To help voters make informed choices, the Montecito Association invited every candidate in this race to participate in our candidate questionnaire. All candidates received the same questions, word limits, and were offered an opportunity to participate. Responses are presented in a consistent format, in the candidates’ own words. Participation does not constitute an endorsement by the Montecito Association.
Biography
Our family has called Montecito home for over 25 years. Our children all attended Montecito Union School. We love and care deeply for this community. I have served on the Montecito Sanitary District Board for 8 years, three years as the president. I received my BS in Geology and my BA in Political Science from Southern Methodist University, graduating in 3.5 years while playing on the football team and being an active in a fraternity.
1. What experience and qualifications would you bring to the district’s board?
I am the longest serving board member, 8 years, 3 years as president. It takes time to understand the needs of the sanitary district. The collections arm and the treatment facility deserve the main focus at this time. I have been through 8 different budget proposals from 4 different general managers, voting against the most recent one in June of this year. Comprehending the payables every two weeks, preparing for union negotiations with the employee union representatives and reviewing the upcoming $71,000,000 in capital improvement projects proposed by staff will be strenuous. Experience will be at a premium.
2. What are your two highest priorities for the next term?
My main priorities will be to provide excellent sanitary service to our community at the lowest rate possible. Our district has the opportunity to eliminate the sanitation facility’s wastewater discharge off Butterfly Beach and implement recycled water on a regional basis in coordination with other districts. The lowest cost structure for our rate payers is to send Montecito’s wastewater to the City of Santa Barbara for treatment. The City already treats the wastewater from Coast Village Road, it has been recycling wastewater over 30 years and it currently provides recycled water for irrigation to the Montecito Club Golf Course.
3. How would you keep residents informed and make board decisions understandable and accessible?
It is imperative the residents of Montecito be kept informed about upcoming decisions. The Montecito Sanitary District (MSD) has two board meetings each month, posted in accordance with California State Law. However, more outreach is needed. The Montecito Water District has a dedicated employee for outreach. Maybe the MSD should consider contracting this work out. All of the MSD board meetings are recorded and can be accessed on the MSD website. Watching 3 or 4 hours of meetings is at best, tedious. I believe board meeting minutes should have lengthy descriptions on board decisions for the public to review.
How would you balance reliable wastewater service, infrastructure investment, environmental protection, and affordability for ratepayers?
The Montecito Sanitary District was formed in 1947 and began operation in 1961. Reliable wastewater treatment comes from a properly maintained collection system, treatment plant and discharge line. Our community is fortunate to have such a dedicated sanitary staff. The sanitary system has been well maintained, it is operating as designed and discharging as per the NPDES permit. Through the decades it has survived a debris flow, minor earthquakes and rainstorms. If the least cost treatment alternative of pumping Montecito’s effluent to the city is chosen, the focus will need to tighten on where system maintenance funds are spent.
Biography
John Murphy is an incumbent board member of the Montecito Sanitary District and the Founder and Managing Partner of Montecito Capital Finance. With over 30 years of experience in financial services, capital markets, and private debt, John specializes in structuring complex financial transactions and aligning capital with long-term infrastructure project objectives. He holds an MBA with High Honors from the Lake Forest Graduate School of Management.
1. What experience and qualifications would you bring to the district’s board?
As an appointed sitting board member and a finance professional with over three decades of capital markets experience, I bring deep financial acumen to the Montecito Sanitary District. As a Founder and Managing Partner of Montecito Capital Finance centers on structuring complex financial transactions, analyzing capital allocation, and steering long-term strategic projects. This extensive background directly equips me to oversee the district's annual budgeting, contract reviews, and policy formatting, ensuring that large infrastructure investments are managed with the highest level of fiscal discipline and accountability.
2. What are your two highest priorities for the next term?
My first priority is upgrading and maintaining our critical wastewater infrastructure to guarantee long-term operational resilience and protect the local environment. Second, I am dedicated to maintaining strict fiscal discipline. I will utilize my financial background to optimize capital expenditures, maximize budget efficiencies, and explore outside funding opportunities to ensure that these necessary modernizations and environmental standards do not place an unfair financial burden on our local ratepayers.
3. How would you keep residents informed and make board decisions understandable and accessible?
I believe transparent community engagement is fundamental to effective public service. I will advocate for expanding the district's digital outreach by publishing clear, plain-language summaries of major board discussions, infrastructure projects, and financial reports directly on our website. Additionally, I support hosting open community workshops and regular informational forums where residents can comfortably voice concerns, ask detailed questions, and easily understand how our district's long-term policies and capital investments directly benefit their daily lives.
How would you balance reliable wastewater service, infrastructure investment, environmental protection, and affordability for ratepayers?
Balancing these priorities requires a highly disciplined, data-driven approach to capital allocation. By drawing on my 30 years of financial experience, I will ensure the district conducts meticulous cost-benefit analyses for all infrastructure projects, prioritizing critical modernizations that directly enhance operational reliability and ecological safety. To protect affordability for our ratepayers, I will proactively pursue federal and state grants, optimize existing operational expenses, and structure necessary capital projects through efficient financing models. This safeguards both our vital coastal environment and our community’s hard-earned resources.
Biography
My background in water resources engineering and utility management uniquely qualifies me to serve on the Montecito Sanitary District Board. Having served our community for 10 years on the Montecito Water District Board, I bring firsthand knowledge of local public governance and our region's critical infrastructure needs. As former President and CEO of American States Water Company, it provided a venue to deliver "best in class" customer service, which is an absolute must in a small community like Montecito.
1. What experience and qualifications would you bring to the district’s board?
Professionally, I specialized in managing large-scale water and wastewater utility operations for more than 4 decades. As President and CEO of American States Water Company, I formed American States Utility Services, which is the nation's largest provider of water and wastewater
services to US military bases, under 50-year contracts. This background is pivotal in dealing with neighboring communities, which helped to lead the Montecito Water District to a 50-year water supply agreement with the city of Santa Barbara in 2020. Having a BS in Civil Engineering and a Masters in Water Resources Engineering will assist in providing proper oversight on the capital budgeting process at the MSD.
2. What are your two highest priorities for the next term?
The MSD is facing a major decision, i.e. to spend tens of millions of dollars to rebuild the existing plant or work with Santa Barbara to accomplish the following:
1. Abandon the existing Montecito Sanitary District's treatment plant and deliver an average of 600,000 gallons per day of wastewater to the city of Santa Barbara for treatment; a very short one-mile pipeline would allow this regional approach to be accomplished.
2. Shut down the short, shallow wastewater outfall pipe at Butterfly Beach, which is only 1480 feet offshore from this pristine Beach. This would provide enormous environmental benefits forever.
3. How would you keep residents informed and make board decisions understandable and accessible?
Having accomplished a viable communications format at the Montecito Water District, it would be worth the effort to establish a similar protocol of sending email newsletters to customers, providing them with details of the District's objectives, major projects and timetables and a forum for a two-way communication. Those issues affecting customers the most, such as rate increases, would go way beyond meeting the minimum standards of "notification" to customers. This is one of the major reasons for my decision to run for the MSD Board, i.e. communication and dealing with customers.
How would you balance reliable wastewater service, infrastructure investment, environmental protection, and affordability for ratepayers?
It is noteworthy that the MSD's Mission Statement covers all of these points: to protect public health and safety and to preserve the natural environment through the collection, treatment, and disposal of wastewater in the most cost-effective way possible. However, the current plan at MSD is focusing on pouring money into an old facility and still dealing with an environmental flaw, by continuing to discharge 600,000 gallons per day, a mere 1480 feet offshore from Butterfly Beach. The 4 page flyer being mailed to MSD customers, goes into details, provided by Heal the Ocean, relating to the shallow sewer outfall pipe at Butterfly Beach.
BIOGRAPHY
A Montecito native, I left in 1990 for college and to serve my country and returned to Montecito in 2020 with Jan and our children. I am a retired Air Force JAG officer. I have been an attorney and mediator for over 30 years and own Rock Solid Options. Appointed to MSD Board in July 2025, and elected President that December, I also serve on the Montecito Association and the Pierre Claeyssens Veterans Foundation Boards.
See more at Rock4msd.com. Email me at rock@rock4msd.com or call: (805) 885-0077
1. WHAT EXPERIENCE AND QUALIFICATIONS WOULD YOU BRING TO THE DISTRICT'S BOARD?
Thirty years of resolving disputes taught me a method: establish the facts, understand every position, then decide. As a military officer I am trained to think strategically and act tactically. Since joining the MSD Board I have restored the line between policy and execution, brought structure to how issues come before us, and insisted that decisions rest on engineering and finance facts rather than on preference or emotions. I ensure that all voices are heard and respected. I neither pre-judge nor dismiss uncomfortable facts . Our District needs decisive action and movement forward; that’s what I do.
2. WHAT ARE YOUR TWO HIGHEST PRIORITIES FOR THE NEXT TERM?
Stabilize the treatment plant built in 1961. Engineering studies in 2022, 2023, and 2025 found substantial assets to be at or past the end of their useful lives. That work is required no matter what the District ultimately decides about treatment location, and it should not wait any longer than it already has.
Decide where Montecito's wastewater will be treated for the long term, and decide it on the facts. The analysis is underway. It is the largest decision this District has ever faced, and Montecito will live with it for decades. This is not a decision to be prejudged.
3. HOW WOULD YOU KEEP RESIDENTS INFORMED AND MAKE BOARD DECISIONS UNDERSTANDABLE AND ACCESSIBLE?
Meeting agendas and information packets are posted publicly on the Friday or Saturday before our Wednesday meeting. Our meetings are public, on zoom, recorded, and posted to our website. I have implemented a standardized briefing format that explains in plain language where we are in each project, where that project fits in our strategic plan, and the issues that are before the Board. I am clear on the record with my positions and the studies they rest on, transparent, and available to the public. My positions are based on facts not supposition, predetermined agendas, or outside influences.
4. HOW WOULD YOU BALANCE RELIABLE WASTEWATER SERVICE, INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT, ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, AND AFFORDABILITY FOR RATEPAYERS?
They are interrelated, synergistic issues, not four competing ones. Reliable service depends on retaining the great staff we have and ensuring our infrastructure works. Environmental protection depends on a plant that does not fail and maintenance that is done, not deferred. Affordability depends on investing steadily rather than waiting until the bill arrives all at once. Seven years of no rate increases just led to a sharp increase. The way to balance them is to rank risk honestly, fund the work in sequence, execute the plan, and tell ratepayers plainly what they are paying for and why. They will understand.