HERMANN — Gasconade County will look to its computer services provider to assess the state of the security of county government’s computer network.

County Collector Shawn Schlottach will spearhead the project that will include a needs assessment performed by AQM of Washington, the county’s information technology provider. After the assessment is made — aimed at identifying areas in the computer network that can be further protected against hackers — county officials will seek bids to perform the necessary work.

“I’m ready to get moving on this,” said Presiding Commissioner Tim Schulte, R-Hermann, at last week’s County Commission session. Schulte has wanted to take steps to increase security of the network since he and other county administrators received a caution from the Missouri Department of Public Safety about cybersecurity risks facing county governments at a commissioners’ state conference several weeks ago.

The move to ask AQM for assistance on the project was made after the Missouri Department of Public Safety — which during the conference extended an offer to conduct a needs assessment — reportedly failed to respond to the county’s request for help.

“I think we need to get started on a needs assessment right away,” noted Southern District Associate Commissioner Jerry Lairmore, R-Owensville.

Schlottach advocated asking AQM to perform the assessment because of its familiarity with county government’s computer operations, pointing out that the company “has knowledge of the county’s network already. They do have a little handle on what’s going on here.”

The needs assessment and possible steps that will be taken to increase network security, while important to all county departments, is of particular importance to the County Clerk’s Office, which serves as the clearinghouse for all county government agencies. That is, in some manner, the office has a hand in all functions of county government, as well as being the records keeper of county government. Also, the County Clerk’s Office is closely tied to the workings of the Assessor’s Office and the Collector’s Office, County Clerk Lesa Lietzow pointed out.

In addition, the County Clerk’s Office has essentially two computer systems — one for the day-to-day operations of county government and another dedicated to the elections process. Indeed, that function of the office’s computer system has been strengthened against hackers by work done by the Missouri Secretary of State’s Office, which has overall responsibility for elections held throughout the state.

Meanwhile, Darren Pecaut of Franklin County Construction Thursday morning said the projected arrival time for the elevator being installed in the courthouse has been pushed back from the first week of May to early June, a result of continued supply-chain issues. The installation isn’t expected to be done until sometime in the summer, he told the Commission.

“They’ll need a few weeks to put it in,” Pecaut said.

Franklin County Construction is the contractor building the elevator’s shaft, which will run from the basement to the second floor. The elevator project is being funded with funds received through the federal government’s American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).

Also, Pecaut said, when the elevator equipment arrives, the contractors likely will need to construct a temporary wall across the main entrance to the courthouse creating an area to store the equipment, meaning the southside doors again will be closed for a while. Entry to the courthouse will be through the northside door normally used by courthouse employees. A reminder: The eastside doors, which have been closed several months since the start of the courthouse exterior renovation, will remain closed until work is done on the east entrance steps and porch.

Lairmore and Northern District Associate Commissioner Jim Holland, R-Hermann, reported that last week’s ungraded drill on the county’s Emergency Response Plan for the Callaway Energy Center went well.

“It was a very good drill,” Lairmore said.

Lairmore and Holland represented county government during the exercise. Schulte had a previous commitment and was unable to attend.

Several emergency response agencies took part in the drill held in the county’s Emergency Operations Center. Other organizations that would be involved in an actual response included the Gasconade County Health Department, which was represented by agency Emergency Planner Dave Clark, the Hermann Fire Company and Gasconade County Central Dispatch. The county’s two school districts did not have representatives at the drill, Lairmore said.

County officials are considering the construction of a hoop shed at Redbird to store cinders and salt for treating roads in the southern part of the county — a lesson learned during the recent arctic blast that left county roads impassable and covered with a layer of ice. The county’s supply of cinders and salt now is stored at the Road Department site in Drake.