This Privacy Statement informs you about the types of information City of Lake Charles gathers online when you visit www.cityoflakecharles.com or any of our associated web sites, how we may use that information, whether we disclose it to anyone, and your choices regarding our use of, and your ability to correct, that information.

This Privacy Statement may change from time to time, so please check back periodically. This Statement explains the following regarding the treatment of data collected on our Site(s):

  1. Sites Covered by This Statement
  2. What Information We Collect
  3. Why We Collect Your Information
  4. How We Use Your Information
  5. Sharing Your Information
  6. Accessing and Changing Your Information
  7. Use of Cookies on These Sites
  8. Protecting Your Information
  9. Links to other Web sites
  10. Children's Privacy Protection
  11. Changes to This Statement
  12. Contact Us

 1. Sites Covered by This Statement

This Privacy Statement covers the collection and use of data on the www.cityoflakecharles.com website and any affiliated sites managed by City of Lake Charles.

 2. What Information We Collect

The information collected on our Site(s) generally falls into the following two categories: Personally Identifiable Information and Non-Personally Identifiable Information.

Personally Identifiable Information: This refers to information that lets us know the specifics of who you are. The Personally Identifiable Information we collect when you use our Site(s) may include:

  • your name,
  • mailing address(es),
  • phone number(s),
  • e-mail address(es),
  • credit card number and expiration date,
  • identification numbers,
  • login names and passwords,
  • public postings,
  • employer, and
  • job title.

We request Personally Identifiable Information when you:

  • request a service,
  • participate in certain promotional activities,
  • fill out surveys, and
  • correspond with us.

We also collect Personally Identifiable Information when you ask that we send information directly to other people; in these cases, we will collect the information you submit about the recipient.

Non-Personally Identifiable Information: This refers to information that does not by itself identify a specific individual. The non-personally identifiable data we collect when you visit our Site(s) may include the Uniform Resource Locator (URL1) of the pages you visit on our Site(s) and our Internet Protocol (IP2) address. This Statement also contains More Info about how we use cookies and other technology to collect this data.

We do not connect the Personally Identifiable Information and Non-Personally Identifiable Information we collect on our Site(s).

 3. Why we collect your information

Our primary goals in collecting information are:

  • to provide constituents with superior service, and
  • to provide all visitors a smooth, efficient, and personalized experience while using our Site.

We use your Personally Identifiable information to process your request or provide the requested information. We use Non-Personally Identifiable Information on an aggregated basis to help us understand how visitors use our Site(s) and to measure interest in the various pages. We use this information to improve the content of our Site(s) and to make our Site(s) easier to use.

 4. How We Use Your Information

We gather and use information in a number of ways, including the following:

Surfing: We collect certain Non-Personally Identifiable Information when you visit our Site. We collect this information to help run our Site(s) more efficiently, to gather broad demographic information and to monitor the level of activity on our Site(s).

Online Services: We collect Personally Identifiable Information when you request services online, for example property tax payments. We collect this information to process your request, to obtain payment when applicable, and to communicate with you about the status of your request.

Online surveys: We collect Personally Identifiable Information from customers who volunteer to complete surveys. We use this information to improve our services.

Newsletters and e-mails: We collect Personally Identifiable Information when you ask to receive newsletters, e-mails, and other information. We use this information to provide you the information you request.

Contact information: If you contact us, we may keep a record of your correspondence or comments, including Personally Identifiable Information, in a file specific to you. We use this information to help us provide better service in the event you contact us again.

 5. Sharing your information

City of Lake Charles will not rent, sell or give away any Personally Identifiable Information entered into the website to third parties for marketing or mailing list purposes. However, Your Personally Identifiable Information may be shared as required:  for a third party to process the request, and otherwise by law.

Third Party Processing: www.cityoflakecharles.com will send Personally Identifiable Information about you to other companies, agencies, or people when:

  • We need to share your information to provide the product or service you have requested. For example, we might use a third party billing company, and we send information for billing purposes only; and
  • We need to send the information to companies who work on behalf of www.cityoflakecharles.com to provide a product or service to you. Unless we tell you differently, these companies do not have any right to use the personally identifiable information we provide to them beyond what is necessary to assist us.

Otherwise by Law: www.cityoflakecharles.com will send Personally Identifiable Information about you as required to do so by law, subpoena, court order or legal process.

 6. Accessing and Changing Your Information

www.cityoflakecharles.com seeks to ensure that your information and preferences are accurate and complete. If you have registered at www.cityoflakecharles.com, you may access and change your information by visiting the site where it was submitted. All e-mail communications from us, such as newsletters, tell you how to stop receiving them. Please follow these instructions if you no longer wish to receive the e-mail messages.

 7. Use of Cookies On This Site

A "cookie" is a small data file transferred by a website to your computer's hard drive. You are sent cookies when you surf www.cityoflakecharles.com, make on-line payments, respond to online surveys, or request information. Accepting www.cityoflakecharles.com cookies does not give us access to your Personally Identifiable Information, but we can use the cookies to identify your computer. The aggregate information collected permits us to analyze traffic patterns on our Site(s). This can enable us over time to provide you with a better experience on our Site(s) by improving the content and making it easier to use.

Most browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually refuse cookies, or selectively accept certain cookies, by adjusting the preferences in your browser. If you turn off cookies, though, there may be some features of our Site(s) that will not be available to you and some Web pages may not display properly. You can find information on popular browsers and how you can adjust them to control cookies at the following Web site:

AboutCookies.org: http://www.aboutcookies.org/Default.aspx?page=1

 8. Protecting Your Information

City of Lake Charles acknowledges your trust and is committed to protecting the information you provide us. To prevent unauthorized access, maintain accuracy, and ensure proper use of information, we have employed physical, electronic, and managerial processes to safeguard and secure the information we collect online.

When you complete on-line transactions on our Site, we use Secure Sockets Layer ("SSL") encryption technology to safeguard your sensitive information while it is being sent to us. The SSL encryption is designed to make the information unreadable by anyone but us. This security measure is working when you see either the symbol of an unbroken key or closed lock (depending on your browser) on the bottom of your browser window.

 9. Links to Other Web Sites

Parts of our Site(s) contain links to third-party websites for your convenience and information. If you use these links, you will leave the www.cityoflakecharles.com website. When you access a non-www.cityoflakecharles.com website,  please understand that we do not control the content and are not responsible for the privacy practices of that site. We suggest that you carefully review the privacy policies of each site you visit. This Privacy Statement does not cover the information practices of those websites linked to our Site. These other sites may send their own cookies to users, collect data, or solicit personal information.

10. Children's Privacy Protection

City of Lake Charles believes that protecting children's privacy online is extremely important. City of Lake Charles respects national and international laws, including the Children's On-line Privacy Protection Act ("COPPA"), which applies in the United States. www.cityoflakecharles.com is not directed to children under 13, and does not knowingly collect personal information from children.

11. Changes to This Statement

If there are changes or additions to the terms of this Privacy Statement, we will post those changes on our web site so that you will always know what information we collect online, how we use it, and what choices you have. Please be sure to check this page before proceeding to use our Site. Regardless of any changes we make to our Privacy Statement, we will always use your Personally Identifiable Information in accordance with the version of the Statement in place at the time you provided your information, unless you give your express consent for us to do otherwise.

12. Contact Us

If you have any questions or concerns about the City of Lake Charles's use of your information or about this Privacy Statement, please send an e-mail to kharrington@cityoflc.us and note "Privacy" in the subject line.

Notes:

1
A URL is the global address of documents and other resources on the World Wide Web. For example, http://www.cityoflakecharles.com is the URL for City of Lake Charles's home page.
2
An IP address is an identifier for a computer or device on a Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol ("TCP/IP") network, such as the World Wide Web. Networks use the TCP/IP protocol to route information based on the IP address of the destination. In other words, an IP address is a number that is automatically assigned to your computer whenever you are surfing the Web, allowing Web servers to locate and identify your computer. Computers require IP addresses in order for users to communicate on the Internet, browse and shop.