Privacy and Disclaimer

Disclaimers/Limitation of Liability

The information and services included in or available through the City of Sugar Land’s web pages may include inaccuracies or typographical errors. The City endeavors to make daily changes to the online information. The City of Sugar Land may make improvements and/or changes in the web pages at any time.

The City of Sugar Land does not represent or warrant that the Web site will be uninterrupted or error-free, that defects will be corrected, or that the web pages or the server that makes it available, are free of viruses or other harmful components.

The City of Sugar Land makes no representations about the suitability, reliability, availability, timeliness, or accuracy of the Web site for any purpose. The Web pages and online information are provided "As Is" without warranty of any kind. The City of Sugar Land disclaims all warranties and conditions with regard to the service, including all implied warranties and conditions of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose, title and non-infringement.

Acceptance of Use

You acknowledge that the content of our Web site is for information only. By using our Web site, you also consent to the exclusive jurisdiction of Texas district and county courts and the governing laws of the State of Texas to resolve any disputes of any kind or nature that may arise from your use of or reliance on any information provided on the web site, or any interaction with it.

Proprietary Rights to Content

By using this Web site, you acknowledge content including, but not limited to text, software, music, sound, photographs, video, graphics or other material, that may be protected by copyrights, trademarks, service marks, patents or other proprietary rights and laws. You may make a copy of this content for your personal, non-commercial use only, provided that you keep all copyright and other proprietary notices intact. You may not modify, copy, reproduce, republish, upload, post, transmit, or distribute in any way content available through the Web site, including code and software, with the exception of public documents such as agendas or meeting minutes, which may be copied and/or distributed, but not modified. Contents of the Web site may be reproduced for school projects and homeowner’s association newsletters.

Use the website feedback form for any questions or concerns regarding the accuracy of content posted.

Open Records Act and Legal Disclosure

All information collected from the City of Sugar Land Web site, including the summary server log information, e-mails sent to the Web site and information collected from Web-based forms, is subject to the provisions of the Texas Public Information Act. Information about the Texas Public Information Act is available from the Office of the Texas Attorney General. We may be legally required to provide personally identifiable information to the appropriate governmental authorities. The City of Sugar Land will cooperate with law enforcement agencies in identifying those who use our services for illegal activities. We reserve the right to report to law enforcement agencies any activities deemed to be illegal.

Collection and use of information

Server Log/Log Analysis Tools

The City of Sugar Land utilizes server logs and log analysis tools to create summary statistics about the use of the Web site. The summary statistics are used for purposes such as assessing what information is of most interest to users, determining technical design specifications, and identifying system performance or problem areas. The following information is collected for this analysis.

Name, domain and numerical Internet address of the host computer (usually your ISP). This tells us which ISPs people use to connect to our sites.
Date and time you accessed the Web site. This helps us make sure we have the resources to help all the people who use the site at peak times.
Internet address of the Web page you came from. This tells us how people find the site.
Pages you visited. This tells us what is popular/helpful/interesting.
Browser you use. This allows us to keep our site accessible to as many people as possible.

For site management functions, aggregated information is collected for analysis and statistical purposes. The City does not report or use this information in any manner that would reveal personally identifiable information and does not release this information to any outside parties unless required to do so under applicable law.

E-mail

Personally identifiable information contained in a question or comment sent to the City in an e-mail message or in an online form submitted to the City will be used by the City to respond to the request and to analyze trends. The City may redirect the message to another city department or person who is in a better position to answer the question. We treat e-mail the same way we treat letters sent to the city.

E-mail Subscription List

Our site provides users the opportunity to subscribe to and unsubscribe from informational mailing lists. We do request information about our visitors when they utilize our mailing list form to determine which email addresses are added to or removed from our lists. Site users are free to unsubscribe at will using this form should they opt not to receive future communications from us.

Web-based forms

The City uses Web-based forms. Personally identifiable information collected from these forms has a specified use (e.g., registration, applications, survey response, etc.) The City uses this information only for that purpose.

Online Surveys

From time to time, online surveys are being conducted on the City’s Web site. It is the City’s policy that confidential information gathered in these online surveys are used only for the research purposes indicated in the survey. Unless otherwise noted on the specified survey, your answers are confidential and individual responses will not be shared with other parties unless required by the Texas Public Information Act. Aggregate data from surveys may be shared with external third parties.

E-commerce

The City of Sugar Land Web site enables you to pay for services online with a credit card or bank account information. These transactions are encrypted. It is the City’s policy that confidential information you enter in the transaction is used only for the purposes described in that transaction.

Linking

The City of Sugar Land views the provision of links to external Web sites as a public service that can benefit its citizens and other site visitors. The City of Sugar Land does not maintain editorial control of external Web sites. If you find that one of the links no longer works, please use the website feedback form to report the broken link.

Links on the City's Web site attempt to satisfy a governmental purpose. Links that are supported by the City’s Web site:

Links to governmental sites or organizations (Federal, State, County)
Links to accredited schools (Primary and Secondary)
Links to non-profit organizations that promote local economic development of Sugar Land or tourism (Chamber of Commerce, GFBEDC etc)
Links to local non-profit organizations that promote local arts
Links to Partnership Organizations
Links to City Co-sponsored events

The City of Sugar Land’s Web site will not provide links to:

For Profit Sites
Sites containing advertising
Sites promoting illegal activities.
Sexually oriented and/or explicit sites.
Sites containing information that violates any of the City's equal opportunity or anti-discrimination/harassment policies.
Individual and/or Personal Home Pages.

Linking to the City of Sugar Land Web Site

It is not necessary to get advance permission to link to the City of Sugar Land Web site if you are making a simple link to the homepage. Please only link to the City of Sugar Land Web home page. We reserve the right to change URL’s and sub page paths at any time without notice; it is the responsibility of linking sites to maintain links.

You should not capture our pages within your frames, or otherwise present our content as your own. Any link to our site should be a full forward link that passes the client browser to our site unencumbered. The BACK button should return the visitor to your site if the visitor wishes to back out. Although all content on our site is public information, the City of Sugar Land maintains and will defend a copyright interest in these pages.

You should not link to individual graphics or tables within our pages, especially in an effort to place the downloading burden on our servers. Such an action may be considered a misuse of city resources. To get permission to use a copy of our graphics within your pages, please use the website feedback form to outline your intended use(s).

Reciprocal Links

The City of Sugar Land does not enter into reciprocal link agreements. We provide links to sites that are appropriate to our mission. Our creation of a link to your site does not obligate you to provide a link back to us, but you are, of course, welcome to do so.