Florida: Suwannee County Declares Official English-Only Rule

[Harold Schiffman]

County Declares Official English-Only Rule
By Karen Voyles NYT Regional Media Group

voylesk at gvillesun.com

GAINESVILLE Suwannee County commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday
evening to make English the official language of the board. During a
two-hour public hearing before voting on the matter, commissioners
stressed that they are not enacting an English-only policy. Instead,
the board will use English to conduct its business and anyone is
welcome to bring an interpreter to translate documents or interpret at
meetings. "In fact, we had a number of people who opposed this and
used an interpreter at our meeting," said commission chairman Douglas
Udell. "We plan to keep our bilingual employees in several of our
departments, but English is our official language." County Manager
Johnny Wooley said the commissioners dealt with two issues at once -
determining who would provide and pay for interpreters and reducing
the county's liability in misinterpretations.

"We encourage anyone who has business with the board to furnish their
own interpreter, so that pretty well puts the burden on the people
doing business with the board to speak the board's language, which is
English," Wooley said. According to Wooley, the most often used
language other than than English in Suwannee County is Spanish.
However, the county is also home to those who speak Vietnamese and
other languages. "Our concern is so many dialects and how do we have
interpreters for all of them," Wooley said.

Udell said commissioners were also concerned about being required to
provide translations for legal documents, like the land development
regulations, in any language. Udell said that without declaring
English the official language, the county may find itself paying for
translations and then paying again in lawsuits if a translator made an
error. According to Wooley, the English-as-the-official-language
policy will not affect the county's other constitutional officers like
the sheriff or property appraiser.

[ Karen Voyles writes for The Gainesville Sun. ]
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