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Friday Harbor council approves fridayharbor.wa.gov and hears IT cybersecurity plan
Summary
The council approved Resolution 3021 to register fridayharbor.wa.gov (no registration cost) and heard an IT director report on cybersecurity and identity/access management projects, including plans to issue an RFP and launch a pilot for staff badges and access controls.
The Friday Harbor Town Council on April 2 approved Resolution 3021 to register the official town domain fridayharbor.wa.gov and received an information technology briefing on planned cybersecurity and identity management work.
Paul, the town’s IT director, told the council the federal program makes .gov domains available at no cost to verified local governments and that moving to a .gov domain would improve public trust and federal cybersecurity support. “The use of the .gov domain is limited to verified government entities and is widely recognized as a trusted and secure standard for public sector websites,” Paul said. He told the council there is no fiscal impact for domain registration and that any future costs would be limited to internal staff time or optional implementation services.
Paul also outlined two budgeted IT priorities for the coming quarter: issuing an RFP to select a cybersecurity partner to assist with risk assessments, monitoring and incident response, and launching an identity and access management pilot to issue staff identification codes and improve access control for town buildings and critical infrastructure. He described the goals as both convenience and an added security layer, citing national increases in cyberattacks on water and utility systems.
The council moved and approved Resolution 3021 by voice vote. Staff said next steps include submitting the application through Get.Gov, configuring domain services and developing a migration plan that could map the town’s existing addresses to the new domain with minimal disruption.
What’s next: Staff will file the application for the .gov domain, draft a transition plan and issue the cybersecurity RFP; the council approved the resolution and requested updates as the projects progress.
