IT director urges cloud backups, Starlink emergency links and managed cybersecurity service

Dean, representing the town’s IT function, told the board that the town’s on-site backups leave a critical single-point-of-failure risk if the server room is destroyed. He recommended moving to a cloud backup solution that provides an “air gap” and an offsite copy stored in North Carolina for quicker physical recovery when needed.

To address emergency communications, Dean proposed buying three Starlink satellite systems — for Town Hall, the police department and Fire Station 2 — plus six months of service (effectively two months of service staged at each location). He said the upfront cost per unit is $1,049 and that the town could activate service only during outages.

On cybersecurity, Dean requested the board fund a managed cyber-security service that would provide email filtering, retention logs required by law, and a consolidated managed package that would otherwise require three to five vendors. He estimated the cost at under $8,000 per year and argued the service reduces the risk and the operational overhead associated with maintaining multiple point solutions.

Why it matters: Staff portrayed these investments as risk‑management measures. The cloud backups and Starlink units are framed as continuity-of-operations steps that shorten recovery time after disasters, while managed security is presented as a relatively modest recurring cost to reduce the likelihood and impact of cyber incidents.

Ending: Dean asked staff to include these items in the capital/operating requests for the work session materials so the board can evaluate tradeoffs between one-time resilience spending and recurring security costs.