Chelan County Clerk’s Office Closed Through Friday

The Chelan County Clerk's normally bustling walk-up counter is off-limits until Friday.

Staffers are woefully backlogged in light of the recent havoc wrecked on digital operations.

"The staff there is processing all this paperwork that's been put on hold for the last two weeks," says county spokesperson Jill FitzSimmons. "This is due to the recent outage of the Washington courts' computer system. So they need a little time to get some of that work done."

Get our free mobile app

Earlier this month, Washington state courts were thrown askew by a cyber intruder. Unauthorized activity in computer systems prompted a systemwide shutdown. Prospective gun buyers were and are especially perturbed.

The problem has since been ameliorated - the system came back online Monday - but there's a lot of catching up to do. This applies to superior courts, county clerks' offices and district courts across the state. It's anarchy!

FitzSimmons says there are two exceptions to the walk-up counter moratorium.

"Customers who are looking for a protection order, or who have an appointment to get a passport, will be served in the lobby itself. All other customers - we are asking that they use the mailbox outside of the door to drop off any filings."

"The clerks will be processing any paperwork that comes in this week, as well as the last few weeks. They're not putting anything on hold; they just need a little bit of time until Friday to open that office back up."

Just how much data are we talking about? How many filings and transactions need to be input into the system? FitzSimmons isn't sure, but it's a whole bunch.

The Clerk's Office is located at 350 Orondo Ave. Suite 501 in downtown Wenatchee.