LIBERTY — The township’s internet presence could look a bit different in the coming months, thanks to money from a state grant program.

At Monday’s regular meeting, trustees accepted a $28,000 Fiscal Year 2023 State and Local Cybersecurity Grant and authorized Fiscal Officer Matthew Connelly to execute the agreement.

The grant requires a $7,150 local match, which officials plan to appropriate from local funds, according to the resolution read to residents by township Administrator Martha Weirick.

Connelly said the grant will allow the township to upgrade its cybersecurity defenses in various ways.

“One of them is changing the domain names of all of our emails and websites to .gov, and then allowing the rest of the money for (I.T. specialist) Joel Davis to look at what he can do,” Connelly said.

Connelly said Davis has thought of taking information off the township’s server and putting it in “the cloud,” with on-demand access to shared, remote servers instead of local software or hardware.

Connelly said the grant’s total was $36,028 after including the $7,150 match, which was a one-time cost.

LETTER OF SUPPORT

Trustees approved writing a letter of support for the Trumbull County Land Bank, as it pursues funds to remove five abandoned gas stations from communities across the county.

The agency is applying for $2.6 million from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Brownfield Cleanup Grant, and the funds would be used to remove underground tanks and remediate soil contamination at the sites — making them safe for new uses such as homes, parks or businesses.

Trustee Arnie Clebone said the one officials are interested in removing is on Belmont Avenue, just north of Gypsy Lane, recalling a meeting the Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership hosted at the Warren-Trumbull County Public Library to gather input on pursuing the funds.

Clebone spoke out against the gas station at the meeting, calling it a “blight” as the township continues to grow.

“We felt that anything we could do to show support would help in the application — probably about $500,000 would be for the Belmont site,” Clebone said. “(It) would be to do the environmental cleanup, also likely to demolish the buildings.”

Clebone clarified the land bank already owns the property and they’ll cooperate with the township regarding the property’s sale, in response to a resident expressing hopes that the land will not become another junk car lot.