence—working with a new partner—and can announce its new beginning in 2024. u