Terms of Use

Updated February 28, 2017

These Terms of Use define the acceptable use of the ICMA websites. By using the ICMA website, or any other partner website, you agree to accept and to abide by these terms.

Updates include expanded scope of terms to all ICMA websites and copyright notice required under federal law.

These Terms of Use describe the terms and conditions under which users may access and use the website for the International City/County Management Association (ICMA), available at icma.org, lifewellrun.org as well as any mobile versions of the websites that you may access on a phone or tablet (collectively, the “Sites”). These Terms of Use also apply to any features that may be available on the Sites. In this document, “we”, “our,” and “us” refer collectively to ICMA, and “user,” “you,” and “your” mean users of the Sites.

Please read these Terms of Use carefully. These Terms of Use also include our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated into, and made a part of, these Terms of Use. These Terms of Use, along with our Privacy Policy, constitute a legally binding agreement between you and us. By accessing or using our Site, you agree that you have read, understand, and are bound by the terms and conditions set forth herein. If you do not agree with any part of our Terms of Use, please do not use or access this Site.

The ICMA websites are a service provided by ICMA, and participating partner organizations. The purpose of the website is for information dissemination and exchanging knowledge and information among local government professionals and with other participating organizations related to local government. By accessing and/or participating in the websites, you agree to be bound by and to warrant full compliance with these Terms of Use, as further delineated below.

You are responsible for all activity under your account.

Our Sites may provide you with the ability to create and use usernames and passwords for your account. You are entirely responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your usernames and passwords and for all activities that occur under your account. If you are sharing a computer with anyone, we suggest you log out before leaving our Sites in order to protect subsequent users from gaining access to your information. We also suggest you decline to have your Internet browser remember your password.

Freedom of Information Act

  1. ICMA is a private non-profit corporation and unlike most government entities is not subject to the Freedom of Information Act or similar public record disclosure laws. Please refer to ICMA Privacy Policy and Terms of Use for details about what information may be released. Note that ICMA may be required to release information in certain (perhaps unusual) cases, for example, when the information is subject to subpoena or court order.
  2. Members should be aware that information posted on the websites may be released by third parties. For example, some members of ICMA are employed by government entities who may be subject to the Freedom of Information Act or other public record laws requiring disclosure of certain information. Emails sent or received by such employees may be required to be released pursuant to a FOIA request
  3. Certain members may inadvertently disclose information exchanged among other members without recalling that the information is intended to be private and not subject to release. Neither ICMA nor any one of its members can protect against such a possibility and are not liable for what is done with that information, or for the member that discloses it.
  4. Anyone using the websites should be aware that there is no guarantee information posted in private areas will remain confidential and, through policy, law or inadvertence, may even be released widely to the media. Members should recall this possibility when posting to the websites and take all precautions they deem necessary or reasonable to keep from posting confidential information or information that they would not wish to be released publicly.
  5. Please refer to the ICMA Privacy Policy and Terms of Use for additional details about this matter.

The functionality may change over time.

We reserve the right to add, modify, or remove the Sites, including the engagement features, in whole or in part at any time and without prior notice to you.

“People with expertise” are self-identified.

Some features of our Sites allow users to identify themselves as having expertise in various local government topics. We are not responsible for assessing the qualification of people who self-identify as having expertise or any other information that user’s post on the Sites. We reserve the right to remove a self-identified expert at our sole discretion.

Be respectful. Your postings are part of your professional reputation.

You are prohibited from posting or acting in any way towards us or any other users that we determine in our sole discretion to be defamatory, fraudulent, deceptive, abusive, terrorizing, harassing, profane, threatening, offensive, obscene, hateful, sexually explicit or illegal statements, information, or materials. You are prohibited from using our Sites or any features on our Sites, to impersonate any person or to communicate under a false name or one you are not authorized to use.

Don’t post copyrighted material. When you post, you grant us the right to publish.

By posting any statements, information, or material, you warrant and represent that you hold the property rights, including any copyrights, with respect to such statement, information, or material, or that you have obtained the necessary permission from the holder to post the material. When you post any statements, information, or material on our Sites, you grant us a nonexclusive, perpetual, and irrevocable, fully paid up, worldwide license to display, copy, publish, distribute, transmit, print, make derivative works from, and use any statement, information, or material that you post.

Don’t use the Sites to promote your products or services or for commercial purposes.

You agree to only use these Sites for information purposes only. We recognize that consultants and representatives of companies that offer services to local governments have knowledge to contribute to the community; however, overt promotion of products and services by users is prohibited. Commercial use or any other unauthorized use of the Sites and any features therein is strictly prohibited.

Don’t use the Sites for any other prohibited purpose.

You acknowledge and agree that you will not use the Sites or any of the features therein to post, transmit, display, publish, distribute, or otherwise exploit any material or content that (1) violates these Terms of Use; (2) infringes on the intellectual property or trade secret rights of others or violates the privacy or publicity or other personal rights of others; or (3) violates applicable laws, rules, and regulations, including without limitation, consumer protection, privacy, and trade laws and regulations.

You acknowledge and agree that by your use of the Sites, you expressly agree not to engage in, the following conduct: the deletion or alteration of any content on the Sites; any action that imposes an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on the Sites’ infrastructure; the use of any data mining, robots, spiders, scraping, or other automated  processes, means, or methods for the purposes of monitoring, copying, or data gathering or extraction; and/or the use of any directory information to post or transmit any unsolicited advertising, promotional materials, junk mail, spam, chain letters, telephone calls or other solicitations. You agree not to disrupt, overwhelm, attack, modify, reverse engineer, or interfere with the Sites or its associated software, hardware, and/or servers in any way, and you agree not to impede or interfere with others’ use of the Sites.

You agree that you will only use the Sites for lawful, non-commercial and personal use as expressly permitted by and subject to the restrictions contained in these Terms of Use. You may not copy, use, download, modify, frame, publish, transmit, retransmit, transfer, sell, license, reproduce, create derivative works from, distribute, perform, display, disseminate, rearrange, redistribute, alter, adapt, crop, resize, move, remove, delete, or in any way exploit or make commercial use of any of the content on the Sites, in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, without the prior written consent of us and/or the owner thereof, except as expressly permitted in these Terms of Use or under applicable law. Without limiting the foregoing and for the avoidance of doubt, you must abide by all additional copyright notices and other restrictions contained on the Sites.

We may engage corporate sponsors.

We reserve the right to engage corporate sponsors to underwrite the cost of the Sites. Our policy is to identify such sponsors.

We don’t monitor everything, but we reserve the right to remove inappropriate material.

We do not constantly monitor the Sites or any activity that may happen on our Sites. We do not undertake any responsibility or editorial control of postings by users or other members from our community, including but not limited to questions, comments, blog posts, file uploads, document submission, and wiki contributions (“User Postings”). We reserve the right to take immediate action without notice on any User Posting that, in our sole opinion, is inappropriate or violates these Terms of Use and to restrict, suspend, or exclude any individual from further use of our Sites or any features therein.

How to notify us of infringing material.

It is our policy to respond to notices of alleged copyright infringement, in compliance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and other applicable laws. If you are a copyright owner or an agent thereof and believe that any posting or other content on our Sites infringes upon your copyrights, you may submit a notification pursuant to the DMCA by providing our Copyright Agent with the following information in writing:

  • A physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed;
  • Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed;
  • Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing and information reasonably sufficient to permit us to locate the material;
  • Information reasonably sufficient to permit us to contact you, such as an address, telephone number, and email address;
  • A statement that you have a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; and
  • A statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that you are authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.

Our Copyright Agent for notice of claims of copyright infringement on our Sites can be reached at:

ICMA Attn: Eva Travers
777 North Capitol Street, Suite 500
Washington, DC 20002
workwithus@icma.org

Indemnity

As a condition of use of the Sites and any features therein, you agree to indemnify us, our directors, officers, employees, agents, and subcontractors from and against any and all liabilities, expenses including attorneys’ fees, and damages arising out of claims resulting from your use of the Sites and any of the features therein, or any breach of these Terms of Use by you.  We have the right to control the defense of any claim and all negotiations for settlement or compromise, and you agree to fully cooperate with us in doing so.

Disclaimer

The content and features of the Sites are provided “as is” and without representations or warranties of any kind, either express or implied, including but not limited to warranties of accuracy, reliability, merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and/or noninfringement. We do not represent or warrant that any such features will operate in an uninterrupted or error-free fashion, that defects will be corrected, that the Sites or the server are free of viruses or other harmful components, or that the content of the Sites will meet your expectations.

To the fullest extent permissible under applicable law, we and our directors, officers, employees, agents, and subcontractors shall not be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, or consequential damages, including without limitation lost profits and cost of procurement of substitute products, arising out of your use or inability to use any content or features of the Sites or of external links, whether based in contract, tort (including negligence), or any other theory of liability and even if we have been advised of the possibility of such damages.

If you have a dispute with us or are dissatisfied with the Sites or any of its content or features, your sole and exclusive remedy is to discontinue your use of our Sites or the content or features. ;We have no other obligation, liability, or responsibility to you. You agree that you will only sue us as an individual. You agree that you will not file or participate in a class action. You hereby irrevocably and unconditionally waive any right you may have to a jury trial.

Additional legal considerations

This agreement is governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the District of Columbia without giving effect to any principles of conflicts of laws. Jurisdiction for any claims arising under these Terms of Use shall exist exclusively with the state or federal courts in the District of Columbia. f any provision of this agreement shall be unlawful, void, or unenforceable, then that provision shall be deemed severable from this agreement and shall not affect the validity or enforceability of the remaining provisions. The failure of us to exercise or enforce any right or provision of these Terms of Use shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision. The section headings are for convenience only and have no legal or contractual effect.

Changes in these Terms of Use

We reserve the right to change these terms at any time. We will post the revised Terms of Use on the Sites and update the Effective Date to reflect the date of the changes. Your continued use of the Sites constitutes your acceptance of any such changes.

Privacy Policy

To learn how your information is used and how you can set your privacy and communication preferences, see the Privacy Policy.

COPYRIGHT © 2017 INTERNATIONAL CITY/COUNTY MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION (ICMA). ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.