Scranton plans to make interpretation/translation services available to all City Hall departments

Jul. 9—SCRANTON — With an increasingly diverse population, the city plans to make interpretation and translation services available to all municipal departments of City Hall, Mayor Paige Gebhardt Cognetti said.

The police and fire departments already use contracted interpretation and translation services when needed, she said. But other departments that also often interact with the public — including Licensing, Inspections and Permits and the Department of Public Works — also would benefit from having language interpretation/translation services available, the mayor said.

The city issued a request for proposals, called an RFP, in the June 26 edition of The Times-Tribune seeking interpretation and translation services, with a submission deadline of July 14.

"We need interpretation services across all of our departments in the city. So this is an effort to have interpretation that's readily available for code enforcement, public works — beyond police and fire (departments,) which have had access to those" language services, Cognetti said. "We're trying to broaden that and make sure that we're able to communicate with our residents, especially in real-time when there are emergency situations."

Non-English speaking residents interacting with police during emergencies sometimes have found it easier to try to communicate through one person speaking for others, police Chief Leonard Namiotka said. But officers often need to speak directly with victims or suspects and cannot use a family-member intermediary, and that's when an interpreter gets called upon for translation.

"It's a valuable tool for our officers, especially if it's a crisis situation," Namiotka said. "Many times, they (residents) want to use a family member (to communicate), but we can't do that."

In Scranton, 10.6% of residents, or 8,121, were born in a country other than the U.S., according to the 2018 U.S. Census American Community Survey. That number has tripled since the year 2000.

During fall of the Scranton School District's 2020-21 academic year, the number of English learners — or those who spoke a different language and were unable to communicate fluently in English — continued to grow. Students spoke 52 languages other than English and came from 62 different countries.

Scranton's population now includes many Bhutanese-Nepali and Congolese refugees who fled strife and violence.

Some communities also may speak different dialects of the same language, Namiotka said.

"We talk about diversity in the city, the range of languages spoken is so broad, you can't just stop at one or two" for interpretation/translation services, Cognetti said. "There are a lot of languages out there."

Contact the writer: jlockwood@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9100 x5185; @jlockwoodTT on Twitter.