New Merced high school trustee confirms living outside his district

More than two months after Greg Opinski narrowly won his seat on the Merced Union High School District board of trustees, questions about whether the 52-year-old lives in his district are still brewing.

Opinski, a local building contractor-developer, defeated incumbent trustee Ida Johnson for the Area 1 seat by 33 votes. But it wasn’t long after the tight victory on Nov. 4 that questions began swirling about Opinski’s residency.

Board members are required to live in the districts they’re elected to serve, according to state education code requirements.

Opinski had previously denied moving out of Area 1, which would disqualify him from board service. But on Friday, he confirmed to the Merced Sun-Star that he has moved outside the district because of his divorce. Opinski said he consulted an attorney, who checked with the attorney general’s office on the legality of the move. The opinion was that an elected official can live outside the proper district on a temporary basis, he said.

Opinski said he plans to move back into the district as soon as he can. Meantime, he plans to seek direction from the school district board at its meeting next week.

“If the board feels I need to rent a house within the district during this temporary period, just so it’s not an issue, I will do that,” Opinski said Friday. “I’m just going to take the direction of the board.”

Scott Scambray, district superintendent, previously told the Sun-Star the district would deal with any discussion about Opinski’s residency once he was sworn in. Opinski was seated at the board’s Dec. 10 meeting. Scambray couldn’t be reached Friday for comment.

Merced County Registrar of Voters Barbara Levey said she’s received complaints about Opinski not living in the district, but referred the issue to the district board to decide. She mailed letters to the board and Opinski notifying them of the complaints.

Levey said the elections office verifies candidates’ addresses when they file paperwork to run, but it’s out of her office’s jurisdiction once someone is elected. When Opinski filed to run for the Area 1 seat, Levey said he lived in the appropriate district.

“If a candidate has been elected and then moves out of the district that they’re serving, it becomes an issue for that board to deal with,” Levey said. “The board needs to address it and determine if they require the person to live in the district they are representing.”

The Area 1 seat on the board generally covers an area north of Highway 99, roughly bounded by Highway 59 and Athlone Road, along with Olive Avenue, McKee Road, Yosemite Avenue and Kibby Road. According to public records, Opinski lived on Fallbrook Drive in Merced for 10 years, which is within the district.

Opinski received 37.77 percent of the vote during the general election compared with Johnson’s 37.15 percent, according to results from the elections office. A Gustine native, and Merced resident since 1990, Opinski ousted Johnson, who had served on the board for eight years.

This story was originally published January 9, 2015 at 8:40 PM with the headline "New Merced high school trustee confirms living outside his district."