CHENEY – When the phone lines at city hall were out of service last week, it presented a big problem for Cheney resident Megan Humphrey as calls got rerouted to her cell phone.
"People have been calling for inspections, the fire department, police department and courts," said Megan's mom, Lori Humphrey.
Megan endured the calls for two days.
City Finance Director Cindy Niemeier said the issue was unrelated to its IT department or Lumen, the city's telecommunications company.
"We were unable to call anyone with a 509-area code," Niemeier said.
She thought the problem was related to Lumen's 10-digit requirement. Calls placed must include the three-digit area code. But the city server strips that 10-digit requirement.
"Lumen had to re-program our local server," Niemeier said. "This morning [June 15] we found out that it was a problem above Lumen. We might have a piece of hardware that we'll have to replace."
The problem got resolved later that morning, but not before several people called to inquire about their utility bill. Those calls went to Megan's cell phones.
Niemeier said the server at city hall was the only server affected.
"It wasn't a public safety office problem," she said. "It was just this office (city hall)."
Despite the frustration, Lori said humor is the best way to deal with situations like this.
"I welcome everyone to enter the Twilight Zone," she said. "There were a lot of people upset but you have got to take humor in it."
Michaela is a former newsroom intern at the Cheney Free Press. She covered stories on education, city government, cops/courts/fire departments and local businesses.
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