1. Ordinance Search can be executed by three different methods:
   1. By Date (within given Date Range)
   2. By Ordinance (where "Ordinance No" is like given value, does not have to be exact. e.g. "Ordinance No": Start with ####-, Ends with -##, Contains ##-).
      
   3. By Content (Content search will scan within each Ordinance record for the given phrase you are looking for.)
2. To execute search by Date, "Start Date" & "End Date" are REQUIRED!
3. Maximum, allowed Date Range per search, 365 days.
4. For optimal performance pick the Date Range, between 30-60 days.
5. To execute search by Ordinance Number, "Ordinance No" is REQUIRED!
6. To execute search by Content, "Content Phrase" is REQUIRED!
7. To view Ordinance related record(s), in the result grid, click the PDF icon located in "Downloads" column.
   Please Note: All Ordinance records are ONLY available in PDF file format. In order to view the record, your device will require PDF Reader installed. For your convenience, follow this link: FREE Adobe Reader Download.

Content searching, also known as Full Text searching, it is very powerful way to search for specific content within given document and not necessarily relying on metadata associated with the record itself.

Conceptually, it is very similar to web searches. Bots catalog the web content and associate with a specific web link. Later, search engine compares the search keywords or Content Phrase against the cataloged data. It then rates the relevance and presents the user with list of web links.

Similarly, City Of West Palm Beach catalogs the Ordinance record content, making content searches possible.

As sophisticated content searches are, at the same time, they are not very smart, which can lead to some frustrations in constructing unique keyword patterns returning meaningful result sets.

For example:

Search for keyword "DECEMBER", may result in 694 records. However, phrase "PASSAGE THIS 5TH DAY OF DECEMBER 2016" Returns only two (2).

Conclusions:

1. Do not use common words or phrases like "and", "because" or even "West Palm Beach".
2. Avoid special characters.
3. Use all three search methods to locate the information you are looking for.
4. Experiment with different word combinations; make the search tool work for you.

Good Luck…