Monterey County pilot program gives Spanish speakers an opportunity to be involved in the Supervisors meetings

SALINAS, Calif. (KION-TV): A new Monterey County pilot program aims to give Spanish speakers more to listen and weigh in on the Monterey County Supervisors meetings.

The program was launched in May and it allows for there to be Spanish interpretation for the virtual version of the meetings. Something that Magdalena Bautista, who lives in Salinas, said is extremely important because like herself, not a lot of people in the area know how to speak English.

"We need to know what's going on and, in the meetings, as well, we do need Spanish interpreters." said Bautista.

Monterey County said the pilot program stems from a referral from both supervisors Luis Alejo and Christopher Lopez.

"Wanting to ensure that we are providing this information to those in our community, not only to the english speaking, but to the Spanish speaking as well." said Valerie Ralph, Clerk of the Monterey County Board of Supervisors.

The county's pilot program has Spanish interpreters for people who watch the meetings through Zoom, Facebook and Youtube. The county also said the interpreted meetings can be seen on the supervisors calendar.

The county said for people who go to the meetings in-person, they get provided a headset so they can hear the Spanish interpreters. They also said this pilot program wasn't placed years ago because of numerous things.

"I know they've provided an on site Spanish interpreter for public comments," said Valerie Ralph, Clerk of the Monterey County Board of Supervisors, "I don't know if the thought wasn't there yet, you know, we can had to look at the technology and think how to launch it, but COVID had a lot to do with it."

Ralph said the Spanish participation has increased over the last several weeks and she said there's some next steps when the pilot program ends.

"My part now with this board referral is to report back to the board after July 16th and give them the statistics that we see, in our zoom, data that we have." said Ralph.

And for people like Bautista, she thinks this pilot program came at a right time.

"I think it's never too late to start, I think it's important to know what's going on in your community." said Bautista.

The county said the pilot program will continue through July 16.