Officials say valley ahead in race for crash-free 2000

Thursday, Dec. 10, 1998 | 11:22 a.m.

Stay out of elevators. Stay off airplanes. Stock up on freeze-dried food and head for the hills.

Those are just a few tidbits of advice from Clark County residents who believe Y2K -- the abbreviation for the year 2000, when computers worldwide are predicted to crash -- spells doom and gloom.

But Las Vegas Valley officials say they have been preparing for Y2K for two years and are confident their equipment -- whether it's in Henderson, Las Vegas or Clark County -- will be compliant.

"We know of people who are leaving their jobs, stockpiling fuel, ammunition and generators in preparation for this thing," Clark County spokesman Tom Warden said. "We think that's an extreme overreaction."

The potential problem stems from the way many computers are programmed. In an effort to save memory, computer programmers years ago decided to use a year's final two digits when recording information. For example, 98 means 1998.

The concern is that when computers read 00, they will interpret the number to mean the year 1900. The year 2000 "bug" isn't a virus, but rather a computer's inability to recognize the beginning of the next calendar millennium.

The confusion can cause computers to shut down or spit out incorrect data. Even services such as street lights and elevators -- which don't recognize dates -- could be effected.

Warden said he became aware of the widespread interest in Y2K after the community channel aired a public forum of Clark County officials and owners of small businesses.

"We get quite a few calls from people who want to know whether we're prepared for this," Warden said. "We're making an effort to get the word out that yes, we are. There is so much interest in this that now we see the need for ongoing discussions."

Warden said that beginning in January, the county will schedule quarterly and perhaps bimonthly public forums to allow city officials, the business community and other agencies to gather and swap ideas and information.

In addition to the televised meetings, the county will set up website connections and hotline telephone numbers to allow people to retrieve pertinent information or to quash rumors.

"There will be problems and probably some surprises," Warden said of the year 2000 conversion. "There are certainly ways for everybody to be prepared, but hiding out in the mountains is not one of them."

Steve Chapin, director of the county's information-systems division, said Clark County budgeted $8.2 million over four years to buy equipment to accommodate new software, hire consultants and conduct research to make the transition work.

The county also conducts independent testing to validate whether equipment is year 2000 compliant.

"The official project began in the middle of 1996," Chapin said. "It was early in the process when it came into the consciousness of the decision-making people, not just techies."

Chapin foresees another obstacle other than the new year. Computer programmers mark the end of a program using the number 9999. On Sept. 9, 1999, computers may read the date and shut down. Chapin said this is less of a threat, however, because most dates are set off so that a computer does not read them.

Clark County has been sharing information with jurisdictions countrywide through different government organizations and e-mail.

The National Association of Counties recently distributed "Y2K and You" kits that provide a checklist of systems to be checked. The list ranges from elevators to power plants to payroll systems.

A November survey conducted by the association showed smaller jurisdictions were far behind in updating their equipment.

"(The association) is preaching the sky is falling because they're trying to get the attention of other jurisdictions," Chapin said. "They've really expanded our horizons because we oversimplified the problem."

One city that leaped ahead in preparation for Y2K is Las Vegas. In July 1997, Las Vegas convened a Y2K Task Force to ensure that the city's computers and electronic devices make the leap into the next calendar year without any trouble.

"I think we're in pretty good shape," said Louis Carr, a manager in the city's information-technologies department, which is heading up Y2K plans. "We feel as if we've started far enough in advance."

First, city staff spent about six months detailing every piece of equipment with a microchip.

Unlike many local governments nationwide, Las Vegas chose to do that inventory in-house, without the use of an outside consultant.

With a $50,000 Y2K budget in fiscal year 1998, Carr couldn't afford spending upwards of $125 an hour for a consultant to spend six months taking stock of the city's equipment.

Next, the city looked at its most critical equipment, such as that used in public safety and revenue-generating capacities to make sure they are Y2K compliant.

A permanent solution -- one Las Vegas is using -- is to reprogram computers to understand four fields of data. Thus, the change from 1999 to 2000 could be read properly.

Although that sounds simple, the problem will cost an estimated $600 billion to fix worldwide, according to the White House Year 2000 Initiative.

In all, Carr expects to spend between $300,000 and $500,000 making sure all city systems are Y2K compliant.

One reason Las Vegas' costs are expected to run lower than other similar-sized cities is because of its capital improvement budget. Under that plan, all computer hardware is replaced every three years.

"When the year 2000 comes, it's going to be par for the course that most of our systems are three years old or younger," Carr said.

McCarran International Airport will also face fewer difficulties than some entities because it recently replaced computer-operated equipment with software compliant with year 2000 needs.

Airport spokeswoman Debbie Millett said the baggage information, security systems and flight monitors are new and Y2K compliant, as is all the equipment in the new D terminal.

"We're continually readdressing our inventory, working to identify additional systems that could be affected by computer-date generation," Millett said. "But our equipment, for the most part, is new."

The airport, like the county and cities, is working closely with vendors and suppliers with hopes that they, too, will be prepared.

"The biggest unknown is whether we'll be able to get critical supplies of the items we need," Joseph Marcella, director of Las Vegas' information technologies, said. "We're making a contingency plan to be sure we'll be OK."

The city of Henderson, which has hired a consultant for its year 2000 compliance, is expected to spend $500,000 -- not including the replacement of some systems that were scheduled to be upgraded regardless of the year 2000 issue.

Still, the city is also making contingency plans to ensure everything from power to water is available.

"It's not as if we're having a contingency because we're not going to be ready," Paul Bruno, director of information technologies, said. "It's just the right thing to do. No one knows what's going to happen. Our goal is to make it a nonevent."

archive