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Township board debates EMA agreement, EMC stipend and cybersecurity responsibilities for shared laptops
Summary
Board members debated whether to continue covering five emergency-management laptops and related cybersecurity costs under the tri-municipal EMA agreement, and discussed options to segregate costs, transfer laptops to the EMA group, or require the boroughs to pick up a stipend.
East Manchester Township board members raised concerns about the township’s tri-municipal EMA arrangement, shared emergency-management equipment and the cybersecurity implications of providing laptops and email addresses to partner boroughs.
Chair (S3) said the EMA relationship’s reach concerns him: "The EMA is their tentacles are too deep into us right now," he said, arguing that costs and responsibilities should be clarified. Committee member (S2) took a financial-accountability stance, saying if a service is shared under an intermunicipal agreement, "every cost should be put into the bucket and shared based on that agreement." Committee member (S1) warned against abruptly disconnecting volunteers from township IT support: "Now we're just throwing them to the wolves ... Figure it out."
Key technical points: the board discussed maintaining shared email addresses at the township domain ("e manchester t w p dot com") and whether to provide partner boroughs with separate domains to reduce perceived risk. Committee member (S1) presented an IT cost breakdown: total computer-maintenance costs around $45,200 including five EMC devices; EMC’s portion would be about $8,898, or roughly $3,000 per municipality if split among three partners.
Board members agreed to ask Jason (the township IT contact) to analyze cybersecurity risks and separation options before making final decisions. Options discussed included transferring the five laptops to the EMA group with a requirement that EMA establish its own IT maintenance and domain, or keeping oversight but allocating costs through an amended tri-municipal agreement.
What’s next: board members recommended a meeting with the EMA/tri-municipal group before the next budget cycle (the EMA’s next meeting is likely in November) and asked IT staff to return with options to segregate services and confirm security controls.
