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; and funding to implement Indiegov, a constituent services case‑management (CRM) tool intended to track incoming requests, pass work to the right city department, and provide better reporting and analytics. Salazar said Indiegov is in early implementation and is expected to be configured and launched by the end of the fiscal year.

Councilors focused questions on the choice to fund a temporary translator position rather than a permanent position, and on whether translation needs for documents vs. live interpretation were being met. Salazar and administrative manager Erica Quintana explained the city already uses contractors for written translations; the proposed temporary hire is intended for live meeting interpretation and committee coverage. HR’s Anita explained temporary positions may be classified in multiple ways and that some term or part‑time arrangements can provide limited benefits; staff said they will coordinate classification details with HR.

The clerk’s presentation also highlighted planned website improvements including an ADA‑accessibility toolbar, ongoing website redesign informed by heat‑mapping analytics, and a toolbar that offers magnification and screen‑reader features. Staff said the city had removed a prior accessibility product that was not working and has identified a replacement similar to tools used by the Secretary of State’s site. Councilors urged converting PDFs to searchable OCR format where possible to improve accessibility.

Public defender staffing drew sustained attention. Salazar said the incumbent public defender is leaving and a contracted public defender will provide interim coverage; the FY26 budget proposes an added paralegal to support an estimated caseload of roughly 500 cases. Councilors described the public defender office as small—one office without a translator—and asked staff to pursue space and logistical solutions so a paralegal and defender can meet clients confidentially.

Constituent services and Indiegov drew questions about anonymized reports and reply language. Staff said constituents may call in anonymously; the trade‑off is the city cannot follow up without contact information. Indiegov will allow use of templated status messages so residents understand whether a request was closed because it belonged to another jurisdiction or because the city took action.

Committee members pressed staff for more detail on several operating line items, including a $75,000 shopping‑cart pickup contract (four‑year contract increased from $60,000), $30,000 for ranked‑choice voting education, and ongoing broadcasting costs for SFC TV. Contracts in the department’s line item include stenographer and records codification services, broadcasting, website annual maintenance, a CRM annual fee, and nuisance‑abatement contractors.

Salazar flagged items not funded in the baseline budget: full ADA compliance for council chambers and permanent simultaneous interpretation for all meetings, program funding for PEG channels (programming rather than capital), expanded nuisance abatement authority, and better translation capacity for land‑use or licensing forms beyond the current written‑translation contract.

The committee voted to give the budget preliminary approval in a roll‑call vote; the motion passed unanimously. Staff said outstanding questions—such as where public‑campaign‑finance funds are held and the details of advertised transfers—would be answered in follow‑up budget meetings and by the budget office.

What’s next: staff will finalize classification details for the temporary translator and pursue recruitment for the public defender vacancy, continue Indiegov implementation with a phased rollout, and return with more detail on public‑campaign‑finance accounting and nuisance‑abatement funding. The committee scheduled follow‑up budget hearings during the FY26 budget process.