Finance committee approves cybersecurity grant, Pure Storage renewal and capital transfers totaling $1.587 million in approvals

The Norwalk City Finance & Claims Committee on July 9 approved several finance and procurement items, including a state cybersecurity grant, a data‑storage maintenance renewal, and two capital transfers, the committee chair said.

Joyce from the city’s IT/finance team described a State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program award of $24,000 that requires a $6,000 city match for a $30,000 project. Joyce said the city will use the funds to purchase an ongoing scanning tool to identify IT vulnerabilities, enabling continuous monitoring instead of a one‑time third‑party penetration test.

The committee authorized the mayor to accept the award and execute required grant documents; the committee vote was unanimous.

Joyce also explained a three‑year Pure Storage support renewal under an Evergreen/Forever Support program, procured through the Connecticut NASPO contract with Total Communications Inc. The city operates two Pure Storage arrays — roughly 55 terabytes combined — located at city hall and the police department to provide redundancy and disaster recovery. The three‑year renewal (08/02/2026–08/01/2029) covers 24/7 technical support, software and firmware upgrades, monitoring and next‑business‑day hardware replacement; the total cost was listed as not to exceed $87,630.39. The committee approved the renewal unanimously.

Jared Smith briefed the committee on capital transfers. He said an additional $800,000 from municipal grant aid (part of a previous $10,000,000 allocation obtained by the legislative delegation) will supplement the Department of Public Works paving program to allow more paving than currently budgeted; the committee approved the transfer unanimously.

Smith also described a request to transfer $700,000 from an existing Veterans Memorial capital authorization to the Calf Pasture Beach account to fund a pavilion. Updated estimates and added project items (restrooms, event support infrastructure) raised the cost; Smith said lease payments and revenue sharing from the concession vendor are expected to cover debt service and that funds can be reallocated without increasing the capital plan because of grant savings on another project. The committee voted to approve the transfer unanimously.

The committee accepted the monthly purchasing report for items between $25,000 and $100,000; Purchasing Agent Sharon Connor said she reviewed 14 items totaling $701,835.22 (two public solicitations, nine piggybacks to state/national cooperative contracts, three noncompetitive procurements).

What happens next: The grant acceptance authorizes the mayor to execute documents and the capital transfers will be processed by DPW and finance. The Pure Storage renewal will be executed through the NASPO contract; the purchasing report items will proceed according to procurement rules and, where required, go to council for final approvals.