CITY UPDATE

August 17, 2023

Reminder:

Community Clean-Up - Bulky Item Drop-Off on August 19th

The Hemet Public Library will be hosting a bulky item drop-off on Saturday, August 19th, from the hours of 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

Did you know that CR&R includes two free residential bulky item pick-ups per calendar year? For more information, click here.

On Saturday, August 6th, at 6:03 p.m., two fire helicopters collided resulting in the passing of three fire fighters who were aboard the CalFire aircraft. This incident happened after Riverside County Fire Department and CalFire were dispatched in response to a structure fire. This collision occurred in the Cabazon area, a mile away from Morongo Casino.

The City team mourns the loss of Fire Captain Tim Rodriguez (left), Assistant Chief Josh Bischof (right) and Pilot Tony Sousa (center) who tragically passed as a result of the collision. We are thinking of their loved ones at this difficult time.

For information on this incident, click here.

For information on memorial services, click here.

Business Outreach Begins

Safe and Clean Streets Initiative

Over the past three weeks, members of the Hemet Police Department have visited over 200 businesses along Florida Ave. between California Ave. and Girard St. This effort coincides with the Strategic Plan goal to visit 45 businesses per month to get to know our owners and managers and develop relationships that will assist with the City's Safe and Clean Streets initiative.

During these visits, officers helped to educate business owners and employees about resources available to them to combat trespass violations and other issues of blight. They also updated emergency contacts for each location. 

This and many other action items can be viewed in our Strategic Plan here.

Illegal Marijuana Discovered at Hemet Residence

On Wednesday, August 2nd, Hemet Police served a search warrant at a residence in the 3200 block of Avon Place for a potential illegal indoor marijuana grow. During a search of the location, the following was recovered:

·681 marijuana plants in various stages of growth (estimated street value of $448,000)



·12,648 grams of processed cannabis (estimated street value of approximately $253,000)

Southern California Edison also responded to the residence to test the power draw for alleged illegal utility theft. It was discovered that the power had been wired to be bypassed and was drawing significantly more power than what is normally required. The circuit breaker box was also discovered to be emitting smoke due to the large amount of energy it was drawing, making this extremely susceptible to the start of a residential fire. This is not only dangerous to the home maintaining this grow but also to the surrounding homes. In total, it was discovered that there was approximately $172,000 in utility theft for this residence.

The City of Hemet’s Department of Life Safety (Code Enforcement) red-tagged the building, deeming the residence damaged to the degree that the structure is too dangerous to inhabit.

The Streets/Storm Drain Division recently received its new CAT259D3 compact track loader that was approved for purchase at the June 27th Council Meeting. 

This new, highly versatile piece of equipment will perform a large array of tasks due to its ability to change attachments. Attachments include: an asphalt planer/grinder, a mowing deck, a brush/debris grapple, a pickup broom, and a standard bucket.

These attachments will allow the compact tract loader to work on asphalt jobs, cleaning up debris from storms or water main breaks, loading large items or dumps, mowing fields, tending road shoulders and basins, grading work, and a multitude of other tasks performed regularly by our Public Works Department.

Simpson Center Painting is Complete

The exterior of Simpson Center painting has been completed and is looking great!

This project was funded with American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds. The City will complete interior improvements later this year and expects to reopen in early 2024.

Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Training was held at the Fire Training Center July 28th through 30th.

Hemet Fire Department's Emergency Services Coordinator Jay Cregeen, facilitates these teachings where he educates the community on emergency preparedness, fire suppression (different classes of fires, fire extinguisher use, utility shut off) as well as an intro to CERT which includes the command structure, terrorism awareness, light search and rescue and medical operations (shock, bleeding control, splinting, allergic reaction, heat and cold related injuries).

For more information about CERT Training, click here.

Hemet Fire Department assisted Riverside County/Cal Fire with a wildland vegetation fire located in Aguanga near Block Bonny Ln.

The Bonny Incident started on July 27th and is now contained. All Evacuation Warnings and road closures have been lifted. 

On August 5th, Mayor Joe Males rode with members of the Hemet Police Department to see first hand the good work they do on a daily basis. 

The team ended up at Just Bargains for a homelessness nuisance call where the manager welcomed the City with open arms and the group cleaned up the debris together. Thank you to our businesses who choose Hemet to have their place of business and for partnering with us for a better tomorrow.

Every member of the Hemet Police Department was excited to host the Mayor and are grateful for his continued support of City of Hemet employees.

Hemet Police staff attended My City Youth Center's Coffee Tuesday on Tuesday August 8th and visited residents at The Lakes at Hemet West on August 10th. 

My City Youth hosts a weekly coffee meeting every Tuesday at 8:00 a.m. which is open to the public. Police staff can usually be found attending these events to engage with the community. For this particular meeting Chief Pust was featured as a special guest. Getting an opportunity to speak directly with the Police Chief is a great way to get to know all of things that we are doing in the community! For more information about Coffee Tuesdays and future special guests, follow My City Youth on their social media handles.

Chief Pust also attended a community meeting at The Lakes at Hemet West to present the City’s efforts to enhance safety and security efforts as developed in the Safe and Clean Streets Initiative. K-9 Duke and his partner Officer Tabor joined Chief Pust at this event and spoke about the Hemet Police Department’s K-9 program and the benefits this resource brings to the city.

Hemet City staff attended the My City Youth Center's food drive on Tuesday, August 15th. The purpose of the event was to help those in need within our community. Upon a simple registration, bags of food were distributed to those in the community for themselves and their families.

For information on how you can contribute to future events, click here.

The City of Hemet is excited to announce our new landscape irrigation controller rebate program!

This program provides rebates to residents and commercial property owners with existing irrigation systems to upgrade to a Weather Based Irrigation Controller (WBIC). WBICs are designed to reduce water waste outdoors while keeping landscapes healthy and are an option for homeowners and businesses to achieve water-efficient irrigation scheduling.

By using local weather data and landscape conditions to tailor watering schedules, weather-based irrigation controllers help determine when and how much to water.

The City anticipates providing rebates to 500 residential properties and 20 commercial properties. Residential rebates will be available for up to $200 per property, while commercial rebates will be available for up to $4,000. The City encourages residents to consider purchasing EPA-identified WaterSense verified WBICs.

The steps are simple!

1. Must be a City of Hemet water customer.
2. Purchase a weather-based irrigation controller.
3. SAVE YOUR RECEIPT.
4. Install the new irrigation controller.
5. Fill out the rebate application.
6. Visit our Corporation Yard at 3777 Industrial Ave in Hemet.
7. Drop off your old irrigation controller.
8. Submit your application for reimbursement with your receipt.

Click here for more information.