The City of Ripon will again send representatives to Washington, D.C., as part of the 2019 San Joaquin One Voice trip in May.
Councilman Daniel de Graaf along with City Administrator Kevin Werner, as of now, will make up the San Joaquin Council of Government delegation seeking projects that are regionally significant and with community-wide benefits.
Elected leaders on Tuesday approved de Graaf and Werner for the One Voice trip scheduled May 5-9, with Councilman Jake Parks serving as the alternative.
“There’s a lot of networking that goes on,” said Werner, who added that Ripon has been involved in the One Voice trips for the past several years.
The Multi-Modal Station and the South San Joaquin Irrigation District Surface Water Supply projects will again be submitted as the Regional Transportation Project and the Local Priority Project, respectively, with the non-profit endorsement going to the Ripon Community Athletic Foundation’s Stadium Project.
“We have to keep bringing these same projects back (to the One Voice trip) until they’re funded,” Councilman Mike Restuccia said. “That way they know we’re serious.”
According to Werner, these submitted projects will be reviewed by SJCOG staff and the SJCOG Executive Committee prior to approval by SJCOG board to be included as part of the 2019 One Voice trip.
“Funding as a result of the One Voice efforts have been limited,” he said. “In the last three years, only the Regional Transit District and the Stockton Metropolitan Airport have been awarded funding.”
The proposed 10,000-square-foot Multi-Modal Station is planned near downtown across from the recycling center. Werner described it as being similar to that of the Manteca Transit Center with bus loading, a community meeting room and a future rail platform for the ACE train.
ACE service is targeted to be extended as far south as Ceres with stops in Manteca, Ripon, and Modesto by 2024.
The City purchased the property in August 2017 and received $3.9 million of Federal Transit Administration funding to go towards the design, environmental impact report and construction phases of the project.
Staff estimated the cost at $11.1 million, leaving the funding gap of $7.2 million as the request for the 2019 One Voice trip.
Elected leaders recently looked at applying for a grant from the Bureau of Reclamation for the SSJID Surface Water Supply project, which calls for constructing a pipeline from the SSJID existing surface water transmission to Ripon’s water distribution system.
“The timing is not right — we’re holding off for now,” said Werner, who will be among those looking to meet with legislative representatives about the regional importance of this project at the 2019 One Voice trip.
To contact reporter Vince Rembulat, e-mail vrembulat@mantecabulletin.com.
