NPC looks to reassess administrative hiring processes and needs

“Because faculty run on nine-month contracts, when we have faculty that would be off-contract, it’s hard to work through all the shared governance processes that we want to work through in order to make a good hire sometime over the summer months. So therefore, we’ve made some decisions coming toward the end of the year in the way that we’re going to handle these searches.”

One is that the college is going to close the applications for the associate vice president of human resources on April 1. “That will allow us to get a final candidate in and get them through all the interview process and get them hired before around May 15.” Hazelbake noted that if a candidate isn’t found by April 1, then a discussion would need to take place for a Plan B as the search to fill the position has been ongoing for the past eight to nine months.

The college is continuing its search for a chief information officer, but Hazelbaker wants to reevaluate the position to gain a full understanding of the needs of the college. He intends to continue to leave that position open for applications after April 1 because that search has not been going on for very long.

“There are so many things going on in the IT world that we really think we need a good assessment. Our long-time director of operations announced that he is leaving the college. When he leaves the college that means that the CIO position will be empty and the second in command position will be empty. So, we really feel like we need some assessment of what we actually need in IT,” stated Hazelbaker

He noted three big IT projects that the college is facing. One is the need to replace the Janzebar system, which is a multi-year, multi-million-dollar potential replacement. The other is the microwave towers and the third is how the college integrates software.

“So, what I’m thinking about needing in the evaluation and professional expertise in that area, we’re working on finalizing a contract to potentially bring in two former CIOs that are part of a larger company to do an IT assessment over a six-to-eight-week period to help give us a road map going forward.”

Hazelbaker also touched on legislature that is taking place. He noted that he would be taking part in a hearing that was held on March 17 for the Arizona Corporation Commission regarding a coal impacted communities’ policy task force. “We’ve been invited into a couple of subgroups that are working as part of that task force, specifically to look at the impact of coal impacted communities. A lot of the ways to think about it is the way federal, state and corporate supports are going to flow through the communities.

“One of the things we talked extensively about is when for instance, the Navajo Generating (Station) power plant went offline there was more than $100 million in supports that came from APS (Arizona Public Service), the state government and federal government to help the communities and some of that money will flow into the community college system. So that will be a long-term process to talk about.” He noted that the closure of Cholla Power Plant will also be part of that discussion.

Hazelbaker then went on to discuss House Bill 2691, a bill that would allow the college to start a behavioral health program pilot project utilizing a grant. “Behavioral health is a giant issue in the region,” noted Hazelbaker. “They call it ‘depths of despair.’ If you look at alcohol, suicide and drugs, our rate (in Navajo County) is three times the state average. So Arizona is a little bit ahead of the national average and we are three times worse than the state average up in this area of the state. So, as we look at it there’s also a critical shortage of people to do behavioral health and addiction counseling.” Hazelbaker said that this grant would potentially provide $5 million over the next three years to start a program.