Harrisburg’s MLK City Government Center
Harrisburg’s city hall is closed on Thursday, following an IT malfunction.
According to Director of Facilities Dave Baker, the MLK City Government Center is closed today due to smoking hardware discovered in the city’s IT server room last evening.
Baker said the building is closed to ensure the safety of staff and the public.
Earlier this week, the city experienced another system outage, which knocked out all power in the building, closing city hall for the day. While the two issues were separate, both were caused by old and outdated systems failing, Baker explained. In his tenure with the city, he said he’s never seen power outages such as this, calling it “an unfortunate chain of events.”
The Harrisburg Fire Bureau responded to smoke coming from the server room in city hall at about 10 p.m. on Wednesday evening, Baker said. One of the servers, which dates back to the 1980s, overheated and started to smoke, he explained.
The servers essentially operate as the “gateway” for all connectivity in city hall, including powering all city computer systems, Baker said. Although back-up server systems quickly restored connectivity and power to city hall, which was shortly interrupted, Baker said that city staff are working to troubleshoot the issue today.
Some of the outdated hardware will be replaced in the near future, Baker said.
City hall is slated to reopen on Friday.
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