EMPIRE -- Two apparently related sewer board members abruptly resigned after angry residents accused the mother-daughter team of trying to raise rates and enrich their families.
The remaining board members — two of whom were appointed only last month — are exploring whether to try giving the embattled Empire Sanitary District to Modesto, which has processed Empire's sewage for many years and conducts much of the district's business.
Stanislaus County supervisors on Tuesday accepted the resignations of former board president Cherrie Renfro and former vice president Christy Streit. Several people close to the drama said Renfro is Streit's mother and that neither lives in Empire, a requirement under state law for public service there.
In addition to board member salaries, the women collected pay for unspecified work, and the board hired Renfro's husband in recent months. A Bee review of district financial documents shows that the three were paid more than $22,000 over the past three years, a majority for vaguely described "hours worked" that Renfro refused to discuss.
Also, the district placed liens against both women in January. The liens were released in November, recorded documents reveal. Such liens typically are filed for nonpayment of fees.
Twelve years ago, Empire homeowners paid $6.99 monthly sewage bills. The board this year has been trying to raise rates in a series of steps from $25.75 to $40.80 by August 2011.
Civil grand jurors investigated the Empire Sanitary District in 2002 after residents complained of steep rate increases. The grand jury determined that board members had botched state rules by failing to notify property owners before twice raising rates three years earlier.
In addition to recent top-level turnover, the board has had trouble retaining legal counsel. A former attorney quit for reasons he declined to reveal, another died recently and a third did not return a call from The Bee.
Renfro hung up Thursday after saying her brother had died the day before, her mother died Nov. 26 and "I can't handle anything right now."
A telephone line went dead Wednesday after Streit was asked why she had resigned. She did not answer subsequent calls or return voice messages.
Property records show that a lender foreclosed on Renfro's Empire home and it was sold at public auction in May. Streit bought a Denair home in June 2008, according to recorded documents, and show no other home in her name in Stanislaus County.
Residency concerns studied
At the request of county Supervisor Bill O'Brien, whose district includes Empire, County Counsel John Doering researched whether officeholders must live and be registered to vote within districts they represent. The answer is "yes," but only the California attorney general or his designee can remove someone violating that rule, Doering wrote in an opinion dated Nov. 19.
In July, grand jurors said Sebastian Jones, the Monterey Park Tract water board vice president, should be removed because he did not live in that district. He resigned in October.
Empire resident Glenn Hankins filed a notice of intent to circulate a recall petition for Streit days before the women resigned, the Stanislaus County clerk-recorder's office confirmed.
Renfro, 46, and Streit, 31, collected $100 per board meeting because of their positions as officers, according to district policy, regardless of how many times the board met per month. Other board members are paid half that amount.
In April 2007, one month after Streit joined the board, Renfro began receiving extra pay for "hours worked." As of last month, Renfro had collected $7,968 for unspecified tasks, sometimes up to $600 per month, plus $7,000 in board pay, since January 2007. With various reimbursements, she received more than $15,200 in that time.
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