I. General Disclaimer

This web site, with the registered domains of washingtonnc.ws, ci.washington.nc.us, washingtonnc.info, washingtonnc.gov, washington-nc.gov and washington-nc.com, is the official website of the government and enterprises of the City of Washington, North Carolina. Information and services available through this web site are collected, maintained and provided for the convenience of the web site user. While the City makes every effort to keep information accurate and up-to-date, the City does not guarantee the accuracy of information provided on this web site due to possible errors and/or outdated information in documents and/or graphics, technical problems, unauthorized modification of data, transmission errors, HTML or browser incompatibilities, or other aspects of electronic communication that are beyond the City's control. Under no circumstances shall the City of Washington be liable for any actions taken, omissions made, or consequences that result from relying on any information contained on this web site or sites linked to third parties or arising out of, or in connection with, the use or performance of software, documents, or provision of, or failure to provide, services. This includes any special, indirect, consequential or other damages resulting from loss of use, data or profits, whether in an action of contract, negligence or other tortuous action.

The City of Washington provides information and services on this web site "as is, as available" and without warranty, including all implied warranties and conditions of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title and non-infringement. The City of Washington and authorized vendors may make improvements and/or changes in the document(s) and/or the program(s) available through this web site at any time. The City of Washington does not certify the authenticity of information that originates from third parties. The views and opinions of the authors of documents published on or linked to the City's web site do not necessarily state or reflect the opinion, policy or position of the City.

II. Security and Privacy Notice

Software programs are used to create summary statistics, such as those described in Section V below, regarding visits to this web site. These statistics are used for web site planning and maintenance, determining technical design specifications, and analyzing system performance. To ensure security and availability of this service to all users, software programs are used to monitor network traffic and to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information, cause damage, or deny service to authorized users. Unauthorized attempts to upload information or change information on this web site are strictly prohibited and are subject to legal action. Except for the uses mentioned above and authorized law enforcement investigations, no other attempts are made to identify individual users or their usage habits.

III. Use of Public Information

Information presented on this web site is considered public information under North Carolina law. The presentation of this information is copyrighted by the City of Washington. Portions of this website are copyrighted by VC3, Inc. The City of Washington and VC3, Inc., reserve certain rights as described in Section X below. Most of the information collected via this web site is also public information, including the email addresses of listserv subscribers and the summary statistics collected about visitors to the site as described in Section V below. While under State law, the City must make this information available on request and is allowed to recover copying costs, the City does not distribute, sell or market information collected via this web site. Information available from data bases accessed through this site is a public record, except for billing information about utility customers, which is protected under North Carolina law.

IV. Use of "Cookies"

Neither this web site nor the interactive GovHost® system provided through the City's application service provider, VC3, Inc., use "cookies" technology to tailor information for the user at this time. This policy is subject to change.

V. Information Collected and Stored Automatically

This web site automatically collects and stores the following information from visitors:

• The Internet domain and IP address from which this web site was accessed;
• The type of browser and operating system used to access this web site;
• The date and time this web site was accessed;
• The pages visited; and

The address of the outside web site if the user arrived at the City of Washington web site through a link from that site.

The City of Washington uses this information to help make the web site more useful to users, and to learn about the number of visitors to this web site and the types of technology they use.

VI. Credit Card Policies

The City of Washington accepts VISA® and MasterCard® for on-line payments of City of Washington water, sewer and electric utilities and certain miscellaneous fees. On-line payments are processed using the GovHost® system, which verifies and accepts online payments by integrating with Authorize.net®, an industry-leading payment validation service. Credit card information is transferred directly to Authorize.net ® using the latest in encryption technology. At no time is credit card information collected through on-line transactions stored in a GovHost® or City of Washington database. Neither credit card information nor other billing information about utility customers is regarded as public information under North Carolina state law.

VII. Links to External Web Sites

The purpose of the City of Washington Government web site is to provide citizens, businesses, utility customers and visitors with convenient and efficient access to information about the City of Washington and the Washington community. As a convenience to users and in order to provide information about cultural, educational and recreational activities in the community, this web site may contain links that will take the user off this site to other web or computer sites that are not owned, regularly reviewed or controlled by the City. The provision of these links should not be construed as an endorsement or sponsorship of these external web sites, their content or their hosts. The City specifically disavows legal responsibility for what a user may find on another site or for the personal opinions of individuals posted on any site whether or not operated by the City. The City is not responsible for accessibility of information provided on linked external websites. The City cannot and does not make any representation about these sites or the materials available there. By using the City's web site, the user acknowledges and accepts that the City is not responsible for any materials stored on other web sites, nor is it liable for any inaccurate, defamatory, offensive or illegal materials found on other web sites, and that the risk of injury or damage from viewing, hearing, downloading or storing such materials rests entirely with the user. Linked sites may operate under privacy, security, cookies and other policies that differ from those of the City of Washington or may operate under no policies in any or all of these areas.

Links may be made from the City of Washington web site to external web sites that meet the following criteria:

• are maintained by a non-profit charitable, educational, hospital, scientific, human services, or cultural organization serving the Washington and Beaufort County, North Carolina, area or providing information relevant to the functions and services provided by the City.
• exist for the purpose of providing information about public special events in or impacting the Washington and Beaufort County, North Carolina, area or for the purpose of promoting the area in a positive manner.
• are maintained by an established news-gathering organization, being either a printed newspaper of regular, paid circulation no less than 10,000 that has published at not less than weekly intervals within the City for at least one year or a television station whose broadcast signal covers more than half of the City's geographical area and which provides local news regularly and maintains a national network affiliation.
• are maintained by a state, local or federal government agency, or local school or library board.
  are maintained by an organization that receives direct financial support from the City.
• provide an online tool to help users access information on the site, communicate with each other, or access official information, such as maps, regarding Washington and Beaufort County, North Carolina.
• provide search engines for the City of Washington web site
• are maintained by authorized vendors providing services for this web site.

The City's web site is not intended to function as a public forum. To avoid the appearance of City endorsement, links are not allowed from the City web site to other sites that:

• are politically partisan in that they are associated with, sponsored by or serving a candidate for elected office, any political party or an organization supporting or seeking to defeat any candidate for elective office or ballot proposal, or represent any political party or point-of-view, either officially or unofficially.
• are strictly commercial, political or religious in nature.
• are websites for or about families or individuals.

External web sites may request a link from the City of Washington web site by contacting the webmaster. If permission to establish a link is granted, a reciprocal link to the City of Washington home page on the third party site is requested. The City of Washington asks that third parties request permission to link to the City web site prior to establishing a link by contacting the webmaster. Reciprocal links from the City web site to an external web site can be granted only to the extent that the external web site meets the above criteria.

VIII. Accessibility

The City of Washington is committed to making information housed on its website accessible to users with disabilities. Users who encounter difficulties accessing information are asked to report the specific problem to the webmaster.

IX. How to Contact Us

Please report inaccuracies, outdated material, or technical problems with this website to the web master.

X. Copyright Notice

Copyright © 2002-2005 City of Washington Government, P.O. Box 1988, Washington, NC, USA.

Distribution of text, graphics and images to others without the express written permission of the City of Washington, North Carolina is prohibited, including "mirroring" this information on your server without our permission or modifying or re-using the text, graphics and images on this system. However, you may print copies of the information for your own personal use and may cite this web site as an information source in other publications, in which case attribution should be made to the City of Washington, North Carolina. Any other use of the materials is prohibited without the prior written permission of the City of Washington, North Carolina. Send requests for reprint permission to the webmaster.