Freeport council approves state cybersecurity grant application for police systems
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Summary
Council authorized the city manager to apply for an Office of the Governor cybersecurity grant to replace end‑of‑life network switches and purchase a hardened backup appliance for the Police Department; the grant would fund $86,420.48 with a 20% city match of $21,605.12.
The Freeport City Council authorized the city manager May 19 to apply for a State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program (SLCGP) mitigation project to replace aging network infrastructure and improve data backup integrity for the Police Department.
Information Technology Officer David Fernandez (presenting) said the project targets two core network switches that will reach end of life Oct. 29, 2026, and a backup storage appliance that adds features such as air gapping, delayed deletes and immutability to guard against ransomware and accidental deletion. “An end of life device means that a device is no longer supported. It doesn't receive security updates, patches, and it has no support left on it,” Fernandez said.
Fernandez said the grant award would cover $86,420.48 of the project and that the grant requires a 20% match, which would be $21,605.12. Staff has included the match in the next fiscal-year budget; if the match is not funded, Fernandez said he would return to council with a request for full project funding.
Council members asked what systems the backup appliance would cover. Fernandez said it would be specific to the Police Department and would back up CAD and RMS servers, body-worn video, 911 call recordings and radio traffic. He clarified that phone-system recordings are separate from the 911 recorder and that the appliance will include camera backups for the police department.
Fernandez recommended naming the city manager as the authorized official for the application and requested authority to schedule replacement work in January to avoid holiday staffing constraints and parts/lead-time unknowns. The council voted unanimously to approve the application authority and to proceed with the proposed plan.
Action: motion to approve application authorization by Councilman Pina, seconded by Councilman Matamoras; vote unanimous.
Background: the Police Department must follow FBI CJIS Security Policy section 5.13, which disallows use of end-of-life devices on police networks; replacing core switches is required to maintain compliant network operations.
