Keith County commissioners authorize staff credit cards, request $2 million cyber coverage and approve Lakeview West RFP

The Keith County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to authorize two county employee credit cards, request an increase in cyber-liability coverage if the county's vendor does not already provide it, and send a request for proposals for engineering on Lakeview West Road.

Those votes came alongside routine approvals of the agenda, minutes and claims and a pair of bookkeeping changes that remove one commissioner and add Joan Urban as signatory on county payroll and vendor accounts.

The board recorded the motions and roll-call votes in a series of formal actions. "Motion by Anderson, seconded by Schroeder," a county staffer announced repeatedly when tabulating votes; each recorded roll call listed Schroeder, Anderson and Urban voting yes on the items described below.

Votes and details

- Credit cards: The board authorized a resolution allowing Dave Kling a county credit card with a $1,500 limit and a separate resolution authorizing Thomas (Tom) Wilbur a county credit card with a $5,000 limit. Both measures were approved by roll call.

- Cyber insurance: The board voted to request up to $2,000,000 of liability coverage per occurrence for cyber incidents if the county is not already covered for that amount by its vendor, referred to in the meeting as "5 Nines." Commissioners directed staff to follow up with the vendor and with the county's insurance contacts to determine whether the additional coverage is necessary and what cost impact it would have.

- Lakeview West RFP: Commissioners authorized Highway/Roads staff to issue a request for proposals for surveying, design and consulting services for the Lakeview West road project to create engineering estimates needed for future funding applications.

- Administrative bank and payroll signatory changes: The board approved removing Dale Schroeder from the county payroll-clerk account and court vendor account at Pinnacle Bank and adding Joan Urban as the authorized signatory.

What commissioners and staff said

Thomas Wilbur, speaking about roads and the RFP, said the Lakeview West pavement assessment prompted the need for engineering: "We did a pavement assessment of all the roads in the county. Lakeview West ... was the only road that scored a 1 in the county," and the RFP will provide accurate figures for grant requests.

On cybersecurity, county staff asked the board whether to request a $2,000,000 per-occurrence policy from the vendor or insurance pool; a commissioner summarized the motion: "I'll make a motion that we request a $2,000,000 each occurrence on our cyber ... if we aren't covered by 5 Nines."

Permits, bookkeeping and routine business

The county reported permit activity for January: staff said the county took in $4,968 in permit fees; the transcript records an estimated figure for building improvements but the exact number in the record is unclear. Commissioners approved the meeting agenda, previous meeting minutes and payment of claims in separate roll-call votes.

Executive session

The board moved briefly into executive session for possible litigation and then returned to open session with no decisions reported.

Why it matters

The credit-card approvals put two county employees on lines of credit for routine purchases; the cyber-insurance motion signals growing attention to digital risk and the county's reliance on an external IT vendor for written policy and coverage details. The RFP authorization begins a planning step that the county said is necessary to seek grants or state funding for a deteriorated county road.

Next steps and follow-up

Staff said they will attempt to get written cybersecurity documentation from the vendor (referred to as 5 Nines) this week and will ask the insurer and vendor to clarify coverage amounts and potential cost. The engineering RFP will be advertised and sent to known firms; staff said they will return with proposals and engineering estimates when responses are received.