Commissioners approve new website
DOBYANSKI Examiner photo by Matthew Ybarra Grimes County Pct. 2 Commissioner David Dobyanski was recognized by the court for eight years of service to Grimes County. This is the final meeting Dobyanski will participate in as commissioner. Pictured left to right: Commissioner Pct. 4 Philip Cox, Commissioner Pct. 3 Barbara Walker, Grimes County Judge Joe Fauth, Commissioner Pct. 2 David Dobyanski and Commissioner Pct. 1 Greg Mallett.
ANDERSON – Grimes County will soon have a new look. Commissioners approved a website that will ease management and be more user-friendly.
IT Director, Greg Cannon, shared benefits of switching the website from TAC (Texas Association of Counties) to Catalis Web Design and Hosting during the Wednesday, Dec. 21, commissioners court meeting.
Cannon said converting the county website is something he has wanted to do for a while and stated Catalis Web Design and Hosting (CWDH) is relatively inexpensive. The current website budget is $4,250 per year and CWDH costs $3,995 per year.
Benefits of CWDH include:
• Free migration of current website.
• New improved look and feel. Will reduce the amount of clutter by getting rid of pages and information that are redundant or outdated.
• Will make website ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliant.
• Improve search engine capability. Currently the website search pulls results from entire web. New search engine will search only Grimes County website.
• Improved security.
• Offers a free web design after three years with the signing of a four-year contract.
• Includes clause to allow contract to be terminated on a yearly basis if funding is unavailable. This ensures The County won’t be bound by a long-term contract.
• Includes free training.
Cannon stated migration of the new website will take approximately three months. Grimes County has a contract with TAC until Apr. 1, 2023 but Cannon stated that contract can be terminated early without penalty.
About CWDH:
Cannon stated CWDH has been in business 20 years and has 1,500 clients who are all city municipalities or counties. During research, Cannon spoke with three of CWDH’s long-term customers including two with similar populations as Grimes County. The customers are located in Wisconsin, Florida and Texas and are satisfied with their service.
The court approved the termination of the website with TAC and new contract with CWDH for website migration and hosting services unanimously.
Security test
A security penetration test of Grimes County’s network was conducted, and Cannon announced The County passed.
According to Cannon, the testing is expensive, however with the rise of ransomware attacks it was necessary. He used St. Lukes Hospital, who were victims of a ransomware attack, as an example. Cannon said the hospital’s computer system was shut down for a week.
The test, Cannon said, is conducted using an approved appliance that is set up behind the firewall. The first phase attacks the network from the outside by “A level, white hat hackers” who even used fishing attempts where suspicious emails are sent to employees. Cannon credited county employees for paying attention to fishing-attempt warnings and trainings. Out of 117 fishing attempts, Cannon said no employees clicked on the fishing attempts. First phase testing passed 100%.
Step two of the testing included an internal attack scenario, as if the network had been breached from the outside. “We found some vulnerabilities there,” explained Cannon. “Nothing too grave, but this company points out your vulnerabilities where there are problems internally and tells you how to fix them.”
Cannon said those flaws will be fixed and once complete, the internal test will be conducted again. “I feel very good about the penetration testing. I think it was very successful and I just wanted to let the court know it was money well spent.”
In addition, Cannon stated the testing also played a major role ensuring election security within Grimes County Elections. “We asked them specifically to try to attack our elections network, so once they got internal, they stated they couldn’t see anything on the elections network, so that is good.”
Other action
• Approved electric line installation permits for MidSouth Electric on CR 228 in Pct. 1; Blackfoot in Pct. 2 and CR 215 in Pct. 2.
• Approved one-year lease for 318 N. LaSalle Street in Navasota where Grimes County Adult Probation is currently housed.
• Approved quote from Kofile for Phase III of the restoration of Tax Rolls.
• Approved amended lease agreement between Grimes County and Grimes County Animal Rescue.
• Approved a list of surplus items for auction and return proceeds from IT sales to the IT fund balance.
• Approved wage adjustment for Texas Road & Bridge Department CDL driver from $17.25 per hour to $19 per hour. Commissioners previously approved $19 per hour starting wage for CDL drivers, but the wage of $17.25 was incorrectly submitted when the employee was hired Nov. 11, 2022. The motion also approves back pay.
Archived videos of commissioner’s court may be viewed at grimescountytexas.org.