Thread: Bilingual clerks at courthouse? Roan balks at 'requirement'

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Bilingual clerks at courthouse? Roan balks at 'requirement'; Scott likes idea, gets OK


By Sheryl Marsh
DAILY Staff Writer
smarsh@decaturdaily.com · 340-2437

Morgan County Commissioner Jeff Clark tried to require License Commissioner Sue Baker Roan to hire a bilingual assessment clerk, when commissioners discussed allowing her to hire three new employees.

Roan was not at the work session; however, she attended the meeting that followed and told commissioners she did not want a bilingual clerk at this time.

On the other hand, Revenue Commissioner Amanda Scott, who intervened in the commission's discussion about hiring for Roan's office, later requested and got approval to hire a bilingual clerk.

During a work session when the commission discussed letting Roan hire three new employees, Clark, the District 1 commissioner, said he would like to make it a requirement for her to hire a person who speaks English and Spanish. Clark said that would reduce lines forming in Roan's office.

During the commissioners' discussion at the meeting, Scott stood up and took the microphone to question Probate Judge Bobby Day about a former bilingual clerk in his office.

Day said he has hired more than one in the past, but "you can't keep them." Day said they leave for better-paying jobs. Scott asked Day the amount of pay for the bilingual clerk position, and he said he believed it was $1 more than entry level pay, which is currently $7.29 per hour.
When Scott returned to her seat in the back of the room, Roan, who was on the opposite side of the room, asked her, "Do you have one (bilingual clerk) in your office, Amanda?"

Scott returned to the microphone a second time and said there's a growing need for bilingual clerks. She said more Hispanics are buying property and coming to the property tax office.

Roving bilingual clerk?

District 4 Commissioner Stacy George said he is against trying to tell Roan who to hire. He said maybe in the future the commission should consider hiring a bilingual employee to work as a rover among the offices at the courthouse.

District 2 Commissioner Richard Lyons said he was against trying to micro-manage Roan and tell her who to hire, but urged her to try to hire someone bilingual.

Roan's three clerical positions got approved with no requirements.

Scott had an item to replace a clerk added to the agenda shortly before the work session. During the meeting, she asked the commission to alter the request to make the position bilingual with $1 per hour extra.

George spoke out against it. He said if he were in Mexico, the government there would not provide him an interpreter. He said Hispanics need to learn the English language.
Day said another problem with bilingual employees is the difficulty finding one to speak Spanish and perform the clerical duties as well. Also, he said, a person who took a few Spanish courses is not sufficient, especially since there are multiple dialects of the language.

George urged delaying a vote to allow Scott to hire a bilingual clerk. Clark and Lyons wanted to approve the item Tuesday.

"I think she's got too many people speaking English in there," George said of Scott's office. "I can't support a bilingual position, period."

District 3 Commissioner Kevin Murphy said Scott's clerk position shouldn't have been allowed on the agenda 10 minutes before the work session.

Although he questioned Scott's request, he voted to approve it.

George cast the vote against Scott hiring a bilingual clerk.

After the meeting, George said, Scott addressing Roan's business was inappropriate.

"She got up and did not ask for permission from the chairman, and he didn't make her be seated," said George. "If she wants to run for chairman, she needs to run for it and stop trying to run the commission business."

"I think she's got too many people speaking English in there," George said of Scott's office. "I can't support a bilingual position, period."

What an idiot. The ability to speak and read the native language (English) should be a mandatory job requirement in any job.

Again this bi-lingual crap just irks me. Bi-lingual means to be able to speak 2 different languages. Russian and French is bi-lingual. They want just Spanish and Just a Latino to do it because learning Spanish STILL isn't good enough, so it is of no use for us to learn Spanish to keep a job because of the "nuiances" of the language. Spare me ..........

Heck I'm an American and still don't know all the "nuiances "of the English language but we don't make immigrants know ALL the dialects and "nuiances" before they're citizens and able to carry on a normal conversation. Heck I can probably stump quite a few Americans with words and phrases.

Personally I think they are neat. But all you have to do is ask for clarification and you get it. "Red up da haus"..."gum band"....puttin earl in the car.....roshen ears....ax ya .....bag or sack?......soda or pop or soda pop? Or as my dad would say, a sodee pop. Bearl the watter to wersh the ca before I put earl in it.

Then of course the native language of every generation of teenagers......

But trust me....dialects and nuiances aside......your message is clear in plain old English and I'm sure Spanish isn't more "special".....it's just another means to keep English speaking people out of a job.

Another solution is for the non english speakers to bring their own interpeters. We need to quit catering to these people and give them more reasons to go back home!

Ditto, Mayday, right to the point. Would save taxpayer $$$, too.