Consultant working with city of Dalton to improve communication with Spanish-speaking residents

Charles Oliver, The Daily Citizen, Dalton, Ga.
·2 min read

May 19—Dalton's population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, is 46.3% Hispanic, and businesswoman and consultant Jackie Killings told the City Council Monday it is vital for the city to publish "important information .. in both Spanish and English on all platforms that we use, written and digital platforms."

Council members approved a $16,500, nine-month contract with Killings in October to review the city's operations, with a particular focus on communication and engagement with the community, and on Monday she gave them an update on her work.

"The goal of this is to make sure that the city is serving the citizens with the services they need and we are delivering the services in the way the citizens need," she said.

Killings said Communications Director Bruce Frazier "has done a really good job of doing that on the digital format and I've worked with him to find some resources that can help with those translation services."

Frazier said that "on messages that are of critical importance, such as messages regarding COVID-19 guidelines and more recently vaccination efforts by the city, we have been trying to have those messages available in English and Spanish. We have a staff member at (the Parks and Recreation Department) who has been translating those messages for us. We have also for many years been sending all of our email releases and messages to Spanish-language publications as well as to the English-speaking media, and we have also sent those same messages to community organizations like CLILA (Coalition of Latino Leaders) and the LAA (Latin American Association) so they can get those messages to the people they serve."

Killings has suggested the city reach out to Dalton State College and explore options about possibly involving bilingual students in translating messages and posts.

"I've made initial contact on that, but we have not yet moved very far down that road," said Frazier. "Translation technology is still not perfect but it's getting better and better. If you follow any Spanish-language media on Facebook, for example, you have probably noticed that it automatically translates those posts into English. So Spanish speakers also have that option for other messages that are out there which aren't translated, but at this point we still prefer to have a human being translating those critical messages that are of higher importance to make sure nothing is lost in translation."

—Council members voted 4-0 to approve a $58,857.98 agreement with Prime Contractors of Powder Springs to replace the roof of the former freight depot off of Morris Street. The depot houses the Downtown Dalton Development Authority, a Dalton Convention & Visitors Bureau visitors center and a gallery hosting exhibits from the Bandy Heritage Center for Northwest Georgia.