County government e-mail server is down

By DEUCE NIVEN

tribdeuce@tabor-loris.com

     Power was deliberately cut to an equipment room at Columbus County’s 911 center Thursday as part of a generator replacement project, with the unintended impact of taking county government’s email service off-line.

     “They were switching a generator at the 911 Center and somehow it was tied to IT (Information Technology),” County Manager Mike Stephens said.

     County IT Director Alan James said he was not aware of the scheduled work.

     “We found out about when the e-mail quit working,” James said.

     James said the first call came from the county Health Department, where an employee was unable to e-mail the second of two weekly COVID-19 updates to area media outlets and others.

     James said work to complete the project and restore power to the e-mail servers should be complete this evening, no later than first thing Friday morning.