Orrville council adopts cybersecurity policy to comply with Ohio House Bill 96

Orrville City Council on Feb. 2 adopted Resolution 3-26, a city cybersecurity program policy intended to bring the city into compliance with Ohio House Bill 96 and to position the city for state assistance in the event of a cyber incident.

Council member Mace, who introduced the measure, said the law requires governmental entities to have a cybersecurity policy and that the resolution provides a basic framework while the city continues to work out specific training and procedural details. "We are required governmental entities to have a cybersecurity policy," Mace said, adding that some mandated training is not yet available from state sources.

Utilities Director Bregginger said the resolution largely formalizes cybersecurity practices the city already follows: "We already have a very robust IT program in place…This memorializes some of the work that we're currently doing right now," he said, and warned that without an adopted policy the state might be less likely to assist if the city were to experience a major cyber event.

Council moved to suspend the three-reading rule so the resolution could be considered at the same meeting and then voted to adopt Resolution 3-26 as written. Verbal roll-call responses recorded unanimous approval during both the suspension motion and the adoption vote.

The resolution text as presented describes the policy as a work in progress; council members said it will be updated as the state clarifies training requirements and as the city’s IT department refines best practices. The council did not specify a deadline for the next policy revision.

The council took the vote after a brief procedural motion. There was no recorded opposition. The city clerk will carry the adopted resolution forward as part of the municipal code and staff will return with further implementation details as they become available.