Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Cybersecurity topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Van Buren County approves 24/7 cybersecurity monitoring contract to cover county and dispatch systems
Summary
The board approved an annual contract with OTM Cyber for continuous monitoring and an incident-response retainer; county IT estimated the cost at $58,060 annually split between IT and dispatch funds.
The Van Buren County Board of Commissioners approved a countywide cybersecurity monitoring agreement covering county servers and dispatch systems, county IT staff said.
CJ, the county’s IT director, told commissioners the proposed OTM Cyber agreement provides 24/7 monitoring of network logs, antivirus, and other security telemetry and includes an incident-response retainer that would bring outside specialists onsite when needed. “What this service agreement would do is it would offer us 24/7 monitoring service on all of our equipment in the county,” CJ said.
Cost and funding: CJ presented an annual price of $58,060. He said $43,000 (rounded) would be charged to the IT budget to cover county infrastructure while $15,060 would be billed to the dispatch fund to cover dispatch equipment. The presenters told the board the dispatch portion will be funded from the 9-1-1 fund.
What the service covers
- Continuous monitoring: County logs from network switches, antivirus systems and other devices would be routed to OTM Cyber for 24/7 monitoring and alerting.
- Incident response retainer: CJ said the contract includes retainer hours for on-site mitigation; if a long, complex response were needed, additional fees could apply after the included retainer hours.
- CJ and other staff framed the service as mitigation and rapid response rather than absolute prevention. “It helps us mitigate once it does occur,” County IT Director CJ said. Tim, the county dispatch director, had earlier helped identify the vendor through sector contacts and supported the proposal.
Why it matters
County presenters emphasized that public-safety systems are frequent targets and that quicker detection and a guaranteed incident-response partner reduce the risk to emergency response and county services. Commissioners voted to approve the contract and move the item forward as a budgeted expense split between IT and dispatch funds.
Provenance: The cybersecurity presentation and discussion appear in agenda item 9b where IT staff summarized OTM Cyber’s services, costs, and CJIS compliance.
Ending: County staff said they will finalize contract terms and return with any required documentation for the county’s purchase process.
