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County IT director outlines cybersecurity training, phone-system plan and 800 MHz radio upgrade
Summary
Flathead County IT Director Justin Miller told commissioners the county will begin mandatory cybersecurity training after a recent CISA assessment, pursue a coordinated update to core public-safety and county phone systems in FY27, and complete an 800 MHz radio equipment installation by early spring to strengthen emergency communications.
Justin Miller, Flathead County IT Director, briefed the board on IT priorities during the Dec. 9 meeting, emphasizing cybersecurity, a countywide phone-system replacement and continued work on radio and 9-1-1 infrastructure.
Miller said the county will coordinate with Tyler on the next iteration of its New World public-safety records-management system and that mandatory cybersecurity training for county employees is being rolled out following a recent cybersecurity assessment with CISA focused on elections but including county IT issues. "Overall, it sounded like the county performed well," Miller said of the CISA assessment.
He asked commissioners to approve a plan to consolidate phone-system replacement efforts (originally planned across multiple budgets) into a single FY27 project and said interviews and RFP work for radio equipment are underway; equipment has been staged but winter weather delayed installation. Miller also reported that new 9-1-1 data-center equipment and backup servers for the sheriff's office are live and that an FECC firewall replacement is planned for 2026.
Commissioners thanked Miller and county staff for progress on 9-1-1 integration and applauded the IT team's responsiveness after the county transferred the 9-1-1 system to county IT about a year earlier.
Next steps: Miller will bring budget details to the commissioners for FY27 SIP funding and expects to present a radio RFP draft in January and back to the board by late January or early February.
