Committee recommends translation baseline for development and CIP signage; QR-code and request language advised

The Garland Boards & Commissions Committee heard a staff presentation on translation and accessibility for public notices and signage tied to development and capital improvement (CIP) projects and recommended staff advance the proposal to the full council for direction.

“Tiffany Vino” presented department practices and a set of recommendations to improve access for non‑English speakers. She said planning and development road signs are English only but include a QR code linking to a web page available in English, Spanish and Vietnamese; planning also mails letters in English, Spanish and Vietnamese to properties inside notice zones. “Those signs are English only, but they do have a QR code that leads to a website with information in English, Spanish, and Vietnamese,” Tiffany said. Engineering, PMO and water utilities use English-only road signs at project sites; water door hangers are printed English/Spanish and some mailed notices have been sent in English, Spanish and Vietnamese.

Tiffany outlined a recommended baseline to improve access while limiting new costs: keep fixed road signage in English, add a short translated line (Spanish and Vietnamese) that points to the QR code for translations, and include a short sentence on printed materials and digital promotions explaining how to request translated materials. “If we are producing something in English only…the standard can be that we include statements, in Spanish or Vietnamese on how to request that translation so that someone knows we are willing to provide that,” Tiffany said. She recommended preserving multilingual yard signs and meeting materials only where bilingual staff are present to avoid implying on-site interpretation will be available.

Committee members raised cost and scope concerns and suggested promoting existing, low-cost tools such as smartphone translation apps. One committee member said many residents already use phone camera translation tools and urged the city to publicize those options. The presenter and committee agreed the QR-code-and-request-language approach would be applied to new signs as they are produced and would not require wholesale reprinting of all existing signs.

Ending: The committee asked staff to include the recommendations and the conversation’s clarifications in a report to the full council; staff will add increased public awareness about translation tools and note that reprinting existing signage is not automatic.