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FRIENDSWOOD — City officials will consider amending hiring guidelines that would require city employees to speak English.

Changes have already been made to prevent the hiring of non-English-speaking workers in the future.

City Manager Bo McDaniel altered the wording on job descriptions so that, from now on, postings specifically state that talking with co-workers and the general public in English would be needed for some job assignments.

The change came after Friendswood resident William Hilburn complained that he couldn’t communicate with city employees trimming trees near his house.

“I got tired of saying, ‘Somebody needs to do something about these things’, and then I got to thinking, ‘Well, I’m somebody, go do it’, he said.

Hilburn later went before city council to complain that he couldn’t understand the men and accused the city of hiring illegal immigrants.

“He come out and come up and stood right there and was trying to tell me about this “boothis” and pointing at the tree.

The problem wasn’t that they were there to trim his tree, it was that they couldn’t communicate.

For 10 minutes, the two exchanged hand signals.  “He just kept on talking and pointing at the tree and saying ‘boothis’,” Hilburn said.

Hilburn believes communicating should never have been an issue.

“I shouldn’t have to talk another language to talk to my city government,” said Hilburn.

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Friendswood director of public works Kaz Hamidian said the employees asked Hilburn to move his car so they could finish working.

Hamidian and Mayor David Smith said that the city does a background check on all city employees and that the workers in question were not illegal immigrants.

Hamidian also said that because Hilburn moved his vehicle from the street, he must have understood the men eventually.

But Hamidian acknowledged that six of the 36 workers in his department couldn’t speak fluent English. Those six can speak some English, he said.

No one could tell 11 News how many of the 175 employees can’t speak fluent English.

Smith said that some jobs need English communication skills more than others.

“If you have someone that’s working a lawnmower or tractor and they aren’t able to write memos or make public announcements, it’s not going to be critical to their jobs,” he said.

But the change has sparked debate among council members who think the job description change isn’t enough.

Council member John LeCour said the issue won’t be resolved until all city employees and contract workers the city hires can read, speak and write English.

“If somebody sees a stranger in their backyard who is there to fix a sewer line and he can’t explain that to them, that’s a problem,” he said.

Although there have been rumors around city hall that council planned to name English as the official language of Friendswood, LeCour said those talks hadn’t begun between council members.

“All of the sudden, everyone thought we were going to do that. I don’t even know what the implication of that statement is,” he said. “If that makes it so that we can’t help our citizens in need, then we don’t need that.”

LeCour said no one has put the issue on a council meeting agenda yet, but said they would probably put a program together to train them in English.  They would not be fired if they didn’t speak it perfectly.

For Hilburn, even if they didn’t speak perfect English, that would be good enough.