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Medical Lake reports cybersecurity refresh funded by Military Department grant and ARPA
Summary
City staff reported on a cybersecurity refresh funded primarily by a $37,000 Military Department grant; total project cost was about $45,000 with $8,300 drawn from ARPA to cover remaining expenses. The upgrades included new firewalls and server refreshes and extended domain security to wastewater and maintenance systems.
City staff presented a grant performance report at the March 4 meeting describing a cybersecurity refresh funded by a Military Department grant and supplemented with ARPA funds.
The city was awarded $37,000 for a cybersecurity refresh to replace aging equipment and software. Staff reported total project expenditures of about $45,000, with roughly $8,300 covered by the city’s ARPA allocation. The upgrades replaced 12‑year‑old servers and installed firewall protections for maintenance and wastewater networks that previously were not fully on the city domain.
City staff said the upgrades not only improve security but also enable better cross‑department file sharing and monitoring. “We refreshed city hall’s [firewalls] and wastewater and maintenance did not have firewalls ... so, essentially, we got them firewalls and we connected them in with our domains,” staff told council. The report credited the city’s grant writer, Elise Monotti, with helping secure the award.
Why it matters: The work reduces the city’s cyber‑risk profile, supports insurer requirements and allows IT staff to better project future needs for budgeting purposes.
Ending: Council praised the report and staff said they will include ongoing IT refresh needs in future budgets to avoid one‑off reliance on grant funding.
