Lee Brand

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Lee Brand

Nonpartisan

Prior offices

Fresno City Council District 3

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Mayor of Fresno

Successor: Jerry Dyer

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Education

High school

Roosevelt High School

Associate

Fresno City College

Bachelor's

California State University, Fresno, 1973

Graduate

University of Southern California, 1974

Military

Service / branch

U.S. Air National Guard

Years of service

1967 - 1973

Personal

Profession

Real estate

Contact

Personal website

Lee Brand was the Mayor of Fresno in California. Brand assumed office in 2017. Brand left office on January 4, 2021.

Brand ran for re-election for Mayor of Fresno in California. Brand won in the general election on November 8, 2016.

Brand identifies as a Republican, though Fresno's municipal elections are nonpartisan. Brand announced on May 20, 2019, that he would not seek re-election in 2020.

Brand was a member of the Fresno City Council in California, representing District 6. He was first elected to the council in 2008 and served until his election as mayor in 2016.

Brand also served as a commissioner on the Fresno City Planning Commission and as chairman of the Fresno Redevelopment Agency.

Biography

Brand earned his B.S. from California State University, Fresno in 1973 and his M.P.A. from the University of Southern California in 1974. His professional experience includes serving as the president and co-founder of Westco Equities, Inc., a property management/construction firm, owner of Brand & Associates Real Estate, and administrator of Kings View Corporation mental health programs in Madera-Mariposa County. He served in the California Air National Guard from 1967 to 1973.

Elections

2020

See also: Mayoral election in Fresno, California (2020)

Lee Brand did not file to run for re-election.

2016

See also: Municipal elections in Fresno, California (2016)

Henry R. Perea and Lee Brand defeated H. Spees, Doug Vagim, and Richard Renteria in the Fresno mayoral primary election.

Mayor of Fresno Primary Election, 2016
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Henry R. Perea	44.70%	37,006
Lee Brand	30.79%	25,491
H. Spees	18.23%	15,089
Doug Vagim	3.52%	2,910
Richard Renteria	2.52%	2,090
Write-in votes	0.24%	199
Total Votes		82,785
Source: Fresno County Registrar of Voters, "Election results," accessed October 3, 2016

Fresno held elections for the mayor's chair and four seats on the city council in 2016. A general election took place on November 8, 2016. A primary election took place on June 7, 2016. The filing deadline for candidates who wished to run in this election was March 11, 2016. Lee Brand defeated Henry R. Perea in the Fresno mayoral general election.

Mayor of Fresno General Election, 2016
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Lee Brand	51.20%	71,776
Henry R. Perea	48.54%	68,053
Write-in votes	0.26%	363
Total Votes		140,192
Source: Fresno County Elections, "Fresno County Official Final Results," December 6, 2016

Campaign themes

2016

Brand's campaign website listed the following themes for 2016:

“	Public Safety The spread of crime throughout Fresno is the most pressing issue we face as a community. Too many people don’t feel safe in their own homes. The recession combined with state prison realignment and the 2014 passage of Proposition 47 that decriminalized many property crimes have put alot more criminals on our streets. The City narrowly avoided bankruptcy and is just now emerging from the recession. Now that the financial means to address the issues are within reach, our first goal must be to add at least 70 new police officers to bring our force up to 800. This will allow us to assign up to 350 officers to the patrol division and community policing. From there we need to add another 50 to 60 officers each year until we have at least 1,000 sworn police officers in the City of Fresno. It won’t be easy, but as your Mayor I will find new long-term and sustainable funding sources to pay for more police officers and the equipment and support staff they need to do their job. I’ve been effective on the Council and I believe I can be even more effective as your next Mayor. Our Fire Department sustained serious losses of personnel and equipment maintenance during the Great Recession. We are now in the process of re-building the department. We are replacing fire trucks and engines, adding a fire company to improve the delivery of fire services and hiring key staff to improve the safety for the brave men and women of our fire department. As Mayor I will continue to support re-building our Fire Department to keep our firefighters and our city safe. Improving Morale at the Fresno Police Department The recent study proactively commissioned by Chief Jerry Dyer has shed a bright light on endemic problems and morale issues within the Fresno Police Department. There are serious organizational issues that Chief Dyer is currently addressing and I support his efforts to use this unique opportunity to make the Fresno Police Department stronger. Restoring morale among the brave men and women we depend on to keep us safe and building public confidence are at the top of my list. As Mayor I will not micromanage the police department, but rather work closely with the Police Chief, police officers and the City Manager to implement policing models that will reduce crime in Fresno. Growing Our Local Economy and Creating New Jobs Fresno has a persistent problem with high unemployment and slow economic development that has an enormous impact on our community. The underlying reason for Fresno’s high crime rate is poverty. No solution for public safety is complete without addressing poverty in our community. Fresno has the third highest poverty rate in the country at over 25%. The yoke of poverty casts a dark shadow over the entire City directly and indirectly impacting our school system, unemployment rate and criminal justice system. Substantial City resources are used as a result of poverty impacting public safety. There is no easy solution. For the past 18 months I have been extensively researching the issues and working with the Mayor and other local experts to develop an Economic Expansion Act that I will introduce in March. The overarching goal is to improve every Fresnan’s quality of life by facilitating citywide economic expansion, restoring core City services and creating wealth through lower unemployment and higher wages. Creating thousands of new jobs and spurring a level of economic growth never before seen in Fresno will have a transformational effect citywide and dramatically increase the City’s revenues. Unlike others who only offer sound bites and empty promises, my Economic Expansion Act is a detailed and comprehensive business plan for economic growth for the entire city. It introduces innovative concepts and programs to Fresno that have been successful in other cities. Water Supply and Water Quality For many years Fresno neglected to address its water infrastructure. This problem has been exposed by the statewide drought. We do not have the facilities to adequately store surface water allocations. Consequently, the City was returning an average of approximately 80,000 acre-feet of surface water per year in wet years. I was a leader on the City Council that adopted a water capital program last year that is building a surface water treatment plant capable of processing 80 millions gallons per day and make the City of Fresno water supply self-sufficient while also improving water quality. This capital program also allocates funds to repair contaminated wells and water infrastructure throughout the City, including replacing old wooden pipes (if you can believe that) with modern plumbing. Once the project is complete, instead of continuing to overdraft our underground water table, the City will be able to refill it over time with an extensive network of groundwater recharge basins. I was also a leader in promoting water reclamation capital projects that enable the City to process sewer water and convert approximately 25,000 acre feet for irrigation water and develop a citywide purple pipe infrastructure that will be able to deliver reclaimed water almost anywhere in Fresno. As Mayor I am committed to addressing our water and water reclamation needs and I will partner with agriculture, water agencies, Fresno County and our neighboring jurisdictions to work together to create regional water solutions. Water Storage and Temperance Flat As the leader of the largest city in the Valley, the Mayor of Fresno needs to be front and center in helping to speed up construction of new water storage facilities in the area. We cannot afford to go through another drought like the last one. Agriculture is directly and indirectly the largest employer in our area and they need water in order to grow the crops that fuel our economic engine. I will use any and all opportunities as Mayor to promote new water storage in the Valley at the federal and state levels. I will testify before Congress and the state legislature. I will also make sure our current and future President know how much we need water here and what they can do to help in terms of building new water storage facilities like Temperance Flats and cutting the red tape and bureaucratic nonsense that sends water that should to our farms and cities into the ocean. People and their quality of life should be valued above bait fish. We cannot let environmental extremists control our destiny. Now is the time to take back control over our future and as Mayor I will be on the front lines of that battle. Homelessness and Vagrancy Homelessness and vagrancy are growing problems in Fresno. They are pervasive, but there are solutions. I have held two summits to talk about homeless and vagrancy issues and develop solutions. The most recent one was last October and included the City Manager, Police Chief and representatives from the City Attorney, Code Enforcement, Fresno PD’s Homeless Task Force, the Poverello House, Fresno County Mental Health and the Housing Authority. I discovered that we need a multi-pronged approach that addresses: 1) substance abuse/mental health related issues; 2) housing through public-private partnerships; 3) moving recycling centers out of neighborhoods; 4) helping veterans; and 5) effectively dealing with criminal conduct. These initial steps should greatly reduce the problem and pave the way for the next level of solutions. As Mayor I will allocate the resources necessary to move people off the streets using a combination of social services, cooperation with the Veterans Administration, transitional housing, drug treatment and arresting and jailing the vagrants who commit crimes. Restoring Infrastructure Fresno has significant infrastructure issues because for many years the City failed to fund infrastructure improvements.There are serious deficiencies in our streets, sidewalks, curbs, gutters and other city facilities such as parking garages. Most of the attention is focused on prevalent issues like public safety, but neglecting infrastructure is a silent financial killer. In 201, I wrote and passed the Streetlight Funding Act which turned 3,000 streetlights back on throughout Fresno. And the City now has a program to replace all of our old streetlight bulbs with new energy-saving, longer-lasting LED bulbs. I also passed the Reserve Management Act to address reserve accounts including infrastructure and facility reserves. As Mayor I will develop a 10-year infrastructure recovery plan to address our serious infrastructure issues. Education Education is vital to our future and it is properly operated by local school districts, their superintendents and elected boards in conjunction with State and federal education agencies. The primary interface with the City is to link our services and resources to assist school districts in their mission of educating our youth. The School Liaison Act that I co-authored in 2015 provides one vehicle to facilitate better communications with our school systems. I am also working to develop comprehensive career and technical education programs that allow interested students to intern with the City to gain valuable job skills and I am encouraging every other public and private entity in the valley to join us in expanding their career and technical education programs. In addition, I am happy to report that the Fresno Police Department was just awarded a federal grant to add 15 police officers and a sergeant to patrol Fresno Unified middle schools and surrounding neighborhoods.	”
—Lee Brand (2016)

Endorsements

2016

Brand's campaign website listed the following endorsements for 2016:

• U.S. Rep. Devin Nunes (R)
• U.S. Rep. David Valadao (R)
• Former California Secretary of State Bill Jones (R)
• State Sen. Andy Vidak (R)
• State Rep. Jim Patterson (R)

Noteworthy events

Events and activity following the death of George Floyd

See also: Events following the death of George Floyd and responses in select cities from May 29-31, 2020

Brand was mayor of Fresno during the weekend of May 29-31, 2020, when events and activity took place in cities across the U.S. following the death of George Floyd. Events took place in Fresno, California, on Saturday, May 30, 2020, at the Unitarian Universalist Church in the northeast part of the city. No curfews were issued. The national guard was not deployed.

To read more about the death of George Floyd and subsequent events, click [show] to the right.

On May 25, 2020, Minneapolis police officers arrested Floyd, a Black man, after receiving a call that he had made a purchase with a counterfeit $20 bill. Floyd died after Derek Chauvin, a White officer, arrived at the scene and pressed his knee onto Floyd's neck as Floyd laid face-down on the street in handcuffs. Both the Hennepin County Medical Examiner and an independent autopsy conducted by Floyd's family ruled Floyd's death as a homicide stemming from the incident. The medical examiner's report, prepared by Dr. Michael Baden and Dr. Allecia Wilson, said that it was "not a legal determination of culpability or intent, and should not be used to usurp the judicial process." On April 20, 2021, Chauvin was found guilty of murder and manslaughter in relation to Floyd's death. Floyd's death was filmed and shared widely, leading to activity regarding racism, civil rights, and police use of force. The first events took place in Minneapolis-St. Paul on May 26. An event in Chicago organized by Chance the Rapper and Rev. Michael Pfleger took place the same day, making it the first major city outside of Minneapolis to host an event in response to Floyd's death.

See also

• Fresno, California
• Cities in California

External links

• Search Google News for this topic

Suggest a link

• Campaign website

Footnotes

Political offices
Preceded by -	Mayor of Fresno 2017 – 2021	Succeeded by Jerry Dyer
Preceded by -	Fresno City Council, District 6 2011 – 2017	Succeeded by Garry Bredefeld