Making English a city’s official language sends an unwelcoming message to Hispanics, advocates and local town leaders say.

“What kind of image does that create?” said Liz Alex, manager of the Baltimore Worker’s Rights Center for Casa de Maryland, a Hispanic advocacy group, of Taneytown’s proposal to make English its official language. “There are more positive ways to approach the issue, such as giving tax credits to employers who provide for English language classes for their workers.”

Westminster Council Member Robert Wack called English-only resolutions “thinly veiled racism.”

“As long as I am on this council, Westminster will never make English its official language,” he said.

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Some foreign-born and native-born residents, including Elena Hartley, founder of United Hands of Carroll County, a nonprofit dedicated to improving the quality of life for immigrants, are worried about how such a resolution would affect minorities.

Hartley told Alex she was worried about how mandating English could shut the door to government services for her Spanish-speaking clients.

But Taneytown Council Member Paul Chamberlain Jr., who introduced the resolution to make English the official language for city business, said the measure is not intended to segregate.

“It’s not about illegal immigration. This is about unifying my community,” he said. “It’s a fact that those who learn English have greater opportunities.”

While the nonnative English speakers make up a small percentage in the city of 5,000 in northwest Carroll County — the American Civil Liberties Union estimate pegged it at 3 percent — Chamberlain said the resolution is his way of being “proactive” in anticipation of more immigrants moving to the area.

“Ninety percent of residents want this,” Chamberlain said, adding that he would support nonprofits teaching English to residents.

Taneytown Mayor Robert Flickinger dismissed Chamberlain’s proposal as a way to gain attention in his unsuccessful run for state senate this year, a claim Chamberlain denies.

Taneytown was expected to vote Monday night on the resolution.

kvolkmann@baltimoreexaminer.com