Cudahy council delays vote on citywide translation requirement; seeks ordinance and cost analysis

A proposal to require translation of all written city communications into Spanish was pulled for further work after councilmembers and staff raised questions about scope and cost. Councilmember Fuentes introduced a draft resolution aimed at ensuring residents receive outreach in both English and Spanish. The council agreed to convert the proposal from a resolution to an ordinance and to return the item at a future meeting with revised language and a financial analysis.

Councilmember Fuentes said the intent is to prevent the kinds of outreach problems that had occurred with prior notices: “All outreach that we have to our community, to our residents, they deserve to receive the information, and call to action in both English and Spanish.” Other council members and city staff asked for more precise drafting because the current language combined broad phrasing (“all written communications”) with a narrower implementation clause limited to public‑hearing notices. The city attorney and finance staff noted that expanding the requirement to every contractor communication could have budget implications and would require clearer definitions and an estimate of fiscal impact.

Action: The council voted to table the resolution and direct staff to return with ordinance language that clarifies scope (for example, which communications and contractors would be covered) and an analysis of the financial impact. The motion to table passed by voice vote.

What comes next: Staff will work with councilmembers to define the covered communications, identify which contractor/contract types to include, estimate translation and dissemination costs, and propose ordinance language in a future meeting. Councilmembers asked for language that mandates bilingual notice for items tied to public hearings and ballot materials and discussed expanding that coverage if fiscal impacts can be addressed.