As Turlock begins redistricting, concerns over council member’s residency continue
While Turlock starts the once-in-a-decade redistricting process, Monday marked the anniversary of a formal inquiry into whether now-Council Member Rebecka Monez lived in the district she ran to represent.
The process redraws voting districts’ lines and determines which neighborhoods group together to elect City Council members, who are subject to state and municipal residency laws.
Turlock held its first redistricting public hearing Oct. 18 to seek input on a new map reflecting population changes recorded by the U.S. Census. Staff ran the meeting because the National Demographics Corp. said the public may feel more comfortable speaking without the council present, Interim City Clerk Kellie Weaver said during the Sept. 28 council meeting.
Some community members have continued alleging Monez does not reside in the southwest district she represents as required by law. Concerns expressed to one resident prompted the formal inquiry questioning her residency during the election. A year later, some Turlockers say Monez lives outside the district at a house she purchased in December 2020.
Monez and her husband bought a house on Hartwick Avenue in northeast Turlock in District 3, property records show, despite representing the city’s southwest district. She continues to rent a southwest Turlock house on Expedition Avenue in District 2, owner Melinda Stow said in early September. Stow declined to say whether Monez rents a room or the entire three-bedroom house.
In interviews early last month and in October 2020, neighbors near the Expedition house where Monez is registered to vote said she does not live there.
The council member elected in November 2020 told The Bee in an email that her husband and daughter live at the property outside her district. Monez said the Expedition rental is her primary residence; she stays at the other house with her daughter when her husband travels for work. Monez added she complies with both state and municipal codes, which she also told The Bee in October 2020.
“I understand why this situation might lead to all kinds of speculation and rumors,” Monez said in an early-September email. “My husband and I are in a difficult period in our marriage with a daughter of 15 years old. We aren’t legally separated but have lived apart since I moved to the Expedition rental.”
In response to an initial phone interview request, Monez asked The Bee to identify sources who dispute her residency before answering any questions. Those who disputed her residency wanted to remain confidential because they fear retaliation.
The Bee contacted Monez on Monday and Tuesday to request any updates on her residency. She did not respond to email, text or phone call.
Stanislaus County voter registration records show Monez updated her residence to the Expedition house on July 13, 2020, the same day the filing period for city elections began. Stow and her husband own the Expedition house, per property records. She and her husband continue to live at the house, Stow said.
The couple have rented the property to Monez since July 2020, Stow said. In her email, Monez said she has rented it since June 2020.
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Turlock neighbors share observations
Three neighbors in early September told The Bee that Monez does not live at the Expedition house and that they have never seen her there. One neighbor remembered speaking with The Bee last fall, when she was one of three people who said a couple have lived at the property for years.
In mid-October 2020, four neighbors said they did not recognize Monez. A fifth neighbor, who lives across the street, said he recognized Monez because he voted for her, but said she does not live at the house. He instead identified the Stows as residents.
“I have continued to look for a home in my district, but I have not found one that I like enough to purchase,” Monez said in an early-September email. “The home I purchased jointly with (my) husband outside my district wasn’t purchased for me.”
Chris Monez, the council member’s husband, declined to answer any questions in mid-September.
Neighbors by the Hartwick house Monez and her husband bought after the election disagreed on who lives at the four-bedroom property. In late August, one said neighbor said she lives there. A second neighbor said she does not know Monez and it appears people are trying to malign the council member.
A third neighbor said he does not know who lives in the house. A fourth declined to comment, saying he minds his own business and “I don’t want to get into that crap.”
The California Fair Political Practices Commission requires elected officials to report interest in real properties that are not their primary residence. Officials reporting properties from which they receive rental income indicates they do not primarily reside at those houses. On an economic disclosure statement signed in July, Monez reported owning the Hartwick house since December and receiving more than $100,000 from renting it.
But she did not list the names of tenants who paid more than $10,000 during the reporting period as required. After The Bee asked her about the discrepancy in September, Monez said she made an error. Monez then filed an amended form indicating the Hartwick house she owns is not a rental property.
Both state and Turlock law say elected officials must live in the districts they represent. Monez serves as the District 2 council member and the house she bought in December lies in District 3, which Council Member Andrew Nosrati represents.
Turlock began by-district elections for council members in 2016 after voters passed a ballot measure two years before. Compared to at-large elections, district elections are designed to increase representation and comply with the California Voting Rights Act.
Others have faced court over residency
California Government Code 349 defines what a primary residence or domicile is for local elected officials, said attorney Steve Churchwell, who specializes in election law. Courts consider where an official’s habitation is fixed, where officials intend to remain and where they intend to return whenever they leave the home.
The state attorney general can determine if there’s enough evidence to file lawsuits in superior courts to remove elected officials from office. A private person or local agency can submit a quo warranto application to the Attorney General’s Office. If the attorney general grants leave to sue, the court decides whether the politician unlawfully took elected office and can impose a fine up to $5,000.
A few elected officials in California have faced voter fraud charges for lying about their residence. In 2016, a Southern California judge sentenced a former Escondido school district trustee to three years of probation after he was charged with 13 felony counts, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported. The San Diego District Attorney’s Office investigated Jose Fragozo’s residency and filed charges against him.
The prosecution argued Fragozo leased an apartment so he could run for election while continuing to live in a different district, The Union-Tribune reported. His attorney argued he lived in the apartment within his district during the week and in a house outside it on weekends. The plea deal required Fragozo to resign from the school board, although a judge reduced his conviction in 2018, The Union-Tribune reported.
A Los Angeles jury in January 2014 similarly found former state Sen. Rod Wright lied about where he lives on voter registration and candidacy papers in 2007 and 2008, The Sacramento Bee reported. The state Senate suspended him two months after the verdict and he resigned in September 2014.
Gov. Jerry Brown later pardoned Wright in 2018 after approving a new law making it easier for California lawmakers, but not local elected officials, to live outside their districts.
Residents questioned residency last year
The Hartwick house allegations come after the city received a formal inquiry into Monez’s residency qualifications for the election on Oct. 25, 2020. Turlock resident Timm LaVelle filed the inquiry, which the City Clerk’s Office provided to The Bee.
In the inquiry, LaVelle asked whether Monez lived at her voter registration address and in District 2. He alleged neighbors living on Expedition Avenue did not know Monez and had not seen her at the house she changed her voter registration to in July.
Monez later gave the city a notarized affidavit of residence and documentary proof, said then-City Clerk Jennifer Land. No further investigation was warranted, Land said in early November. The Bee viewed both the affidavit and Monez’s rental agreement at City Hall a week later.
LaVelle told The Bee he filed the inquiry because business owners and people involved in nonprofits expressed concerns about Monez’s residency. Those community members did not want to file an inquiry out of concern for their reputation, but LaVelle said he was willing to speak on their behalf. This year, people have also shared documents with him about the house Monez bought outside her district, but LaVelle said none of them are willing to talk.
“There are citizens in the community who would like to speak up and would like to be more vocal,” LaVelle said in early September. “But again — and I’ve watched this for more than 20 years — when you own a business in town, people get real nervous about speaking up because it’s their livelihood and they don’t want to lose any business or be painted with a wide brush.”
This story was originally published October 28, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
