Residents can tell the county about road problems, graffiti, etc.

SAN DIEGO – The county introduced the free “Tell Us Now” app in 2017. It was designed to make it as easy as possible for county residents to report problems when they see them, whether it was bumping into a rut in the road, spotting a flooded culvert, noticing a building slimed with graffiti or a business spewing pollution.

After downloading the “Tell Us Now” app, people can snap a quick picture, add some text on their phone and push “send” to immediately notify county departments. If the complaint isn’t under the county’s authority, the “Tell Us Now” app will let the person know and share what jurisdiction to contact to fix the problem.

The Tell Us Now app was made available in Spanish in 2019.

In addition to announcing the app is available in Spanish, officials said the County Department of Environmental Health’s Vector Control Program had added mosquito-reporting to “Tell Us Now,” under its “Fight the Bite” section.

So now people can report dead birds, which can be indicators of West Nile virus, notify Vector Control about mosquito-breeding problems like algae-filled “green swimming pools,” and about day-biting, backyard mosquitoes.

The “Tell Us Now” app will automatically appear in Spanish for anyone who has set the language setting on their smartphone to “Español.” People whose smartphone settings are set for English will see the app in English.

“Tell Us Now” already allows the public to:

· Report retail store overcharges and air quality issues regionwide.

· Contact the County’s Department of Agriculture, Weights and Measures on issues pertaining to gas pumps, price verification and commercial scales regionwide.

· Contact the County Air Pollution Control District for questions/complaints about smoke, smells, dust, illegal burns, asbestos, unpermitted operations and other items regionwide.

· Contact County Code Compliance with complaints and questions about waste, graffiti, illegal grading and construction, and inoperable vehicles in unincorporated areas

· Contact the County Department of Public Works about a host of road-related issues on County-maintained roads in unincorporated areas, including drainage, road maintenance, signs and traffic issues.

Tell Us Now! builds on the county’s commitment to customer service by making county systems more efficient, resulting in faster response times. The public can submit complaints and questions immediately, when they see them, and directly into county computer systems.

The app will also allow customers to track the progress of their complaints, with the exception of “Fight the Bite” complaints, as the county looks into them. The Tell Us Now! app will also give county employees more information – and photos — to use to conduct investigations.

The app is available for free in the app stores for iPhone and Android smartphones. Download and Tell Us Now!