The councilman who introduced a resolution that passed Monday making English Taneytown’s official language hopes other municipalities will follow.

“I’ve received many e-mails and phone calls from people not only in Taneytown, but throughout the state of Maryland and countrywide, thanking me,” Council Member Paul Chamberlain Jr. said. “Del. Pat McDonough [a District 7 Republican who has introduced unsuccessful bills to make English the state’s official language], called me [Monday] and sent a letter of support.”

But Westminster Council Member Robert Wack called the measure a “waste of time.”

The resolution doesn’t really change anything, Chamberlain said, but critics called it discriminatory.

This story continues below
Advertisement

“We’ll be conducting business in English as we have for the last 200 years, but the point now is that it’s official,” he said.

The impact of the first city in Maryland passing an English-only resolution is not yet known, but it sends a negative message, opponents said.

“If it’s not going to do anything, why is it necessary to pass this in the first place?” said Liz Alex, manager of the Baltimore Worker’s Rights Center for Casa de Maryland, an immigrants advocacy group.

Chamberlain said the city still will provide translators to residents who need help with completing their water bills or requesting building permits.

kvolkmann@baltimoreexaminer.com