Finance committee gives preliminary approval to Community Engagement budget; staff pitch translation, public‑defender and ADA access investments

Community Engagement Department budget wins preliminary approval after staff outlined unmet needs and service priorities.

The Finance Committee on April 25 gave preliminary approval to the Community Engagement Department’s FY26 budget after City Clerk Andrea Salazar and her staff described priorities including a temporary Spanish interpreter for live meetings, a paralegal for the city’s public defender, website accessibility upgrades and implementation of a new constituent case‑management system.

The department, which includes the city clerk’s office, communications and marketing, constituent services, and the public defender office, told councilors it could not accommodate full ADA‑compliance for council chambers, ongoing programming for the government PEG channels, or a nuisance investigator without additional funds. The presentation outlined tradeoffs between one‑time capital requests and recurring staffing needs.

Salazar described three staffing and service items included in the proposed budget: a temporary (likely 30‑hour) Spanish interpreter to provide live translation at meetings when contractors are more costly; funding to add a paralegal to the public defender’s office after staff said the city public defender handles roughly 500 cases with no regular aide;…