Policy
Website Policy
Purpose
The purpose of the City of Hayward's Website is to advance the public's health, safety and welfare by providing information for and interacting with Hayward residents, businesses, and visitors. This policy is applicable to the City Website which is defined as any internet or intranet web page which represents itself as the City or any of its departments.
Weblinks
For purposes of this policy, an "external link" is a hyperlink from the City Website to a website maintained by another party. Neither the City Website nor the external links listed on such website constitute a forum for expressive activity by members of the public. Rather, the purpose of the City Website and the external links is to provide information about City services, officials and attractions and to promote the public's health, safety and welfare. The City is not responsible for, does not endorse, and cannot assure the accuracy of information on these outside web sites. (See Disclaimer of Endorsement below.)
Every request by a person or entity to have the City provide a link from its website to the requesting party's website must undergo review to determine its relevance and appropriateness to the City Website's mission. The City Manager or his/her designee will review the merits of the requested link, keeping in mind the criteria and examples listed below, to determine whether the link serves the overall purpose of the City Website.
A redirection page will appear when a user chooses an external link on the City Website. There will be a message alerting users that they are leaving the City Website and entering another website. The City is not responsible for the privacy practices, security or the content of sites other than the City Website.
- At its discretion the City may provide links to external websites of educational and other governmental organizations, organizations that have contractual and funding relationships with the City, organizations that provide government related information and/or services not available on an official government website, and services that support the strategic and operational goals of the City.
- The City reserves the right to determine how and where external links will appear on its web site.
- Links to commercial sites which provide a public or community service, but also display commercial advertising or promotional material, may be included within the City Website when the City Manager or his/her designee has made a good faith determination that:
- the City's independent replication of the information targeted for linkage is unfeasible due to financial or other considerations; and
- no non-commercial site provides the information targeted for linkage; and
- the information targeted for linkage greatly enhances the usefulness of the City website and services it provides.
- The City Website will not provide links to sites that promote or exhibit bias, discrimination, pornography, libelous or otherwise defamatory content.
Links to the City of Hayward's Website
Advance permission to link to the City Website is not necessary. However, the party linking to the City Website should be aware that its sub-pages may change at any time without notice. Entities and individuals linking to the City Website shall not present the City's website content as its own, or otherwise misrepresent the City Website's content or misinform users about the origin or ownership of its content. Any link to the City Website should be a full forward link that passes the client browser to the City Website unencumbered. The web browser's "back" button should return the visitor to the originating site if the visitor wishes to back out.
Accessibility
The City will comply with accepted disability access design standards to ensure that people with disabilities can easily access City information.
The following policy shall govern all posts and comments by both City Social Media site administrators and public visitors to City Social Media sites: