After issuing an ultimatum to three members of the Camp Verde Sanitary District to resign or face recall, it appears the grassroots Sanitary District Fairness Group will have to make good on its threat.
Fed up with paying increasing taxes for a service members don’t receive to what many of them believe is a mismanaged sanitary district, the group approached sanitary district board members Al Dupuy, Kathy Scherich and Chairman Rob Witt for their resignations.
The answer was a resounding “no.”
It doesn’t mean they haven’t thought about it. Witt told the group in December that he’s considered it at times, given the time he devotes to managing the district, and Dupuy already resigned in December before reconsidering.
The group is also concerned about the fact that Scherich, while owning property in the district, doesn’t live in the district.
The group also wants Witt to be held accountable for a $6 million loan he obtained for the sewer expansion project “using the district members as collateral,” SDFG Vice President Bill Mitton said.
Now the group has recall petitions in hand and plans to start circulating them for signatures this week. The recall effort needs 133 signatures, SDFG President James Strava said, a number he doesn’t think the group will have any problem obtaining.
The group is armed with a lawyer, David Gordon, of Cottonwood, and Mitton said Gordon is compiling a list of alleged violations committed by the sanitary district board.
A recall election would cost about $3,000, Strava said, and the group already has a list of potential replacement candidates.
“We’re not going to go through all this and lose,” Mitton said. “That’s not in our vocabulary.”
Witt said he’d leave the question of his future with the sanitary district to the electorate at large.
“If the people don’t want me to represent them, then that’s their decision,” Witt said.
Mark Lineberger can be reached at 567-3341 or e-mail CVEditor@larsonnewspapers.com
