Mountlake Terrace staff presented a draft community engagement plan on Aug. 7 that aims to standardize how departments plan and budget for public outreach on capital projects, improve accessibility and language access, and expand community participation through volunteers and paid liaisons.

Deputy City Manager Carolyn Hope said the plan grew out of the city’s diversity, equity and inclusion work and a strategic‑plan action item to produce an engagement framework. Hope noted the plan will be a living operational document aligning engagement timing with project milestones and federal and state requirements such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA), the Growth Management Act and the Open Public Meetings Act.

Communications and outreach manager Sienna Spencer Marcles walked the council through the plan’s three key goals: plan engagement early for long‑range projects, coordinate engagement across departments to avoid overtaxing residents, and build a participatory culture that reports back to the community what staff heard. The draft includes a template staff will use to scope engagement, budget for translation or stipends and identify internal and external stakeholders before projects enter the biennial budgeting process.

The plan identifies changing local demographics and language needs: staff said Mountlake Terrace is nearly 40% people of color, about 18% foreign‑born, roughly 25% speak a language other than English at home, and Spanish is the largest limited‑English population to prioritize for translations; other languages flagged were Korean, Chinese, Arabic and Tagalog. The plan proposes two tiers of volunteers: an early “community ambassadors” volunteer pool drawn from the DEIC subcommittee to support tabling and outreach; and a later “trusted community liaisons” program that would be a paid, bilingual role for community members to co‑design outreach in their networks. Staff proposed modest stipends for some outreach activities, with typical examples cited around $25–$50 or hourly rates for deeper liaison work.

The presentation included new digital accessibility tools on the city website (AudioEye accessibility features and Google Translate integration) and a proposed language‑access approach that asks RSVPs whether attendees require interpretation, so the city can plan interpreters when needed. Staff said the engagement template will flag when engagement is required and help departments budget for translation, childcare, venue accessibility and stipends if appropriate.

Council members praised the plan’s structure and asked for small changes — adding seniors and youth more explicitly to stakeholder lists, producing how‑to materials or short trainings on accessibility tools, and clarifying when a project must follow the engagement template. Several council members said they supported piloting the community ambassadors program immediately and exploring trusted liaisons later; staff indicated the ambassadors pilot could start without new general‑fund appropriation because it relies on trained volunteers, while paid liaisons would require future budget planning.

Hope and Spencer said staff will incorporate departmental feedback and bring final documents and the project engagement template into operational use; they asked council for further direction on timing and any additional elements to include before the plan is finalized.