Minutes - Council Work Session - 10/26/2021

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These positions total $216,000, of which $168,000 are the two new positions. He explained that one new additional position will be paid for by eliminating an internship and the two new positions will cost the most but staff feels strongly they are needed. Mayor Kuzma asked whether all of the positions were factored into the way the levy is set right now so there wouldn’t be any additions. Finance Director Lund confirmed this, adding that unless they find other funding sources because they can’t increase the levy. IT Manager Fredrickson spoke about the need for the IT Security Position. He stated the network security position has been in the personnel policy for three years. They figured they’d need additional support for desktop support, and they needed a half-time person in 2018, but opted to wait for a full-time position and picked 2022 for that date. He explained that with recent trends, security has taken priority in the private and public sectors. He feels the best solution would be to hire a Security Assistant Administrator which is an entry level position to what a Security Analyst would be for an organization. Based on other organizations he has spoken with, this position would include two hours of security work per day with the remainder of their time backing him up as well as doing Tier 1 desktop support for City Staff. He added that with all of the additions to the Police Department, this would be a good addition because there are a lot of security concerns including BCA, FBI, cameras, body cameras, and squad cars and this person would also be helpful with those items. Councilmember Musgrove commented she didn’t see any offsets listed and asked if there would be any offsets from the time that LOGIS would be doing this if this person were hired and doing that work. IT Manager Fredrickson answered that there would be potentially in the future. At this time, LOGIS has two security people for the over 40 cities that they support, so LOGIS is not in a position to do this type of work for Ramsey. LOGIS can help if there is a ransomware attack and they audit every four years for their members, but that is all LOGIS is capable of with their staffing levels. He explained there are talks of security as a service and a potential operations center with active monitoring with either 8am-5pm or 24-hour service, but that is down the road for them. He explained with the person coming on, it would be beneficial to build their institutional knowledge by mentoring with LOGIS staff and learning their specific needs. He stated there is a potential savings for any items that come up, noting LOGIS staff costs $125 an hour, so any work this person could take over from LOGIS would be a potential savings. Councilmember Musgrove asked if LOGIS is not currently being used for these tasks because they don’t have the manpower. IT Manager Fredrickson answered, just for the things they currently do including PCI compliance audits, Pen testing, compliance items that LOGIS helps out sometimes. City Council Work Session / October 26, 2021 Page 10 of 15