diff --git a/python/lsst/ap/association/packageAlerts.py b/python/lsst/ap/association/packageAlerts.py
index 26078b70..5fd17848 100644
--- a/python/lsst/ap/association/packageAlerts.py
+++ b/python/lsst/ap/association/packageAlerts.py
@@ -575,12 +575,19 @@ def _delivery_callback(self, err, msg):
             self.log.debug('Message delivered to %s [%d] @ %d', msg.topic(), msg.partition(), msg.offset())
 
     def _server_check(self):
-        try:
-            admin_client = AdminClient(self.kafkaAdminConfig)
-            topics = admin_client.list_topics(timeout=0.5).topics
-
-            if not topics:
-                raise RuntimeError()
-
-        except KafkaException as exception:
-            raise exception
+        """Checks if the alert stream credentials are still valid and the
+        server is contactable.
+
+                Raises
+                -------
+                KafkaException
+                    Raised if the server us not contactable.
+                RuntimeError
+                    Raised if the server is contactable but there are no topics
+                    present.
+                """
+        admin_client = AdminClient(self.kafkaAdminConfig)
+        topics = admin_client.list_topics(timeout=0.5).topics
+
+        if not topics:
+            raise RuntimeError()