The four candidates vying for two seats on the Montecito Water District met Thursday night for a question-and-answer forum that focused on their thoughts regarding potential new water supplies, desalination and water conservation.
The Montecito Association hosted a debate held at the Montecito Union School Auditorium and more than 100 potential voters filled the room to hear the candidates.
Candidates for the board of directors four-year-term seats on the Nov. 8 ballot are Tobe Plough, a management consultant for major oil and gas companies in Santa Barbara County, water consultant Floyd Wick, former Montecito Water District manager Tom Mosby and board incumbent Charles Newman.
Sitting board member Jan Abel announced in August she would not seek reelection, and Newman was appointed to fill a vacancy in mid-2015 after board member Darlene Bierig resigned to write her dissertation.
Event organizers posed questions to the candidates about potential water supplies from desalination and recycled water. The district is working toward a water sales agreement with the City of Santa Barbara and has purchased some recycled water from Goleta, which is trucked over for deliveries.
Newman defended the board’s position on recycled water.
“Our district has been aggressively pursuing the purchase of supplemental water,” Newman said. “I’m not proposing everyone gets Goleta water that is being trucked in at an expensive rate. Understand it’s a first step, something the Montecito Sanitary District wanted to do and what our community has asked.”
Newman also spoke about desalination and said he was the only candidate endorsed by the Sierra Club.
“(Desalination) is something we must do, not out of desire, but out of despair,” Newman said. “We are taking the necessary action to move forward with desalination and we know the exact amount of recycled water we can use within the community, but conservation is critical.”
Mosby favored desalination and said recycled water is “on the radar.”
In approaching the water supplies shortage challenge, Mosby said it’s necessary to establish a reasonable limit of customer demand.
“Currently, the new water supply development the district has committed to is desalination and recycled water for limited outdoor water use,” Mosby said. “I fully support the delivery and development of these new water supplies.”
Plough said people are going to consume water in the least expensive way and want a good deal. He said the board should listen to client needs.
“There seems to be a lot of heat surround the recycling issue,” Plough said. “Test these ideas with customers. See if customers are interested — before spending time, staff and members of committees to do something that no one is going to pay attention too.”
As far as buying extra water, Plough said it’s also important to look at the delivery system.
Both Wicks and Plough pushed for an urban water management plan.
Wicks said the Montecito Water District violated California State Law by failing to file an urban water management plan in 2010 and in 2015, as required by state law for all water utilities serving more than 3,000 customers.
“I’m not sure how you can implement a plan to add new water if there’s no plan to start with,” Wicks said.
Wicks said if elected, he would “file required plans by the state and look forward to including recycled water and desalination.”
The candidates were also asked about their proposals for new water supplies and the balance for Montecito ratepayers.
Newman said the board has a finance committee which has undertaken a rate study with an outside consultant.
“I’m on the finance committee that engages the consultant, hopefully before my new term, we will be coming before the public with a proposed public hearing and proposed new rates,” Newman said. “There’s no secret here. Water consumption by way of volume is going down and we are going to need to ask you to pay more for less.”
Plough said MWD customers have no idea what the costs for the desalination plant or the demanded payment for its costs due to the absence of planning.
“We are faced with a lack of planning and we have rationing pricing structure (now),” Plough said. “Planning is crucial.”
He urged for the use of smart meters, a device that measures the quantity of water and real-time monitoring of water usage.
“Then, we use rationing as a last result,” Plough said. “That will change the pricing structure measurably.”
Mosby, who retired as general manager of the water district after 17 years, said numbers had been obtained from contractors about the cost of recycled water, which is around $1,200 to $1,400 acre-feet.
“We have done estimates on recycled water,” Mosby said. “We have to consider moving forward with the tax role and consider to encourage substantial costs. These costs can be spread out over time, which will make them manageable and similar to all the pervious water supplies. ”
Wicks said the city of Santa Barbara has a recycled water pipeline to the Montecito Country Club and “that pipeline can be extended and it should be one of the alternatives studied by the lack of the urban water management plan.”
The moderator was given more than 15 questions from the crowd after the forum discussion and there was not time to ask all of them.
One question directed to Wicks asked about the pros and cons of a private operator working on the board.
Wicks formerly served as CEO for 16 years of American States Water, where he ran the investor-owned water company.
Wicks said that he had retired from the company before taxpayers voted for a multimillion-dollar rate to buy out the company.
“I would not have a plan in favor for privatizing water,” Wick said. “Conflicts of interest exist and you can deal with them. I’m annoyed that (people think) because I work for a private water company, that makes me not suitable for a board position. If they ever came to the table, I would refuse myself.”
Newman responded back to his comment.
“I’m not seeking or representing anyone who is doing business with the water district,” Newman said. “Unlike people at this table, I have no conflict of interest. I’ve never been affiliated with a vendor that sought business from the water district and I would never do that.”
— Noozhawk staff writer Brooke Holland can be reached at bholland@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
