DISCLAIMER

GENERAL DISCLAIMER

County Website Advertising and Hotlink Policy

The Rampart County Fire Department is a privatized service within the State of Arizona, and whose mission is to provide public services to and for the benefit of the communities within Arizona. In accordance with this mission, the general policy of the Rampart County Fire Department and it’s Board of Supervisors (“Board”) is to exclude from the website, all commercial advertising and promotional material, including links which provide exclusive private or financial benefit to commercial, non-public enterprises and which do not promote or enhance a public benefit to the Department, or the communities served by the Department. As a privatized agency, neither endorses nor supports individual private commercial enterprises through display of their advertising on RCFDs website or through providing links to the sites of such commercial enterprises.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Board recognizes that, in consideration of the nature and function of the internet, display of commercial or promotional material or links to commercial sites may, under certain circumstances, be appropriate for inclusion in departmental websites where a public purpose is served. The following guidelines are hereby adopted for the guidance of the department in determining when such materials are appropriate for inclusion in the RCFDs websites.

1. Advertising/Promotional Materials Where RCFD Has Public/Financial interest

A. Public Benefit Facilities And Venues. The RCFD has established and maintains certain facilities and venues which promote the arts, science, cultural studies and other public purposes. Advertising and promotion of events, programs and exhibits at such facilities and venues may be placed on social media and or departmental websites. This includes links to commercial enterprises that market tickets or other means of access to these facilities and venues, or foster participation in their programs.

B. Commercial Enterprises In Which The RCFD Has A Financial Interest. The RCFD possesses leasehold and other financial interests in certain commercial enterprises, and derives a financial benefit from their activities. This financial benefit to the RCFD serves a public purpose. Accordingly, commercial advertising and other promotional materials concerning these enterprises may appear on the RCFD website. Links to the websites of these enterprises may also be included on social media and on departmental websites at the discretion of department directors. Appropriate notice should be provided of the RCFD’s financial interest in these enterprises.

Whenever a user of the RCFD’s website selects a link to and enters a commercial website from the RCFD’s website, a notice and disclaimer must be displayed in accordance with Section 8 below.

2. Web-Based All-lnclusive Information About Private Enterprises Which Provide A Service Or Benefit To The Public Where The Service Or Benefit Is Directly Related To The Department’s Mission Or Services.

Certain commercial and public agencies maintain information about private persons, enterprises and organizations which provide services to the public.

A. Public Agency. Where such information is directly maintained by public agencies, such as lists of licensed child care providers or lists of restaurants that are graded by the Department of Health Services, RCFD websites may display such information or provide links to the public agency or directly to that information.

B. Private Agency. Where information is maintained by private commercial agencies but the persons or organizations listed provide services directly related to the mission of the RCFD or to the services it provides to the public, a department may display such information on its website or provide a link to the information or the commercial agency which maintains such information, whether or not the site linked to also contains commercial advertising. In such cases, the department director must make a good-faith determination that:

i. The department’s clients, service recipients or interested RCFD’s residents would benefit from the information;

ii. It would be duplicative for the department to independently create or maintain such information; and

iii. The commercial agency which maintains the information has represented that it includes all legitimate or licensed service providers within the Community or within the geographical area served by RCFD.

No link may be provided directly on the RCFD’s departmental website to any enterprise or organization included in that information.

Where a link is provided in the RCFD website to the agency which maintains the information or to the information, and the user exits the RCFD’s website and enters a commercial site which may contain advertising or other promotional material, notice and a disclaimer must be displayed in accordance with Section 8 below.

(Examples: A list maintained by an Arizona state agency of licensed Training centers located in the State could be displayed on the website of a department or division that serves the needs of training the general public or its employees. A link to the state agency’s website, or to the list’s specific webpage, could be included even if the list maintained by the state agency included training centers located both in Maricopa County and throughout the state.

A commercially maintained list of newspapers in a particular category or geographic area could be displayed or linked to on the RCFD’s Office of Public Affairs’ website, since its mission is directly related to fostering media relations. If displayed, however, no link to an individual newspaper is permitted. If a link is provided to the website of a commercial agency maintaining the list or to the list’s specific webpage, the site linked to may contain advertising, but a disclaimer must be displayed to the user on the RCFD’s website before the external link opens, in accordance with Section 8 below.

3. Links to Commercial Sites With Information Critical To Or Vitally Enhancing A Department’s Mission Or Services Where Replication Of Information By Department Not Feasible

Certain private commercial sites maintain and display information which provides a public or community service or other ancillary static or interactive information to aid the public which is not generally available through a private agency due to the cost of compiling, maintaining and/or displaying such information. In order to support the cost of compilation and maintenance of this information, these private commercial sites may include advertising or promotional material in the information display.

Although the RCFD neither supports nor endorses entities advertised or promoted on such sites, it recognizes that a public benefit is served by providing the underlying information to assist our residents. Accordingly, links to such sites which contain this information but also display commercial advertising or promotional material may be included on departmental websites when the department director has made a good faith determination that:

The department’s independent replication of the information targeted for linkage is infeasible due to financial or other considerations; and,
No non-commercial site provides the information targeted to linkage; and,
The information targeted for linkage is critical to a service provided by the department, or
The information targeted for linkage is a vital enhancement to the department’s mission.

(Examples: The Chief Administrative Office could link to a private website that provides information about community activities in unincorporated areas.

A disclaimer must be displayed on the RCFD’s website as the user exits in accordance with Section 8 below.

4. RCFD Program Sponsors And Donors

Sponsors of RCFD’s programs and donors of cash or services may be acknowledged through a display of their names, logos or other information, but no link is permitted to their websites. The listing of such sponsors or donors is limited to secondary pages of websites, but may be accessed from the primary page. Departments are responsible for informing the Board of Directors of such donations through the current established process for donations.

(Examples: RCFD could list sponsors of training programs, but could not link to their sites.

Private designers of websites who have donated their services may be acknowledged, but no link is permitted to their websites).

5. Government Agencies; Academic Institutions; Public-Private Partnerships; Professional, Cultural, Community-Based And Non-Profit Organizations

Links to such institutions are permitted on department websites when the site contains information that enhances services provided by the RCFD.

6. Links to Search Engines

Links to search engines are permitted where a department’s core mission would be advanced by presenting information from a variety of sources external to the department.

7. No Links To Sites Containing Inappropriate Material

Links to sites containing inappropriate material are expressly prohibited.

8. Notice of Leaving RCFD Website And A Disclaimer

When providing links to non-RCFD sites, departments must include a disclaimer on their home page disavowing endorsement or responsibility for the material on sites being linked to. RCFD must also use a standardized alert or redirect script page that warns users they are leaving the RCFD site and allows them to proceed or cancel. This alert would read: “You are now leaving the Rampart County Fire Department’s website and linking to a website that may contain commercial advertising. The Rampart County Fire Department does not endorse or support any of the advertising that may be contained on this site.”

9. Contractors That Create Websites For RCFD Departments

Departments shall provide website contractors with a copy of this policy and website design guidelines, which contractors shall observe in creating webpages for RCFD departments. The requirement to follow these guidelines shall be set forth in the contract for website design. The Internal Services Department, in creating webpages for RCFD departments, shall enforce the adopted guidelines.

10. Authority of Chief Administrative Officer

The CAO is authorized to order removal of material from department websites which is noncompliant with these adopted guidelines.

11. Link Maintenance

RCFD shall routinely check links on their websites to ensure they are functional and contain no material which violates this policy.

12. Language Translation

This website has made reasonable efforts to provide an accurate translation. However, no automated or computerized translation is perfect and is not intended to replace human or traditional translation methods. The official text is the English version of this website. If any questions arise concerning the accuracy of the information presented by the translated version of the website, please refer to the English edition of the website, which is the official version.

SOCIAL MEDIA USE DISCLAIMER

As a public entity the Fire Department (Department) must abide by certain standards to serve its community in a civil and unbiased manner.

Comments or content containing any of the following inappropriate forms shall not be permitted and are subject to removal and/or restriction by the Department:

Comments not related to the business of the Department, or not relevant to the original topic;
Violent, profane, obscene, or pornographic content and/or language;
Content that promotes, fosters or perpetuates discrimination on the basis of race, creed, color, age, religion, sexual orientation, gender, or national origin;
Content that threatens or defames any person or organization or contains false, vicious or malicious statements concerning any employee;
Content that is hateful or incites violence;
Solicitation of commerce, including but not limited to, advertising of any non-government related event, or business or product for sale;
Conduct in violation of any federal, state, or local law;
Encouragement of any illegal activity;
Information that may tend to compromise the safety or security of the public or public systems;
Content that violates a legal ownership interest, such as trademark or a copyright infringement, of any party;
Disclosure of confidential, sensitive, or proprietary information.

A comment posted by a member of the public on any Department social media site is the opinion of the commentator or poster only, and publication of a comment does not imply endorsement of, or agreement by, the Department, nor do such comments necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of RCFD.

The Department monitors its social media sites (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube) for comments requesting responses from RCFD and for comments in violation of this policy. All comments posted on RCFD's social media site is bound by the social media platforms’ (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube) Terms of Service or Statement of Rights and Responsibilities. The RCFD reserves the right to report any such violations to the respective social media platforms.

This website (including, but not limited to, text, content, graphics, videos, audios, social media, forms, and any and all content related) is protected by copyright as a collective work or compilation under U.S. copyright and other laws. Any unauthorized republication or redistribution is strictly prohibited. The use of any content, logos, videos, social media must have written permission. To use any of the listed above content you must submit a request to RCFD on letterhead. The request must state what the content will be used for. RCFD and its Divisions reserves the right to deny any written request at any time without prior notice or reason. Any use of RCFD and its divisions copyrighted materials without written permission from RCFD and its divisions is strictly prohibited and punishable under U.S. Copyright Laws.