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Serious Ripon crime drops by 4% in 2015
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Major crimes such as robberies, vehicle thefts, assaults, and burglaries dropped 4 percent in Ripon during 2015.
Ripon Police Chief Ed Ormonde shared the good news with the Ripon City Council about community crime based on the Uniform Crime Report  Part One offenses that are basically serious felonies.
The chief said Ripon arrests were up 34 percent due to the reclassification of some crimes to a misdemeanor by Proposition 47.
During last week’s meeting elected leaders decided that Ripon Unified school board will continue to conduct monthly meetings in the Council Chambers.
According to Memorandum of Understanding, RUSD has permission to handle school board sessions and School Attendance Review Board meetings at City Hall as well as the Community Center fields for softball practices and games.
In return, RUSD gave the City use of the Ripon High gymnasium to host the recreation basketball leagues and certain camps during the summer months.
RUSD will also allow the City to have access to the high school or an elementary school gymnasium for open gym basketball and/or volleyball.
Use of these facilities, City Administrator Kevin Werner noted at the recent council meeting, will be free of charge to both parties, “(They’ll) also be responsible for the clean-up of the facility following their use and any damage that may occur,” he said.
Councilman Leo Zuber’s only concern was about insurance. “Who will be at fault if something happens?” he asked.
Werner indicated that both parties have discussed this issue,
“When the events are done it will be up to staff to make sure everyone is off the premises or out of a building,” he said.
Council voted 4-0 on the matter. Mike Restuccia was absent at the January meeting.
Reports by the department heads included:
uPlanning Director Ken Zuidervaart said the North Pointe Specific Plan fee schedule will be coming back to Council in the near future. NPSP comprises some 310 acres in the northeast part of town near the Mistlin Sports Park. Plans call for a mix of neighborhood and regional serving commercial, technology, office, recreation, entertainment, and residential uses.
uEngineering Supervisor James Pease pointed out that the Water Meter Installation project could be completed by the end of next month. So far, he said, 1,360 meters have been installed to date with minimum delay. Pease added that 1,000 customers are on tap to receive their first meter bill in February.