Alachua County Commission discusses next steps for Truth and Reconciliation project, approves language access policy

Alachua County Immigrant and Language Access Coordinator Gracia Fernandez explains the proposed language access policy to the board

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – At the June 25 Alachua County Commission meeting, the board discussed the next steps for their Truth and Reconciliation project and approved a language access policy.

New Facilities Director

Communications Director Mark Sexton introduced the new Facilities Director, Travis Parker, who was hired away from the City of Newberry.

Truth and Reconciliation project

After Sexton showed a video of the dedication of the Soil Collection Jar Exhibit Honoring Victims of Lynching, Commissioner Ken Cornell said that when the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) asked communities to do their own Truth and Reconciliation projects in 2018, they said a community could request a duplicate of the memorial slab in Montgomery, AL, and he wondered whether the County would be getting one.

Deputy County Manager Carl Smart said the County had talked to EJI about getting a slab because they have completed all the required activities, including soil collection, historical markers, and essay contests, but “they’re not issuing any slabs at this time. What I’ve heard is that their focus right now is on the executions that are happening, particularly in Alabama, but not limited to Alabama, and other states, too. As you know, EJI represents persons who are on death row, a lot of times that may be underrepresented during their trials and maybe even without any representation. And so that’s kind of been their focus right now, but they have assured us that as soon as they are able to, that we would be one of the first to get the slab because we were one of the first to complete all the activities that were required as a part of the community remembrance.”

Cornell supported putting more effort into getting a slab, adding, “I think these things nationally gain attention.”

Chair Mary Alford said she’d heard discussion about another trip to Montgomery, and Smart said a new statue had been built at the EJI, so he and Commissioner Chuck Chestnut were talking about taking a group of citizens, volunteers, staff, “and, of course, Commissioners, with us to take a look at that statue.”

Next steps

Commissioner Anna Prizzia asked about next steps, and Smart said the County wants to bring “other communities up to speed, as far as completing some of their activities.” He said Archer was the most recent community to take up the effort, and a soil collection is scheduled there in September. He said four communities “still need historical markers.”

Prizzia said she thought it was important to tell “the stories that are about the really amazing work that’s being done and trying to highlight the positive around all of these amazing people in our community and what they’re achieving, especially our young people, so that we’re not just telling the stories of the mugshots and the shootings and that we’re not just talking about the negative things, but that we’re really lifting up the positive things and providing good role models and opportunities and highlighting those things.”

Wheeler: “I think that the country should know what we’re doing”

Commissioner Marihelen Wheeler suggested that the County create a workshop to offer at the Florida Association of Counties (FAC) or National Association of Counties meetings “as a model for what we’ve done here… I think that the country should know what we’re doing, but also, Florida should see how we’ve tackled these issues here… because we’ve been very creative, I think, and I think it would be inspiring for other counties to see what we’ve done.” Alford responded, “Absolutely.”

County Manager Michele Lieberman said she has something along those lines planned when the County hosts the FAC Innovation and Policy Conference in 2025. Cornell said he thought it was important to have the EJI slab by that date, if possible. Wheeler said that would also be a good goal for getting “the other communities involved, so we can say everybody is, you know.”

Language access policy

Gracia Fernandez, the County’s Immigrant and Language Access Coordinator, shared a proposed language access policy and plan that she will implement over the next year and a half. She said the policy “seeks to recognize and address linguistic barriers and foster an environment where all Alachua County residents, regardless of their English proficiency, can access vital resources and engage meaningfully with their community.” She said Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was extended in 2000 via Executive Order 13166, signed by Bill Clinton, to apply to language access: “In other words, it’s the federal right of people who have limited English proficiency to access, meaningfully, programs and services in a language they can understand.” 

Under the proposed County policy, departments will be able to select from a list of vendors or use in-house interpreters; live, simultaneous over-the-phone interpretation will be provided; and the County will prioritize the translation of vital documents such as legal forms, emergency management information, and educational materials. Emergency notices will also be promptly translated into languages commonly spoken in the community. 

The County will also have a language access site that will provide a hub where residents and County departments can request documents, translation, or interpretation; read the Language Access Policy and Procedure; or share feedback. The pilot program will start with Emergency Management and Environmental Protection, and only Spanish translations will be provided at first. Once a process is established for providing access to Spanish-speakers, they will add four other languages.

Emergency notifications in Spanish

Fernandez said that after she met with Emergency Management, an emergency notification service was created to provide texts in Spanish; residents can text “ALACHUA ESP” to 888777 to receive these notifications.

Fernandez said the next step was for the board to approve the language access policy, and then her staff would begin translating vital documents, would hire a second company for over-the-phone translation to reduce wait times, and would launch the language access site. She said County staff will be trained on how to use the tools and how to respond to requests that involve translation services. 

Motion

Following the presentation, Prizzia made a motion to adopt the language access policy with the addition of a more explicit feedback process for updating the policies as needed. Chestnut seconded the motion. 

Wheeler asked whether the policy would apply to the Library District, the Tax Collector’s office, the Supervisor of Elections, and the Property Appraiser’s office. Fernandez said, “Yes and no.” She said she had to be “respectful of the jurisdictional lines… but I can’t necessarily dictate what’s coming.” She said she wanted to get the language access policy in place so she could use it as an example for other offices that are not governed by the County Commission. She said she would help “anybody” that reached out to her for help with providing language access.

Cornell: County should offer to help employees learn to speak Spanish

Cornell asked whether the County had a program to help employees learn Spanish and said, “I think, Madam Manager, that the best way to bring this about, throughout our organization, is to offer to our employees, ‘Hey, you want to know how to speak Spanish? Let the County help you.’… I would support that.”

Fernandez responded, “Learning a language is really difficult, and learning a language while you’re also trying to do your full-time job is even more difficult. I am all for this, and I think everyone should try to learn at least one other language… But it’s hard. It’s really hard.”

Cornell said, “Know why I think it’s important? As you struggle to learn a language, you’re able to empathize with those who don’t speak a language… I was just throwing out an idea; the Manager’s heard my point.” He said any County employee who wants to learn a second language should “make your voice heard.”

Alford agreed that encouraging employees to learn a second language would be “a great idea, I think, from an idea of projecting empathy and helping our citizens be heard.”

Lieberman said she would take a look at options for offering classes or courses in other languages.

Wheeler said the County should also be encouraging non-English-speakers to learn English: “You know, we just have to kind of be careful in our enthusiasm for communication, to make sure that we are… also saying, ‘We really want you to to learn to speak English here, too.'”

New language added to policy

Prizzia clarified that her request for a feedback process would “leave that to staff to think about how their goal for having resident and stakeholder feedback for these interpretation services is part of the actual policy.” 

Staff updated the policy language during public comment on the motion, and the new language was read to the board: “It is the policy of Alachua County to provide timely, meaningful access for individuals who are Limited English Proficiency (LEP) in all Alachua County government services, programs, and activities. All language assistance services are free to all LEP individuals who request language assistance services in the provision of County program services and provisions. Staff will regularly review and evaluate this policy with meaningful engagement on language services and procedures with relevant internal and external stakeholders.”

Lieberman pointed out that the policy should only apply to Alachua County Board of County Commissioners government services, programs, and activities.

Prizzia amended her motion to adopt the new language and specify that it applies to Board of County Commissioners government services. The motion passed unanimously. 

  • Alachua County’s roads are falling apart, our school children are receiving passing grades for simply breathing, and crime is through the roof, but our commissioners are worried about how to get a marble slab to commemorate some people who died more than one hundred years ago in order to continue living in the past.

    • Another huge waste of time, public funds, and self-applied back slapping! How absurd to want to communicate and show “what we are doing”! Idiocy! A huge stupid waste! Why not actually help someone in need. Cut gov waste. Go out and clean up trash and stop waste. Oh no! Can’t do that. We need to spend countless hours and thousands of $ to show all how much we care (but how nakedly ignorant we are) and how great we are! Sickening! Every darned one of you self-absorbed, holier than thou, self-appointed Kings of Alachua!

  • Totally agree. More unless trash from a useless bunch of people that can’t fix anything in this city.

  • I find it ethnocentric they might only suggest Spanish when 320 million people speak French. Why limit it?

    Fix. The. Roads.

    Réparer les routes!

  • Hey AC BOCC!

    Cut the “Save the World” BS and do your elected job! You are all employees!

    Fix the roads, keep us safe from the gun toting criminals, fund our fire department, sheriff’s office, and emergency response service! Provide us with the essential safety and health related services we pay such ridiculously high property taxes for! To hell with your need for National Recognition! It doesn’t pay our taxes!

    Don’t try to force language support for non-taxpaying “people”, or your personal need to apologize for being slave holders, on us! I have never been a slave holder and if others in AC were, they should repent (if they are still alive at what has to be over 100+ years old)!

  • Carl Smart is a liar. NO ONE goes through a murder trial without representation, at the least they have a public defender.

  • Where is the slab gonna be placed? Next to the 100,000 chicken?

  • It’s an election year. Dems gave up on integration back in the ‘90s when rap culture came out.

  • My iPhone comes with a free language translator. We don’t need an immigrant and language coordinator.

  • BLACK on BLACK crime and killings going on and these people are focusing on events that may not even be well documented, only by word of mouth. If ChestnuTT and Carl Not-so-Smart want to take a trip use one of the funeral vehicles. Anybody ever run a background check on Carl?
    So, dumb to want County Employees to learn another language. How about if people learned ENGLISH, dummy.
    Gracia Fernandez, the County’s Immigrant and Language Access Coordinator. How much is this position costing the County?
    We need single district for commissioners. Just one thing , someone should bring up is, transportation for small towns to Gainesville. Especially, for seniors to medical centers a daily shuttle would be nice. I would rather my taxes be used for this than ChestnuTT and Carl taking trips.

  • Alachua County HR:

    “Immigrant and Language Services Coordinator
    Salary
    $55,893.55 – $88,494.02 Annually

    This is professional administrative work responsible for assessing needs and coordinating efforts for the immigrant and refugee inclusion program within Alachua County. This position is located in the Sustainability, Equity, Economic and Strategic Development (SEEDS) Office.

    Ability to fluently speak a language other than English.”

    Sorry native Alachua County residents who speak English. The Equity department discriminates against you in hiring.

    • There’s a couple homeless people around the downtown area they may want to hire – they speak in tongues.
      Can’t understand a word of the gibberish they spout at cars and people.
      Would serve a double bonus – ambassadors for the city and immigrant coordinator. Seeing as how it practically takes two incomes to afford to live in Gainesville, it would get them off the street as well.

  • They will not be happy until all commission meetings are translated live into Creole sign language.

  • The coordinator is 100% correct. It is extremely difficult to learn a new language as an adult unless you can completely immerse yourself in it and not have an option to use your native tongue very much. I assumed that was common knowledge but guess not.

  • The Democrats on the Alachua County Commission sure seem bizarrely nostalgic about the lynchings performed in their party’s name in the past.

    I was half expecting to read that Cornell and Prizzia began opening jars and smearing the soil on their faces in some kind of weird blood ritual.

    Cornell is particularly excited to use these deaths for his own personal attention and ghoulish career advancement.

    Where is the “truth” and where is the “reconciliation”? Why do we have to pay for the ACC to travel to Montgomery for a worthless photo op? Inquiring minds want to know.

      • https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/2867191/john-francis-conoley
        This is just a small excerpt below.

        Has The Independent Florida Alligator ever covered the story of the Democrat Gainesville mayor and police chief kidnapping the St. Patrick’s priest in their klan robes and castrating him? 100 years later might be a good time to write an award-winning story about it and take responsibility for shirking their journalistic duties at the time.

        >>The Florida Alligator, which had always advertised Masqueraders auditions, was silent on all issues related to Fr. Conoley. The paper never questioned his leaving the Masqueraders or his “exile from campus.” “The State Board of Control passed a regulation banning all members of the Roman Catholic clergy from any state-supported college campus under its jurisdiction.”

        This condemnation of Fr. Conoley was not enough for the Alachua County Klan. On a February weekend in 1924 three hooded Klansmen entered the rectory of St. Patrick’s. The Klansmen left Fr. Conoley severely beaten and castrated on the steps of the Catholic church in Palatka. The complete story of what happened to Fr. Conoley during the trip from Gainesville to Palatka is unknown. He was able to identify two of the three men who brutalized him.

        When the bishop learned of Fr. Conoley’s fate, he appointed a priest to fill in for him at St. Patrick. The priest arrived at the St. Patrick rectory, to find the windows manned by the Knights of Columbus armed with shotguns. The Knights were responding to the KKK’s threat to burn St. Patrick Church and rectory. After one year of hospitalization and two additional years in a monastery, Fr. Conoley was accepted as a priest in the diocese of Portland, Maine. He served as a diocesan priest there until his retirement in 1956. Fr. John Francis Conoley died July 25, 1960, and he is buried at the Veterans Cemetery in Togus, Maine.

        There was no known public response to the attack on Fr. Conoley. The local paper did not report it. There was no police investigation. It was as though Fr. Conoley never had a life here in Gainesville.

  • Another level of fecklessness . Have someone email this wasteful, clueless ,money burning morons a picture . No need to travel. And by the way , Memo to” Mary you apperently owe taxpayers money taken while in office illegally, ” No other counties give a Shy$$**tt about Alachua County and how they abuse taxpayers and get away with it. You need to get out more , you are the butt of statewide jokes . To local taxpayers this is anything but a joke and not funny. Sadly true.

  • Are Spanish language services being provided to invaders who are here illegally? If so, it would seem that the Alachua County Commission is aiding and abetting the illegal invasion of our country. The only “services” that should be provided to illegal invaders is a big boot in the ass to kick them back over the border they crossed illegally.

  • I’m going to go out on a limb and assume that people who are not proficient in English are either immigrants or illegal aliens. The general perception is that they came to this country for a better life. Only those that try to completely assimilate into our way of life will fully enjoy that better life. That assimilation includes learning English. During the first half of the previous century English classes were a thriving business that many immigrants took advantage of on their way to becoming successful. A better use of our tax dollars would be to provide classes for those that are not proficient in English. An alternant view suggests that those who don’t desire to learn our language should return to their birth country where they won’t have a language issue.

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