The Ripon City Council expressed concerns about the conditions on some of the streets and roads in town at last week’s meeting.

"We had 5.4 miles of very poor roads and, four years later, we still have 5.1 miles left -- we need to something about these roads," said Councilman Leo Zuber during the discussion on the Capital Improvement Program.

That's the living document for the fiscal year 2020-21, describing  transportation, water, sewer, drainage and facility capital improvements planned for the next five years, according to City of Ripon Engineering Supervisor Elizabeth Quilici.

CIP is not a budget but rather a planning tool for the budget process – documents could provide strategy for the planning of necessary land acquisition, design, environmental, and construction requirements.

Quilici noted that several projects on the CIP list have been completed, including the Doak Boulevard Shared-Use Path, Parkview Safe Route to School, River Road Phase 1 widening, Well 12 Modification  and Mulholand / California Resurface.

"The last project on the list, the Mistlin Indoor Arena Parking Lot, is scheduled to be completed in June," she said.

Cost for those six projects came up to about $4.9 million, with $2 million of that made possible via grant funds, and $2.8 million being that of local funding.

Of those projects, Zuber pointed at the road work at Mulholand Drive and California Street.

"That was done last year and it already looks bad," he said.

Quilici indicated the work consisted of the three-layer system. "It just extends the life of the road (but) doesn't give you a  new road," she said.

City Administrator Kevin Werner, in defense of the three-layer system, has worked out quite nicely on some streets such as Fir Court.

"We had a contractor wanting to give a demonstration on (this new technology) on our worst road," he said, adding that the City paid only for materials.

"Fir Court looks 100 percent better," said Zuber, who believes that roads such as Mulholand will most like require reconstruction.

That's the plan for Stockton Avenue, between Second Street and Doak Boulevard.

The Stockton Avenue Rehabilitation project is scheduled to be completed in the fiscal year of 2020-21, Quilici said.

The plan not only calls for complete reconstruction, using concrete pavers, but also utility replacement and new street lighting at a cost of $4.8 million from a variety of funding sources including Measure K and Regional Surface Transportation Program grants.

Two other projects scheduled to be completed within the next year is the handicap ramp and crosswalk on East Main Street adjacent to Starbucks ($40,000) and the River Road Overlay and Ripona Resurface Project ($1 million).

Werner, who recalled a few years ago of Council setting aside a Reserve Account -- currently at $2 million -- will look to address poor road conditions, by providing elected leaders with more details in the Pavement Management Plan.