Security concerns prompt county to make email change

HARTINGTON — The email addresses of Cedar County officials will be changing.

The Cedar County commissioners approved a five-year contract with RTI of North Sioux City, S.D., for work on migrating the current staff emails to a .gov domain and also provide system support services.

“I was sold immediately on these guys,” said County Clerk Dave Dowling at the meeting last week.

Emergency Manager Kevin Garvin said not only was RTI’s quote the cheapest at $3,200 per month but also the company provided better references.

A back-up server will also be ordered with a quote of $35,000.

The county’s website recently changed to a .gov domain and the email address migration is the next step, Garvin said.

“The state sent out a letter that we’re basically going to stop taking emails from you (unless you change domains),” he said. “They made good on that threat this week.”

The Secretary of State’s Office mandated all of the county websites in the state needed to change to a .gov domain for security reasons. RTI estimates the email migration may be complete in as soon as a few weeks.

RTI’s contract covers hardware/system support services including any action with the server, network or security.

The board also met as the Board of Equalization to discuss two property valuation protests, approving one and declining the other. Additional protests were expected to be filed by the deadline of June 30.

At its meeting last week, the county commissioners also:

- Approved the mileage reimbursement rate of 62.5 cents per mile per the Nebraska Department of Administration Services.

- Discussed the process for billing a property owner for spraying weeds after several notices.

- Approved a building permit for the construction of a 48,000 bushel grain bin for Travis Korth.

- Approved a liquor license for Tucker Brown Everton American Legion Post 128 for a special event.

- Approved right-of-way permits.

- Approved tax corrections presented by the county assessor.