The Packet
Operational perspectives for cities, towns, and public agencies
When a Vendor Portal Goes Down: What to Tell Residents, and What Not to Guess
The phones start ringing before IT has an answer. Residents cannot pay their utility bills online. The permitting portal will not load. Someone at the front counter says the vendor is having problems. Someone else thinks it is the internet. A trustee has heard it may...
The Hardest Part of a Municipal Cyber Incident Is Often Deciding Who Can Decide
Why Municipal Cyber Incident Roles Must Be Defined Before a Crisis Hits A cyber incident creates pressure before it creates clarity, which is why municipal cyber incident roles need to be clear before the first major decision is made. That is the part many response...
Technology Risk Briefing – How to Talk to a Village Board
A technology risk briefing helps municipal leaders explain cyber risk, recovery, vendor exposure, and accountability to boards without turning it into an IT meeting.
After the Outage – What Local Governments Should Review Before Moving On
A local government outage review helps leaders identify gaps in ownership, vendor coordination, recovery expectations, and communication before the next disruption.
Why Your Technology Project Isn’t the End of the Story
There's a moment at the end of every successful technology project that feels like a finish line. The software has been selected. The implementation is complete. Employees have been trained, and the final meetings are over. After months of planning, testing, and...
Why Smart Organizations Stop Seeing Their Own Risk
When Familiar Risks Become Invisible Risks One of the things that fascinates me about organizations is that the biggest risks are rarely the ones people don't know about. They’re usually the familiar risks people no longer notice. Not because they're hidden. Because...
Everyone Planned for the Retirement. Nobody Planned for This.
When a Smooth Retirement Still Leaves Gaps A municipal leader once described a retirement transition to me as "about as smooth as we could have hoped for." There had been plenty of notice. Documentation was collected. Meetings were held. A replacement had been...
The Municipal Risks Nobody Sees Until Someone Leaves
The Hidden Operational Risk in Every Municipal Organization Every municipal leader can identify the obvious risks facing their organization. Budget constraints, staffing shortages, aging infrastructure, regulatory requirements, vendor management, and cybersecurity...
Everyone Thought It Was Covered. Then Someone Asked for Proof.
When Proof Matters More Than Intention Most people assume the worst part of a cyber incident is the attack itself. Cybersecurity proof is rarely the first thing leaders think about during a crisis, but it often becomes one of the most important issues afterward. It...
What Actually Happens During a Microsoft 365 Compromise
How Microsoft 365 Account Takeovers Are Evolving Microsoft and multiple cybersecurity organizations continue to warn about increasingly sophisticated Microsoft 365 account takeover campaigns affecting organizations across the country. Many of these incidents no longer...
Why Small Technology Problems Create Bigger Municipal Disruptions
There is a moment that happens inside many municipal offices when a relatively small technology issue suddenly stops feeling small. How Small Technology Failures Cascade Into Municipal Disruptions Usually, it begins quietly. Municipal technology disruptions often...
Why Former Employee Access Still Happens
How Former Employee Access Problems Develop in Local Government Most municipalities do not intentionally leave former employees connected to systems. What usually happens is much less dramatic than that. Someone retires after twenty years. A department head changes...