A Voice of the Village

Editor’s Note: In our October 15-22 issue, the Montecito Journal published ‘Down the Drain in Montecito,’ by Floyd Wicks, Chris Francis and Woody Barrett, without identifying it as an opinion piece. It was “a Voice of the Village” submission and reflects the views of its authors. It was not an endorsement by the Montecito Journal, and it does not represent this paper’s position on the wastewater question or the candidates involved. We should have clearly labeled the commentary as an Opinion piece, and we apologize for the oversight. Going forward, every “Voice of the Village” and “Community Voices” piece will carry a note identifying it as opinion.)

Elect Judgment, Not an Agenda 

by Rock Rockenbach,
President, Montecito Sanitary District Board and Candidate for the Board

Tomorrow morning, households all across Montecito will flush, and not one of them will give it a second thought. That is exactly how it should be.

But somewhere down the line, a handful of your neighbors are thinking about it for you. Where it goes. What it costs. What happens when a pipe laid before most of us were born finally gives out. That “handful of your neighbors” is the Montecito Sanitary District Board, and in the next few years it will make the most consequential decision in the District’s history: keep treating our wastewater here or send it to Santa Barbara.

The story of that decision is only half told. It is not on your ballot, and the engineering and financial studies that will write the second half are not finished. No one can honestly tell you how it ends, whatever they may claim. The real danger is a board that writes the ending first and bends the facts to fit it.

Your vote decides something more important: who will be in the room when it’s time to decide.

You have heard plenty of claims, maps and numbers this fall. They have been corrected, and I won’t relitigate them here. When the real numbers arrive, the question is simple: Will the people in the room listen, or will they have already decided on the campaign trail?

John Murphy and I have not picked an answer. We are not wedded to local treatment, and we are not opposed to Santa Barbara. We want the facts, the risks, and the full cost on the table. Then we will choose what best serves Montecito ratepayers, and explain why in plain English. Our opponents have already spent tens of thousands of dollars on mailers and ads telling you their answer, before the facts are in.

“In the next few years [the Montecito Sanitary District Board]
will make the most consequential decision in the District’s history: keep treating our wastewater here, or send it to Santa Barbara.”

When I became Board President last December, I set a straightforward standard: if an item is on the agenda, it gets heard, and it gets decided. Items that had lingered finally came to a vote. With my fellow directors and our staff, the District is moving again.

John and I are also our own men. No campaign contributions. No one telling us how to vote. Every word we put out, we stand behind.

So ask yourself three things. Who do you trust to tell you the truth when it is inconvenient? Who has the competence to weigh a decision worth tens of millions of dollars? And who has actually delivered, not just promised?

Then go back to flushing and forgetting. Elect us, and John and I will do the worrying for you.

Murphy and Rockenbach. Governance on a solid factual foundation.  

Down the Drain, Light on Data

by John Murphy,
Director, Montecito Sanitary District, and Candidate for the Board

Last week’s “Voice of the Village” sold Montecito a wastewater future that’s cheaper, cleaner and practically gift-wrapped. It’s missing one ingredient: evidence.

“Greatly reduced cost”? Santa Barbara hasn’t agreed to take our flow or quoted a rate. Its only number so far is a $100,000 fee to start negotiating. That’s not a price tag. It’s an entry fee.

“A short, one-mile pipe”? You are sure about that? The plan also needs a couple pump stations, two large holding tanks and odor controls, all on the plant site neighbors are promised they’ll be rid of.

No ocean discharge “forever”? Santa Barbara’s plant discharges 1.5 miles offshore. “Forever” means “off East Beach instead.”

“The City recycles 42%”? The city’s own 2024 figures work out to about one gallon in seven. Last I checked one divided by seven was less than 42%. A rebuild with “no recycling”? Montecito’s only recycling plant was idled in 2021 on Director Barrett’s motion.

The 14% is a yearly ceiling, not a schedule. I moved that rate resolution and I own the vote. Director Barrett voted yes. Shipping our sewage to Santa Barbara won’t make our 77 miles of pipe any younger. It just adds Santa Barbara’s invoice.

And the claim that we favor a rebuild “at the urgent request” of the general manager? The engineering study now underway passed 5–0, with Director Barrett voting yes. Apparently it’s unnecessary, because the authors have already read the ending.

If the numbers favor Santa Barbara, I’ll support it. Until then, ask anyone selling certainty: Where’s the number?