The City of Fresno’s Rental Housing Registry begins its pro-active random inspection program today, the next step of the Rental Housing Improvement Act, an effort to improve the quality of rental housing in the city of Fresno.

While the City has conducted several volunteer inspections over the last few months, inspection notices for properties randomly selected through the Rental Registry were posted in multiple languages 14 days ago.  Hundreds of inspections have been noticed, and the City has automated the sampling of registered properties focusing predominantly on previous code violators.

Property Owners and/or Managers are responsible for notifying individual tenants and will be onsite for the City health and safety inspections.  All inspectors in the Rental Housing Division have received extensive training and certifications from the California Association of Code Enforcement Officers.

“The City team has worked hard to incorporate technology, train staff, and notify property owners about the program so that we can quickly and efficiently complete inspections.  Our goal is to be as non-obtrusive for tenants as possible, as we hit the ground running in the effort to improve Fresno’s housing stock,” said Kelli Furtado, Assistant Director of Development and Resource Management.  “However, we still need the public’s help in identifying any rental properties that have not yet registered. Our program works best when everyone is fully engaged and the Rental Registry is fully populated.”

The Rental Housing Registry, an easy-to-use website that property owners can use to register their rental units online, has been operational since the end of April and has over 46,000 units registered, well over half of the estimated 85,000-90,000 rental units in the city of Fresno.  The goal is to work with property owners to achieve compliance of health and safety code violations and improve the quality of Fresno’s rental housing stock.

The second round of notices is being mailed to all known property owners who have not yet registered their rental units for free.  Property owners will be given 18 days to comply or receive a fine that escalates for every 30 days the property is not registered.

To find the Rental Registry, or to search for the address of a property to determine if it has been registered, please visit www.fresno.gov/rentalhousing.

The National Weather Service in Hanford expects temperatures to be at, or above, 105°F in Fresno for Saturday, June 23, 2018, and Sunday, June 24, 2018.  As a result, the City of Fresno Parks, After School, Recreation and Community Services (PARCS) Department will open its cooling centers for those days.

Cooling centers will be open from 12:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. at the following locations:

• Ted C. Wills Community Center, 770 N. San Pablo
• Frank H. Ball Neighborhood Center, 760 Mayor
• Mosqueda Community Center, 4670 E. Butler
• Pinedale Community Center, 7170 N. San Pablo

In addition, the City’s FAX bus system will provide free transportation along normal routes to and from cooling center sites when the centers are open.  To ride free, residents must indicate they are traveling to a cooling center.

Individuals should refer to the FAX schedule to determine the final evening departure time for buses providing service near cooling center locations.  The FAX schedule is available on the City’s website

Residents may also take advantage of the Blue Space program, a partnership between the City of Fresno and the Fresno Unified School District (FUSD) that provides recreational swim and swim lessons at Fresno high school swimming pools.

The following City of Fresno pools will offer recreational swim from 1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.:

• Mosqueda Community Center
• Frank H. Ball Neighborhood Center
• Mary Ella Brown Community Center, 1350 E. Annadale Ave.

FUSD swimming pools will be open, for recreational swim, from 12:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. at Hoover, McLane, Fresno, Sunnyside and Edison High Schools.  The Bullard High pool is open for lap swim only.

Pools are free of charge when cooling centers are open.

For more information on our cooling centers please visit our website at:

https://www.fresno.gov/parks/activities-recreational-programs/cooling-centers/

Mayor Lee Brand addressed a crowd of nearly nine hundred attendees, including elected officials, business and community leaders during Wednesday’s State of the City luncheon held in Downtown Fresno.  The annual event, sponsored by the Fresno Chamber of Commerce, was the second State of the City address for Mayor Brand, who officially took office in January 2017.

The Marjoree Mason Center and CEO Nicole Linder were honored with the Mayor’s Community Partner Award for the work they do to help victims of domestic violence by providing a wide array of services including legal assistance, counseling and shelter.  The Fresno Bee’s former Executive Editor, Jim Boren, was awarded the Key to the City in recognition of his distinguished career as a journalist. He oversaw the Central Valley’s most prominent news outlet, helping to keep residents of Fresno informed of the news and policies that shape the City.

The Mayor also thanked outgoing councilmembers, Oliver Baines and Clint Olivier, for their tireless work on the council and for helping make decisions that will help improve the quality of life for the people of Fresno.  Both men term-out at the end of the year.

In his keynote speech, Mayor Brand discussed the many advances the City has made in the last year in the areas of public safety, public transportation, technology, economic development, and infrastructure.

He highlighted the opening of Fulton Street, a new stadium lease at Chukchansi Park thanks to a new ownership group, the arrival of professional soccer in the form of Fresno FC, as well as, the State Center Community College District relocating their offices to the Guarantee Savings building, and a future 200 room 4 star-hotel as being reasons to be excited about the future of downtown Fresno.

“A strong fiscal foundation is essential to running a successful City and we are moving steadily in that direction,” said Mayor Brand. “Economic prosperity is showing up everywhere.”

Mayor Brand’s list of City accomplishments over the last year include:

• Raised the City of Fresno’s credit rating from Junk Bond status to an A-plus rating that will save Fresno’s ratepayers and taxpayers over $40 million dollars over 22 years.
• Launched the new Bus Rapid Transit system, known as “Q.”  The new system is already improving transit opportunities along Fresno’s major corridors.
• The new EyeOnWater mobile app will allow customers to easily view, understand and manage their water usage and pay their utility bill online.
• FAASTER (Fresno’s Accelerated Application System to Track Electronic Reviews), a new online customer service portal gives citizens and developers the ability to apply and track building permits and entitlement plans online.
• Recharge Fresno – the largest infrastructure project in our history – completed construction on the new Southeast Surface Water Treatment Facility – on time and on budget.
• A new West Fresno Campus for Fresno City College is getting ready for construction and will focus on much needed vocational training that will provide the workforce vital to Fresno’s future.
• The opening of two Fresno Police Department report writing stations in Council Districts 1 and 4 and a new Northwest Police District Station at Marks and Shaw.
• The City reduced violent crime and property crime dramatically and is on pace to have the fewest number of cars stolen on over 30 years.
• The Transformative Climate Communities Collaborative will bring $70 million of cap-and-trade funding, along with another $85 million of matching funds that will be invested in Southwest Fresno, Chinatown, and Downtown Fresno.

At the 2017 State of the City Address, Mayor Brand announced his “10 Year Path to Prosperity,” a plan to bring 10,000 new jobs to Fresno by the year 2027.  Thanks to 4,000 new jobs coming to Fresno by companies like Amazon, Ulta, and the Gap, Mayor Brand is almost halfway to his goal in only 18 months.  The mayor hopes to make Fresno the e-commerce capital of the West Coast.

Video of the Mayor’s “State of the City” address will soon be available on the City’s website.  A transcript of his remarks is attached.

The City of Fresno begin its three-day watering schedule today, June 1, and will remain in effect for the months of June, July, and August.

The City is implementing its three-day watering schedule to reflect residents need to provide more water for their gardens and lawns during the dry summer months.

Residents with addresses ending in an odd number (1,3,5,7,9) are permitted to water on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Residents with addresses ending in an even number (0,2,4,6,8) are permitted to water on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays.  No watering is allowed on Mondays or on any day between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m.

The City of Fresno continues to urge its residents to conserve water as much as possible.

Mayor Lee Brand introduced a new online customer service portal today that will dramatically improve the permitting and planning process at City Hall.  The new system, called FAASTER – which stand for, Fresno’s Accelerated Applications System to Track Electronic Reviews – was developed by Accela, the leading provider of cloud-based productivity and civic engagement solutions for government.

The City’s new FAASTER system will allow anyone who applies for a building permit with the City of Fresno to submit, pay for, and track the status of their permit application online, 24 hours a day.

“It was essential for our goal to make Fresno the most business-friendly city in California to have an online system that works and Accela has delivered,” said Mayor Brand. “FAASTER is a ‘one-stop-shop’ that’s easy to use and can be configured to work on mobile devices. That’s important because many of our customers spend most of their day on a project site and having the power to move their project forward without having to leave their worksite is a game-changer.”

FAASTER is a vital component to the mayor’s Business Friendly Fresno 2.0! initiative, bringing transparency to the permitting process and helping City staff identify problem areas that can be improved.  The portal will also help dramatically improve turnaround times for business customers and has already been beta tested by a number of developers and contractors.

The City had previously partnered with Accela when developing their highly successful FresGO mobile app.  For more than 15 years, Accela has been the industry leader in designing and delivering productivity and engagement software to help government agencies be their best.  Accela provides a robust platform of solutions that increase engagement, improve efficiency and deliver transparency to strengthen communities called the Accela Civic Platform.

The City of Fresno has introduced its newest customer service portal, called “EyeOnWater,” which allows Fresno water customers to monitor their water usage, view water usage history, discover short and long-term water trends and easily connect to their Department of Public Utilities (DPU) account directly from their computer, smartphone or mobile device.

EyeOnWater gives water customers direct access to their water consumption data, allowing them to easily view, understand and manage their water usage and pay their utility bill online.  Customers can view hourly, daily, monthly, and yearly data and charts as well as week-over-week consumption comparisons, and temperature and precipitation overlays are also available to help monitor and manage usage.

Customers can access their EyeOnWater account online at www.fresno.gov/eyeonwater or by mobile app FREE for both Android and Apple users.  Once connected, Fresno water customers can establish alerts via email or text message to better manage their water use and be notified of any possible leaks.

For additional information or help with your EyeOnWater reports, contact a DPU Water Conservation Representative at (559) 621-5480.

City of Fresno offices will be closed in observance of Memorial Day on Monday, May 28, 2018.  The delivery of some City services may be affected.  Normal operations will resume on Tuesday, May 29.  Here is the schedule for City of Fresno operations for the holiday:

Airports:  Administrative offices closed;  Terminal, concessions, and airlines normal operations otherwise.

Business License:  Office closed.  The Business Tax Web Renewal will be available for TOT (only) and new business tax online application submittals will be available throughout the Memorial Day holiday.

City Clerk’s Office:  Closed.

City Hall Offices:  Closed.

Development and Resource Management:  Closed.

Dog License Division:  Closed.

Finance Offices:  Offices closed.  Business Tax TOT (only) Web Renewal and new business tax online application submittals will be available throughout the Memorial Day holiday.

Fire/Police Departments:  Administrative offices and public counters will be closed.  Normal operations otherwise.

Fresno Area Express:  Administrative offices closed.  Weekend bus routes/schedule in effect.  Call (559) 621-7433 for details.  FAX route maps and schedules are available on the City’s website.

Parking Division:  No enforcement at parking meters and City parking facilities on Memorial Day.  Office closed for citation payments.

Parks and Recreation (PARCS):  Administrative offices closed.  Parks facilities and recreation centers operating with normal schedule.

Personnel:  Closed. Online applications accepted at www.fresno.gov/jobs.

Public Utilities:  Offices closed.

Public Works:  Offices closed.

Purchasing:  Office closed; Bid opportunities and updated information are available on the City’s website, under the “For Businesses” tab, then click on bid opportunities.

Residential Solid Waste:  Administrative offices closed.  Normal residential and commercial collection schedule; for questions regarding residential solid waste collection, please call the Solid Waste Management Division at (559) 621-1452.

Utility Payments:  Payment counters closed (Fresno City Hall and Manchester Center.)  Online and phone transactions available for utility payments.

For urgent matters during the Memorial Day holiday, please call (550) 621-CITY (2489) or use our FresGO mobile app.

Mayor Lee Brand, along with City Manager Wilma Quan-Schecter, today announced the proposed City of Fresno budget for Fiscal Year 2019 during a press conference at City Hall.  The $1.115 billion budget, which includes $341 million for the General Fund, puts an emphasis on continuing the City’s long-term financial stability, as well as economic development and infrastructure, while providing a road map to make Fresno a better, safer and more prosperous place to live, work and play.

“We’ve taken great strides in the past 12 months and we’ve been able to accomplish great things through the best possible use of our limited resources to address our most pressing issues,” said Mayor Brand. “My vision for Fresno is to transform our economy by creating citywide prosperity that will improve the quality of life for everyone in Fresno.”

The proposed FY 2019 budget represents a balanced approach to rebuilding the financial health of the City and maintaining core municipal services.  Among the highlights, the FY 2019 budget:

• Replacing 120 police vehicles, continuing the process of replacing the City’s aging fleet.
• Funds a 7-Week Drill School for the Fire Department, which will ultimately help with staffing levels as well as the continuance of meeting SAFER compliance.
• Funds land acquisition for the future relocation of Fire Station 10.
• Adds concrete crews in the Public Works Department to help address the City’s aging infrastructure.
• Also includes funding to repave 85 lane miles, the conversion of 38,000 street lights to energy-saving LED fixtures, and 14 new traffic signals and 6 traffic signal upgrades.
• Provides funding for a Litter Control Crew to address the increased requests for services relating to litter control and illegal dumping received via the City of Fresno’s FresGO app.
• Added funding for Business Friendly Fresno 2.0!  to improve application processing, plan check turnaround, and front counter support so we can reach our customer service goals.
• Projects the projected General Fund Reserve to be $23.94 million by the end of our current fiscal year and $27.54 million by the end of FY 2019.

City Manager Quan-Schecter added, “This budget reflects the commitment of our team, as well as the innovative ideas that have produced a strong, vibrant, and exciting future for Fresno.”

Mayor Brand will present the proposed budget to Fresno City Council at its meeting on Thursday, May 24, 2018. The City of Fresno’s budget must be adopted by June 30, per the city charter.

The full FY2019 Budget Proposal can be viewed online at www.fresno.gov/budget.

The City of Fresno Code Enforcement Division officially announces a Public Notice of the city-wide Weed Abatement Inspection Program, in accordance with Fresno Municipal Code (FMC) Section 10-605 that all vacant and unimproved lots are required to be free from public nuisance violations year-round.

Properties found in violation of FMC 10-605 are subject to citations ranging from $250 to $1,000.  In addition, the City may hire a contractor to abate the violations.  The property owner will be billed for the cost of cleanup plus the City’s administrative fees.

A property owner can determine if their lot is located in the City of Fresno by accessing the City’s website at www.fresno.gov, contacting the City Clerk’s Office in Room 2133 at City Hall, or by calling the Development & Resource Department, Code Enforcement Division at (559) 621-8400, Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., to ask staff to look up their Assessor’s Parcel Number or APN.