FORT PIERCE, Fla. — St. Lucie County's main website is back up and running for the first time in four days, but computer network issues are still impacting some of the county's daily operations.
On Friday, network issues forced the county to take down its main servers.
Outside the main county administration building in Fort Pierce, county employees greeted residents who were running errands indoors.
Robert Cerda was one of them. He had just finished paying off his car.
“I got called in from work today, so I thought, 'Let's go get the title,'” Cerda said/
Cerda was frustrated to learn that she couldn't do the work she needed to do on Tuesday because the tax collector's office was down due to a computer glitch.
St. Lucie County Tax Collector Chris Craft said more will be available starting Wednesday.
James Bailey/WPTV
“We offer property tax payments over the counter in our offices. For driver's license and registration renewals, you can make an appointment at our office,” Craft said.
Craft will post updates on his Facebook page, and some employees will be available at the Indian River County and Martin County Tax Collector's Offices to assist as needed.
When asked about what caused this issue, whether it was a hacking situation, the county did not yet have a clear answer.
“On Friday, there was some suspicious activity on our network as well as the tax collector's office. We shut everything down as a precaution. We are still conducting due diligence and forensic scans,” said Eric Gill, the county's communications director. ” he said.
Celia Garcia waited outside an office space where county government employees had their county-issued laptops scanned.
She works with neglected children in the court system through the Guardian Ad Litem program.
“We have our staff working remotely, and we're fortunate that we can do that,” Garcia said.
If a laptop had a green sticker on it, it meant it was safe to use.
It remains to be seen when St. Lucie County's entire computer network will be able to reopen.
The county has set up an information line for residents at 772-460-4357. It will operate from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. until network issues are resolved.
