Leesburg commission endorses FY2026 IT budget, highlights need for cybersecurity officer and network upgrade

The Town of Leesburg Technology and Communications Commission voted to forward a statement of support for the FY2026 information technology budget to town leadership and to emphasize the importance of adding an IT governance and cybersecurity officer.

The endorsement, approved by voice vote, asks the town council to fund the proposed IT governance and cybersecurity officer and other budget enhancements that the IT department presented, including a phased enterprise network upgrade. "The ayes have it," Commission Chair John Binkley said after the voice vote carried.

Commissioners heard a presentation explaining the staff recommendation to move the town network toward a software‑defined wide area network (SD‑WAN). Presenters said the network assessment and gap analysis recommended SD‑WAN as the most cost‑effective option for resilience, scalability and future needs after evaluating options that included additional dark fiber or multiple private provider circuits. Staff described the project as a multi‑part budget request that includes hardware, software, management services and recurring circuit costs.

Budget figures presented in the meeting included a hardware line item of about $123,000, software of about $89,786 and a recurring circuit cost cited at approximately $190,160; staff said those four budget entries together represent the SD‑WAN project costs. The IT team also described related budget requests such as moving Laserfiche licensing to a site license, establishing a GIS test environment, expanding social media archiving in the base budget and converting a part‑time position to full time to support help desk capacity.

The commission’s statement praised the town manager for proposing funding for the cybersecurity position and asked the council to view the role as an enabling function that supports nearly all town services. Staff said the proposed title is IT governance and cybersecurity officer and indicated the position would be part of FY2027 planning for FTE timing, with the town manager asked to consider funding in FY2026.

Commissioners discussed governance and policy work that staff plan to pursue if the position is approved, including acceptable‑use updates, an AI policy draft, remote‑work and access control policies, vendor and contract management, change management and backup/recovery procedures. Staff described an expedited schedule to complete governance documents and to use them as the foundation for a future townwide IT strategic plan.

The motion to forward the commission’s statement and send it to IT staff carried by voice vote; a commissioner moved and another seconded the motion and commissioners signified approval with “aye.” The motion’s minutes record that the commission will forward the signed statement and supporting language to the IT director.

Staff noted that some aspects of the SD‑WAN design and vendor negotiations may require limited closed‑session discussion when they touch on security or detailed configuration. They also said a phased approach would keep the town’s existing dark fiber in place during transition and that public‑safety connections and other dependencies will be handled as part of the phased work.

The commission concluded that the network upgrade represents the largest single project in the IT request and that the cybersecurity governance role is critical to provide oversight as the department moves to cloud services and expands automation.

Copies of the statement and related budget detail were to be attached to the meeting minutes and forwarded to town leadership for consideration in the coming budget cycle.