While lobbyists, legislators and local officials are backing a bill to make the Eastern Arizona College a four-year institution, Safford Mayor Ron Green is trying to gain support to bring a different university into Safford.

Green said he was approached a little less than a year ago by Randy Groth, president of and lobbyist for the University of Arizona South in Sierra Vista and civilian aide to the secretary of the Army, to place a University of Arizona extension in Safford.

So far, it appears Green does not have the complete backing of members of the council, the local representative or the president of the college, although they all say they hope to bring the matter to an amiable conclusion. The problem, according to Rep. Bill Konopnicki, is that Green has no experience in introducing bills to the Legislature and “he's talking to all the wrong people.”

Konopnicki said that while he believes Green is doing what he believes is in the best interest of the city of Safford, he doesn't understand the implications of his actions.

The Safford mayor said the plan was to make the Safford campus, which would start out of leased rooms at Discovery Park, part of a five-city system that would be its own university. He also said he was warned by Ted Downing (D-Ariz.), a research professor for the University of Arizona, that Eastern could lose the more than $10 million it presently receives from the state if it persisted in trying to obtain four-year college status.

Konopnicki, who is on the appropriations committee for universities, said there was no danger of that happening. In fact, if Eastern became a four-year college, the state would only have to give a little more to fund it, he said.

At the Safford City Council meeting Monday night, Konopnicki asked the members to sign a proclamation backing a bill to make EAC a four-year college, which he will introduce to the Legislature in January.

“I'd like to be armed with resolutions from all of the cities and towns here when the Legislature drops the gavel in January. If the only city that was not supporting it was my own city - that would be kind of sad,” Konopnicki said.

Following are the basic assumptions Konopnicki outlined for bringing in U of A or making Eastern a four-year college.

€ Both are great opportunities for the community.

€ In the next 10 years, 250,000 people will need bachelor's degrees in Arizona each year.

€ Arizona does not have any four-year teaching colleges and must expand higher education.

€ If Eastern becomes a four-year college, there may still be an opportunity for U of A South.

€ The three universities will not meet new demand for Arizona's higher education.

Konopinicki also compared U of A South with Eastern.

€ Cost for students: U of A South is less than universities, but Eastern is less than both. “EAC could be up to one-fifth the tuition compared to U of A South,” he said.

€ Mission: U of A's mission is similar to the Northern Arizona University's, which already provides some degree programs at the EAC campus. EAC would have expanded new programs.

€ Number of degree offerings: U of A would have one or two and possibly up to five. Eastern would have five to seven and even as many as 20.

€ Type of student: U of A would serve existing students. Eastern would serve existing and new students.

€ Number of students: 100 plus for U of A and 5,000 to possibly 10,000 for Eastern.

€ Economic impact: U of A would employ one or two people from the community; Eastern would double its present staff.

€ Local impact: $500,000 to $1 million a year from U of A. Konopnicki said much of that would go back to Sierra Vista and Tucson. He said Eastern would make about $40 million to $80 million a year, all of which would stay in the community.

€ Local tax rate: U of A - none. The local property tax rate could drop from $2.07 to zero with Eastern.

€ Local governance: For U of A, there would be none because the Board of Regents controls the university. For Eastern, all decisions would be made locally at first, but that would change over time. Konopnicki said there would always be some form of local governance.

After extensive discussion Monday night, the council agreed that the two shouldn't be mutually exclusive and will vote on the resolution at the Dec. 12 City Council meeting.

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