County IT reports Microsoft 365 migration, domain change and Windows 11 push to meet security deadlines

Flathead County IT Director Justin Miller updated commissioners on several ongoing IT projects on Feb. 11, including a planned domain change, web-application firewall testing, DMV workstation migration and a county-wide push to upgrade machines to Windows 11 before the vendor end-of-support date for Windows 10.

Miller said the initial Office 365 migration for county email completed in January 2025 and that staff are reviewing licensing needs for 2026, noting a Microsoft- announced 5% licensing increase effective in April. He recommended setting the county domain cutover from flathead.mt.gov to flatheadcounty.gov on March 25 to provide departments and employees time to prepare and to allow the state to forward mail during the transition.

The state has been testing a web application firewall (WAF) on the new domain; Miller reported no issues in current tests and said the WAF helps protect county applications and websites from denial-of-service attacks. Miller also said the county is moving DMV public services to county-owned equipment and plans a public go-live for the DMV switchover on March 17.

Miller reported a national cybersecurity review completed in December in which the county performed “better than most peers.” He said the IT team is exploring lower-cost alternatives for a private cloud solution and has approved replacement firewalls that extend equipment lifecycles; the hardware purchase is ordered and installation scheduling will follow delivery.

On endpoints, Miller warned that Microsoft has set an October 2025 end-of-support date for Windows 10. The county is accelerating Windows 11 rollouts and expects the county’s New World upgrade in June to leave a short window before the October deadline to migrate remaining machines.

Miller also briefed commissioners on website consolidation work (mountainclimber site merge later in 2025), plans for improved department-level customization of the county site, and IT support metrics showing steady ticket volumes with health, clerk/recorder and sheriff among top users.

Ending: Miller requested continued communication to department heads and an employee-wide notice before the domain cutover; staff will circulate the message and provide email template language for departments.