St. Francois County to apply for up to $200,000 state cyber security grant

St. Francois County officials on Monday approved a request from the county IT department to apply for the 2025 State and Local Cybersecurity Grant, seeking the program's maximum award of $200,000 and acknowledging a required 40% local match.

Jessica Mellet, who identified herself as representing the IT department, told commissioners the grant is intended "to help local governments reduce cyber security risk and improve reliability of public service," and said the county's intended uses include improving account protections, system logging and monitoring, data encryption, reducing use of outdated systems and strengthening backup and recovery capabilities.

Mellet said the county plans to request the full $200,000 award; with a 40% match that would require approximately $80,000 of local funding. Commissioners asked whether the grant is for fiscal year 2025 or 2026; Mellet said the money is labeled by the state as fiscal year 2025 even though the county would use funds in 2026. She also confirmed the application deadline as May 20.

A commissioner raised the practical question of how the match would be funded if the award amount is smaller than the requested maximum. Mellet replied that award amounts can vary and that any match would be paid from the county budget if the grant is awarded.

The board voted to give the IT department permission to apply for the grant. The county did not detail a department or line-item that would cover the match if the award is partial; that funding source was discussed as "it would come out of our budget" but was not specified further.

Next steps: the IT department will submit the application by the stated deadline; if awarded, staff will return with details on the approved scope and the county match requirement.