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Written Testimony and Correspondence from Town Residents to the Town Council

The table at the bottom of this page includes all official correspondence from Town residents to the Town Council.  Don’t see your letter here? Contact the Town’s webmaster, Christine Dibble.

The views expressed in the following correspondences are solely that of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Town of Washington Grove, the mayor, the town council, or any other associated parties.

Which comments sent to the Council are considered "official correspondence"?

Official correspondence is any written submission to the mayor and town council, including

  • written comments sent from individual residents or past residents via mail or email to the full Council (or where the full Council is cc’d on the comments),
  • written comments made as part of a public appearance at a meeting of the Council, and later submitted to the Town Clerk, and
  • petitions signed by 25 or more voting residents.

Official correspondence will only appear in the table below if it has been delivered to the Mayor and Council in the form of a PDF or Word document attached to an email. Correspondence that appears in the email itself rather than in an attachment is still considered “official correspondence” but will not be included in the table below.

 

How should I send my comments to the Council, in order for them to be considered official?

If you want your correspondence to be considered official, you MUST deliver it to the Council using one of the following methods:

  1. as an email sent to the email address mayorandcouncil@washingtongrovemd.org.
    • Comments sent in the email itself rather than as an attachment to the email are official correspondence, but will not be included in the table below. 
    • Comments sent as a Word or PDF attachment to the email are official and will be included in the table below. 
      • Submission in PDF format is preferred.
      • To convert a Word document to PDF, look for a “Save as PDF” option in the File menu of Word.
  2. by sending multiple copies of a single letter directly to the mayor and all councilors, cc’ing the Town Clerk and the Town Webmaster.
What kinds of written comments are NOT considered “official correspondence”?

Comments that are not considered “official correspondence” for the purpose of being included in the table below include comments:

  • published only on the Town’s informal listserv.
  • sent as individual messages to the Mayor and/or Councilor(s).
  • sent only to the Town Clerk.
  • sent to the Mayor and Council from Town commissions or committees (those comments will appear on the commission or committee’s web page).
  • sent by non-residents (other than past residents) (note that comments from non-residents may be published elsewhere on this website).
  • submitted anonymously.

Any comments that fall into any of the categories above will not be published in the table below.

 

I would like to send official correspondence to the Town Council, but want to have it remain private (i.e., not listed in the table below). Can I do that?

Yes.  Here are two ways to do that:

  1. Send your correspondence to the same address, mayorandcouncil@washingtongrovemd.org, but start the subject line of your email with the word “PRIVATE” in all caps, OR
  2. Put your comments directly in the email rather than as a PDF or Word attachment to the email.

Note, however, that under Maryland’s Public Information Act, anyone can request access to government records, and that government records include all correspondence with officials, not just correspondence shown in the table below.

 

I submitted comments and they are now on the website. However, I want to revise or retract these comments. Can I do that?

No. Your original comments, once submitted, stand.  The letter will not be removed from the website because it includes spelling or punctuation errors, because it doesn’t reflect everything you had to say, or for any other reason.  You are, however, free to submit a second letter on the same topic.  The single exception to this rule is that a petition that has been withdrawn by its authors will be removed.

 

Notes about the table below:

  • The table includes all official correspondence from Town residents to the Town’s government dated August 1, 2021 or later. 
  • Items are added to the table as they become available to the webmaster.
  • The table is sortable by item number, date, author, and topic/key words. Click on the up and down arrows to the right of each term in order to sort by that term.
  • The search box at the upper right corner of the table searches words presented in the table, but not words contained in the PDF files that the table links to.

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