~ITY OF LOS ANGELES CALIFORNIA

Transcription

1 KAREN E, KALFAYAN City Clerk When making inquiries relative to this matter, please refer to the Council File No. ~ITY OF LOS ANGELES CALIFORNIA Office of the CITY CLERK Council and Public Services Room 395, City Hall Los Angeles, CA Council File Information w (213) General Information - (213) Fax: (213) ANTONIO R. VILLARAIGOSA MAYOR CLAUDIA M, DUNN Chief, Council and Public Services Division Honorable Members of the City Council c/o Office of the City Clerk City Hall, Room 395 Los Angeles, CA Attention: Education and Neighborhoods Committee SUBJECT: TRANSLATION SERVICES COORDINATION UNIT / STATUS REPORT (CF# ) TRANSLATION SERVICES FOR NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCILS - (CF# S3) Honorable Members: At the February 21, 2007 joint meeting of the Education and Neighborhoods Committee and the Board of Neighborhood Commissioners, a discussion took place about the need for the City to better assist neighborhood councils with translation services with the objective to improve the City's ability to outreach to immigrant groups that have language barriers to full participation, On March 7, 2007, a Motion (Hahn-Garcetti) was introduced asking that the City Clerk report to the Education and Neighborhoods Committee on the current status of their Translation Services Coordination Unit and its capacity to serve both the Council and Neighborhood Councils, Additionally, the City Clerk was also asked to share this information with the Neighborhood Council Review Commission (NCRC) and requested to report to Council, as part of the consideration of the budget, on the resources that would be required to translate all City Council agendas into languages other than English, beginning with Spanish, At your Committee's meeting on January 22, 2008, the Neighborhood Council Review Commission report, Recommendation No, 72 regarding no cost City translation services for Neighborhood Councils (NC), was also considered, EDUCATION s NEIGHBORHOODS APR D

2 Page 2 The Committee continued the matter and instructed the City Clerk, City Administrative Officer, Department of Neighborhood Empowerment and the Chief Legislative Analyst to provide a written report for the Education and Neighborhoods Committee, addressing appropriate implementation and fiscal impact. Because both sets of Council instructions will result in the compilation of similar information, the following single report is submitted for your consideration. BACKGROUND In May 2002, the City Council authorized the creation of a Translation Unit within the Office of the City Clerk. This section of the Office was tasked with a number of responsibilities including 1) establishing contracts with commercial translation and interpretation services vendors; 2) coordinating the purchase of translation equipment; and 3) creating a bilingual employees' database to match employees to translation services needs. This Office has established contracts with two professional translation services agencies and their services have been available for citywide use for well over three years. Spanish translation services are routinely provided at all City Council meetings, although any language can be translated and interpreted by both agencies, with advance notice. Translation services are also available, with notice, for Council Committee meetings. Translation equipment was purchased and is also available for use at all public meetings. Approximately eleven City departments and several Council offices have utilized these two contracting agencies and are charged back for services utilized. Additionally, two more translation agencies remain pending contract approval with the City Attorney's office. On May 1, 2007, the program to utilize bilingual City employees for translation services needs was implemented, as follows: The City Clerk's Council & Public Services Division (Translation Unit) compiled a database of current full-time City employees who were certified by the Personnel Department for bilingual bonuses and who expressed an interest in providing translation services, after regular work hours, on an as-needed basis to City elected officials, departments and other City entities. Existing certified bilingual employees were grandfathered into the civil service classification of Interpreter, Code The eligibility and testing for this classification is facilitated by the Personnel Department and the employee database listing (over 220 employees) is available on the City Clerk's website. After reviewing the Interpreter database for the desired language skills, time and location for which a translator will be needed, the Department or other entity directly

3 CF# ; CF# Page 3 contacts the employee to determine a match for specific translation needs. Logistical arrangements are finalized with the selected employee by the requesting entity, with notification to the City Clerk Translation Unit. The City employee is paid a flat rate of $35/hour by the City Clerk's office upon completion and verification of the services provided, which is processed separately from the requesting Department/entity's payroll for this individual. Each user department is required to reimburse the City Clerk's office through an inter-departmental fund transfer. Although this information is available on the City Clerk website and every City department, elected office and City entity were directly notified about the availability of this translation service, only one City Department has utilized the Interpreter translation option since the program's inception in May SUMMARY It is our understanding that the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment (DONE) currently manages separate contracts with the two City Clerk translation vendors and is facilitating payment for those services. There is a line item in the DONE budget for no cost translation services for Neighborhood Councils who are: a) forming Neighborhood Council groups; b) Neighborhood Councils not enrolled in the Funding Program; and, c) Neighborhood Council election related activities, at least a portion of which recently was recently transferred to the City Clerk. The Department of Neighborhood Empowerment also provides translation services at special events such as the Mayor's Budget Day and the Congress of Neighborhoods. Neighborhood Councils, who have elected boards with funding, pay for translation services out of their allocated funds, which is facilitated by DONE. Given Council's instructions regarding program implementation at no cost to Neighborhood Councils, it is possible that the aforementioned processes for securing translation services by Neighborhood Councils (contract vendor or Interpreter) could be centralized within the City Clerk's Translation Unit, regardless of the funding source for vendor/lnterpreter payment. However, without specific data regarding the volume of translation services needed/utilized by Neighborhood Councils, the City Clerk cannot evaluate the additional fiscal impact on existing resources for facilitating NC translation requests. Issues related to providing these services at no cost to the Neighborhood Councils, regardless of the program administrator, are a budgetary issue and may be best addressed during the annual budget review. With respect to the Council instruction (CF # ) regarding exploring the resources required to translate City Council agendas into languages other than English, additional funding would need to be identified to compensate translation vendors to perform this function on a "rush" basis and within a 48 hour time frame. Approximately 141 City Council meetings are held annually, with well over 80 additional agendas (continuation, supplemental and special meetings) being published pursuant to

4 Page 4 Brown Act requirements. The minimum cost per written translation, per language is $75 per job; however, each job is also priced between 22 cents and 32 cents per translated word and a minimum of $45 per hour for special formatting. Given these general figures, on the average, each agenda would cost, at minimum per language, approximately $350 to translate. This amount does not take into account "rush" charges or fees for additional agendas, per meeting. It is estimated that the overall annual cost for this service, for all meetings in one additional language, would be, at a minimum, $77,350. Notwithstanding the above cost implications, the tumaround for producing and making available translated agendas within a timeframe useful to the public would be extremely difficult to accomplish. Currently, all City Clerk agendas include language (in English) which directs the reader to the City Clerk Translation Unit, if translation services are needed. This same information can be added to Council agendas in other languages, the constituent would know for certain to contact the City Clerk for additional services at upcoming meetings and/or to secure assistance with agenda translations, on a case-by-case basis. It is recommended that based on the current fiscal situation, the suggestion to translate all Council agendas into other languages be received and filed but that the Council agendas be modified to include information to contact the City Clerk for translation service referrals for assistance in languages other than English. If this suggestion is implemented, it is anticipated that the City Clerk will need to research and explore cost data regarding the utilization of Language Line services to handle and coordinate phone call requests in languages other than Spanish or English. RECOMMENDATION 1. APPROVE the Neighborhood Council Review Commission's Recommendation No. 72, in concept, pending the results of a fiscal impact statement from the City Administrative Officer. 2. INSTRUCT the City Administrative Officer to report on the feasibility of funding all translation services for Neighborhood Councils, in the proposed Budget. 3. AUTHORIZE the City Clerk to research communications logistics, including any resultant cost implications, to facilitate the modification of City Council Agendas for the purpose of including translation services information in other languages. FISCAL IMPACT STATEMENT The Fiscal Impact for centralizing Neighborhood Council translation services within the City Clerk's Translation Unit is unknown; however, the identification of independent funding sources to provide these services at no cost will require input from the City

5 Page 5 Administrative Officer. Existing City Clerk resources can be utilized to facilitate the modification of Council Agendas for the purpose of including translation services information in other languages, notwithstanding the results of any identified costs related to logistical implementation. Sincerely,.--~'-1<~ Karen E. Kalfayan City Clerk U U KEK:CD:cd