City of Hot Springs looks to renew agreement for cybersecurity services
City of Hot Springs looks to renew agreement for cybersecurity services
https://www.hotsr.com/news/2026/may/06/city-of-hot-springs-looks-to-renew-agreement-for/
Publish Date: 2026-05-06 05:04:00
Source Domain: www.hotsr.com
Using an unordered list, summarize the following article with between 4 and 8 key points.
The consent agenda the Hot Springs Board of Directors considered Tuesday included renewals of the contract for cybersecurity software and services and the lease of fiber optic cables that connect utility treatment plants and other locations to the city’s information systems hub.The city said VC3, previously doing business as ThinkGard, received the highest score of the five information technology and cybersecurity providers that responded to a 2023 request for qualifications.The one-year contract, with four additional one-year terms pending annual budget approval, on Tuesday’s agenda was secured through the city’s participation in an interlocal cooperative purchasing agreement.The city and Garland County, which contracts the city to oversee its computer network, will split the $129,442 annual cost of the contract and $5,088 one-time implementation fee.”I don’t want to go into too many details, because we don’t like to talk about the software we have in public,” Information Systems Director Jeff Winter told the board when asked about the contract’s scope of services last week. “It’s different applications that we use to protect all the desktops and servers in the city and county.”The contract includes Domain Name System security that protects from cyber attacks that can send users to fake or malicious websites.”DNS is how all traffic flows across networks,” Winter said.Around-the-clock monitoring of potential and active threats is also part of the agreement, providing vigilance after hours and on weekends.”We don’t have the manpower to provide after hours service,” Winter, referring to the 11 authorized full-time positions in the information systems general fund supported budget, told the board. “Weekends and evenings, they’re still attacking us. This allows them, from their security operations center, to turn off a computer for us and stop things from spreading.”The contract will be paid from the $154,500 the information systems department’s $1.2 million budget allocated for cloud software service. Under its agreement with the county, the city will receive $273,000 for salary and benefits for the three full-time PC/network technicians dedicated to the county.The city said the payment also covers the county’s share of administrative overhead costs for information system employees who assist the county but aren’t directly billed to the county.LEASEThe renewal of the five-year lease for fiber optic infrastructure the city entered into with Resort Television Cable Co. in 2020 was also on Tuesday’s consent agenda.Winter said the fiber provides point-to-point service between six locations and the city’s downtown network.”This is how all the servers work,” Winter told the board. “This is how internet works. This is how you get all that access and connectivity.”The former Weyerhaeuser laboratory and offices at 900 Whittington Ave. the city acquired in 2024 will be added to the direct connection for a one-time fee of $15,000, according to the request for board action.The city used more than $2.3 million of its $11.7 million American Rescue Plan Act allocation to acquire and renovate the five acres and office space. They are being used for storage and will be the new home for several city departments.The city will pay a monthly cost of $2,880 under the terms of the new five-year lease, the same amount as the lease that expired in December. Because the lease is a renewal of a previous agreement, it falls under the more than 20 items state law exempts from competitive bidding.”There are no other viable alternatives,” the city said in its request for board action. “Other providers couldn’t provide true dark fiber service to these locations or their cost was significantly higher.”
