City of Fremont, CA Government

🎶 Summer nights are back at Central Park! ☀️
The 2026 Summer Concert Series presented by Fremont Bank, Washington Health, and Niles Rotary returns June 25 through July 30 at the Central Park Performance Pavilion! Join us every Thursday from 6:30–8:30 pm for an evening of free live music featuring party bands, tribute acts, and more. 🎵

Thank you to our sponsors: Fremont Bank, Washington Health, Niles Rotary, Republic Services, Echo Church, and KB Home. With your support, events like these are made possible 💛

Visit city.fremont.gov/SummerConcerts for more information.

Hello, summer! ☀️ To all of our Fremont families, happy summer break! To our graduating classes of 2026, congratulations! 🎓

Happy Pride Month! We’re honored to display the Pride Month flag outside City Hall in June.

The Fremont City Council adopted a ceremonial flag policy to commemorate special observances. The policy sets clear criteria for selecting ceremonial flags and establishes a yearly rotation of observances. For more information and to view the flag raising schedule, please visit our website at city.fremont.gov/ceremonialflags.

City Council to Hold First Charter City Hearing to Review and Discuss Charter Advisory Committee Recommendations

The City Council will hold its first public hearing to consider becoming a Charter City on Tuesday, June 2, 2026, at 7:00 pm, to review and discuss the Charter Advisory Committee's (CAC) recommendations. On April 27, 2026, the CAC approved a series of recommendations for the City Council's consideration. Community members are encouraged to review the online meeting videos, presentations and attend the upcoming City Council meeting to learn more about the proposed changes and participate in the discussion.

A summary of the CAC’s recommendations, along with a draft proposed charter language, can be found in the City Council Agenda Packet (see link below). The CAC’s recommendations are as follows:

Government Structure
- Maintain a Council-Manager form of government (Charter City).

Term Limits
- City Council Term Limits: Increase to three consecutive four-year terms.
- Mayor Term Limits: Increase to three consecutive four-year terms.

Council Compensation and Office Support
- Status: The Mayor and City Council to maintain their part-time status.
- Council Salary: Match the Health Benefit Allowance of elected officials to that of the City’s full-time represented employees.
- Staffing Options: Allocate 1.5 employees to support the Mayor and City Council.

Executive Roles
- Appointment Authority: City Manager maintains appointment authority subject to confirmation by the City Council.

June 2nd will be the first of three required meetings (two public hearings and one final meeting) to review the CAC’s recommendations and consider placing the City Charter proposal on the ballot for Fremont voters in the upcoming November 3, 2026, election.

Additional Resources:

City Council Agenda Packet for June 2, 2026, Council Meeting:
https://fremontcityca.iqm2.com/Citizens/FileOpen.aspx?Type=1&ID=1846&Inline=True

Council Staff Report for June 2, 2026, Council Meeting: https://fremontcityca.iqm2.com/Citizens/Detail_LegiFile.aspx?Frame=&MeetingID=2081&MediaPosition=&ID=5736&CssClass=

Council Meeting Agenda for June 2, 2026, Council Meeting:
https://city.fremont.gov/councilagenda6-2-26

Charter City Initiative:
http://fremont.gov/citycharter

Join us for Fremont’s annual State of the City Address on Tuesday, June 30, 2026, from 6:30 PM to 8:00 PM at the Downtown Event Center, 3500 Capitol Ave., where Mayor Raj Salwan will cover the issues and opportunities facing the City of Fremont. The event is free and open to the public (no ticket required). We hope to see you there!

The City is in the planning stages of the Fremont-Decoto Land Development Plan, an effort that implements the City’s 2023–2031 Housing Element and requires the City to commit the 9.59-acre City-owned site at 4178–4268 Decoto Road for a residential development that contains an affordable housing component. The City is analyzing the ways to accommodate a redevelopment that maximizes the production of much needed housing, provides community benefits, and satisfies City priorities and state law.

Tomorrow, May 27, the City will host an informational community meeting to share more details about the Fremont-Decoto Land Development Plan and gather community feedback.

Informational Meeting
Wednesday, May 27
5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Centerville Community Center
3355 Country Drive

Another informational community meeting will be held in the fall.

To learn more and receive updates, visit city.fremont.gov/fremontdecotoldp.

Please join us in welcoming Matt Cano as Fremont’s next Public Works Director! 🎊

With 25+ years of public sector experience in citywide operations and engineering leadership, Matt brings a strong background in public service to Fremont and is committed to collaboration and infrastructure excellence. His leadership and expertise in recent roles with the Cities of Milpitas and San José position him to make a positive impact on Fremont’s community and public works initiatives.

Matt will officially step into his new role on June 8.

City of Fremont offices are closed on Monday, May 25 in observance of Memorial Day. This closure will not affect police and fire services, except for the Fremont Police Department’s front desk will also be closed. City offices and FPD’s front desk will reopen Tuesday, May 26 for regular business hours.

Sharing this information from StopWaste.Org about their new regulatory fee that will appear on garbage bills in Alameda County, including Fremont, starting July 1, 2026. The small fee will help fund required environmental programs to divert compostable and recyclable materials. stopwaste.org/regulatory-fee

📣 Starting July 1, 2026, you may notice a small StopWaste Regulatory Fee on your garbage bill. This fee helps fund programs required by California law to support composting and recycling, reduce food waste, recover surplus edible food for donation, and reduce plastic bag pollution. Learn more about how this work benefits Alameda County: StopWaste.org/regulatory-fee

The City issued the following press release today:

Fremont Sees Modest Rise in Homelessness, Sustains Improvements Realized in 2024 and Urges Increased Regional Support

During the 2026 Homelessness Point in Time (PIT) Count, 852 individuals were identified as experiencing homelessness in Fremont.

The 2026 Alameda County Point in Time Count identified 852 unhoused individuals living in Fremont. This is compared to the 807 individuals recorded in the last count, which occurred in January of 2024. The 2026 numbers indicate regional stabilization and preservation in the progress made since the 2022 count, when 1,026 unhoused residents were counted. Detailed PIT Count data, including demographics, is expected to be released this summer.

“We are encouraged to have maintained relative stability in this last PIT count cycle, even as the City has operated under significant budgetary constraint,” stated City Manager Karena Shackelford. “Fremont’s overall commitment and maintenance of internal and external investments in the City’s Housing Navigation Center, Winter Relief, Keep Fremont Housed, local homelessness shelters, and Mobile Evaluation Team (MET) programs have allowed us to prevent substantial increases in homelessness, as prioritized in the City’s Homelessness Response Plan, adopted in 2024.”

The overarching goal of the Homelessness Response Plan (http://fremont.gov/homelessresponseplan) is to stabilize the number of people experiencing homelessness in Fremont. The plan outlines strategies to prevent new community members from becoming homeless, while increasing the number of residents who gain new stable housing. While an additional 45 people represent a statistical increase since the 2024 count, the total number of people counted in South Alameda County (Fremont, Newark and Union City) decreased by 10.

“We are encouraged to see an overall reduction in the PIT Count for the South County region. The Tri-Cities have shared longstanding partnerships on this issue, where Fremont provides many services on the region’s behalf. To maintain this leadership role, we need additional regional investment,” indicated Mayor Raj Salwan. “This is critical if we are going to make real progress to reduce overall homelessness both in Fremont and in South County.”

In the South County region, longstanding partnerships allow for financial resources to be shared and services to be delivered across city boundaries, ensuring that unhoused residents have access to vital shelter, healthcare, and case management. These partnerships also help facilitate large encampment resolution. This includes recent efforts at Fremont’s Vallejo Mill Park and Isherwood Park, where all impacted individuals were offered shelter and transitional services. New investments, such as the upcoming Natalie’s Place shelter in South Fremont, will support similar efforts in the future.

The City of Fremont will continue to provide updates as new PIT Count data is released. To learn more about the City of Fremont’s Homelessness Response Efforts, including reports and data visit https://city.fremont.gov/homelessresponse.

The 2026 PIT Count took place on the morning of January 22, 2026, serving as a tally survey establishing a baseline estimate of how many individuals are unhoused at that specific point in time. This methodology is recognized as the most widely used homelessness census method in the United States. The City extends its appreciation to the 106 volunteers, most of whom participated for the first time, for their valuable contributions to this important effort.

Read the release online at https://city.fremont.gov/pressrelease5-19-26.