Site Policy | City of Harrisonburg, VA

1. Introduction

This policy has been developed to provide direction on the purpose and functionality of the City of Harrisonburg's website, HarrisonburgVA.gov.

2. Purpose

The HarrisonburgVA.gov website is provided as a service of the City of Harrisonburg, Virginia. The website is intended to improve and promote communication between City departments and the public-at-large. It is the aim of the website to inform and educate users about the functions, services, activities, issues, operations, and projects of the Harrisonburg municipal government. The website is also used to facilitate, where appropriate, the delivery of direct services as provided by the Harrisonburg municipal government to its citizens and other customers.

3. Accuracy

The City works hard to ensure the accuracy and timeliness of the content on HarrisonburgVA.gov. However, the City cannot guarantee that the content of this website is free from error or will be suitable for any specific purpose. The City of Harrisonburg, its officers and/or employees shall not be held liable for any losses caused by the use of or reliance on any information on HarrisonburgVA.gov.

4. Management

HarrisonburgVA.gov is a function of the City of Harrisonburg and is managed by the Department of Information Technology.

Each City department shall be responsible for the content of their section of the website. Each department will have a trained personnel/department contact (departmental Web editor) responsible for maintaining current information on their department's Web pages. The department contact will submit material to the City webmaster for review and final approval.

5. External Links

HarrisonburgVA.gov contains links to external websites and resources. Links may be added and removed on HarrisonburgVA.gov at the City's discretion and without notice.

By using HarrisonburgVA.gov, the user acknowledges and accepts that the City is not responsible for any materials found on other websites, nor is the City liable for any inaccurate, defamatory, offensive, or illegal materials found on other websites, and that the risk of injury or damage from viewing, hearing, downloading, or storing such materials rests entirely with the user. Additionally, if an external website contains information relating to HarrisonburgVA.gov, the City of Harrisonburg does not accept or assume responsibility for the content contained on these websites, as the City does not have access to nor controls the content contained on that website.

6. Email and Forms

HarrisonburgVA.gov offers two means of contacting City departments, employees, officers, and council members.

Email addresses will open email clients (readers) or can be copied and pasted.
HarrisonburgVA.gov also offers several different online forms to contact an employee, officer or City Council member, or to submit information or requests.

As a governmental agency, the City is subject to open record laws. Any information the City receives through the use of HarrisonburgVA.gov is subject to the same provisions as information provided on paper. Otherwise, the City does not share personal information with any third party without the user's permission.

7. Accessibility

The accessibility of HarrisonburgVA.gov, to all users, is very important to the City of Harrisonburg. Although not required by regulation or law, the City acknowledges the obligation to serve citizens who use assistive technology, or who may have other needs served through accessible design principles. The pages on HarrisonburgVA.gov are regularly reviewed and revised to be accessible as possible to individuals with disabilities.

7.1. Design

HarrisonburgVA.gov has been designed with the following accessibility guidelines in mind:

The standard font used throughout the site has been chosen to be easily legible.
The color scheme was chosen to be distinct and clear.
All images and hyperlinks, where appropriate, have an alternative text attribute. This means when an image or hyperlink is conveying important information its content is described with an alternative text.
External links, email links, and file links are marked with icons with alternative text to describe the nature of the link.

8. Privacy

The following information explains the HarrisonburgVA.gov Privacy Policy. The City reserves the right to amend the HarrisonburgVA.gov Privacy Policy at any time without notice.

By visiting HarrisonburgVA.gov, the user accepts the practices described below.

8.1. Information we collect

When users browse, read pages, or download information while visiting HarrisonburgVA.gov, the City gathers and stores certain information about each user's visit. This information does not identify the user personally. HarrisonburgVA.gov automatically collects and stores the following information about the user's visit:

Internet Protocol (IP) address of the computer the user is using
Identification of the pages or services the user is searching for or visiting
Date and time of access
Type of browser
Operating system
Screen colors
Screen resolution
Flash version
Java support
Internet address of the website from which users are linked directly to HarrisonburgVA.gov

Unless additional information is sent via an email form, survey or other means, no other information is collected through HarrisonburgVA.gov.

8.2. How the collected information is used

Information collected by the City website is used for analysis and statistical purposes. This data helps the City manage its website. The information is used to assess what information is of most and least interest, determine technical design specifications, and identify system performance or problem areas.

8.3. Site monitoring

The City of Harrisonburg also monitors network traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information, or to otherwise cause damage to the site. By using the City website, the user consents to such monitoring. The City reserves the right to use any legally appropriate measures to prevent and investigate anyone attempting to modify, deface, delete or otherwise tamper with or abuse the City's server, database, information system or other technology asset.

8.4. Information provided

There are several places on the website where the user may provide the City personal information. As a government agency, the City is governed by open record laws. Any information the City receives through the use of the website is subject to the same provisions as information provided on paper. Otherwise, the City does not share personal information with any third party without the user's permission.

8.5. Cookies

HarrisonburgVA.gov does not place any cookies on the user's computer. Cookies are used by some of the third party services linked to from HarrisonburgVA.gov, such as the job application service, NeoGov. These cookies keep track of a user and make it possible to complete a form or use a function. These cookies disappear when the user finishes filling out an application or searching a database. Cookies do not personally identify a user, although they identify the user's computer. Most browsers are set up to accept cookies, but the browser can be set up to refuse cookies. However when refusing cookies, the user may not be able to take full advantage of the third-party services found through HarrisonburgVA.gov.

8.6. Links

The City is not responsible for the content or the privacy policies of other private or public sites to which HarrisonburgVA.gov links. When leaving the HarrisonburgVA.gov website, the City encourages the user to read the privacy statement of each website visited before providing any personal information.

9. Security

To prevent unauthorized access, maintain data accuracy, and ensure the correct use of information, the City has put in place appropriate physical, electronic, and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online.

The City of Harrisonburg uses industry standard practices to safeguard the confidentiality of each user's personal identifiable information, including firewalls and encryption technology. The City employs many different security techniques to protect such data from unauthorized access. However, the user should know that in the present technological environment, no security measures are perfect, and that neither the City nor any other Internet site can fully eliminate these security risks. Unless a particular page on HarrisonburgVA.gov indicates that encryption technology is being used, the user should not assume that information submitted through that page to the City of Harrisonburg Web server will be treated as confidential. Visual cues, such as an unbroken key or locked lock, report to the user that the online service is secure through a given page. If a user submits information to the City of Harrisonburg's Web server through a Web page containing visual indicators of active encryption technology, the City of Harrisonburg will take reasonable precautions to safeguard the confidentiality of such information, but shall nevertheless not be held liable for any injury caused by the disclosure of that information, whether caused by security breach, accident, inadvertence, or any other act resulting in disclosure.

9.1. Use of third parties for online transactions

For job applications, the City uses NeoGov which has their own privacy and security policy.
For registering for Parks and Recreation programs, activities, and classes the City uses WebTrac. WebTrac is secured with a GoDaddy.com Web Server Certificate. Transactions through this domain, store.harrisonburgva.gov, are protected with up to 256-bit Secure Sockets Layer encryption.
For online bill payments, the City uses Tyler Technologies which has their own privacy policy and security information.
In general, a user can determine whether they are on a secure site by looking at the symbol at the bottom of the browser screen. A user can be sure that a secure server is being used if the key is unbroken or the lock is locked.
In order to further secure privacy, do not divulge any passwords or sensitive information to anyone in a phone call or email. When finished with applications that are password protected or require credit card information, it is always recommended to close or otherwise exit the browser page.

10. Copyright

11. Terms of Use

The City of Harrisonburg makes available information and documents subject to the terms and conditions set forth in these Terms of Use. By accessing HarrisonburgVA.gov, the user agrees to the Terms of Use. The City of Harrisonburg reserves the right to change the Terms of Use at its sole discretion. Use of HarrisonburgVA.gov will be subject to the most current version of the Terms of Use posted on the website at the time of such use. In addition, when using particular services or materials on HarrisonburgVA.gov, the user is subject to any posted guidelines or rules applicable to such services or materials that contain terms and conditions in addition to those in the Terms of Use. All such guidelines or rules are hereby incorporated by reference into the Terms of Use.

HarrisonburgVA.gov shall only be used if user agrees to ALL of the following terms:

User shall not violate, or attempt to violate, the security of HarrisonburgVA.gov by hacking, sending viruses, or any other similar malicious or careless conduct;
User shall not utilize the communication methods found within HarrisonburgVA.gov for the communication of any material that may reasonably be considered scurrilous or offensive*. *Sexual content or images, slurs against race, religious or political beliefs, age, gender, sexual orientation, national origin or physical attributes;
User shall not upload, or attempt to upload, content of any type to HarrisonburgVA.gov;
User acknowledges that he/she has no right to the intellectual property associated with HarrisonburgVA.gov and only a limited right to use this website;
User acknowledges that the City of Harrisonburg does not warrant the accuracy or availability of this website;
User acknowledges that the City does not guarantee that the content of HarrisonburgVA.gov is free from error or will be suitable for any specific purpose;
User acknowledges that the City reserves the right to change all content on HarrisonburgVA.gov, including images, documents, and text;
User agrees not to hold the City of Harrisonburg, its officers or employees liable for any losses caused by the use of or reliance on any information on HarrisonburgVA.gov;
User acknowledges that the City of Harrisonburg is not responsible for any loss, damage, or injury that they may have as a result of use of HarrisonburgVA.gov;
User agrees to be bound by the laws applicable in the City of Harrisonburg with respect to use of HarrisonburgVA.gov and agrees that any court proceedings relating to use of this website will take place in the Judicial District of Harrisonburg;
User agrees to grant the City of Harrisonburg all intellectual property rights in the content of any email or Web form that the user sends to the City.

12. Website Contact

For any questions about the HarrisonburgVA.gov website policy, the practices of this site, or issues with this website, please contact:

Webmaster – Webmaster@harrisonburgva.gov
City of Harrisonburg
409 S Main St
Harrisonburg, VA 22801