City of Lathrop :: Website Policies & Disclaimers

City Council meetings are held at City Hall the first and third Monday of each month at 7:00 pm. Agendas are available on Thursday at noon before each meeting. The official agenda is posted outside of city hall in a display case, at the Lathrop Post Office, Lathrop Community Center and at the Fire Station. Special meetings are scheduled and posted as needed.

Council meetings are taped and then televised on your local broadcast cable channel 97 at 7:00 PM on Tuesday and Noon on Wednesday following the Council Meeting.

During broadcasting please report any technical issue by calling 209-941-7342.

Website Policies & Disclaimers

SECTION I: PURPOSE
The City of Lathrop provides this website as a public service to provide information about City services, officials and attractions. This website is a supplement to, and not a replacement for, information available from City offices. The City reserves the right to determine what information shall and shall not be placed on this website. The website is a public information resource that gives a high level overview of the organizational mission, structure, and operation.

The City of Lathrop official website, and this policy, shall be updated from time to time to incorporate improvements and to address changes in technology.

SECTION II: PRIVACY STATEMENT
SECTION III: MINOR'S PRIVACY POLICY
SECTION IV: COLLECTION OF INFORMATION
SECTION V: COPYRIGHT
SECTION VI: PROHIBITIONS
SECTION VII: DISCLAIMERS AND WARNINGS
SECTION VIII: EXTERNAL LINKS PURPOSE
SECTION IX: LINKS TO OTHER SITES
SECTION X: LINKS PROCEDURE
SECTION XI: CONTACTING US

SECTION II: PRIVACY STATEMENT (return to top)
The City of Lathrop is highly sensitive to the privacy interests of its citizens and believes that the protection of those interests is one of its most important responsibilities. In acknowledgement of its obligations, the City will not request any more information than is necessary to provide the highest level of service. During the course of a credit card transaction, the information is stored on a secured server. The City uses firewalls and other security technology to prevent our computers from being accessed by unauthorized persons. To perform this service, the City must, of course, pass information about transactions to your financial institution. The City will not share this information with any other third party.

As a governmental agency, we are governed by California open records laws. It is important that you understand most business conducted with municipal governments such as the City of Lathrop becomes a public record. Public records as defined by state law, and not made confidential elsewhere in the California Codes, may be posted for electronic access through this web site. This includes most city permits you have applied for and requests for a city service. These same records have long been open for public inspection by anyone requesting them in person, by mail or by telephone at the appropriate government office.

SECTION III: MINOR'S PRIVACY POLICY (return to top)
Any information collected by any City site from children under 13 is subject to the same guidelines as the general City Web site policies. In addition, the following guidelines will be followed for any information collected by or for any child under 13:

Information that could be collected from or for a minor includes but might not be limited to name, address, telephone number, e-mail address, school, and hobbies.
Parental (including legal guardian) Consent
1. Parental consent will be obtained before collecting, using or disclosing personal information about a child.
2. If any information practices change in a "material" way, new consent will be obtained from the parents. This includes changes in the kinds of material being collected, a change in how that information is being used, or if there is a change in the third parties that have access to that information.
Parents will be able to view the personal information collected from their children. This will require verification of the identity of the requesting parent.
Parents will be allowed to revoke their consent and delete information collected from or for their children on request. When consent is revoked, the website will stop collecting, using or disclosing information from or for that child. Revocation may end a child's participation in an activity if the information collected was necessary for participation on the website.
Additional information can be obtained at the FTC's Consumer Response Center and the Kidz Privacy websites.

SECTION IV: COLLECTION OF INFORMATION (return to top)
The City of Lathrop collects information about each visitor to the website in three ways;

IP Address: Your IP address does not contain or reveal personal information about you. Information such as your name, address, or phone number cannot be obtained through your IP address alone. The City's web servers log all website visitors' IP addresses to automatically collect information about usage of the website. This information is collected only to help diagnose problems with our servers, administer our website, track traffic patterns, and identify ways to make our website more useful. Information is never used to track or monitor individual users.
Email Correspondences. Email messages are disclosable public records, if they are retained by the City in the ordinary course of business. However, we will endeavor to keep your email address confidential to the extent permitted by law.
Online Forms. Unless specified by the form, all information submitted to the City using our online forms are kept private and will not be disclosed to third parties to the extent allowed under the California Public Records Act.

Concerted effort is made to protect your voluntary personal information. It is impossible to guarantee complete protection of any data, but we have implemented security measures to prevent data theft and loss of personal information. We will no rent, sell or provide your voluntary personal information to any third party without your express consent and will never disclose your personal information provided in a business transactions (such as credit card information) except as required by law.

SECTION V: COPYRIGHT (return to top)
Unless a copyright is indicated, information on the City of Lathrop website may be reproduced, published or used with the City of Lathrop's permission. We request only that the City of Lathrop be cited as the source of the information and that any photo credits, graphics or byline be similarly credited to the photographer, author, or the City of Lathrop, as appropriate.

If a copyright is indicated on a photo, graphic, or any other material, permission to copy these materials must be obtained from the original source.
Using or modifying this site's materials and information for commercial or profit making purposes is prohibited and may violate the copyrights and/or other proprietary rights of the City of Lathrop or third parties.
Using or modifying this site's materials and information for commercial or profit making purposes is prohibited and may violate the copyrights and/or other proprietary rights of the City of Lathrop or third parties.

SECTION VI: PROHIBITIONS (return to top)
The following acts or activities are prohibited without prior, written permission from the City of Lathrop:

Modifying text, images or other web content from a City server; or
"Mirroring" the City's information on a non-City server.

SECTION VII: DISCLAIMERS AND WARNINGS (return to top)
While the City attempts to keep its website accurate and timely, the materials and information contained on or obtained from the City of Lathrop website, are distributed and transmitted "as is" without warranties of any kind, either express or implied, including without limitation, warranties of title or implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. Information contained on this website, including information obtained from external links thereon, is provided without any representation of any kind as to accuracy, completeness, or quality of content and should be verified by the user.

The City of Lathrop is not responsible for any special, indirect, incidental or consequential damages that may arise from the use of, or the inability to use, the website and/or the materials contained on the site whether the materials contained on the website are provided by the City of Lathrop, or by a third party.

Messages transmitted via the Internet are not always reliable. Thus, although the City will make every effort to maintain the reliability of communications via the City's website, the City is unable to guarantee that any such communications will be received by the City. Therefore, if you want or need to communicate to the City, the City strongly recommends that you confirm the City's actual receipt of your communication via telephone. If you have any questions as to the appropriate City official to whom a communication should be addressed, please contact the City Clerk's office at (209) 941-7200.

Communications made through this website shall in no way be deemed to constitute legal notice to, or public comment to, the City of Lathrop or any of its agencies, officers, employees, agents, or representatives, with respect to any existing or potential claims or cause of action against the City or any of its agencies, employees, agents, or representatives, where notice to the City is required by any federal state or local laws, rules, or regulations. No communication to the City of Lathrop made through this website shall be deemed to constitute legal or official notice for any purpose.

Persons submitting email comments or questions to the City or to city officials or employees should be aware that the City cannot guarantee, nor does it represent that such communications will remain private or confidential. Similar to mailed or delivered comments, comments received via email may become subject to public disclosure under the California Public Records Act and/or part of the discovery procedure in a civil lawsuit.

SECTION VIII: EXTERNAL LINKS PURPOSE (return to top)
The purpose of this link procedure is to identify the types of information to be provided on the City of Lathrop official website and to identify the acceptable criteria for establishing external Internet website links from such website.

SECTION IX: LINKS TO OTHER WEB SITES (return to top)
Links from the City of Lathrop's Web site to other sites on the Internet do not constitute an endorsement of the City of Lathrop. The City of Lathrop is not responsible for the content, quality, or accuracy of any off-site materials referenced or linked through the City of Lathrop's Web site. By using the City of Lathrop's website, the user acknowledges and accepts that the City of Lathrop is not responsible for any materials stored on other Internet sites, nor is it liable for any inaccurate, defamatory, offensive, or illegal materials found on other Internet sites, and that the risk of injury from viewing, hearing, downloading, or storing such materials rests entirely with the user.

SECTION X: LINKS PROCEDURE (return to top)

In establishing and maintaining its official website, the City of Lathrop is not, in any manner, creating a forum or other means by which public discourse, exchange of opinions, advertisement of commercial or non-profit businesses, or discussion on issues of any nature may occur. Rather, the City's website is maintained for the exclusive use and control of the City of Lathrop such use and control including, but not being limited to, decisions on what content will be available on, or accessible from, the City's website. The sole and limited purpose of the City's website, and of any permitted external links from such website, is to provide non-political and non-religious factual information about the City of Lathrop and matters of general public interest as may be determined by the City, including listing commercial properties available for sale and/or lease within the City and various services and resources available to the general public within and around the City, or as may be available from other governmental agencies.
The City of Lathrop posts information, and establishes links to external websites, on the City's official website solely in conformance with this procedure.
To avoid any perception that the City endorses or provides favorable treatment to any private person or business enterprise, no corporate or commercial logos are allowed except for those reasonably necessary to establish an Internet hyperlink to entities that provide, free of charge to the public, software, software services or content services required to process or display content on the City's website.
Consistent with the foregoing, it is the City's procedure to limit external links to the following kinds of entities and organizations:
1. Local and regional economic development organizations that assist the City in promoting businesses throughout Lathrop including the Lathrop Chamber of Commerce and the Downtown Lathrop Business Improvement Area;
2. Other governmental agencies;
3. Hospitals;
4. Museums, libraries, historical organizations and similar kinds of established, bona fide organizations that provide cultural resources to residents and visitors of the City;
5. Public and private, bona fide educational institutions as defined in Education Code section 210.1, or as described in Education Code section 66010(a) and (b), located within San Joaquin, Alameda, Stanislaus and Contra Costa Counties;
6. Entities and organizations whose primary purpose is to provide the location, telephone number and/or description of tourism events in the City of Lathrop;
7. Sites providing maps, driving directions, and weather information;
8. Non-profit entities and organizations whose primary purpose is to provide access to legal or mediation services;
9. Non-profit entities and professional organizations whose primary purpose is to aid Cities and municipal employees in providing their services (e.g. the League of California Cities, California Society of Municipal Finance Officers, etc.);
10. Public Utilities and Private Utilities that have a franchise from the City by which the City regulates or monitors customer service issues;
11. Entities with which the City has an existing formal, contractual relationship through direct funding, co-partnership, or co-sponsorship on programs or events which are related to the City's governmental purpose; and,
12. Entities that provide, free of charge to the public, software, software services or content services required to process or display content on the City's website.
Entities and organizations wishing to establish external links on the City's official website must submit an application on a form provided by the Information Services division and shall provide all information necessary to verify the facts stated and as may be necessary to establish that the proposed link is in compliance with this procedure.
The City of Lathrop, through the City Manager's designee, shall have the right to:
1. Deny an external link application as to any person, business or organization when it is determined, following review of a complete application, that the entity or organization for which application is made does not meet the criteria set forth in this procedure;
2. Deny an external link application as to any person, business or organization which fails to provide all required information, or fails to provide truthful information;
3. Remove any external link if the nature of the organization or business to which the link relates no longer complies with the City's external link procedure;
4. To discontinue an external link at any time if the entities' websites provide or promote false, slanderous, illegal, immoral, or incorrect information at any time; or
5. To revise this procedure without prior notice when to do so is deemed to be in the best interests of the City.