Quincy councilmen vote on emergency payments for ransomware negotiation services

QUINCY (WGEM) - It’s now been more than two weeks since a massive attack on the city of Quincy, and there are still more questions than answers.

It affected everything from city hall to the police and fire emergency services. City council members voted Monday night on emergency funds for cyber security services and they said, they still don’t know who or what caused the attack.

After a closed session, 12 aldermen voted to approve an emergency payment for cyber security consulting services. 2nd Ward Alderman Jeff Bergman voted no and one alderman was absent.

All council members present voted to adopt a resolution for information security, cyber cryptocurrency, and ransomware negotiation services.

However, when WGEM asked Mayor Mike Troup if this situation was a ransomware negotiation, he said it was not.

You might remember, two weeks ago, the mayor told WGEM the city had experienced one of the worst cyber-attacks the community had ever seen.

City services have slowly returned to a new normal, with the Quincy Police Department reverting to paper tickets, and the city is still unable to take credit cards for utility payments.

Troup said their phone services are restored. He said some city emails like the police department are restored as well, but there are still many employees without access to their email.

WGEM reached out to the Director of Administrative Services and each alderman Monday night after the closed session and they all declined to comment.

The mayor wasn’t at the meeting Monday night but plans to hold a press conference Tuesday at 11:30 a.m. at city hall.

The Quincy City Council also discussed and voted on several other topics at the meeting:

The council voted unanimously to approve nearly $29,000 for radio equipment for Quincy Transit Lines with 100 percent of the cost covered by CARES Act funds.

They also authorized more than $38,000 for the demolition of 630 North 5th and 635 Spruce Streets.

They adopted the ordinance amending the grant program Bring Entertainment to Quincy, also known as ‘Bet on Q,’ to now be called Bring Events to Quincy. Nine aldermen voted in favor, aldermen Bergman, Farha, Sassen and Rein voted no.

The finance committee gave a fiscal year report that ended on April 30.

Comptroller Sheri Ray said their fiscal 2021 cash basis income statement shows approximately $4 million over budget and their expenditures were way under.

All of which she said benefits the city capital project funds and pensions.

“The capital project funds in fiscal 21 received $510,000 of general fund transfers. In 2022, we gave them just under $10 million. So the extra revenue that was being generated was, obviously, earmarked and put in the capital projects fund,” Ray said.

Ray said she has been working for the city for 21 years and the capital projects fund has never had a starting fund balance like this ever.

She said the council’s adoption of appropriations to put the additional revenue toward capital projects is important.

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