(A) Purpose.
(1) The Board of Commissioners is required to establish a policy for county departments to comply with the requirements of I.C. 36-1-8.5 specifically related to “covered persons” and the publicly accessible property website managed by the County GIS Department.
(2) I.C. 36-1-8.5 provides a means for an individual defined as a “covered person” to submit a written request to have their home address restricted from disclosure on a public property database website. The restricted information will not be made available to a member of the general public.
(3) According to I.C. 36-1-8.5, only those individuals providing information or verification required by this policy to be classified as a “covered person” as herein defined are eligible:
(a) A judge;
(b) A law enforcement officer;
(c) A victim of domestic violence; or
(d) A public official.
(4) The following policy defines the procedure used for processing those requests.
(B) Definitions. For the purpose of this section, the follow definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning. Additional definitions and clarifications can be found by visiting the website for the State General Assembly and searching for I.C. 36-1-8.5.
JUDGE. An individual who holds or formerly held office as:
(a) A judge of the supreme court, court of appeals, tax court, circuit court, superior court, municipal court, county court, federal court, probate court, or small claims court; or
(b) A magistrate, commissioner, or juvenile referee of a court.
LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER. An individual who is employed or was formerly employed as:
(a) A police officer (including a tribal police officer, a correctional police officer, and a hospital police officer employed by a hospital police department established under I.C. 16-18-4), sheriff, constable, marshal, prosecuting attorney, special prosecuting attorney, special deputy prosecuting attorney, the Securities Commissioner, or the Inspector General;
(b) A deputy of any of the persons specified in division (a);
(c) An investigator for a prosecuting attorney or for the Inspector General;
(d) A conservation officer;
(e) An enforcement officer of the Alcohol and Tobacco Commission; or
(f) An enforcement officer of the Securities Division of the Office of the Secretary of State.
(I.C. 36-1-8.5-4)
PUBLIC OFFICIAL. An individual who holds or formerly held office at any time during the preceding four years in the executive or legislative branch of the state or federal government or a political subdivision of the state or federal government. The actual criteria are as follows:
(a) A position for which the duties include performance of some sovereign power for the public’s benefit;
(b) Are continuing; and
(c) Are created by law instead of by contract.
(I.C. 36-1-8.5-4.5)
PUBLIC PROPERTY DATABASE WEBSITE. An internet website that:
(a) Is available to the general public over the internet;
(b) Does not require registration, subscription, or the creation of a user name and password to search the website; and
(c) Connects a covered person’s home address to the covered person’s name, so that a search of the website for the covered person’s name discloses the covered person’s home address.
(I.C. 36-1-8.5-5)
VICTIM OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE. A victim of domestic violence who is certified as a program participant in the address confidentiality program established by the Attorney General under I.C. 5-26.5-2.
(I.C. 36-1-8.5-6)
(C) Duty to comply. The duty to prevent disclosure of an address as it falls under I.C. 36-1-8.5 rests upon the County Auditor's Office regarding the county website. The process to comply with this requirement is outlined below.
(1) Submit a written request.
(a) A covered person who wants to restrict access to the covered person's home address by means of a public property database website must submit a written request to the County Auditor's Office.
(b) The written request shall be submitted on the address restriction form obtained from the Auditor's Office.
(c) Individuals that have moved and are still covered according to statute must submit a new request and fee.
(d) Written requests are valid for up to one calendar year and must be resubmitted each year at no additional fee. It is the responsibility of the covered person to renew their request within the first month of the new year.
(2) Information or verification required for processing written request. The following describes what information or verification is required for a covered person's written request to be processed. The Auditor's Office will verify that submission is valid and requestor is covered according to 36-1-8.5.
(a) Judge. Provide a signed letter in paper copy stating current or previous employment status as:
1. A judge of the supreme court, court of appeals, tax court, circuit court, superior court, municipal court, county court, or small claims court; or
2. A magistrate, commissioner, or juvenile referee of a court.
(b) Law enforcement officer. Provide a signed letter in paper copy stating current or previous employment status as:
1. A police officer (including a correctional police officer), sheriff, constable, marshal, prosecuting attorney, special prosecuting attorney, special deputy prosecuting attorney, the Securities Commissioner, or the Inspector General;
2. A deputy of any of the persons specified in division (C)(2)(b)1.;
3. An investigator for a prosecuting attorney or for the Inspector General;
4. A conservation officer;
5. An enforcement officer of the Alcohol and Tobacco Commission; or
6. An enforcement officer of the Securities Division of the Office of the Secretary of State.
(c) Victim of domestic violence. Provide a paper copy of proof of program participation in the Attorney General Address Confidentiality Program.
(d) Public official. Provide a signed letter in paper copy stating current or previous service as a public official who holds or formerly held office at any time during the preceding four years in the executive or legislative branch of the state or federal government, or a political subdivision of the state or federal government.
(3) Person or department to receive and process written request. Written requests regarding the redaction of a home address on the county website shall be received and processed by the Auditor's Office. If a written request for redaction of a home address is denied by the Auditor's Office, the applicant may appeal to the Board of Commissioners.
(4) Fee structure. The following fee structure applies to applicants making a written request under I.C. 36-1-8.5.
(a) Initial request. A $50 per parcel fee will be assessed for individual requests.
(b) Additional requests. A $50 per parcel fee will be assessed for any changes to the title of the parcel or relocation of the covered person.
(c) Annual renewal of initial request. There is no fee assessed for the annual renewal of an individual's previous request.
(d) Deposits. All fees collected will be deposited to the County General Fund.
(D) Result of changes to access of property information. The process of restricting home addresses on the county website will have the following consequences.
(1) The county website. Requests to restrict access to home addresses affect either one or possibly multiple parcels that may display the home address. A parcel's state key parcel identification number (PIN) will be added to a built-in suppression list. The act of adding a parcel's PIN number to the suppression list will redact all the information available for the affected parcel(s). Performing a search on suppressed PINs will return no search results nor display the parcel's location on the map.
(2) Internal county property record databases. Property information stored on internal county databases will still exist and be made available to the public per request, unless blocked by state statute.
(E) Immunity and litigation proceedings.
(1) It is the intention of the county to comply with the intent of the state code to not make property information associated with a home address accessible by means of removing the link between name and parcel information.
(2) The county may not be held liable for failure to timely restrict disclosure of an address under this chapter unless the county's act or omission constitutes gross negligence or willful or wanton misconduct.
(F) Reversal of privacy settings.
(1) The public access of removed information can only be done at the request of the original covered person. Per the state code, an individual may request reinstatement of their excluded information.
(2) Should any changes to the title of a covered parcel be made, the existing residence will be removed from the list of confidential properties. A new request will need to be made in order to have the parcel covered again.
(G) Confidentiality. All requests made to the Auditor's Office by a covered person are confidential.
(H) Excluded properties. This policy is in effect for requestor's primary residence only per I.C. 36-1-8.5-7. If the requestor owns or is involved in additional properties that utilize the primary home address as the mailing address, they will be displayed. If the requestor wishes to have those addresses removed as well, the $50 fee will apply to each submission.
(Ord. 2018-07, passed 12-26-2018)
Editor’s note:
I.C. 36-1-8.5-6 was repealed by P.L. 180-2023, Sec. 3
Statutory reference:
Confidentiality, see I.C. 36-1-8.5-11
Duty to comply, see I.C. 36-1-8.5-7
Immunity and litigation proceedings, see I.C. 36-1-8.5-12
Reversal of privacy settings, see I.C. 36-1-8.5-9