Friday, June 28th, 2019
Agreement OK'd for election security fixes
Mercer County receives $50K grant
By Tom Stankard
CELINA - Mercer County commissioners on Thursday approved an agreement between the county board of elections and the Ohio Secretary of State for a one-time $50,000 grant for security upgrades.
The Secretary of State is providing the funding to help elections offices enhance their infrastructure's security as part of a new directive.
Under the directive, elections offices will use services provided by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to help detect vulnerabilities and network compromises. Also as part of the directive, board offices will be required to use a domain name ending in ".gov" and ".us," and board of elections members will no longer be able to conduct official business using a personal email account and must receive annual cybersecurity training.
The directive is part of the Secretary of State's effort to be diligent against the increasing threat against election infrastructure and to continue being a national leader in election security, according to information provided.
As part of the agreement with commissioners, an interest-bearing account has been created to deposit funds, said Mercer County Board of Elections Director Deb Sneddon.
In other action, commissioners scheduled a public hearing for a revolving loan fund application from Mercer County Brewing Company LLC, doing business as Second Crossing.
Co-owner Luke Stephenson said he hopes the brewery at 142 N. Main St., Rockford, will open before the holiday season.
The county's revolving loan program started 29 years ago and is funded by grants from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that are channeled through the state. The local economic development office reviews, approves and distributes the funding. The state requires public hearings for each application.
The low-interest loans can be used to buy fixed assets such as land, buildings, machinery and equipment and as working capital to expand an existing or start-up business. Except for local infrastructure needs, the loans are repaid to the fund with interest to provide funding for future loans.
Commissioners also set July 25 as the date to open sealed bids for pavement marking of various roads.
