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Contributed commentary from Montgomery County resident Dave Bilan:

The Montgomery County Commission is currently discussing whether or not to hire a live interpreter to provide American Sign Language (ASL) during their meetings. I am 100 percent in support of government operations accessibility to all residents. But I oppose this measure because we currently have a solution.

Montgomery County, Tennessee, already uses system providing closed captioning/subtitles which meets the Americans with Disabilities Act legal requirement.

I’ve been told deaf people using ASL speak a different language and it has a different syntax. Using this argument, we should be providing native language interpreters for anyone born in a different country learning English as a second language. Perhaps all municipal codes and laws need to be rewritten in fourth grade English or using slang for those using casual language.

It’s been asked why people who hear are so willing to decide for people who can’t. As a taxpayer, I’m helping to pay for a solution that communicates and meets the law. The Rolls-Royce is nice, but the county has a Chevrolet that works.

I’ve been told that meeting the ADA requirement is a minimum and that we can do better, pointing out the City of Clarksville uses a live interpreter. The City of Clarksville spent weeks arguing over what services to cut and how much to raise property taxes.

We elect officials to be good stewards of our tax dollars while providing services to benefit the public good for the greatest number of people. We rely on them to make difficult decisions about what we want, versus what we have, and what we truly need.

The national average cost of a live interpreter is $85-$125 an hour. I’ve been told this doesn’t amount to much, especially with the County Commission discussing giving itself a raise. I am opposed to giving part-time elected people a raise during these difficult economic times as well, but that’s a different letter.

Dave Bilan