diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 5170c34..7335da9 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@
     "build": "tsc",
     "dev": "tsc --watch",
     "start": "node dist/index.js",
+    "test": "npm run build && node --test \"test/*.test.mjs\"",
     "prepare": "npm run build"
   },
   "dependencies": {
diff --git a/src/city-record.ts b/src/city-record.ts
index a6b5888..dfac829 100644
--- a/src/city-record.ts
+++ b/src/city-record.ts
@@ -70,8 +70,12 @@ export async function getNoticesByAgency(
   agencyName: string,
   limit = 25
 ): Promise<CityRecordNotice[]> {
+  // SoQL `like` uses a literal `%` wildcard (https://dev.socrata.com/docs/functions/like.html).
+  // Build the SoQL value unencoded; URLSearchParams performs the single
+  // URL-encoding pass. Single quotes are escaped by doubling per SQL rules.
+  const escaped = agencyName.replace(/'/g, "''");
   return sodaFetch({
-    $where: `upper(agency_name) like upper('%25${encodeURIComponent(agencyName)}%25')`,
+    $where: `upper(agency_name) like upper('%${escaped}%')`,
     $limit: String(limit),
     $order: "start_date DESC",
   });
diff --git a/test/encoding.test.mjs b/test/encoding.test.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..01b453a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/encoding.test.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+import test from "node:test";
+import assert from "node:assert/strict";
+import { getNoticesByAgency } from "../dist/city-record.js";
+
+test("getNoticesByAgency single-encodes the SoQL like pattern", async (t) => {
+  let capturedUrl;
+  t.mock.method(globalThis, "fetch", async (url) => {
+    capturedUrl = String(url);
+    return new Response("[]", {
+      status: 200,
+      headers: { "content-type": "application/json" },
+    });
+  });
+
+  await getNoticesByAgency("Parks & Recreation");
+
+  const where = new URL(capturedUrl).searchParams.get("$where");
+  // URLSearchParams.get decodes once; the decoded SoQL must contain the
+  // literal % wildcard (SoQL `like`: https://dev.socrata.com/docs/functions/like.html)
+  // and the raw agency name — no residual percent-encoding from a second pass.
+  assert.equal(
+    where,
+    "upper(agency_name) like upper('%Parks & Recreation%')"
+  );
+  // The raw query string must encode % exactly once (%25, not %2525).
+  const rawQuery = capturedUrl.split("?")[1];
+  assert.ok(rawQuery.includes("%25"), "wildcard is URL-encoded once");
+  assert.ok(!rawQuery.includes("%2525"), "wildcard is not double-encoded");
+});