New commissioners sworn in — Mayor John Deese was sworn in, along with four other commissioners who came on board after five commissioners resigned rather than comply with new state financial disclosure requirements for elected municipal officials.
Deese had already been on the commission but moved to the mayor’s chair after Stewart Satter’s resignation. He bemoaned the effect of the law in his first comments as mayor.
“That’s an issue that we’re still concerned about … it was a real challenge that we lost almost all of our commission,” he said.
Joining him in the swearing in were Commissioners Elliot Bonner, Orla Imbesi and Dwight Kulwin, all starting new terms. Commissioner Cindy McMackin also took the oath of office for a term that lasts until March 2025. Another new appointee to the commission, David Knobel, had already been sworn in for his term that continues until March 2025.
IT check-up passed — Manalapan’s town information technology got a check-up from the Palm Beach County Office of Inspector General and was largely found up to the mark in preventing hacks. However, the report said the town needed written policies for assuring only a limited number of employees had network access, on disposing of and sanitizing data, and on responding to a cybersecurity incident. Town officials addressed those gaps during the review process, the report said.
Municipal government’s vulnerability to hackers has emerged as a concern in recent years as ransomware attacks have held city systems hostage. In 2019, for example, Riviera Beach had to pay $600,000 in bitcoin to unblock city computer systems.
— Anne Geggis
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