Unalaska, AK – The village of Nikolski has not had phone service since early November. Paula Dobbyn, the communications director for ACS, who provides service to the village, said the problem started with a blown switch.

"The village had some power issues that were related to fuel supplies. As fuel dwindled the generator had power surges; it experienced spikes," she said. "And that contributed to our switch partially burning up. Some electronic components in it actually got fried. And we had to go to the manufacturer and get them to build us new parts."

Dobbyn said that Nikolski has a specialized phone system that's tailored for a small, isolated community. Only about 40 different towns in the United States use the same type of switch so the part had to be specially made by Nortel in Canada then shipped to Anchorage. A technician has been trying to get to Nikolski to repair the problem but was stuck in Unalaska because of weather delays.

The town has relied on a satellite phone and satellite internet connections to communicate with people off of the island. George Weaver with APICDA says the fuel level is okay at the moment but the community is anticipating a shortage. Limited communication makes exact information hard to get.

The Aleutian Region School District, which runs the Nikolski school, has filed a complaint against ACS with the Regulatory Commission of Alaska.

In other Nikolski news, the school did not make enrollment for next year. Their October enrollment average was point-2 students too low. That means the three-village school district will only get partial state funding next year. However, only the state can decide if the district can close the school or if it will operate on a smaller budget. The community and the school board will discuss how to proceed after the holiday season.