Pasadena city departments cannot receive or send email because of a worldwide Microsoft service outage, the city announced on X Thursday, Nov. 12.
The city told residents to reach departments by phone instead. The main number is the City Service Center at (626) 744-7311, open 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday and every other Friday, according to the city's contact page.
For police services, the city listed (626) 744-4241 for non-emergencies and 911 for emergencies.
The city's announcement described the problem as "disruptions to email access across City departments." It did not mention the city website, online permits, utility payments or other resident-facing services.
Key department phone numbers
Residents who need specific offices can call directly:
- Water & Power customer service: (626) 744-4005
- Planning: (626) 744-6646
- Public Works: (626) 744-7311
- Public Health: (626) 744-6005
- Library: (626) 744-4066
- Fire Department (general): (626) 744-4655
- Finance: (626) 744-4355
The outage is not just local
The Microsoft outage started around 8:17 a.m. Pacific time on Thursday, Nov. 12, and affected Exchange Online, Microsoft Teams, SharePoint and other tools worldwide, Petri reported. Microsoft said an overwhelmed core process caused servers to fail automated health checks and drop out of rotation, creating a cascading capacity loss.
Recovery still underway
Microsoft reported improving service availability Friday, Nov. 13, although some users continued to experience intermittent connectivity problems or delayed email delivery, according to Petri.
Residents who need city services should use the phone numbers above until the city confirms email has been restored.
