The Prescott Valley Police Department is gearing up for Saturday’ annual Shop With A Cop day, which will involve a lot of emergency lights and sirens and some short delays on Glassford Hill Road from Long Look Drive to Highway 69, and on Highway 69 to the Wal Mart on Gail Gardner Way in Prescott. The event will start between 7 and 8 a.m. at the Yavapai College building on Long Look in Prescott Valley, and return between 10:30 and 11:30 a.m. Nearly 100 law enforcement officers and almost 100 children in need will participate. Officers will give the children a ride to Wal Mart in their police vehicles and accompany them to breakfast, shopping, and a visit with Santa and Mrs. Claus.
Local News
YRMC Unveiling Health Needs Assessment
Yavapai Regional Medical Center (YRMC) has published its 2013 Community Health Needs Assessment. The assessment – conducted every three years – is a comprehensive look at the health needs of Yavapai County residents with a focus on western Yavapai County.
“As the area’s leading not-for-profit healthcare provider, YRMC goes to great lengths to stay connected to the community,” said Robbie Nicol, YRMC’s Executive Director of Community Outreach and Philanthropy. “The Community Health Needs Assessment provides information that allows YRMC to take that connection to an even deeper level. It ensures our services, programs and partnerships benefit the people we serve.”
The report highlights the challenges that can affect overall community health. It also reveals the need for effective partnerships between YRMC and other local not-for-profit organizations to address those challenges. The Community Health Needs Assessment was developed using data from county and national sources as well as surveys and interviews with key local organizations.
“This report is an opportunity for the entire community to focus on ways to improve the health of western Yavapai County residents,” Nicol said. “YRMC is proud to lead this effort by sharing this valuable information.”
The Community Health Needs Assessment covers Yavapai County with a focus on western Yavapai County, including the Quad-Cities area of Chino Valley, Dewey/Humboldt, Prescott and Prescott Valley. Also included in the assessment are the communities of Bagdad, Mayer, Paulden and Skull Valley.
The 2013 Community Health Needs Assessment is available for download free of charge via YRMC’s website located at www.yrmc.org. For more information, contact YRMC’s Community Outreach Department at (928) 771-5686.
Prescott Creeks Welcoming
Franklin Dekker is enthusiastic for his job as Conservation Coordinator at Prescott Creeks. After working on developing conservation monitoring programs for designated wilderness areas in Alaska, he is eager to return to Arizona and get to work improving water quality for the community of Prescott. He looks forward to getting to know the streams in Prescott and all the people who enjoy them. Although Franklin does not have a favorite creek in Prescott yet, he has enjoyed spending time studying and wading through the Bill Williams River in Arizona. is very excited to join Prescott Creeks as the Conservation Coordinator. After working on developing conservation monitoring programs for designated wilderness areas in Alaska, he is eager to return to Arizona and get to work improving water quality for the community of Prescott. He looks forward to getting to know the streams in Prescott and all the people who enjoy them. Although Franklin does not have a favorite creek in Prescott yet, he has enjoyed spending time studying and wading through the Bill Williams River in Arizona.
The mission of Prescott Creeks is to achieve healthy watersheds and clean waters in central Arizona for the benefit of people and wildlife through protection, restoration, education and advocacy.
Countdown to Acker Night Underway
Prescott’s tradition, Acker Night, is December 13th. The family-friendly event features music in the streets of Prescott, with participation from downtown merchants and residents from throughout the Quad Cities. The goal of Acker Night is said to keep music alive for the youth of Prescott; funds raised will help provide scholarships for music lessons and local youth programs related to music.
James Acker moved to Prescott more than 100 years ago. Upon his death in 1955, the businessman left real estate holdings to the city, stipulating their use for parks and promotion of music for children. More information is available online.
http://www.ackernight.com/
Understanding the Cost of Living Index
Most of us have a vague idea of what the “Cost of Living Index” (COLI) is – a sort of snapshot of how much it costs to buy different products at different times in different communities.
We know, for instance, that it costs substantially more to live in San Francisco or Boston than it does in Sierra Vista or Bullhead City.
But what do those “numbers” – those figures that are cited as representing the costs of things in a given area – really mean? And how are they determined?
David Maurer, chief executive officer for the past nine years at the Prescott Chamber of Commerce, says the process for determining the coast of living index is complex, complicated and costly. But it is used as a base point throughout the United States as a “…reliable source of key consumer costs from city to city.”
In fact, the COLI data are recognized nationally by the President’s Council of Economic Advisers, U.S. Census Bureau, the U.S. Bureau of Labor and other major financial and monetary groups as the major standard by which prices can be compared and living costs assessed.
Data are collected and analyzed by the Council for Community and Economic Research (C2ER), a firm headquartered in Arlington, Va. Formerly known as ACCRA data, C2ER systematically collects information from hundreds of cities and towns throughout the nation in six categories: Grocery Items, Housing, Utilities, Transportation, Health Care and Miscellaneous Goods and Services.
These categories are divided into 60 sub-categories that are weighted and represent important subsets within each main heading.
Once data are collected and reviewed through a sophisticated statistical process, C2ER determines averages for each category. A Composite Index is calculated, which then reflects the totality of all categories.
The base average is 100. Anything higher than 100 is above the national average; less than 100 is below the national average.
In Arizona, data are collected from seven areas considered as metro: Flagstaff, Lake Havasu- Bullhead City-Kingman; Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale; Prescott-Prescott Valley; Tucson; and Yuma.
How are these indices determined?
Maurer said that his staff regularly and carefully collects the data for the greater Prescott area. “It costs us quite a bit of money annually to go out and gather the information about each of those 60 categories. It is important that we in this area know how we compare with the other communities in the state,” Maurer explained.
Maurer’s staff then submits quarterly data for review and analysis. C2ER then issues quarterly indices, which compare costs throughout the country.
COLI data are used daily by town and city officials, banking institutions, financial planners, advisers, and corporate and business firms throughout the country and internationally. Decisions about buying or selling property or goods, about opening or closing a business or manufacturing plant are often based on what COLI numbers reveal about costs in a state or community.
The most recent quarterly report from C2ER indicates that the cost of living index in Prescott is “below” the national average, with a composite score of 97.6.
“It’s important to understand that these cost of living numbers change quickly from one quarter to another,” said Greg Fester, economic development manager, Town of Prescott Valley. “For example, I think without question that the drop in cost of housing during the Great Recession has really driven that number down. The question I can’t answer is where the cost of living number will be in three years. I suspect it will creep back to over 100.”
But for the time being, civic and financial leaders in the greater Prescott area are content that local cost of living numbers have dropped.
Both Mayor Marlin Kuykendall of Prescott and Mayor Harvey Skoog of Prescott Valley agree that having cost-of-living numbers below the national norm reflects well upon the area. They echo each other in saying, “We think we live in the best place to be in Arizona.” QCBN
Written by Ray Newton
County Recognizes Yarnell Hill Group
The Yavapai County Board of Supervisors is formally recognizing members of the Yarnell Hill Recovery Group for their service. Yavapai County Emergency Management Coordinator Denny Foulk praised both individual members of the YHRG and the organization as a whole for their efforts, and presented handsome wooden plaques acknowledging their service.
Receiving plaques were YHRG Steering Committee Chair Chuck Tidey, Vice Chair Kathleen Stowe, Director of Finance Paul Jones, Director of Reconstruction Bob Brandon and Director of Communications Frances Lechner. In addition, plaques were presented to Yarnell Community Center Executive Director Scott Shephard, a former Steering Committee member, and Volunteeer Committee Chair Linda Ma, who lost her home in the fire. The Yarnell Community Presbyterian Church was also recognized for its role as a center of many recovery efforts and activities in the four months since the fire.
Yavapai County Supervisors helped present the awards and shook hands with all of the recipients. In a letter accompanying the plaques, Board of Supervisors Chairman Chip Davis wrote: “As the tragedies unfolded and hundreds of people were displaced by the ravages of wildfire, you stood in the gap for the people of Yarnell.
“Serving as a member of the Yarnell hill Recovery Group you gave of yourself freely, volunteering hundred of hours so that your community could be whole once more. Your compassion is only superseded by your „can do‟ attitude.
“Hundreds of hours have been dedicated to serving our people, and due to your unwavering perseverance. Your actions enhanced the overall effectiveness of the recovery operations in Yarnell.
“The Yavapai County Board of Supervisors recognizes and appreciates your steadfast dedication to the people of Yavapai County during the Yarnell Hill Wildfire recovery. On behalf of the Yavapai County Board of Supervisors, and the People of Yavapai County,please accept our sincere gratitude. Your contribution is forever etched upon our hearts and minds.”
Presentations were also made to Hugh Vallely and Marcie Slay of the Yavapai County Emergency Management Office and a number of divisions of the Yavapai County Sheriff‟s Office.
Enthusiastic applause from the packed meeting room echoed the warm sentiments expressed by the Board.
About Yarnell Hill Recovery Group
Exiled from their homes and divided by the closure of Highway 89, a group of 20 Yarnell and Peeples Valley residents conferred in person and by phone about how to rebuild their fire-ravaged community.
Out of that conversation, the all-volunteer Yarnell Hill Recovery Group was formed with a steering committee made up of five key leaders representing organizations that have long provided services to residents: the Yarnell-Peeples Valley Chamber of Commerce, the Yarnell Community Center, the Yarnell Community Presbyterian Church, the Fire Department and Weaver Mountains – People Who Care.
Under the direction of the steering committee, a dozen volunteer sub-committees have been formed to provide resources for everything from emergency housing and financial assistance to clean up and rebuilding. The group‟s website, www.YarnellHillRecoveryGroup.org, provides a single place for residents to get news about recovery efforts and connect with services.
The group was recently recognized by Arizona and Yavapai County as the official recovery group for the Yarnell Hill Fire.
The Yarnell Community Presbyterian Church, acting as the Yarnell Hill Recovery Group‟s fiscal agent, has set up an account for the Yarnell Hill Recovery Group though the National Bank of Arizona, account #76 0000 2730, Routing #122105320. There is a Pay Pal button for donations at www.YarnellHillRecoveryGroup.org. Checks payable to Yarnell Hill Recovery
New Librarian for Teens
Teens in Prescott Valley may find they love going to the library once they meet Jolanta Feliciano, the town’s new teen librarian.
Originally from Poland, Feliciano is a graduate of the University of Silesia in Katowice. She came to Prescott Valley from Valley High School in Albuquerque, N.M., where she worked as the school’s librarian for 13 years. She and her husband, Juan, often visited family in Prescott Valley and liked the community, so when the position of teen librarian came open at the town, she applied and won the job.
The majority of today’s young adults are shifting into cyberspace – living and communicating online. Feliciano said. Keeping up with that shift requires her to stay abreast of new technology.
“Some librarians are no longer called librarians, they are ‘cybrarians,’” she said. “They are using computers, ebooks, web tools, and other activities in a digital format. Teens have a great need to be producers, not just consumers. We have to learn new tools to adapt to that.”
“Adapting” means that the Prescott Valley Library is much more than a building with a lot of shelves full of dusty tomes. One of the most exciting events to come along for local teens is the new, grant funded digital lab, where they will be able to learn and produce animations, book trailers (think digital book report), stories and videos for the web, and multi-media posters.
“There are a lot of fantastic tools the kids can learn to use, and it will help them outside the library,” Feliciano said. “Especially in high school, students will use the skills they learn at the library to advance at school.”
She is excited about the library’s new teen book club, which certainly is not “reading a book and sitting around talking about it.” Teens in the club will Skype with authors and members of other clubs, and meet local writers. They’ll create digital books reports and promote them on the town’s website.
“There are a variety of ways book clubs can work,” she said, adding that is the case for the entire library. “We have to shift our preconceived idea of what libraries are.”
The activities Feliciano promotes in the teen library have a central theme – they all point back to reading. It’s just reading in a different way.
“Children today are born into technology. We have to read a manual. They know it intuitively,” she said. “I like that aspect of my job the most. The teens are constantly forcing me to learn to stay on top of the curve. I learn from them all the time.”
Feliciano said she loves to be right in the middle of where the teens are.
“People sometimes have a strange idea that all teens are lost kids. There are a lot of good kids out there. We have to connect with them, and that’s the trick,” she said. “So far all the kids coming here are willing to participate, to organize and work to make this happen.”
With their lives so focused online, Feliciano said she also will work to educate teens about cyber bullying, online safety, and about how their online content can affect their lives and their futures.
She knows the library has become a “third place” for many students, who go from home to school and then to the library each day.
“A lot of them have no other place to go. This is their safe place to do homework, receive tutoring, do activities and socialize with friends,” she said. She is forming an advisory council to allow the teens to plan and organize their own activities.
Feliciano is at the library from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., Tuesday through Friday. The library is closed on Mondays. For more information on activities for teens, including book and art clubs, holiday activities, tutoring, and more, call her at 928-759-3042.
County Appointing New P&Z Members
Yavapai County is pleased to announce the appointment of George Lee to the Planning and Zoning Commission. Mr. Lee was appointed by the Board of Supervisors and represents District One. Mr. Lee joins Robert Cothern, John McReynolds, Dave Grondin, Michael Edmonds, Sandy Griffis and Matthew Zurcher also appointed earlier this year. Thomas Reilly, Jim Stewart and Curtis Lindner continue to serve as veteran members of the Planning and Zoning Commission.
Planning Commission members are appointed by their respective Supervisor of the District they reside in and serve staggered two and four year terms. Each District has two members appointed to the Commission.
According to Planning and Land Use Manager Dave Williams the “Planning Commission members reflect the diversity and values of Yavapai County. Each member brings their unique knowledge and vision to provide sound recommendations to the Board of Supervisors on Planning and Zoning issues. Their volunteer service to the Commission and Yavapai County is invaluable”.
Planning Commission meetings are held on the first Wednesday of each month in Prescott at 1015 Fair Street and the third Wednesday of each month in the Verde Valley at 10 S. 6th Street in Cottonwood. Meetings are open to the public and citizens are encouraged to attend.
For questions contact:
Dave Williams, Planning / Land Use Manager
928-442-5457
QC Prepping for Festival of Lights
For many Prescott Valley residents and visitors, the lighting of the Town’s Civic Center has become an enjoyable part of the holiday season. Behind the scenes, some hardworking employees begin in October to make the event a breathtaking sight.
On Dec. 6, after a program and a big countdown, Mayor Harvey Skoog will give the order, and the entire Civic Center complex will come alive with multi colored lights. While the lights appear to come on with the flick of a switch, it actually is a carefully choreographed feat. Eight different employees, in radio contact, staged at the police headquarters, the library, the Civic Center building and a well house on Lake Valley Road, all will illuminate their respective areas at the “one” count, said Public Works employee Tim Collins, who has headed up the decorating crew since 1999.
The Town in the mid ‘90s moved the lighting from its traditional location at Robert Road and Highway 69 to Mountain Valley Park. When the Civic Center construction was complete, the Town christened the building’s first holiday season with a small light display at the Town Hall and the police buildings.
Not only has the display grown in size each year (it includes nearly a million lights by Collins’s estimate), it is now almost completely built with LED lighting. Collins said the old incandescent lighting was expensive, fragile and costly to run. The LED lighting costs half as much in electricity, needs less hours for installation, and lasts much longer, some strands as many as eight to 12 years, he said.
Each year, Collins and other public works crew members unpack the lights, look over what they have, and then brainstorm ideas for something new.
“Three years ago at the library a couple of the fleet guys helped design steel ornaments in the shape of a bell, bow, stocking and candy cane. We put lights on them and hung them off the side of the library building. We also designed the trees on the front wall of the building,” he said.
Public works crews and other town employees during the year pass along ideas and new products they’ve seen, and some new items, like the “snow tubes” on several of the center’s larger trees, have been incorporated into the display.
This year, crews have changed the police complex lighting to LED lights, and many more of the smaller trees around the center will be lit.
“Next year, if it’s in the budget, we want to light up the median on Lakeshore between each end of the Civic Circle, so the whole parade route will be lit,” Collins said.
Town Manager Larry Tarkowski said the annual lighting display is a “growing process, similar to what the Town has done. Every year, it’s bigger and better.”
When the display is ready to come down, every strand is separately bagged, labeled, and placed in rubber cans for safekeeping until the next season.
By Dec. 6, Collins and his crews will have labored for two straight months to make it happen. After 13 years, he admits to a bit of “bah humbug” by the time the work is done. But that quickly goes away when the lights come on.
“The best feeling on that Friday night in December is to hear all the kids going ‘ooh’ and ‘aah.’ That’s pretty cool,” he said.
This year’s Festival of Lights program will begin at 4:45 p.m., Friday, Dec. 6, at the Civic Center. The event is free to the public.
Festival of Lights Schedule:
4:45 – 5 p.m.: Music by Coyote Springs Choir
5 – 5:30 p.m.: Music by Liberty Chamber Singers
5:30 p.m.: Welcome by Mayor Harvey Skoog
5:40 p.m.: Children’s Story Time with Chamber CEO Marnie Uhl
5:50 p.m.: Lighting of Civic Center
6 p.m.: Night Light Parade begins
6:30 p.m.: Visit and photos with Santa at Civic Center
6:30 p.m.: Create A Tree Viewing at Civic Center
Amos Working as YRMC President
John Amos is settling in as YRMC’s new President and CEO. Clifford J. Morgan, MD, FACS, Chairman of the YRMC Board of Trustees, states, “We are exceedingly proud to have John in this role. The Board devoted two years to studying the qualities, characteristics and experience required of a top-quality healthcare system President and CEO. When we matched those variables with John’s background, his extensive screening performance and what we have observed while he served as East Campus COO, it was clear that he was the best candidate. The Board looks forward to an energy-filled and exciting future with John at the helm.”
John began his career at YRMC in 1992 as Director of Physical Rehabilitation Services. His background in occupational therapy and other clinical capacities has given him a wide range of experience working within a clinical scope. He was integral in creating the East Campus hospital in Prescott Valley from the ground up. In this endeavor he demonstrated his extensive skill in managing extraordinary change, while also showing respect for each person with whom he worked.
Dr. Morgan continued by saying, “John’s integrity and commitment to transparency will serve him and YRMC very well as we encounter unprecedented change in healthcare in the next few years. John’s values and his collaborative nature will create the foundation for a very successful future for YRMC. Yes, change is and will be paramount for YRMC and for the healthcare industry in general. We believe John has the courage and the clarity of vision to skillfully guide our organization to provide top quality, compassionate healthcare for our communities.”
Mr. Amos states, “Although this particular role is new for me, I have had the opportunity and the pleasure to establish, grow and develop the East Campus while also maintaining responsibilities on the West Campus. This unique experience of creating a brand new hospital, recruiting and developing staff, and establishing YRMC East as a new community resource was very gratifying. It also gave me many opportunities to develop good relationships throughout our region.”
John completed his undergraduate degree at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado. He then earned a master’s degree in Business from Northern Arizona University. John’s extensive professional experience includes working for a national physical therapy company, but his heart was always connected to YRMC.
John’s 21 years at YRMC has enabled him to get to know the organization and our communities very well. He and his family love the greater Prescott area and look forward to continuing their wonderful relationship with those in our community for many years to come.
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