Preface

The Town of Chestertown has, like many other municipalities, passed through the struggles that characterized all American communities in their early history. While only a few simple laws were necessary at the time of the incorporation of the town, subsequent growth of the community, together with the complexity of modern life, has created the need for more and detailed ordinances for the proper function and government of the town. The recording of local law is an aspect of municipal history, and as the community develops and changes, review and revision of old laws and consideration of new laws, in the light of current trends, must keep pace. The orderly collection of these records is an important step in this ever-continuing process. Ordinances must be more than mere chronological enactments reposing in the pages of old records. They must be available and logically arranged for convenient use and must be kept up-to-date. It was with thoughts such as these in mind that the Mayor and Town Council ordered the following codification of the Charter and ordinances of the Town of Chestertown.

Contents of Code

The Code contains the Charter, plus all currently effective ordinances of a general and permanent nature and certain pertinent resolutions enacted by the Town Council of the Town of Chestertown. In accordance with recognized codification procedures, any revisions or amendments made in existing ordinances in the course of the codification, upon authorization of the Mayor and Town Council, are referred to in the ordinance adopting the Code and are adopted thereby. Any changes made to the Charter have been made by amendatory resolution adopted in conjunction with this codification project and in conformance with the requirements of Article 23A of the Annotated Code of Maryland.

Reserve Chapters

Space has been provided for the convenient insertion, alphabetically, of later enactments. In the Table of Contents, such space appears as chapters titled "(Reserved)." In the body of the Code, reserved space is provided by breaks in the page-numbering sequence between chapters.

Division of Code

The Code is divided into two major divisions. The first division includes the Charter of the town. The second division includes the ordinances and resolutions of a general and permanent nature as Parts I and II. Part I, Administrative Legislation, contains all town ordinances or resolutions of an administrative nature, such as those dealing with the administration of government, those establishing or regulating municipal departments and those affecting officers and employees of the municipal government and its departments. Part II, General Legislation, contains all other town ordinances and resolutions of a regulatory nature. Ordinances in this part generally impose penalties for violation of their provisions, whereas those in Part I do not.

Grouping of Ordinances and
Arrangement of Chapters

The ordinances and resolutions are organized into chapters, their order being an alphabetical progression from one subject to another. Wherever there are two or more ordinances dealing with the same subject, they are combined into a single chapter. Thus, for example, all ordinances pertaining to property maintenance may be found in Part II, in the chapter entitled "Property Maintenance." In such chapters, the use of Article designations has preserved the identity of the individual ordinances.

Table of Contents

The Table of Contents details the arrangement of material by chapter as a means of identifying specific areas of legislation. Wherever two or more ordinances or resolutions have been combined by the editors into a single chapter, titles of the several Articles are listed beneath the chapter title in order to facilitate location of the individual ordinances or resolutions.

Pagination

A unique page-numbering system has been used, in which each chapter forms an autonomous unit. One hundred pages have been on allotted to each chapter, and the first page of each is the number of that chapter followed by the numerals "01." Thus, Chapter 30 begings page 3001, Chapter 81 on page 8101, etc. By use of this system, it is possible to add or to change pages in any chapter without affecting the sequence of subsequent pages in other chapters and to insert new chapters without affecting the existing organization.

Numbering of Sections

A chapter-related section-numbering system is employed, in which each section of every ordinance is assigned a number which indicates both the number of the chapter in which the ordinance is located and the location of the section within that chapter. Thus, the first section of Chapter 30 is ~ 30-1, while the sixth section of Chapter 81 is ~ 81-6.

Scheme

The Scheme is the list of section titles which precedes the text of each chapter. These titles are carefully written so that, taken together, they may be considered as a summary of the content of the chapter. Taken separately, each describes the content of a particular section. For ease and precision of reference, the scheme titles are repeated as section headings in the text.

General References

In each chapter containing material related to other chapters in the Code, a table of General References is included to direct the reader's attention to such related chapters.

Index

The Index is a guide to information. Since it is likely that this Code will be used by persons without formal legal training, the Index has been formulated to enable such persons to locate a particular section quickly. Each section of each chapter has been indexed. The Index should be supplemented and revised from time to time as new legislation is added to the Code.

Appendix

Certain forms of local legislation do not fall into the categories as established for Parts I and II of the Code, but are of such significance that their application is community-wide or their provisions are germane to the conduct of municipal government. The Appendix of this Code is reserved for such legislation and for any other material that the community may wish to include.

Supplementation

Supplementation of the Code will follow the adoption of new legislation. New ordinances or resolutions and amendments will be included and repeals will be indicated as soon as possible after passage.

Acknowledgment

Preparation of the Code of the Town of Chestertown involved much work on the part of town officials. Special acknowledgment is given to Town Manager William S. Ingersoll, who, in addition to reviewing the legislation to be included in the Code contributed the needed coordination of all communications involved. We gratefully acknowledge his assistance, as well as others who are not specifically mentioned.

The codification of the Charter and ordinances and resolutions of the Town of Chestertown reflects an appreciation of the needs of a progressive and expanding community. As in many other municipalities, officials are faced with fundamental changes involving nearly every facet of community life. Problems increase in number and complexity and range in importance from everyday details to crucial areas of civic planning. It is the profound conviction of General Code Publishers Corp. that this Code will contribute significantly to the efficient administration of the local government. As Samuel Johnson observed, "The law is the last result of human wisdom acting upon human experience for the benefit of the public."