FHDocs

Last updated 3/1/2008

Town Documents

The Town Charter is the "Constitution" for the Town's government, and provides the basic rules and authority for the mayor and Town Council in their management and operation of the Town's business. The Charter was adopted by the Town's voters in 1949 when the Town was established, and was rewritten and re-approved in a 1963 referendum.

The Town ordinances are laws passed by the Town Council over the years that regulate the behavior of citizens and persons doing business in the Town. The ordinances are enforced by the imposition of a fine or jail term upon a finding of guilt in a court of law. Violations of the ordinances can be either civil infractions subject to a fine, or a criminal misdemeanor subject to a fine and imprisonment under one year.

The color coded Election Wards Map allows citizens to identify in which Ward they reside. If a street is a dividing line between Wards, citizens on opposite sides of the street reside in different wards.

CHARTER AMENDMENTS APPROVED BY THE TOWN COUNCIL ON SEPTEMBER 19, 2007
(These amendments will become effective November 8, 2007 unless a petition containing signatures of 20% of the Town's registered voters is submitted to the Town Council by October 29, 2007).

Summary of Charter Changes (PDF Format)
Resolution 29: Meetings Sec 33-6 (PDF Format)
Resolution 30: Vacancies Sec 33-11 (PDF Format)
Resolution 31: Code of Conduct Sec 33-93 (PDF Format)
Resolution 32: Vacancy 33-19 (PDF Format)
Council Resolution Making Typographical Changes (HTML Format)

CHARTER AMENDMENTS APPROVED BY THE TOWN COUNCIL ON MARCH 9, 2007
(These amendments will become effective April 28, 2007 unless a petition containing signatures of 20% of the Town's registered voters is submitted to the Town Council by April 18, 2007).

Summary of Charter Changes (PDF Format) (HTML Format)
Resolution 21: Selection and Term of Mayor Sec 33-15 (PDF Format) (HTML Format)
Resolution 22: Powers and Duties of Mayor Sec 33-18 (PDF Format) (HTML Format)
Resolution 23: Election of Mayor Sec 33-32 (PDF Format) (HTML Format)
Resolution 24: Election of Councilmen Sec 33-33 (PDF Format) (HTML Format)
Resolution 25: Terms of Councilmen Sec 33-3 (PDF Format) (HTML Format)
Resolution 26: Nominations Sec 33-31 (PDF Format) (HTML Format)
Resolution 27: Special Elections Sec 33-35 (PDF Format) (HTML Format)
Resolution 28: Vacancy Sec 33-19 (PDF Format) (HTML Format)
Markup of Town Charter Showing Prior Amendments (PDF)

Forest Heights Town Charter

Town Charter (PDF Format) Standard Edition 26 pages
Town Charter (PDF Format) Large Type Edition 79 pages
Town Charter (HTML Format)
Town Charter showing November 16, 2005 Amendments Charter Resolutions 3 through 14 [27 pages] (PDF Format)
Charter Resolution 15 Chief Executive (PDF Format) (HTML Format)
Charter Resolution 16 Election of Councilmen (PDF Format) (HTML Format)
Charter Resolution 17 Election of Councilmen (PDF Format) (HTML Format)
Charter Resolution 18 Election of Mayor (PDF Format) (HTML Format)
Charter Resolution 19 Open Meetings (PDF Format) (HTML Format)
Charter Resolution 20 Enforcement of Powers (PDF Format) (HTML Format)

Forest Heights Code of Ordinances (PDF Format) December 2004 Edition
Article 22 - Election Law (PDF Format) Enacted January 24, 2006
T own Election Wards (Map) (JPG Format)
Forest Heights Strategic Plan (PDF Format) [this is a large 1.9MB file] (HTML Format)

Resolutions of the Forest Heights Town Council
In 2004, the Forest Heights Town Council began the practice of formalizing its resolutions. Under Section 33-90 (Definitions) of the Town Charter, "an ordinance is defined as a legislative act of the Mayor and Council and as a regulation of a general permanent nature. A resolution is defined as an act of the Mayor and Council of temporary nature. Ordinances will be enacted only for permanent legislative items. Resolutions will be enacted for important, but non-permanent items such as budgets, tax rates, bond issues, compensation of employees, special assessments, and executive and administrative matters."

Click below for Council Resolutions passed in Calendar Year:

2008
2007
2006
2005
2004

State of Maryland Laws Affecting Municipal Government
The following information on Maryland laws affecting municipalities is provided as a convenience for users of this web site and is not intended as a legal reference. Readers are referred to the Links to Other Sites Page to obtain the latest official documents for the State of Maryland.

Maryland Open Meetings Act Manual -6th Edition (PDF Format)
Maryland Public Information Act Manual - 10th Edition (PDF Format)
More information on these manuals can be found at http://www.oag.state.md.us/opengov/index.htm.
Article 23A Municipal Corporations - 2005 Edition (PDF Format) (HTML)
The latest Maryland codes can be found at LexisNexis.

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