City hall plans to add a new position to its financial services department to provide additional support in budget development and management of the municipality’s finances.
During its personnel committee on March 18, city council authorized the finance department to “source a budget and financial analyst position” and pay for the role using budget-related savings from the purchase of cyber insurance for this year.
The creation of this position became official after council approved the committee meeting minutes during its March 25 regular meeting.
In an email, city hall offered more information about the new full-time position.
“It (the position) will become critical in the future, as the department will see several retirements in the years to come and needs to start planning for that future,” the city said.
“(This person) will develop and support the budget process and help departments manage the budget and financial analysis required by the city for various projects and manage the equipment reserve.”
The finance department has been considering hiring a person to fill this role for several years, while it mentioned this potential position as part of the financial services business plan it presented to council in December 2023, the city continued. However, the budget situation at that time meant it was not viable to create and fill the role.
During budget discussions last December, council voted unanimously to authorize the finance department to obtain cyber insurance for $169,600, which would provide $3 million in liability coverage.
City administration told council then that city hall did not possess cyber insurance, which was concerning since there were daily reports of organizations — including municipalities — suffering a virtual attack or breach.
Administration was unable to acquire such insurance during the last few years because the requirements changed so much, council heard. However, if they purchased coverage, not only would they have financial protection, but a professional team would remedy all breaches.
Council also heard that all city staff are trained to watch for phishing emails and scams, while education is the top area of focus since insurance providers required such training before they would even provide coverage.
Another protective method the department promotes is using multifactor authentication when accessing online accounts.
In its email, the city said the insurance ended up costing just over $75,000, leaving about $93,000 in budgetary savings.
The salary for this position will be dependent upon the human resources department creating the final job description and evaluating the role, the email added.
The next regular council meeting is Monday, April 8.
