CLEVELAND -- If you have an appointment at Cleveland City Hall, you better call first.

A computer crash has wiped out many of the city employees' e-mails and schedules, including the mayor's calendar.

NewsChannel5's Linda Passariello reported that the backup system that was supposed to be in place wasn't.

It's business as usual at City Hall, with the added stress of retrieving lost e-mail and rescheduling hundreds of employees' appointments.

"(We're) making a plea that if (you) do have appointments over (the) next two to three months, please call and reconfirm with (the) person (you're) speaking with," said Tim Mueller, chief development officer for the city of Cleveland.

Only 300 of 10,000 city workers are still affected by last Friday's server crash, because many of them still rely on desk calendars or hand-held devices such as Palm Pilots for scheduling.

"(It's a) small snafu, but luckily I have a Palm Pilot," said Terrell Cole, education liaison. "My information was saved."

But a lot of information was lost for good. So how did it happen?

The new administration said that it was misled about a so-called existing backup system.

"We were under the impression that things were backed up," Mueller said. "That wasn't actually the case."

The mayor's office was hit especially hard.

"A month from now, there may be keynote speeches she plans to be at, and she may not show unless people reach out to us and let us know," Mueller said.

Luckily, the city's financial tracking system was not affected because of its own off-site backup. But the city's finances won't go unscathed; it could cost up to $100,000 to prevent this from happening again.

A private corporation has offered to donate equipment to the city to help create a tape backup system.

The administration is also waiting for council's approval to create the position of chief technology officer.