December was a good month for water conservation in Ripon.

At Tuesday’s Ripon City Council meeting, Director of Public Works Ted Johnston reported that residents saved up to 29.9 percent on water usage, comparing those figures to that of the 2013 water levels.

“Our ground water levels have been stable,” he added.

As for the 12-month year-to-date tally, Johnston said Ripon’s running average for the past month was at 22.9 percent.

In other reports from the Jan. 8 meeting:

Planning Director Ken Zuidervaart said the new odor control equipment at the local Diamond Pet Food plant has been up and running since Dec. 14. He’s hopeful that the public has noticed a difference in the odors in town, asking for folks to provide comments, if any, on this matter.

Engineering Supervisor James Pease indicated that work on the Park View Elementary Safe Route to School project will begin later this month. Included will be two pedestrian hybrid beacons, crosswalk, street markings and legends, signage, handicap ramps, flashing crossing signs and speed radar feedback around the Ripon Unified K-8 campus.

Information Systems Technician Dan Brannon pointed out that half of the newly installed automated License Plate Readers – altogether, 19 LPRs are planned for various locations in town – will soon be up and running, with another five to be online in the coming weeks. He added that 19 of the 76 new surveillance cameras are now up and running.

Councilman Mike Restuccia announced that he’s currently working with Assemblyman Heath Flora on changes to some legislation following the shooting death of Newman police officer Ronil “Ron” Singh.

To contact reporter Vince Rembulat, e-mail vrembulat@mantecabulletin.com