County Confirms It Blocked Resident’s Phone Number, Has Blocked Others

Bucks County government officials have confirmed they blocked the number of a resident.

Megan Brock, a Northampton Township resident who often attends Bucks County Commissioners meetings questioning COVID-19 mitigation policy, claimed last month that her phone was blocked when she dialed numbers connected to county government.

She said her phone number was even blocked when she called the Bucks County Sheriff’s Office’s administrative number recently.

“Your call cannot be completed as dialed,” an automated voice through her cell phone said.

When calling county numbers using *67, which hides a number from the recipient of the call, her calls went through without problems.

Citing her phone records, Brock said she had called Commissioner Diane Ellis-Marseglia’s public county phone number in August 2020 and talked to someone for 18 minutes.

The only other call until recently to a county number, she said, was a few days later when she called to advocate for kids returning to classes amid the pandemic.

Brock has been part of a group of parents who have been vigorously questioning the county’s August 2021 decision to alter mask guidance for schools.

At times, the group of parents, who are associated with the founder of the conservative Reopen Bucks County social media group, have made strongly-worded statements to the commissioners and specifically to Ellis-Marseglia, a Democrat, who has appeared upset and frustrated by some of the comments directed at her.

Brock, fellow parent Jamie Walker Cohen, and others have filed numerous Right To Know requests with the county as they look into last August’s change in masking guidance for schools.

Following Brock’s claims her number was blocked, the commissioners directed county staff to begin looking into the situation.

Bucks County Chief Information Officer John Regula said there are about 60 phone numbers blocked from calling county numbers and extensions.

In Brock’s case, county leadership asked IT staff to block the number for specific extensions, but it was inadvertently blocked for all county numbers, officials said.

“The way it was configured blocked the number countywide,” Regula said, adding county leadership was unaware of the issue at the time.

The county will now conduct a review of all remaining blocked numbers, many originally barred at the request of prosecutors.

Regula said 95 percent of the blocks of phone numbers were older than three years.

“We are investigating new technology to ensure that if a blocked number is required, we can do it on a single extension basis,” Regula stated.

County spokesperson James O’Malley told LevittownNow.com Brock’s number was never blocked from calling 9-1-1, as the systems are separate from the main county phone system.

The county does not have a policy relating to blocking constituent phone numbers, O’Malley said.

Ellis-Marseglia said she called Brock and apologized for what happened after it was brought to her attention.

Brock confirmed Ellis-Marseglia called recently, but she disputed there was an apology.

“I’m glad I’m unblocked and can access services. However, I’m deeply troubled that the Bucks County government seems to have the ability to arbitrarily block citizens from contacting government,” she said, adding she wants a review of the county government blocking a citizen’s phone number.

Brock said she felt bullied by the Bucks County Commissioners due to her viewpoints against COVID-19 mandates and masks in schools.

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