Bowie, MD Code Violation Reporting: How to Report (2026)

The Bowie City Code, Chapter 1, General Provisions, sets the citywide process for reporting and citing municipal ordinance violations. Section 1-2 defines a code enforcement officer as an employee the City Manager designates to issue citations for Code violations, and the City fields such officers across departments depending on the chapter violated. Under § 1-6C(2), a citation for a municipal infraction can issue two ways: because the code enforcement officer personally observed the violation, or on the basis of an affidavit submitted to an appropriate official of the municipality, setting forth the facts of the alleged violation.

That second path is how a resident reports a violation the City did not witness directly: the complaint is put into a sworn affidavit and submitted to the City, which the officer then relies on to issue the citation. The officer must serve the citation under Maryland Rule 3-121, and where a real-property-related violation cannot be personally served after a good-faith attempt, the Code allows service by regular mail to the owner's last known address combined with posting the citation at the property itself and, if the owner is within the City, at the owner's residence or place of business.

Once a citation issues, § 1-6C(5) gives the recipient the right to request review by the Administrative Review Board, the body Chapter 1A of the City Code creates to hear citation appeals; that request must be filed within 15 days of the citation's issuance, and filing it stays further enforcement action until the Board rules. The Board's review sits between the citation and any referral to Maryland District Court, giving a cited resident or property owner one formal, City-level chance to contest the enforcement action before it becomes a court matter.