Office of the City Clerk | College Park, MD

OVERVIEW

The City Clerk’s office maintains the official records of the City, serves as the liaison to the Mayor and City Council, responds to Public Information Act requests (MPIA, FOIA), maintains the Code of the City Of College Park, assists the Board of Election Supervisors with City elections, acts as liaison to the City’s Ethics Commission, initiates resident requests for permit parking or traffic calming on residential streets, coordinates membership appointments to City Boards and Commissions, schedules meeting rooms and usage of City-owned facilities by outside groups, updates information on the City’s public access channels and serves as the City’s general point of contact for the public.

If you have questions about the City but don’t know where to start, please contact our office. We are here to help you:

Find out who to contact about a City issue;

Understand a City law and how it applies to you;

Ask about voting in City elections;

Find out how you can run for office;

Find out how you can serve on a City advisory board;

And much more!

Please don’t hesitate to contact our office; we are always happy to help.

MARYLAND PUBLIC INFORMATION ACT (MPIA) Requests

The City Clerk is the custodian of records for the City of College Park and is the designated contact person for requests under the Maryland Public Information Act (MPIA) or Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

The City of College Park maintains certain records that are classified as public records which may be made available to the public in accordance with the guidelines of the Maryland Public Information Act (MPIA) (§4-201 et seq. of the State Government Article, Annotated Code of Maryland, as amended).

MPIA requests must be in writing, and may be mailed, emailed, faxed or hand delivered to the City Clerk. You may use this form, (Spanish) but it is not required. Your request should sufficiently identify the records that you are seeking, including a clearly identified subject matter and specific dates or ranges of dates of the documents requested.

There are occasions when fees may be charged to produce documents requested under the Maryland Public Information Act. It is the policy of the City of College Park to notify the applicant of the estimate of fees in advance, and that said fees must be paid in full prior to the release of the documents. Please see the adjacent fee schedule.

Payment shall be made in cash, by credit card, or check payable to “The City of College Park” and must be received before the documents are released. Upon request, fees may be waived by the Clerk’s Office if it is determined to be in the public interest or if the requestor is indigent and files an affidavit of indigency with the City Clerk.

If you have any questions about the administration of the above guidelines, please do not hesitate to contact the City Clerk’s Office at 240-487-3501.

CITY MPIA FEE SCHEDULE

Under the Maryland Public Information Act, the City is allowed to charge “reasonable fees” relating to the fulfillment of MPIA requests and/or the production of records. A “reasonable fee” is defined as one bearing a reasonable relationship to the recovery of actual costs incurred by the City.

It is the policy of the City of College Park to prepare an estimate of fees, to notify the requestor of that estimate, and to receive full payment of such fees, before the production and release of the documents. Adjustments between the estimate and actual cost incurred will be made once the production is complete, and the difference will be reconciled with the requestor at that time. All fees must be paid through the City Clerk’s office.

The City may charge:

The first two hours to search for a public record and prepare it for inspection are free. After that, the actual cost of the search for, preparation of, and reproduction of a public record in standard format, including media and mechanical processing costs, may be charged. Staff and attorney review costs may be included in this calculation and shall be prorated for each individual’s salary and actual time attributed to the search for and preparation of the public record.
A reasonable fee for the search for, preparation of, and reproduction of public records prepared, on request of the applicant, in a customized format.
Printed paper copies:
- In house - the first 10 pages are free; thereafter, copies are 10¢ per page.
- When outsourced - the actual cost will be charged.
- Oversize copies will be outsourced.
- Color copies will be outsourced.

Copy of audio on CD:
- In house - $2.00 per CD
- When outsourced – the actual cost will be charged
Copy of video on DVD:
- In house - $2.00 per standard DVD
- In house - $7.50 per dual-layer DVD, if needed
- When outsourced - the actual cost will be charged
Transfer of audio cassette tape to digital media:
- In-house – not available
- Outsourced – the actual cost will be charged.
Transfer of video (VHS) tape to digital media:
- In house – not available
- Outsourced – the actual cost will be charged.