Community Health Complaints
The Environmental Health Division (EH) at the St. Mary’s County Health Department (SMCHD) routinely receives calls and letters from county residents and visitors regarding a range of environmental public health concerns. EH evaluates each concern to determine potential impact on community health, validity of the complaint, and jurisdictional ability of SMCHD to respond. After verifying the conditions cited in the concern, the department proceeds with appropriate action and/or referral to other public service agencies as necessary.
Investigation of an expressed concern could include an inspection, education, sanitary survey, laboratory samples, specialized testing equipment, etc. Confirmed complaints are addressed by either:
- meeting with the property or business owner and explaining any corrections that need to be made
- sending a written correction order with a time deadline for corrections to be made
Complaint investigations and enforcement can encompass a wide variety of health code violations covered under Maryland regulations, but the majority fall under the public health nuisance code.
Submit a Health Complaint
If you would like to submit a health complain please complete and submit the online form below or contact the Environmental Health Division at (301) 475-4321 or smchd.env@maryland.gov.
Confidentiality
The online complaint form above requests information from the individual submitting the complaint. This information is kept confidential and assists our team in completing a thorough and meaningful investigation. Some complaints may be submitted anonymously but only by phone or email to the Environmental Health Division. Most EH programs require contact information from the complainant so that our team has the ability to contact the complainant either during or after the investigation. Please note: An anonymous complainant will not receive follow-up information on the progress of an investigation.