By Erin Dixon | [email protected]

The West Jordan City Council hosted two individuals whose primary language is American Sign Language. Previous to the meeting, a resident couple requested an interpreter for the meeting. They wished to speak during public comment.

City leaders called an interpretation agency and provided an ASL translator for the couple during the meeting. The city is required to provide services for people with disabilities. 

“ASL is provided in accordance with the Americans With Disabilities Act,” Communications Officer Tauni Barker said. “We don’t guarantee language translation services, but if someone reached out with a request, we’d make every effort to accommodate it.”

Kristi Lee and Ron Mortensen were the residents who requested the service. Through the translator, Lee spoke during public comments about a notice she had received from city officials. 

“It was intimidating, the language on these notices: ‘Notice of Violation,’” Lee said. “We have a lot of deaf and hard-of-hearing residents in West Jordan. They would not understand the intimidating language. They would be frightened that they would be imprisoned. This notice could use a redesign. I think there are some different ways we could approach that.”

The council does not respond to public comments during the meeting, so it is unknown if anything will be done for this residents request.