Privacy Policy

The website of Crow Wing County Minnesota is governed and construed by the laws of the State of Minnesota, including the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act. The purpose of our policy is to inform you about the types of information we gather when you visit our website, how we may use that information, and whether we disclose it to anyone. This Privacy Policy does not apply to any information you may provide to us or that we may collect offline and/or through other means (for example, at a public meeting, via telephone, or through the US mail).

The following is the Privacy Policy and Disclaimer for the Crow Wing County Website (all pages starting with www.co.crow-wing.mn.us, www.crowwing.us, or www.cwco.us).

Terms of Use

By visiting the Crow Wing County Website (the "Website"), you agree that you will not use the Website for any unlawful activity, or use it in a way that would violate the following terms and conditions. Any use of the Website shall comply with all Crow Wing County ("County", "we", "us", "our") and State of Minnesota laws and regulations as well as with all federal laws and regulations.

Visitors to this website are expressly prohibited from using applications designed to mine, gather, or extract data. Unauthorized use and collection of this data may expose the visitor to criminal penalties and/or claims for civil damages, attorney's fees, and costs by Crow Wing County. In addition, if Crow Wing County becomes the subject of a lawsuit related to alleged misuse of any unauthorized data taken in this manner by a visitor, Crow Wing County will seek to have the Court require the visitor to reimburse Crow Wing County for any damages, attorney's fees or costs which may be awarded as a result of this unauthorized use of data.

Collection of Information

No personally identifiable information is collected when you simply browse this Website or download information from it. We automatically collect and store only the following information about your visit:

  • The Internet domain (for example, "SomeCompany.Com" if you use a private Internet access account)
  • The IP address (a number that is automatically assigned to your computer whenever you are connected to the Internet) from which you access our website
  • The type of browser and operating system used to access our site
  • The date and time you access our site
  • The pages you visit
  • If you linked to our Website from another Website, the address of that Website.

We use this information to help us make our Website more useful; learning about the number of visitors to our Website and the types of technology our visitors use helps us improve the Website and the services we offer.

If you participate in a survey, submit a request for information, or send an email, the information you volunteer will be collected. If you request services available through this Website, you may be required to furnish additional information which may be required by law or which is necessary to provide the service you requested. The additional information collected will be no more specific than if the you were requesting the service by any other means, including by mail, telephone, or in-person visit to a County facility.

If the information being collected is defined as "private" or "confidential" under the terms of the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act, you will receive the appropriate, legal notification. All other information collected through the Crow Wing County Website is defined as "public" under the terms of the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act and may be disclosed upon request.

Cookies

Some Web pages on the Crow Wing County Website use "cookies" to pass information from one page to the next page, or to store information from one visit to the next time you visit our Website.

Websites providing contracted services to Crow Wing County may also use cookie technology and those Websites will describe their use of cookies in their disclaimers.

Any questions about the use of cookies on Crow Wing County Websites should be emailed to the Webmaster.

Disclaimer

Information on Other Websites

This Website provides links (also known as hyperlinks) to other websites. These may include links to Websites operated by other government agencies, nonprofit organizations and /or private businesses. This Privacy Policy and Disclaimer applies only to the Crow Wing County Website. When you follow a link to any other website, you are subject to the privacy policy and disclaimer of that Website and we encourage you to examine the privacy policy and disclaimer of that website.

Neither Crow Wing County, nor any agency, officer, or employee of the County warrants the accuracy, reliability or timeliness of any information published on other Websites, nor endorses any content, viewpoints, products, or services on other Websites, and shall not be held liable for any losses caused by reliance on the accuracy, reliability or timeliness of information on other Websites. Portions of information on other Websites may be incorrect or not current. Any person or entity that relies on any information obtained from other Websites does so at his or her own risk.

Information on the Crow Wing County Website

Due to the number of sources from which information for this Website was obtained, and the inherent hazards of electronic distribution, there may be delays, omissions or inaccuracies in such information.

Crow Wing County and its officials, employees, affiliates, agents and licensors cannot and do not warrant the accuracy, completeness, currentness, non-infringement, merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose of the information available through this Website. The data and information contained in or attached to any part of the Crow Wing County Website are not official documents or transactions of Crow Wing County. Crow Wing County, its officials, employees, affiliates, agents and licensors, shall not be liable to you or anyone else for any loss, injury or personal injury resulting directly or indirectly from use of the Crow Wing County Website, caused in whole or in part by its negligence or contingencies beyond its control in procuring, compiling, interpreting, reporting or delivering any information through the Crow Wing County Website. In no event will Crow Wing County and its officials, employees, affiliates, agents and licensors, be liable to you or anyone else for any decision made or action taken by you in reliance on such information. Crow Wing County and its officials, employees, affiliates, agents and licensors shall not be liable to you or anyone else for any damages, including, without limitation, consequential, special, incidental, indirect, or similar damages, even if advised of the possibility of such damages. You agree that the liability of Crow Wing County and its officials, employees, affiliates, agents and licensors, if any, arising out of any kinds of legal claim (whether in contract, tort or otherwise) in any way connected with Crow Wing County Website and information in the Crow Wing County Website shall not exceed the amount you paid to Crow Wing County for the use of the Crow Wing County Website.

You are responsible for all statements made and acts or omissions that occur while you are using the County Website.

The County may discontinue or change the County Website or its availability to you at any time. This agreement is personal to you, and you may not assign your rights or obligations to anyone. If any provision of this agreement is invalid or unenforceable under applicable law, the remaining provisions will continue in full force and effect. This agreement, your rights and obligations, and all actions contemplated by this Agreement shall be governed by the laws of the United States of America and the State of Minnesota, as if the agreement was a contract wholly entered into and wholly performed within the State of Minnesota.

By the use of the County Website, I agree that I have read and understand this agreement and agree to be bound by all of the terms.

Usernames & Passwords

To use certain features of the Website, you will need a username and password, which you will receive through the Website's registration process. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of the password, your account, and are responsible for all activities (whether by you or by others) that occur under your password or account. You agree to exit from your account at the end of each session and to notify us immediately of any unauthorized use of your password or account or any other breach of security. We cannot and will not be liable for any loss or damage arising from your failure to protect your password or account information.

Online Payments

The County strives to make conducting County business as convenient as possible. The Website uses a secure e-commerce function that allows you to submit electronic payments for County products and services. Some of the County's e-commerce services require you to provide us with personally identifiable information such as your name and/or mailing address.

We do not store credit card or bank account information. In order to complete an online e-commerce transaction, your personal account information is passed directly to our payment gateway business partners' via a secure connection. All financial transactions on our e-commerce servers are protected by powerful Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption technology utilized by major e-commerce websites. Stearns County does not share bank account information with anyone, except authorized personnel. Bank account information from payment applications will not be sold, transferred, marketed, disclosed, or otherwise shared with any outside entity other than your bank and our bank, except as may be required by law or valid court order.

Use of Information / Copyright

Users may freely print any information that they obtain from the County's public website. Permission to use documents such as reports and data sheets on the Website is granted provided that:

  • Crow Wing County's copyright notice or the copyright notice belonging to a third party appears on all copies.
  • You may not reproduce any trademark or service mark displayed on this Website without the express written permission of the respective mark owner.
  • Use of documents from this Website is for informational or personal use only.
  • No modifications of any documents are permitted

All such documents and related graphics are provided as is. Certain elements of the Website are protected by copyright and trademark law as identified. You may not duplicate the design or layout of the Website. Unless expressly permitted on a Website page, no logo, graphic, or image from any County office may be reproduced or imitated.

Our Right to Use Materials You Submit or Post

When you submit or post any material via the County's website (such as Comments, Photos and/or Videos via our Communications Services) you grant us, and anyone authorized by us, a royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive, unrestricted, worldwide license to use, copy, modify, transmit, sell, exploit, create derivative works from, distribute, and/or publicly perform or display such material, in whole or in part, in any manner or medium (whether now known or hereafter developed), for any purpose that we choose. The foregoing grant includes the right to exploit any proprietary rights in such posting or submission, including, but not limited to, rights under copyright, trademark or patent laws that exist in any relevant jurisdiction. Also, in connection with the exercise of these rights, you grant us, and anyone authorized by us, the right to identify you as the author of any of your postings or submissions by name, email address or screen name, as we deem appropriate. You will not receive any compensation of any kind for the use of any materials submitted by you.

If you believe that any material on this website was submitted in error and/or infringes upon any copyright which you own or control, you may contact the Stearns County Webmaster.

Policy Changes

The County reserves the right to change this policy or to impose new conditions on use of the Website at any time. It is the responsibility of individual visitors to inform themselves and monitor the terms of use during each visit.

Contact Information

If you have questions or concerns regarding this privacy statement, please contact us at the following address:

Crow Wing County
Attn: Information Technology Department
202 Laurel Street Brainerd, MN 56401
(218) 824-1368
Email Webmaster