Once upon a time, the City of Ripon had the Police Athletic League.

PAL was started in 2005 and located downtown, serving as a place where youngsters would go when school was out of session, recalled Leo Zuber at Tuesday’s Ripon City Council meeting.

“The next four years, it was active and raised a lot of money,” he said. “Then the recession came and PAL (funding) took a big hit from the budget.”

By 2009, PAL ceased to be function entity. Much of the equipment was sold off while staffing was eliminated.

Councilman Zuber, who served as PAL’s treasurer, pointed out that closing balance on account was $8,800.

 But during the course of the next five years, the money from this organization has dwindled to $6,800 due to payments for taxes and non-profit registration.

Zuber is proposing that the City dispose of the PAL funds.

“The plan is to use it as intended – for the kids,” said Zuber, who had met with Ripon Police Chief Ed Ormonde and Recreation Director Kye Stevens on the matter.

He’s asking for half the funds to be allocated to the Ripon Recreation Department.

“It would be used solely to pay registration fees for community youth unable to pay the fee for participation in a Recreation Department program,” Zuber said.

The other half could be used to support those non-profit organizations offering activities or events for Ripon youngsters. These groups would be required to fill out an application, which, in turn, would be screened by a committee.

The limit per approved applicant would be $500.

Councilman Jake Parks suggested asking the schools for their input on use of the funds.

City Attorney Tom Terpstra indicated that the language on this no-action item still needs be “cleaned up” before coming back to Council. “That process can begin immediately,” he said.

Elected leaders, in addition, would be required to take action on dissolving the non-profit organization.