Introduction

Crete Township, Will County, Illinois ("Township," "we," "us," or "our") is committed to protecting the privacy of visitors to our official website at cretetownship.com. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, how we use it, and your rights regarding that information.

As a unit of local government, Crete Township operates in accordance with the Illinois Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), the Illinois Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA), and other applicable state and federal laws governing public records and data privacy.

Information We Collect

Automatically Collected Information

When you visit our website, our servers may automatically record the following information:

• Your IP address (anonymized)
• Browser type and version
• Pages visited and time spent on each page
• Date and time of your visit
• Referring website address

This information is used solely for statistical analysis to improve our website and services. It is not used to identify individual visitors.

Information You Provide

We collect personal information only when you voluntarily provide it, such as when you:

• Submit a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request
• Sign up for our newsletter or email notifications
• Contact us through our online contact form
• Submit a General Assistance inquiry

How We Use Your Information

Information you provide is used only for the purpose for which it was submitted:

• FOIA request submissions are processed according to Illinois FOIA requirements (5 ILCS 140)
• Newsletter sign-ups are used to send you township news and updates you requested
• Contact form submissions are used to respond to your inquiry
• General Assistance information is used to determine program eligibility

We do not sell, rent, trade, or otherwise transfer your personal information to third parties for commercial purposes.

Public Records

Please be aware that information submitted to a government body may be subject to disclosure under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act (5 ILCS 140). If you submit a FOIA request or other official communication, it may become part of the public record and subject to disclosure upon request.

Cookies

Our website uses only essential cookies necessary for the website to function. We use a small number of cookies to remember your accessibility preferences (text size, contrast settings). These cookies are stored locally on your device and are not transmitted to our servers or used for tracking purposes.

We do not use advertising cookies, tracking pixels, or third-party analytics cookies that identify individual users.

Third-Party Services

Our website may include content from or links to third-party services, including:

• Google Calendar — for displaying public township events
• Facebook — for displaying the township's public Facebook page feed
• U.S. Census Bureau Geocoder — for the polling place lookup tool

These third-party services have their own privacy policies, which govern how they handle your data. Crete Township is not responsible for the privacy practices of external websites.

Data Security

We implement reasonable technical and administrative security measures to protect information submitted through our website. Our website uses HTTPS encryption for all data transmission. However, no method of internet transmission is 100% secure.

Children's Privacy

Our website is not directed at children under 13 years of age, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13.

Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or how Crete Township handles your personal information, please contact us:

Changes to This Policy

Crete Township reserves the right to update this Privacy Policy at any time. Changes will be posted on this page with an updated revision date. We encourage you to review this policy periodically.