Written Testimony and Correspondence from Town Residents to the Town Council

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 [email protected].
   • 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.

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Any comments that fall into any of the categories above will not be published in the table below.

Yes.  Here are two ways to do that:

1. Send your correspondence to the same address, [email protected], 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.

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  The single exception to this rule is that a petition that has been withdrawn by its authors will be removed.