Glenwood Springs City Council is working towards having simultaneous Spanish-language translations for its meetings.
In the Feb. 4 Glenwood Springs council meeting, City Manager Debra Figueroa shared the rates of local interpreters and how much it would cost to have City Council meetings translated to Spanish.
The rate from local interpreter Elizabeth Velasco was $65/hour and from Natalia Lupi-Peata it was $130/hour, which would come to about $12,480 per year, or half of that if the council went with Velasco’s service.
The general consensus of the council was that there needs to be a way to welcome mono-lingual Spanish-speakers into conversations about local government and the community, but council members varied in opinion as to what would be the most cost-effective and beneficial way to go about this.