222 [80 O p. Att’y MUNICIPALI TIES V ALIDLY A DOPTED A MENDMENTS T O C HARTER A RE E FFECTIVE D ESPITE O MISSION F ROM C OMPILED V ERSION O F C H ARTER

July 10, 1995

David R. Pod olsky, Esquire Counsel for

Chevy Chase Village On behalf of

Chevy Chase Village, you have request ed our opinionon th e corre ct wo rding of the V illa ge’s chart er. I n your letter, you pointed o ut that only tw o of nine am endm ents that we re pu rporte dly adopted by the Villa ge governing body in 1965 ar e refl ectedin the v ersion of the c harter p ublish ed by the S tate De par tm ent o f Le gisla tive R efer enc e. Based on o ur ex am ination of co pies o f th e rele vant contem pora neou s records and docum ents, we conclude that these am endm ents were adopted i n accordance wit h the the n-app licable law. Therefore , the document publis hed by the D epartm ent sh ould be r evis ed to refle ct the ado ptio n of the 1 965 am end m ents

.

I Background A. Municipal

Charte rs and Char

ter Amendment Prior to the adop tion in 1954 of t he Mun icipal H om e Ru le Articl e, Articl e XI-E of the Maryl and Constit ution, the General Ass em bly enacted charter s for t he various municipal c or porat ions. See Article III, §48 of the Const itution. By vi rtue of the Ho me Ru le Articl e, municipal corporations m ay adop t and amen d the ir own charters in accor dance with procedur es presc ribed bypublic ge neral law . Ar ticle X I-E , §§3 and 4. At the time that the amendments in quest ion were approve d, the public ge neral l aw of the State provided t

hat an amendment to aGen. 222] 223

1 A 1965 pub lication e

nti tled Chevy Chase Village, Maryland

) History , Ordinances and Regulations, Charter shows no substantive change in these provisions. municipal c harter

c ould be initiated by the l egisl ative body or by petition of the vot ers. Articl e 23A, §§13 (a) and 14 (a) of the Maryland Code (1964 Supp.). As init iate d by the le gisl ative body, an amendment was to be embodied i n a resolutionand passed i n the usual way by a majority vot e of the e lect ed m em ber s. §13(a). Such an amendment would take eff ect on the fi ftieth da y follow ing its adoption, unless a

petition cal ling fora refere ndu m w as filed w ithin forty days. §13(f). Within the f orty dayperiod, a fair

summary of the ame ndm ent wa s to be pub lished in a new spaper of gener al circu latio n on ce a we ek f or a t leas t fou r w eek s. §1 3(e ). How ever, such an amendment coul d not b ecom e effec tive un til it was r egist ered with t

he Secret ary of St ate andthe Department of Legislative Refe rence . The follow ing info rma tion w as to be sent by regis tered

mail for regis tration with t

he Department: the te xt of t he am endm ent; the date of the ref erendum, if

any; the number of votes cast for and against the am endm ent, w hethe r in the le gisl ative body or in a referen dum ; and the e ffec tive d ate. § 17( f) an d (g ). B. The Charter of Chevy Chase Vill age Prior to the a doption of

t he Mun i cipa l Home Rule Artic le, the General Assem bly enacted a revised ch arter f or C hevy Chase Village

. Ch apter 2 51, L aw s of M arylan d 19 51. In releva nt part, th is charte r provided f

or an ele cted gover

ning body of sevenmem bers, to be k now n as the B oar d of M ana ger s. Among the off icers of the Board, to b e elect ed from among its members, was a Sec retar y, whose duties in clude d kee ping min utes o f all meetings of the Board. §77(122-4)( a) and (b ). 1 Although the originalcopy of the minut es of the Board for 1965 has not been located, a microfilm copy is i n the c usto dy o f the M ary land Sta te A rch ives

.

II The 1965 C harter A me ndm ents The Board minutes f

or January 11, 1965, describe the appr oval of seven separ ate motions to amend the char ter. These minu tes,224 [80 O p. Att’y

2 In your letter, you describe these as “nine ame ndments.” Our review indicate s that only

se v en amendments were actually approved. The discrepancy between the seven ame ndments, as noted in the minutes and contained in the text, and nine amendments, as summarized in the published statemen t, resulted from the description of a motion amending Sect i on78, concerning the election and oath of the Board, as two amendme nts, and of a motion amending §§7 9 and86A, concerning the village police and the authority of the village and State Police, as two amendments.

3 On April 5, 1965, these minutes were approved with the deletion of a refe rence t o “regulations” in

the item referring to the adoption of the amendme nts to what was called the “Village Act”

)that is, the charter

as enacted by the General Assembly.

4 In his brief remarks, Mr. Lam bertfailed to mention an am endment

that incr eased the Board’ s emerge

ncy borr owing powers fro m $10,000 to $20,0 00. However, he referred to a previously adopted amendme nt alteri ng the villa

ge’s boun daries. which were approved at a subsequent

Board meeting, do not descri be the substance of the amendments. Although t he minutes make refer ence to attach ed co pies, the mic rofilm does not have s uch copies. However, the microf ilm recor d include s a copy o f a le tter dated Janu ary 21, 1965, from George M. Ferris , Chairman of the Board, to the residents , and a statement su mm arizing nine am endm ents tha t wo uld take effect on March 3, 1965, unless a petition for a re ferend um we re filed. T he state m ent, which Mr. Ferris included w ith his letter, wa s pub lished in the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Tribune on January 22 and 29 and Febr uary 5 and 12, mic rofilm copies of

which are at

the Rockv il le Branch of the M ont gom ery Co unt y L ibra ry. These summaries can reaso nably be sa id to desc ribe ac curate ly the text of the am endm ents that you e nclosed an d that you state w ere found among the offi cialrecords of the vi llage

. 2 The minutes of t he Board for M arch 8 , 1965 , state that no refer endum petiti ons had been fil ed and that

the amendments took ef fect March 3, 1965. 3 At the villag e’s an nual m eetin g on Apr il19, 196 5, Art hur G. Lam bert, the vil lage’s counsel, brief ly described al l but one of the am endm ents that ha d recent ly beenadopted. 4 See Transcript of 51st Annual Meeting of Chevy Chase Villa ge at 28-31 (microfi lm copy in th e Maryl andSt at e Ar chi ves ). By registered letters of August 14,Gen. 222] 225 1965, to the Sec r etary of State and the Department of Legisl ative Reference, copies of w hich you pro vid ed, Mr. Ferris encl osed the text of the r evised charter

and advised t

hat the Board’s vot e had been unanimous, wit h all s eve n m em ber s pre sen t. By letters dated August 18, 1965, co pies of w hich you also provide d, Assistant Se cretary of State C. F. Tucker and Dr. Carl N. Eve rsti ne , Director of the Departmentof Legisl ative Reference, acknowledged the recei pt of the r evis ed te xt. In short , our e xamination of the off icia lly hel d copies of

the relevant records and documents has convinced us t hat what you have described as nine am endm ents we re lawfully ad opted in Jan uary 196 5, in acc ord anc e w ith th e ap plica ble la w a t that tim e.

III Effec t of Char ter Compil ati ons In 1983, the General Assembly “l egali zed” the 1983 compilati on of municipalcharte rs prepared by the Departm ent of Legisl ative Reference. Moreover, thi s enactment de clare d the compilati on and the suppl ements to be “e vidence of the Chart ers of Maryland mu nicipa l corpo rations in e ffect at the time of com pilat ion .” C hap ter 7 7, L aw s of M ary land 198 3. How ever, an en actm ent tha t legalize s a co de an d m akes it evidence of the l aw does notpreclude inquiry as to the corr ectness of the c odi ficat ion

. Bren ner v . Plitt , 182 Md. 348, 360-361, 34 A.2d 353 (194 3); W

elsh v. K untz , 196 Md. 86, 96-97, 75 A.2d343 (19 50). See also Nordh eime r v. Montg om ery C oun ty , 307 Md. 85, 94 n. 6, 512 A.2 d 37 9 (1 986 ). In ou r view, t

he same principle appl ies t o the compilation of municipal charte rs. Accordingly, the 1983 enact ment that l egali zed the Chevy Chase Villa ge Charter , as publ ished bythe D epartm ent, made the compilati on evidence of this charte r; i t did not

preclude an inquiry concerni ng what amendments were lawfully adoptedby the Board of Managers. To t he exten t that the a me ndm ents ad opted in 1965 are no t reflected in the c harter p ublish ed by the D epartm ent , the published charter should be revised t o reflect t hese amend ments, sub ject to any sub seq uen t rev ision s.226 [80 O p. Att’y IV Conclusion In sum ma ry, it is our o pinion that ce rtain 196 5 am endm ents to the Charter of

Chevy Chase Village are valid a nd cu rrently in effect. J. Joseph C urran, Jr. AttorneyGeneral Richard E. I srael Assist ant Attorney General Jack Sch wa rtz Chief Counsel Opinions & Advice