The Yavapai County Citizens Academy will be returning to the Verde Valley for its third session in March and April and has opened registration for the course. Board of Supervisors public information officer David McAtee said that there had been two signups for the class as of Jan. 22, out of 20 available slots.

“We’ll run it until we fill it up or the class begins,” McAtee said. “Once the word gets out there that it’s available, it sells out, in quotes, because there’s no cost, relatively quickly.”

The concept of a Citizens Academy to educate residents about county government was approved by the Board of Supervisors on Sept. 9, 2018, but the nascent program was put on hold shortly thereafter due to the COVID-19 pandemic response.

“This is going to be the third class we’ve taught in Cottonwood,” McAtee said. “We did it for two years before COVID, and then we stopped during COVID, so this will be class number three.”

Each previous class, McAtee noted, had a full house.

The Citizens Academy will take place from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. each Tuesday at the county administrative offices at 10 S. 6th Street in Cottonwood. Any county resident over age 18 is eligible to sign up for the class; Attendees will be exposed to presentations by county officials followed by discussion sessions.

“We provide a meal — it’s usually a light meal, we usually find a local business that is willing to cater … so we have a light dinner, and then there is two to three different presentations,” McAtee explained. “Each director or elected official comes up and takes about half an hour. Out of that half an hour, 15 minutes is typically presentation — and it ebbs and flows a little bit — so 15 minutes of presentation and then 15 minutes of Q&A. That can go longer. We try to give the departments that we know get a lot of questions, like the sheriff’s office — we give him a few extra minutes to do his thing. Typically it works out real well.”

The currently-planned schedule of presenters and their departments for the Verde Valley Citizens Academy is:

• Tuesday, March 12: Board of Supervisors Chairman and District 4 Representative Craig Brown; County Manager Maury Thompson; Tara Newman, juvenile probation
• Tuesday, March 19: Dan Cherry, Joe Huot and Ashley Ahlquist, public works; Lynn Whitman, flood control
• Tuesday, March 26: Assessor Judd Simmons; Treasurer and former District 3 supervisor Chip Davis
• Tuesday, April 2: Recorder Michelle Burchill; Laurin Custis, elections; Kathryn Blair, public fiduciary
• Tuesday, April 9: Superintendent of Schools Tim Carter; Bryan Prieto, adult probation; County Attorney Dennis McGrane
• Tuesday, April 16: Corey Christians, Yavapai Library Network; Linda Wallace, courts; Leslie Horton, health services
• Tuesday, April 23: Kevin Blake, geographic information services; Sheriff David Rhodes, sheriff’s office
• Tuesday, April 30: Jeremy Dye, development services; Kennedy Klagge, public defender’s office; Ron Williams, constable’s office

“We don’t do our internal services like finance and budget,” McAtee said. “We leave that kind of stuff, because that’s really not what the public’s interested in. But any public-facing department, other than HR, because that’s sort of internal, sort of external, every county department is represented.”

Individuals interested in participating in the program can apply by visiting yavapaiaz.gov and navigating to the Citizens Academy section, or at yavapaiaz.gov/CountyGovernment/Board-of-Supervisors/Citizens-Academy. Applicants should be able to attend a minimum of seven of the eight classes. For additional details, contact the Yavapai County Communications Office at (928) 442- 5204 or web.CourthouseEvents@yavapaiaz.gov.