Property upkeep in the City of Ripon has plenty of importance.

A few months ago, Mayor Leo Zuber noticed the growth of more weeds around town. “This shouldn’t happen,” he said at last Tuesday’s Ripon City Council meeting.

This was part of the review and amendment to the “Nuisance” ordinance of the Ripon Municipal Code, which deals with weeds, rubbish, and other property maintenance within The City of Ripon.

According to Planning Director Ken Zuidervaart, the changes called for a more streamlined process in dealing with certain property maintenance standards, especially weed abatement.

“Staff, along with the City Attorney (Tom Terpstra), reviewed all chapters in dealing with Code Enforcement and determined that the most appropriate avenue to deal with property maintenance standards would be to amend the chapter,” he said

Included is a detailed method in dealing with all property maintenance standards, especially weed abatement.

Zuidervaart said the proposed amendment included a flowchart on how to maneuver through the process that will be provided to the City’s Code Enforcement, in order to ensure efficiency in dealing with these nuisances.

The Code Enforcement Committee met back in August to review the changes while providing additional comments on this matter to staff, which, in turn, was incorporated into the changes.

Council approved the amendment to the ordinance, 5-0.

Vice Mayor Daniel de Graaf inquired if the changes applied to homes as well – Zuidervaart responded by saying: “It does.”

Zuber is hoping that staff will start the weed abatement program sooner rather than later, in order to avoid any problems.

That process could begin in March, according to Zuidervaart.

“Staff ran into some difficulties because the County had not updated their records, which caused a delay in tracking down property owners,” he added.

Council member Michael Restuccia said the changes will “help keep our town looking nice.”