Chelan County Clerk’s Office confronts month-long backlog following system shutdown

CHELAN COUNTY — Chelan County Clerk’s Office staff are facing a backlog of more than 6,000 documents that accumulated during the county’s recent system-wide disruption.

County officials said they became aware of malware affecting the network on May 24, prompting a systemwide shutdown. Since then, the county has slowly been recovering websites, emails, phones and computer systems as it continues to investigate the incident.

“While systems are restored, the office has about a month of work to process, and that means there may be some delays in responses to phone calls and emails,” Chelan County Clerk Marty Young said. “We rely heavily on document management systems from the state, and we were just granted access again to those on June 22.”

Electronic filing, which is used to submit documents to the Clerk’s Office, will not be available until Wednesday, July 1, according to county officials. Additionally, the Clerk’s Office is not currently accepting new passport appointments. The office said it will process passports on a limited, walk-in basis, depending on staff availability and properly completed passport applications.

Those looking to book a new appointment can watch the Clerk’s Office webpage for announcements on when it will begin accepting new passport appointments again.