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Board declines to adopt motions to pause or end consolidation talks with Montecito Water District
Summary
Multiple motions to suspend, pause or cease reorganization efforts with Montecito Water District failed to carry. Public comment on the agenda item was offered by Noah Boland of Heal the Ocean. The board recorded varying vote patterns but no single motion achieved passage.
The Montecito Sanitary District Board considered several motions on March 25 proposing to suspend, pause or cease efforts to reorganize with Montecito Water District pending a determination that water recycling in the area is financially feasible. Each motion failed to carry.
Public comment on the item was made by Noah Boland, identified in the minutes as Heal the Ocean Program Manager, who addressed the board regarding the agenda item. The minutes do not include a verbatim transcript of Boland's remarks.
The minutes record multiple separate motions and votes. Example outcomes: one motion to "suspend efforts to reorganize with Montecito Water District until a determination is made that it is financially feasible to recycle water in the Montecito area and to direct staff to return to the Board with next steps for Strategic Priority Item 2A within 45 days" recorded AYES: Directors Ohlmann and Rockenbach; NAYES: Director Barrett; ABSTAINS: Directors Newquist and Johnson, and the motion "did not carry." Another similar motion without the 45‑day direction likewise failed (AYES: Ohlmann and Rockenbach; NAYES: Barrett and Newquist; ABSTAIN: Johnson). Later motions to pause or to cease consolidation similarly failed to secure a carrying vote.
Because none of the motions passed, no formal change in the board's position on consolidation was adopted at the March 25 meeting. The minutes record the sequence of failed motions and the vote tallies; they do not show a subsequent directive to staff to change course or to end discussions with Montecito Water District.
