Mayor Robert Van Campen spoke at Monday night’s City Council meeting about the Sept. 6 cybersecurity incident at City Hall.

Following are the mayor’s remarks:

Good evening, Madam President, Councilors and members of the public,

I want to take a few minutes tonight to update you and our residents on the cybersecurity incident affecting the City of Everett.

On September 6, the City identified a cybersecurity incident impacting our internal network and technology systems. We responded immediately, working with our IT team, cybersecurity professionals, law enforcement and other partners to secure our systems, investigate what happened and begin the process of safely restoring City operations.

I want to acknowledge what I know has been an incredibly frustrating situation for our residents, our employees and everyone who relies on City services.

I share that frustration.

I wish I could stand here tonight and provide more details about exactly what happened, what we have learned and when every City system will be fully restored. But this remains an active and delicate investigation. There is information we simply cannot release at this time without potentially compromising that investigation or the security of our systems.

That is not an easy position to be in, particularly because I believe strongly in being transparent with our residents. We will share more information as soon as we are able to do so responsibly and safely.

What I can tell you is that throughout this incident, our essential services have continued uninterrupted. Police, Fire, 911, DPW, our public schools and our public libraries have remained operational. Third-party online services, including online payment systems, have also remained available.

City Hall will remain closed to the public through Thursday, September 17, as our teams continue this work. We recognize how disruptive it is to have City Hall closed for this length of time, and we do not take that disruption lightly.

That is why our team worked quickly to establish a temporary City Hall operation at the Connolly Center so residents can continue to access core municipal services while our systems are being reviewed and restored. Those services will be available from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Thursday.

I also understand that residents may have questions about their personal information. Our cybersecurity professionals are reviewing the nature and scope of this incident. If that process determines that any individuals require notification regarding their personal information, the City will notify those individuals and follow all applicable legal requirements.

There is a tremendous amount of work happening behind the scenes right now. Our priority is not simply getting systems back online quickly. It is getting them back online safely and making sure we understand what happened before we do so.

I want to thank our City employees who have adapted under extremely difficult circumstances and continued finding ways to serve our residents. And I especially want to thank our residents for their patience.

I know this has been disruptive. I know people want answers. We want to provide those answers.

As this investigation progresses and we are able to responsibly release additional information, we will continue to update the Council, our employees and the public.

Thank you.