Windstream outage hits county government phones

WASHINGTON — Washington County staff say their non-emergency office phones went down early in the weekend, and remained offline as of late Tuesday morning.

Washington County Sheriff Jared Schneider said in a Facebook post that his office was warned by provider Windstream Communications of a “higher level outage affecting multiple customers in the area,” and that technicians had no estimate on when they could restore service.

The outage does not effect emergency 911 communications, but is a hassle for emergency personnel and out-of-town government bodies reaching out to local law enforcement or the county courthouse.

“It’s affecting other agencies trying to call us,” Washington County Communications 911 Supervisor Cara Sorrells said. “And it is a big inconvenience for the public, because a lot of people don’t realize and are trying to get a hold of us, and if they don’t look at our Facebook page, or they are not aware, a lot of them get frustrated, hang up, and call 911.”

Department heads said the county jail, civil office, communications office and sheriff’s office had a backup phone line through KCTC that was still running. Its number is 319-864-1005.

Sorrells said county staff were waiting on updates.

“It’s beyond our control,” she said. “We’ve been trying to get it rectified, and hopefully things turn around pretty quickly.”

Spokespeople from Windstream did not immediately reply to requests for comment.

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com