I’m willing to bet this person was paid a one-time fee (just like you) and the bosses expected him to provide free maintenance and tech support for life. And if you’re not careful this will be your fate as well. I’ve been in this position myself, and after a point you are forced to say “sorry, I’ve done my part, you are on your own now”. People aren’t willing to accept that even a simple website can have a recurring cost of a few engineering hours a month. And those hours aren’t free.

No clue. A week later, they hired a reputable local firm to get the old site back up in entirety, and design a whole new site. I'll have to ask tomorrow how that's going.