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Waseca County staff outline IT infrastructure needs and cybersecurity measures as costs rise
Summary
County IT staff reviewed software and hardware renewal schedules, endpoint protection and backup plans, and said they will use assigned funds and some CARES-era transfers to cover major infrastructure replacements; MCIT highlighted reinsurance and claim trends affecting coverage costs.
County IT staff provided a detailed briefing of information-technology line items, capital plans and cybersecurity priorities during the work session. The IT packet explained annual maintenance for software (Tyler Munis, Esri, CivicPlus), recurring hardware replacement cycles (monitor and workstation refreshes every 4–6 years), server and SAN replacement, and planned implementation of an additional Veeam backup for redundancy.
Judy (IT staff) told the board that a $600,000 transfer in the draft budget includes remaining CARES funds and interest earnings; staff said those transfers reduce the levy impact but are finite and timing-sensitive. She described centralized purchasing of supplies and network services that now appears in the IT budget (toner, headsets, statewide router connection) and said the county benefits from state volume pricing on endpoint detection tools such as CrowdStrike.
On cybersecurity, staff summarized a recent security audit and ongoing penetration testing work, noting daily malicious traffic and the need to prioritize remediation tasks. MCIT's executive director echoed those concerns, outlining reinsurance cost trends that are pushing up pool contributions and urging the county to use MCIT loss-control consultants and training resources to reduce future claims exposure.
Next steps: staff said they will present prioritized IT capital items and recommend timing for investments so the board can weigh infrastructure replacements alongside other 2026 budget pressures.
