Non payment of bills behind website and email shut down
Capabianco: notices were sent to an inactive e-mail account
The nonpayment of a $15.41 bill with GoDaddy.com is behind the inability to log on the municipality’s website or send and receive e-mails from municipal employees, City Manager Michael Capabianco said.
“The renewal notice was sent to an e-mail address that was not monitored,” Capabianco said. “Over the years some city employees have had multiple email addresses.”
Asbury Park had a five-year license with the web hosting company, he said. Because, the old e-mail address appeared to be one that was not used for daily municipal business it was shut down.
Since notification to renew the license went unanswered the host company cut off its service Tuesday morning.
Capabianco said, Wednesday afternoon that a private e-mail account was used to reinstate the services. The website and e-mail accounts should be up and running within 48 to 72 hours, he said.
This is the second service that was terminated due to lack of payment because the notices were sent to closed e-mail account.
Earlier this month, Verizon service to the municipality’s Main Street electronic sign was shut down for the nonpayment of a bill of about $540. The service went unpaid for close to six months, Capabianco said.
“We paid the bill late but we did pay the bill,” he said. “When they went to turn the sign back on, the sign did not come back on. Right now, it is a hardware issue.”
The bill was paid immediately once it was brought to city official’s attention but during the reinstatement process, a mechanical failure occurred, he said. The sign is expected to be repaired by Thursday, Capabianco said.
Last week the municipality passed a resolution to go out for a rebid for improvements to its information technology capabilities. Capabianco said they are looking to streamline communication between the municipality’s three data processing servers.
While the ordering and implementation should take no longer than a month or two, the city must first wait until costs can be appropriated within the 2016 capital budget, he said.
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