Privacy & Security Policy

Thank you for visiting the website (“Site”) of the County of Los Angeles Department of Public Works (“DPW”). We recognize your concern about privacy and security on the Internet. This Privacy & Security Policy describes the kind of information gathered about you from your visit to this Site and establishes how we will use such information. We refer you to the body of the Terms of Use for any definitions of capitalized terms used in this Privacy & Security Policy without definition.

PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING STATEMENTS.

Information Subject to Public Records Laws and Other Legal Requirements

As an initial matter, please be advised that we are subject to the public records laws of the State of California (“California Public Records Act”) and that much of the information you submit to DPW is public information under these laws. Consequently, under certain circumstances, we may be required to disclose such information in accordance with the California Public Records Act or other legal requirements.

No Unnecessary Personally Identifiable Information Collected

We will collect no personally identifiable information (e.g., your name, address, e-mail address, credit/ debit card number, bank account number, or other information which can be associated with you without additional information) about you when you visit this Site, unless you use our Site for processing payment transactions or otherwise choose to provide that information to us. The personally identifiable information collected through our Site and the personally identifiable information you otherwise choose to provide to us will be used and retained as described in the remainder of this Privacy & Security Policy.

Information Collected and Stored Automatically

We may collect and store some information automatically when you visit our Site for statistical purposes. For example, we may count the number of visitors to the different sections of our Site to help us make our Site more useful to its users. We may also use this information to monitor your compliance with the Terms of Use. The information collected may include such items as the name and domain of the host from which you access the Internet, the Internet Protocol (“IP”) address of the computer you are using, your browser software and operating system and the time and date of your visit. This information does not identify you personally. We may retain this information for at least five (5) years.

Personally Identifiable Information Collected from E-mails, Surveys, Etc.

By sending us an e-mail (e.g., by selecting the Contact Us option), you may be sending us personally identifiable information (i.e., your name, address, e-mail address or other information which can be associated with you without additional information). We store this information in order to respond to your request or otherwise address the subject matter of your e-mail.

Also, from time to time, we may ask you for specific personally identifiable information in the form of a survey, feedback form, questionnaire or other means, all with the goal of providing better service. We will only retain the information that you provide in response to the survey, etc.

We may ask visitors who request specific information to fill out a registration form. For example, vendors requesting access to Requests for Bids, Requests for Proposals or homeowners or businesses requesting Permits, may be asked to provide their names, addresses, e-mail addresses and other pertinent information to ensure processing and delivery of the information requested.

You should know that e-mail and these other means generally are not secure and may be subject to the disclosure requirements of the California Public Records Act or other legal requirements.

Personally Identifiable Information Transmitted and Stored for Payment Transactions

A user must provide certain contact information, such as name, telephone number, e-mail and address, and financial information, such as a credit/ debit card number and the expiration date, and bank account and routing number, in order for us to process payment transactions over the Internet. Below is what you should know about the security of personally identifiable information you provide to us in order for us to process these transactions:

DPW is committed to data security and the data quality of personally identifiable information that is either available from or collected by our Site. We have taken reasonable precautions to protect such information from disclosure, loss, misuse or alteration. We require that “secure data networks” be operated, which are protected by industry standard firewalls and password protection systems. We require that only authorized individuals have access to the information provided by our users.

We require the use of Secure Socket Layer (“SSL”) standard transmission encryption to protect transmission of users’ personally identifiable information submitted in connection with payment transactions. SSL is a security technology designed to enable your browser to send and receive information with another server in an encrypted format. Your browser’s security icon, usually located in the top or bottom status bar of your browser’s window, reflects the security condition of the browser. The lock icon indicates that your browser is communicating over a secure link. Your internet browser must support the SSL encryption protocol. Mozilla Firefox 2.x or higher and Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.x or higher will support this feature.

We require that all the information you provide to us in this manner is stored securely subject to the disclosure requirements of the California Public Records Act or other legal requirements.

Use of Personally Identifiable Information

As described above, a user must provide certain contact information and financial information in order for us to process payment transactions submitted through our Site. We require that this information be used only for the limited purpose of processing these transactions and as otherwise permitted by the rules and regulations of the applicable credit card associations, debit card networks, credit/ debit card issuers, credit/ debit card processors, and electronic funds transfer associations. We do not permit this information to be used for marketing purposes and we require that be retained for at least five (5) years in accordance with banking and accounting requirements.

Sharing Personally Identifying Information with Third Parties

We do not share personally identifiable information with third parties, except that we will provide the necessary personally identifiable information, including credit/ debit card numbers and bank account numbers, to the companies assisting us with processing payment transactions through our Site, including credit card associations, debit card networks, credit/ debit card issuers, credit/ debit card processors, electronic funds transfer associations, and banks. In some circumstances, we may also be required by law to disclose certain personally identifiable information in accordance with the disclosure requirements of the California Public Records Act or other legal requirements or we may disclose such information to law enforcement and/or fraud investigating agencies.

Consequences of Failing to Provide Personally Identifiable Information

If you choose not to provide us with your name or other necessary personally identifiable information, you will not be able to complete the payment transactions using our Site. If you have concerns about privacy and security on the Internet, you also have the option of visiting us in person at 900 South Fremont Avenue, Alhambra, California 91803 to receive our services.

Use of Cookies

A “cookie” is a small text file that a website can place on your computer for the duration of your visit to the website. It is used for session integrity and anonymous traffic data during your visit to the website and not for any marketing purposes.

A stored “cookie” is a small text file that a website can place on your computer’s hard drive to collect information about your activities on the site. The cookie transmits this information back to the website’s computer which, generally speaking, is the only computer that can read it. Most users do not know that “cookies” are being placed on their computers. If you want to know when this happens or to prevent it from happening, you can set your browser to warn you when a website attempts to place a “cookie” on your computer.

This site has Google Analytics Remarketing enabled.

This site uses Google Analytics cookies and Google Analytics advertising cookies together to inform delivery of our Google Adwords ads.

To opt out of the above, follow the steps here: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout/

Getting Access to Information; Changing Information

For information on reviewing and/or making changes to information about you that may be in our records, please send us an e-mail by selecting the Contact Us option or call us at 626-458-5100.

Site Links to Other Websites Not Covered by Privacy & Security Policy

This Privacy & Security Policy describes the information we gather through our Site and how we use such information. Our website may contain links to documents located on Site maintained by other County departments, public agencies or private organizations. Once you access an individual document that links you to another website, you are no longer subject to this Privacy & Security Policy, but rather are subject to the privacy and security policy of the website containing the document. You use that document and Site at your own risk.

NOTE: When you use this Site to complete a payment transaction, you will be transferred to a portion of this Site hosted by our contracted payment processing vendor (“Payment Processor”). Our Payment Processor will prompt you to enter all information necessary to make payment transaction and will thereafter take all steps necessary to process the payment transaction on our behalf. Our Payment Processor has agreed to abide by this Privacy & Security Policy while collecting such information and processing such transaction on our behalf.

Contact Information

Should you have any further questions regarding this Privacy & Security Policy or your interaction with our Site, please email us.

Terms of Use

Please also visit our Terms of Use governing the use of our Site.

Changes to the Privacy & Security Policy

We may add to, delete or change the terms of this Privacy & Security Policy from time to time. This document will be updated to reflect such changes. By using our Site, you consent to this Privacy & Security Policy, as it is changed from time to time.

Updated: 05/28/2014

Policy of Nondiscrimination On the Basis of Disability

The County of Los Angeles Department of Public Works does not discriminate on the basis of disability in employment or in the admission and access to its services, programs or activities. Pursuant to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Public Works designated an ADA coordinator to carry out our compliance with ADA’s nondiscrimination requirements.

Upon 72 hours notice, Public Works can provide program information and publications in alternate formats or make other accommodations for people with disabilities. In addition, program documents are available at our main office in Alhambra at 900 South Fremont Avenue. The building is accessible to individuals with disabilities.

To request accommodations or obtain more information about Public Works’ compliance with ADA provisions, please contact our ADA coordinator at (626) 458-4081 or TDD (626) 282-7829, Monday through Thursday from 7 AM to 5:30 PM.

Web Compliance

DPW has adopted Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0.

Updated: 01/25/2018

Terms of Use

Thank you for visiting the website (“Site”) for the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works (“DPW”). DPW is located at 900 South Fremont Avenue, Alhambra, California 91803-1331.

1. We ask that you carefully review our Terms of Use before using our Site. These Terms of Use establish a binding agreement that governs your use of this Site. If you do not agree to these Terms of Use, you may not use this Site.
2. By using our Site, you agree to be bound by these Terms of Use. You further agree that your agreement to these Terms of Use, although signed by you electronically, has the same legal effect as if it had been personally signed by you on paper.
3. Please review our Privacy & Security Policy, which also governs your use of our Site. The Privacy & Security Policy is incorporated into these Terms of Use.
4. Unless otherwise noted, all contents of this Site, including, without limitation, all text, programs, products, processes, technology, information, content and other materials, together with all copyrights, trademarks, trade dress and/or other intellectual property therein (collectively, “Contents”), and the compilation (meaning the collection, arrangement, and assembly) are owned by us, or by third parties who have licensed such Contents to us. Such Contents are protected by U.S. and international intellectual property laws, including copyright laws. We, on behalf of ourselves and our licensors, expressly reserve all rights, including, without limitation, intellectual property rights, in this Site and all Contents and compilation of Contents from time to time available on this Site. Access to this Site does not confer, and shall not be considered as conferring, upon you or any other user of the Site any license or other rights to the Site, the Contents or the compilation of Contents.
5. This Site is provided to you on an “as is” basis without any warranties of any kind, whether express or implied. To the extent permissible under applicable law, we hereby disclaim all warranties, express or implied, including but not limited to, warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title and non-infringement. We do not warrant that the materials on our Site will be error-free, that defects will be corrected or that our Site or its servers are free of viruses or other harmful components. We do not warrant or make any representations regarding the use of the materials on our site with respect to their accuracy or reliability. In addition, we make no representations, warranties, or guarantees that our Site will be secure, accessible continuously and without interruption.
6. We may provide links from our Site as a convenience to our visitors. We have no control over the content posted at those linked sites, all of which have separate terms of use and privacy policies. We make no representations about the accuracy or contents of any material available thereon. Links to the third party sites are not intended to and do not imply affiliation with or sponsorship or endorsement of these third parties. Once you link to another website, you are subject to the privacy policy of that site and assume sole responsibility for the use of that site. Please review the County Website Advertising and Hotlink Policy, for additional information regarding how we link to other websites.
7. We have not reviewed all the third party websites linked to or framing this Site and are not responsible for the contents of any pages contained on such third party sites. By entering this Site you acknowledge and agree that DPW has not reviewed all the third party sites linked to or framing this Site and is not responsible for the content of any pages of such third party sites. We do not make any representations or warranties as to the security of any information (including, without limitation, credit card and other personal information) you may have or might be requested to give to any third party, and you hereby irrevocably waive any claim against us with respect to such third party sites and their content. Your linking to any other pages connected to other sites is at your own risk.
8. We do not accept any liability for any conduct, acts or omissions occurring at this Site. Under no circumstances will we be liable to you for any consequential, incidental or special damages, including any lost profits, even if you claim to have notified us about such damages, or for any claims by any third parties.
9. You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless the DPW, at your own expense, from and against any liability, fees (including attorney’s fees) and/or costs arising out of or relating to any breach or violation of the Terms of Use by you.
10. You agree that jurisdiction over and venue in any legal proceeding directly or indirectly arising out of or relating to the Terms of Use or the ownership, operation or maintenance of this Site shall be resolved exclusively in the appropriate state or federal court in Los Angeles County, California where subject matter jurisdiction is proper. All such disputes shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of California.
11. You agree that we may add to, delete, or otherwise change the terms of these Terms of Use from time to time. This document will be updated to reflect such changes. By using our Site, you consent to this Terms of Use, as such may be changed from time to time.
12. The agreement formed by these Terms of Use may be terminated by either party without notice at any time for any reason, provided that you may no longer use our Site after you or we have terminated this agreement. The provisions of Sections 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12 and 13 shall survive any termination of the agreement formed by these Terms of Use.
13. These Terms of Use and any other terms and conditions posted on this Site constitute the entire agreement between you and us relating to your access to and use of this Site (“Agreement”), which supersedes any prior or contemporaneous representations or agreements. These Terms of Use shall govern our legal rights and obligations. Any rights not otherwise expressly granted by these Terms of Use or the Agreement are reserved by us. This Agreement may not be modified, either expressly or by implication, except as set forth in Section 11 above. If any provision of these Terms of Use is deemed invalid or for some reason unenforceable, then that provision shall be deemed severable from these Terms of Use and shall not in any way affect the validity or enforceability of the remainder of these Terms of Use that are not deemed invalid or unenforceable.

Updated: 05/28/2014