Freeport town offices have been without phone or internet service since Tuesday afternoon, when a computer outage interrupted online communications throughout all municipal facilities.
Logically, a national information technology provider based in Portland, has assessed the situation remotely and representatives were on their way to Freeport Wednesday afternoon to address the problem in person, said Town Manager Peter Joseph.
Online communication went down at about 1 p.m. Tuesday, interrupting everything from credit card payments at the town clerk’s office to computerized book searches at the public library, Joseph said.
“It’s been pretty frustrating,” Joseph said Wednesday afternoon. “So much is done by computer these days.”
It’s unclear what caused the outage or how long it might last, Joseph said. Fortunately, the town was able to complete its school budget referendum on Tuesday, when the vote was 348 to 116 to approve spending for Regional School Unit 5, he said.
A notice posted on the town’s website at 4 p.m. Tuesday says, “The town is experiencing an IT outage throughout all town facilities. This is affecting both internet and phone services. All online services are unavailable during this outage. The town’s IT provider is working to restore these services and we hope to be fully functional shortly. We apologize for this inconvenience.”
Town offices are still open for in-person service and payments for automobile excise taxes and other municipal programs may be made in cash or by check, Joseph said.
“We have our own phones, we’re getting messages and we’ll be returning phone calls as soon as possible,” Joseph said.
Also, residents are still able to call for emergency assistance from Freeport’s police and fire departments by dialing 911 because the neighboring town of Brunswick has dispatched emergency services for Freeport for several years, according to Brunswick dispatch staff.
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