HomeMy WebLinkAboutResolutions - 2014-01 - A Resolution of the City adopting the Limited English Proficiency Plan, US Department of Housing and Urban Development Regulations, 24 CFR Part 91, LEP, HUD, CDBG - 1/28/2014RESOLUTION NO.2014-01
A Resolution of the City of East Wenatchee,Washington,
adopting the Limited English Proficiency Plan in accordance
with the requirements of the U.S.Department of Housing and
Urban Development regulations at 24 CFR Part 91 and
establishing an effective date.
1.Alternate format.
a.Para leer este documento en otro formato (espanol,Braille,leer en voz
alta,etc.),pongase en contacto con el vendedor de la ciudad al
alternateformat@east-wenatchee.com,al (509)884-9515 0 al 711
(TTY).
b.To read this document in an alternate format (Spanish,Braille,read
aloud,etc.),please contact the City Clerk at alternateformat@east-
wenatchee.com,at (509)884-9515,or at 711 (TTY).
2.Recitals
a.Preamble.
1.In 2009,the City of East Wenatchee ("City")was notified by the U.S.
Department of Rousing and Urban Development (RUD)that it
qualified as a federally designated "principal city"within the
Wenatchee Metropolitan Statistical Area and was eligible for
entitlement status to receive annual grants from the Community
Development Block Grant Program (CDBG).
11.The City Council of East Wenatchee ("City Council")took action at
their August 25,2009 meeting to accept entitlement status to become
a direct recipient of CDBG funds.
Ill.The City Council adopted the 2010 -2015 Community Development
and Housing Consolidated Plan ("Consolidated Plan")and 2010
Annual Action Plan with Resolution 2010-07 on August 10,2010.
b.Authority.
1.The City of East Wenatchee is a non-charter code City duly
incorporated and operating under the laws of the State of
Washington.
11.RCW 35A.74 authorizes the City to administer programs to assist low
income individuals.
111.Title VI ofthe Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Executive Order 13166
prohibit discrimination based on national origin.Recipients of federal
funds are required to take reasonable steps to ensure meaningful
Resolution No.2014-01
Page 1 of3
access to their programs and activities by persons with limited
English proficiency.
c.Background.
1.A Notice of availability and notice of public meeting was published in
the Wenatchee World on November 25,2013 in English and in
Spanish.
11.The Draft Limited English Proficiency Plan was posted on the City's
Webpage.
111.The East Wenatchee Planning Commission held a public meeting on
January 7,2014 to review the Draft Limited English Proficiency
Plan.Notice of that meeting was mailed or e-mailed to 169
individuals or organizations.
IV.A Notice of Public Hearing before the City Council regarding the
Limited English Proficiency Plan was published in the Wenatchee
World on January 17,2014 in English and in Spanish.
v.The City Council held a public hearing on January 28,2014 to
receive comments and consider adoption of the Limited English
Proficiency Plan.
THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF EAST WENATCHEE DO RESOLVE AS
FOLLOWS:
Section 1:Action.The City Council hereby APPROVES the Limited English
Proficiency Plan,which is attached to this Resolution as Exhibit "A".
Section 2:Effective Date.This resolution becomes effective on the date that it is
passed by the City Council.
Passed by the City Council of East Wenatchee,at a regular meeting thereof
on this 4g#1 day ofJanuary,2014.
CITY 0 AST WENATCHEE,
WAS TON
ATTEST:
Dana Barnard,City Clerk
Resolution No.2014-01
Page 2 of3
AP&:l~
Devin Poulson,City Attorney
FILED WITH THE CITY CLERK:Januarv 22,2014
PASSED BY THE CITY COUNCIL:j I~g/dol'-!
RESOLUTION NO.2014-01 '
Resolution No.2014-01
Page 3 of3
City of East Wenatchee
Community Development Block Grant Program
Community Development Department
Limited English Proficiency Plan
271 9th St. NE
East Wenatchee, WA 98801
Phone 509.884.5396 Fax 509.664.6113
www.east-wenatchee.com
Adopted by Resolution 2014-01 on January 28, 2014
To read this document in an alternate format (Spanish, Braille, read aloud, etc.),
please contact the City Clerk at alternateformat@east-wenatchee.com, at (509)
884-9515, or at 711 (TTY).
Para leer este documento en otro formato (español, Braille, leer en voz alta, etc.),
póngase en contacto con el vendedor de la ciudad al alternateformat@east-
wenatchee.com, al (509) 884-9515 o al 711 (TTY).
City of East Wenatchee
Limited English Proficiency Plan
Page | 2
INTRODUCTION
The Limited English Proficiency Plan (LEP Plan) addresses Title VI of the Civil
Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination based on national origin. In
1974, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed that the failure to ensure a meaningful
opportunity for national origin minorities, with limited-English proficiency, to
participate in a federally funded program violates Title VI regulations. Additionally
requirements are outlined in Executive Order 13166 and directives from the U.S.
Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Transportation. Recipients of
federal funds are required to take reasonable steps to ensure meaningful access
to their programs and activities by LEP persons.
The Executive Order also requires that federal agencies work to ensure that
recipients of federal financial assistance provide meaningful access to their LEP
applicants and beneficiaries. Executive Order 13166 requires agencies to: (1)
examine services provided, (2) identify specific needs necessary to provide
meaningful access for Limited English Proficiency (LEP) persons, and (3)
implement a system to provide meaningful access to such services.
It is the policy of the City of East Wenatchee (City) to ensure that LEP persons will
not be discriminated against nor denied meaningful access to, and participation in,
the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) programs and services
provided by the Community Development Department (Department). In order to
ensure meaningful access and participation for LEP persons, the Department will
notify such persons that language services are available to them at no cost and
will take reasonable steps to see that language services are provided according to
the provisions of this LEP Plan.
The Community Development Department of the City administers the Community
Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program. The Department does not operate or
manage any housing assistance programs. Predominantly the CDBG funds are
utilized for public facility improvement projects. The Department does use sub-
recipients for a homeownership assistance program. Any sub-recipients will be
responsible for compliance with this LEP.
The LEP Plan will apply to all CDBG administered programs, services and
facilities. It is the intent of the Department, in providing language services to LEP
persons, to achieve a balance that ensures meaningful access to programs and
services while not incurring undue burdens on City resources.
The LEP Plan works in concert with the CDBG overall Citizen Involvement Plan,
which identifies specific tactics for outreach and involvement of the citizens of the
community in the process of developing and implementing the Community
Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program (i.e. public notification, information
dissemination, and public involvement activities).
This Department will respond to requests for language assistance in the manner
described in this plan, which includes:
City of East Wenatchee
Limited English Proficiency Plan
Page | 3
A mechanism to provide ongoing assessment of needs, programs, and
activities of target audiences, along with the organization’s capacity to meet
these needs using the Limited English Proficiency Plan
Translation of vital written materials in Spanish
Oral language assistance to Limited English Proficiency (LEP) persons for
programs, where such assistance is requested and/or anticipated
Identified procedures and a designated representative from the Department
responsible for implementing activities related to the Limited English
Proficiency Plan
Notification of the availability of free language services to those persons in
the target audience, through oral and written notice in the relevant primary
language assistance activities
Staff training on policies and procedures of the organization’s language
assistance activities
Full implementation strategies and estimated costs are described in more detail
below.
FOUR-FACTOR ASSESSMENT
To ensure individuals with limited English proficiency have meaningful access to
the CDBG Program process, the Department conducted a self-assessment in
areas relevant to the development of an effective LEP Plan. The Four-Factor
Assessment is a tool used to determine the extent of the City’s obligation to
provide LEP services. The four factors are: (1) The number or proportion of LEP
persons eligible to be served or likely to be encountered by the program or
grantee; (2) the frequency with which LEP persons come into contact with the
program; (3) the nature and importance of the program, activity, or service
provided the program to people’s lives; and (4) the resources available to the
grantee/recipient and costs.
Factor 1 - The number or proportion of LEP persons eligible to be
served or likely to be encountered by the program or grantee
The first part of the City’s self assessment involved collecting data on the number
of LEP persons eligible to be served, likely to be served, or likely to be
encountered by the Department through programs, services, or activities.
To determine the number and proportion of potential LEP persons, relevant
demographic information has been collected to identify the number of individuals
speaking a language other than English and their proficiency. The information has
been collected for the City and Douglas County since the service area for some of
the CDBG programs includes City and county residents. The following
demographic information illustrates the language abilities for persons over 5 years
of age for both jurisdictions. It should be noted that the Douglas County
demographics include the City.
City of East Wenatchee
Limited English Proficiency Plan
Page | 4
City of East Wenatchee Douglas County
LANGUAGE SPOKEN AT HOME
Percent of
Total
Persons Percent of
Total
Persons
English only 79.4% 9,658 73.3% 25,775
Language other than English 20.6% 2,505 26.7% 9,378
Speak English less than "very well" 9.6% 1,162 12.6% 4,421
Spanish 18.3% 2,224 24.6% 8,646
Speak English less than "very well" 9.1% 1,111 12.3% 4,336
Other Indo-European languages 1.5% 179 1.2% 407
Speak English less than "very well" 0.2% 28 0.2% 53
Asian and Pacific Islander languages 0.3% 39 0.6% 203
Speak English less than "very well" 0.2% 23 0.1% 31
Other languages 0.5% 63 0.3% 122
Speak English less than "very well" 0.0% 0 0.0% 1
Source: ACS 2011
According to the demographic information above, those persons over 5 years of
age speaking a language other than English at home make up approximately 20.6
– 26.7% of the population. Of those individuals, 9.6 to 12.6% speak English less
than “very well” and would be considered to have Limited English Proficiency.
Spanish-speaking individuals make up the largest percentage of persons that
could potentially qualify as having a Limited English Proficiency. Between 18.3 and
24.6% of those individuals are Spanish speaking and 9.1 – 12.6% speak English
less than “very well”.
Persons speaking other languages at home make up less than 5% of the
population. Of that population those persons indicating that they speak English
less than “very well” make up less than 1% of the total area population.
Since Spanish is the most common language encountered, the target audience for
materials and outreach will be to Spanish speaking individuals.
Factor 2 - Frequency with which LEP individuals come in contact with
the Department
Although specific numbers have not been recorded in the past, this Department
has contact with Spanish-speaking individuals and some individuals with LEP.
Those contacts are unpredictable and infrequent and they are typically associated
with building permit questions or some other code compliance issue rather than
being associated with the CDBG Program. As mentioned previously, the
Department does not operate or manage any housing assistance programs.
Public contacts regarding CDBG activities are generally at public meetings held in
preparation for an annual plan development or performance reporting period.
Implementation Plan
To more accurately assess the frequency with which the Department has
contact with an LEP individual, the Department will initiate a simple
City of East Wenatchee
Limited English Proficiency Plan
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tabulation procedure to document the number and type of encounters with
LEP individuals. This will help the Department better document and
analyze the scope of language services required.
Factor 3 - Nature or importance of programs or services deemed vital
In general vital documents are considered to be those critical for obtaining or
maintaining the services or benefits offered under the CDBG Program. As
mentioned above, the Department does not utilize CDBG Program funds for
internally administered programs. However, the Department recognizes the
importance and benefit of outreach and communication with LEP individuals
during the planning, monitoring, and implementation of the CDBG Program.
In addition to the Community Development & Housing Consolidated Plan that is
prepared or updated at least every 5 years, there are documents prepared on a
yearly basis that include the Annual Action Plan and the Consolidated Annual
Performance and Evaluation Report.
The Department utilizes sub-recipients for existing housing assistance programs.
The subrecipient will be required to comply with this LEP.
Implementation Plan
All program documents will contain a notice that alternative format versions
will be made available if requested.
All legal notices and publications intended to inform the public of meetings,
the availability of documents, or opportunities for public comment will be
published in English and Spanish. In addition to the legal notices published
in the City’s official newspaper, notices and public service announcements
will be transmitted to the local Spanish language paper and radio stations.
Any application forms for direct assistance utilizing CDBG funds whether
through the Department or a subrecipient must be provided in English and
Spanish.
All public notices will contain a notification that translation services and/or
documents in an alternate format will be made available upon request.
Posting signs in intake areas and other entry points regarding the
availability of free language services to those persons in the target
audience
Stating in outreach documents that language services are available from
the agency.
Working with community-based organizations and other stakeholders to
inform LEP individuals of the agency's services, including the availability of
language assistance services
City of East Wenatchee
Limited English Proficiency Plan
Page | 6
Factor 4 - Resources available to the Department and associated
costs
Prior experiences with LEP individuals, the City utilized the services of bilingual
staff available from the Municipal Court. Since that opportunity is not a
consistently available service, the City will be contracting with an on-call
translation service that will enable this Department and other City departments to
utilize translation services via telephone.
Implementation Plan
Contract with Language Line Services or equivalent service provider for on-
call translation services. The cost for the service is estimated at $1.00 per
minute.
Staff will be trained on policies and procedures of the organization’s
language assistance activities.
The Department will make available the “I Speak” cards provided to identify
individuals with limited English proficiently. Use of the cards will be
tabulated. This identification provides a means to monitor changing
demographics in the community to better anticipate future needs.
The City’s Website portal will provide opportunities to instantly translate
pages as well as links to English and Spanish versions of any materials
posted.
The cost to dual publish notices is anticipated to add approximately $75.00
per notice.
COMPLAINT PROCEDURE
For persons included in a regularly encountered Limited English Proficiency (LEP)
group, written notification of the opportunity to file a discrimination complaint in
accordance with federal regulations will be provided. For infrequently encountered
groups, Limited English Proficiency persons may be advised orally of the
opportunity to file a discrimination complaint pursuant to federal regulations.
LANGUAGE ACCESS COORDINATOR
The City will appoint a language access coordinator. This individual is responsible
for ensuring that the Department adheres to its language access plan, policy
directives, and procedures to provide meaningful access to LEP persons.
Responsibilities include coordinating and facilitating delivery of related services,
staff training on the plan’s policies and procedures, and ongoing monitoring and
assessment of the plan’s effectiveness. The coordinator is responsible for
language assistance services and may delegate duties but should retain ultimate
responsibility for oversight, performance, and implementation of the language
access plan.
City of East Wenatchee
Limited English Proficiency Plan
Page | 7
The City designates Lori Barnett, Community Development Director, as the
individual responsible for oversight and implementation of the Limited English
Proficiency Plan.
Lori Barnett
City of East Wenatchee
Community Development Department
271 9th St. NE
East Wenatchee, WA 98801
Phone 509.884.5396 Fax 509.664.6113
E-mail: lbarnett@east-wenatchee.com
The language access coordinator will report to the Mayor.
Steven C. Lacy, Mayor
City of East Wenatchee
271 9th St. NE
East Wenatchee, WA 98801
Phone 509.884.9515 Fax 509.664.6223
E-mail: slacy@east-wenatchee.com
DEFINITIONS
Limited English Proficiency Person: Persons who do not speak English as their
primary language and who have a limited ability to read, write, speak, or
understand English can be limited English proficient, or ‘‘LEP,’’ and may be
entitled to language assistance with respect to a particular type of service, benefit,
or encounter.
Recipient of Federal Financial Assistance: Includes grants, training, use of
equipment, donations of surplus property, and other assistance. Sub-recipients are
also covered, when federal funds are passed from one recipient to a sub-recipient.
Vital Communication: Any document that contains information that is critical for
obtaining or maintaining the services or benefits that are supported by Federal
funds, or that are required by law. Such documents may include but are not limited
to, legal notices, applications, and notices advising LEP persons of the availability
of free language services.
Interpretation: The act of listening to spoken words in one language (the source)
and orally translating it into another language (the target).
Translation: The replacement of a written text from one language into an
equivalent written text in another language