FHDocs

Last updated 5/15/2010

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.

Forest Heights Town Charter (September 2007 Edition)

Town Charter (PDF Format)
Town Charter (Microsoft Word DOC Format)
Town Charter (HTML Format)

Amendments to the Town Charter: In the period 1963 to 2004 there were two amendments to the Town Charter that focused on bringing the Charter into compliance with State law. In November 2004 the Town Council enacted several amendments to the Town Charter making basic changes to the Town government. Additional changes were made in through September 2007, including a repeal of most of the Charter changes made in November 2004 by election ballot in March 2007. Below are references to these Charter changes, and all these amendments have been incorporated in the Town Charter copies in the above links. Under Maryland State law, each charter amendment enacted by the Town Council must be carried out by a sequentially numbered charter amendment resolution.

+ Town Charter showing November 16, 2005 Amendments Charter Resolutions 3 through 14 ( PDF Format)
+ Charter Resolution 15 Chief Executive [2/16/2006] (PDF Format) (HTML Format)
+ Charter Resolution 16 Election of Councilmen [2/16/2006] (PDF Format) (HTML Format
+ Charter Resolution 17 Election of Councilmen [2/16/2006] (PDF Format) (HTML Format
+ Charter Resolution 18 Election of Mayor [2/16/2006] (PDF Format) (HTML Format
+ Charter Resolution 19 Open Meetings [2/16/2006] (PDF Format) (HTML Format
+ Charter Resolution 20 Enforcement of Powers [2/16/2006] (PDF Format) (HTML Format)
+ Summary of Charter Resolutions 21-28 [3/9/2007] (PDF Format) (HTML Format)
+ Resolution 21: Selection and Term of Mayor Sec 33-15 [3/9/2007] (PDF Format) (HTML Format)
+ Resolution 22: Powers and Duties of Mayor Sec 33-18 [3/9/2007] (PDF Format) ( >HTML Format)
+ Resolution 23: Election of Mayor Sec 33-32 [3/9/2007] (PDF Format)) (HTML Format)
+ Resolution 24: Election of Councilmen Sec 33-33 [3/9/2007] (PDF Format) (HTML Format))
+ Resolution 25: Terms of Councilmen Sec 33-3 [3/9/2007] (PDF Format) (HTML Format)
+ Resolution 26: Nominations Sec 33-31 [3/9/2007] (PDF Format) (HTML Format)
+ Resolution 27: Special Elections Sec 33-35 [3/9/2007] (PDF Format) (HTML Format)
+ Resolution 28: Vacancy Sec 33-19 [3/9/2007] (PDF Format) (HTML Format)
+ Summary of Charter Changes [10/29/2007] (PDF Format)
+ Resolution 29 Meetings Sec 33-6 [10/29/2007] (PDF Format)
+ Resolution 30: Vacancies Sec 33-11 [10/29/2007] (PDF Format)
+ Resolution 31: Code of Conduct Sec 33-9 [10/29/2007] (PDF Format)
+ Resolution 32: Vacancy 33-19 [10/29/2007] (PDF Format)
+ Council Resolution Making Typographical Changes [10/29/2007] (HTML Format)

Forest Heights Code of Ordinances

(PDF Format) (DOC Format) (HTML Format)

April 2010 Edition
Notes: Footnotes in these files may not be correct or consistent. Users should obtain the latest edition of the ordinances from the Town Clerk for any legal applications.
Emergency Ordinance 03-10 Police Department (PDF Format) (DOC Format) (HTML Format)

Town Map and Strategic Plan

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:

2010
2009
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 - 11th Edition, October 2008 (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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