SALEM — The rules and ordinances committee discussed updates to the city’s housing and IT policies in its first meeting of the new year.

The rules and ordinances committee hit the ground running Tuesday, discussing three new pieces of legislation. That legislation includes two new ordinances which officially form a dedicated city IT department, and make updates to the city’s housing code respectively, and a resolution to adopt an official cybersecurity policy.

Committee Chairman Jeff Stockman said that with the Ohio legislature approving House bill 96 on Sept. 30, that all municipalities were now required to pass legislation formally adopting a cybersecurity policy in accordance with Ohio Revised Code section 9.64. The resolution specifies that the policy is required to be “consistent with generally accepted best practices for cybersecurity, including, but not limited to, the National Institute of Standards and Technology Cybersecurity Framework and the Center for Internet Security Controls as well as all other such programs as may be required by state and federal law.” In addition to the development of “mechanisms for the detection of potential threats and cybersecurity events,” and procedures outlining channels of communication and “for repairing infrastructure impacted by a cybersecurity incident and maintaining security after the incident” the policy will also require all city employees undergo annual cybersecurity training.

Stockman said that the ordinance updating the city’s housing code made language changes throughout the code which reflect the distinction between the city’s board of health and board of housing appeals. Stockman explained that with these changes the board of housing appeals would oversee any matters concerning the housing code and its enforcement, while the board of health oversaw public health issues, rather than the board of health overseeing both as in recent years.

“So, they are two different entities now and will function in two different ways as they have in the past,” said Stockman.

City Law Director Brooke Zellers said that the ordinance also adds language to clarify that the housing code requires homes to have gutters, and that those gutters must be functional. He explained that under the previous language some property owners were “splitting hairs” about whether gutters were required or not under the current language.

“There was some concern from the inspections about whether or not the ordinance required gutters, or just that gutters worked. Some of the landlords were trying to split those hairs so we clarified the language indicating that yes you have to have working gutters, because you also have to have gutters,” said Zellers.

The ordinance which establishes the IT department specifies that the department “shall be responsible for directing and managing the development, deployment, and support of IT services provided for city departments.” It also specifies that the Director of Information technology will work “in conjunction with, and under the authority of the various city departments” and that they “may establish divisions within the department as necessary, and may determine the number of deputies, engineers, technicians, clerks, and other person’s necessary for the execution of the work and the performance of the duties of the department with the approval of city council.”

The committee voted unanimously to forward all three ordinances to the city council for review.

Potential language changes for the city’s ambulance ordinance, which were previously discussed by the safety committee, were also on the agenda for Tuesday’s meeting. Stockman said that concerns had been raised that under the ordinance one person could own multiple ambulance companies operating within the city, and that this could present a conflict of interest, but that further review had determined that this would not create a conflict of interest under the existing rules, and no change was needed.