Highlights from "The Week in Review"

You can access the entire "The Week in Review" by clicking on the link on the right side of this page.

City Manager's Office
Follow-up from August 18 Council Meeting:
Megan’s Law – With the start of the school year and the expansion of no-busing zones, staff and the Council realize that the children in our community will be walking to school in greater numbers and from greater distances. It is important parents keep themselves aware of the potential dangers their children may encounter along these paths. One tool available to parents is the Megan’s Law database. This is a listing of registered sex offenders in each community. This program can be accessed by clicking on the link on the Manteca Police Department or Manteca Unified School District web pages, or at meganslaw.com. Parents can also make themselves aware of crime activity occurring in their neighborhoods by accessing the Police Department’s website and clicking on “Crime Maps.”

The Police Department conducts neighborhood meetings almost weekly to tell and show the citizens in attendance how they can access our Police web page and use Crime Maps to locate registered sex offenders, and show them how they can register to be notified weekly regarding crime activity in their neighborhood. The Public Affair’s Officer coordinates public awareness booths on the average of 10 to 15 times a year at various locations around the community. The Megan's Law computer is always available at these events, but citizens should remember that they can access the same website from their home computers for their convenience. This week, the Police Department attended three open houses at local elementary schools there the Megan’s Law and crime mapping programs were demonstrated. Last week, we set up at Home Depot and we had dozens review the local files. We are setting up in the next month for the day at Costco, where the programs will again be available to the public.

Weed Abatement – The Mayor requested information regarding a potential fire hazard (high weeds) on a parcel in the 300 block of North Main Street. Upon investigation, it was found the parcel in question has been issued a citation. This particular citation has reached the point where it has been sent to the court for legal action. The Fire Department will seek bids to clean the property as soon as the property owner exceeds the 30 days the court allows for the owner to mitigate.

Police
Attempted Murder Arrest: Approximately two months ago, officers went to Morgan Court in Manteca in response to a shooting. The victim was transported to the hospital with two gunshots wounds to his legs. The suspect in that shooting was Joseph Vigil of Manteca. Since that time, the Gang Unit has followed up on numerous tips. Those tips were passed on to the Fugitive Arrest Team – a team made up of U.S. Marshalls and officers of the Department of Corrections. On August 12, Manteca Police received information that Vigil was hiding at a specific residence in Modesto. Based on that information, the Fugitive Arrest Team was able to confirm he was staying at that house. On August 14 at approximately 7 a.m., Manteca officers set up surveillance of the house. Just after 10 a.m., Officers served an arrest warrant at the residence. Vigil was in the house and arrested without incident. He was charged with attempted murder and a parole violation hold, and transported to County Jail.

Possession of a Loaded Firearm: Officers were dispatched to a fight involving sticks at the west end of West Center Street. While en route, officers were told one person had a gun and was yelling about shooting someone. Officers arrived to find two males lying prone in the street and a security guard in uniform holding them at gunpoint. The security guard was directed to holster her weapon. She stuffed it into her front waistband, as she did not have a holster on her duty belt. She was told to put the gun in her trunk. An investigation determined that two of the individuals were fighting over a possible stolen cell phone. The security guard said she had seen the involved vehicles speeding into the area, went to her car, retrieved her personal firearm and detained the suspects, pending our arrival. She said she also saw someone with a firearm run into the field west of West Center Street. Statements obtained showed the guard had actually pointed her firearm at the 15-year-old son of a subject who ran into the field holding a cell phone. The guard’s credentials were checked. Her guard registration was current, but her firearm permit expired in 2007. Her supervisor was called to the scene and he said she had been warned she was not to carry a firearm with her at all while working for their company. The Security Guard was booked for Unlawful Possession of a Loaded Firearm.

Public Works
Power Surge: At approximately 3:00 a.m. on August 19, Manteca experienced a power surge, due to a vehicle accident in Escalon, where a car hit a major power line. This surge caused the controls at many of the City’s wells to shut off. Approximately half of them restarted automatically, but the remaining wells had to be manually restarted. In the meantime, pressure in the system dropped below acceptable levels. Although staff did not receive any customer complaints because of the early hour, the City is required to notify the regulatory agencies whenever pressure drops below minimum levels. Staff completed proper notification and is conducting additional sampling to ensure that water quality was not compromised in any way. The wells’ automated monitoring system did its job of notifying the on-call operator of the problem, so staff was able to respond quickly. Staff is investigating how to improve the system to prevent a recurrence of this problem.

99 Landscape Project: Staff is continuing work with representatives from San Joaquin Council of Governments (SJCOG) and Caltrans to obtain funding to landscape not only the Highway 99/120 East Interchange, but also to install some landscape on the 99/120 West Interchange. As of the most recent project team meeting on August 18, all parties were in agreement on the project scope, but some permitting and financial issues remain. The next milestone will come in September, when staff asks the California Transportation Commission to transfer responsibility and funding for the project from Caltrans to SJCOG. If approved, this would allow the City and SJCOG to administer the project and, hopefully, bid the project by the end of the year.