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County approves lease agreements for multifactor authentication and rapid‑restore appliance to bolster cybersecurity
Summary
St. Joseph County commissioners approved a lease‑purchase for multifactor authentication and a master lease for a Zerto hardware appliance to reduce ransomware recovery times; staff said funds were appropriated by the council last year.
The St. Joseph County Board of Commissioners on Feb. 25 approved two financing agreements to strengthen county cybersecurity and data recovery capabilities.
Richard Warfield, the county’s IT director, presented a lease‑purchase agreement with Delage Landon Public Finance LLC to implement multifactor authentication provided by Elevate Technology Partners. Warfield said the purchase is required for Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) compliance for the sheriff’s department and prosecutor’s office and will help the county better defend against cyber threats.
Warfield also presented a master lease purchase agreement with Hewlett Packard Financial Services for a Zerto hardware appliance, which he said would reduce recovery time after a ransomware event. He described the device as enabling rapid restoration so the county can be back online “in a matter of minutes as opposed to a matter of days.”
Commissioners asked whether additional appropriations were required; Warfield said the dollars were appropriated last year by the county council and that no new appropriation paperwork is needed.
The board approved both agreements by voice vote. Commissioner Hazen and Commissioner Morton were recorded as “Aye” for both items; other commissioners present also recorded “Aye.” Staff said the purchases will be coordinated through the IT department with contracted vendors and that deployment will follow standard project timelines and reporting.
