Wayne authorizes town manager to opt into state cybersecurity services program

The Town of Wayne select board on June 24 authorized the town manager to enroll the town in the State of Maine’s second‑year state and local cybersecurity grant program, a no‑cost offering staff said can help municipalities migrate to .gov domains, add email protections and provide employee security training.

Town Manager Shannon described the free services available from the program: assistance with migrating municipal websites and email to a .gov domain, security awareness training for staff, endpoint detection and response, multifactor authentication options and incident‑response planning. “It’s basically just free services provided by the state,” Shannon said, adding that any follow‑on contracts would return to the select board for approval.

Why it matters: Shannon told the board that a .gov domain can make it harder for attackers to impersonate municipal sites and that the program includes technical and communications support. Board members asked whether the town’s current website vendor could support the migration; Shannon said the vendor could likely switch emails but migrating the website itself may incur costs and needs further investigation.

After brief discussion, a board member moved and a second was made to authorize the town manager to participate; the motion passed on a voice vote. Shannon said participation can be revoked at any time and that any paid contracts arising from the program would be brought to the select board for review and approval.

Next steps: Staff will opt the town into the program, seek details about website migration and potential costs, and bring any proposed contracts back to the board for formal review.