Privacy statement

City of Lakewood Online Privacy Policy

The City of Lakewood is committed to protecting online users’ privacy. We believe that protection of personal privacy on the Internet is our responsibility, to assure citizen confidence, increase participation in online activities, and support effective delivery of municipal services.

Lakewood Online intends to give users as much control as possible over their personal information.

The purpose of our policy is to inform you about the types of information we gather when you visit our site, how we may use that information, whether we disclose it to anyone, and the choices you have regarding our use of, and your ability to correct, the information.

The following is the privacy policy for Lakewood Online (all pages starting with www.lakewoodca.gov):

• If you send us an electronic mail message with a question or comment that contains personally identifying information, or fill out a form that e-mails us this information, we will only use the personally identifiable information to respond to your request, or contact you in the future about municipal matters or analyze Web site trends. We also may redirect your message to another government agency or person who is in a better position to answer your question or request.
• Information that we collect for statistical purposes: The date, type of browser used, and technical Internet communication protocol data. We collect this information about each user session from our user logs and refer to it in summary form for statistical purposes.
• Information that you provide us when using our interactive forms and functions (including forms and functions on utility billpay websites which the City of Lakewood contracts for): Name, address, email address, telephone number, and other personal and/or business data, depending on the particular service you use. We collect only that data necessary to provide the service that you are requesting or for future communication purposes, including the sending of eMagazines produced by the City of Lakewood that provide information on municipal services and news to residents and utility customers.
• Control of personal information: When accessing forms or applications for service on our site(s) that request personal information, you may decline to provide it and choose instead to inquire about other methods, such as phone, mail or in-person requests. These alternate methods may allow you to obtain service without providing certain information. However, please note that for your protection and ours, payment forms in all methods offered will require certain personal information for secure processing. In all cases, if your email address is automatically added to the City’s eMagazine distribution list, you always have the option to quickly and easily unsubscribe at any time.
• Use of “cookies”: We do not use “persistent” cookies to collect permanent information. We may use “persistent” cookies (which would be resident on your computer) to increase ease of use. Such a cookie might contain your ID number (if any), thereby relieving you of having to always enter the number. Under this circumstance, we will only use a “persistent” cookie when you give your permission. We may also use “non-persistent” cookies in applications (such as an online job application) that keep track of a user’s online session and make it possible for you to complete a form or use a function, but this cookie disappears when you finish filling out an application, or searching a database.

As a governmental agency, we are governed by the California Public Records Act. Any information that we received through use of our site is subject to the same provisions as information provided on paper.

Otherwise, we do not share personal identifying information with any third party without your permission. We disclose only in aggregate form our statistical analyses or demographics of users to third parties. This information is not reported or used in any manner that would reveal personally identifiable information, and will not be released to any outside parties unless we are legally required to do so in connection with law enforcement investigations or other legal proceedings.