Business, government leaders huddle to talk Y2K issues

Robert Macy

Wednesday, June 2, 1999 | 2:23 a.m.

LAS VEGAS - With as many as 800,000 revelers expected here New Year's Eve, and 42 million visitors forecast for the state in 2000, government and industry leaders believe they'll have their Y2K act together in time for the new millennium.

More than 300 people were on hand Wednesday for a Y2K summit organized by Gov. Kenny Guinn, discussing issues facing Nevadans at the turn of the century.

Most participants said their computer systems were Y2K compliant and few problems were expected with the dawn of the new millennium. They expressed more concern over panic by the public in the weeks leading up to Dec. 31.

Raymond J. Flynn, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police deputy chief, said he's expecting one of four scenarios:

1 - The millennium and Y2K scare will be "the biggest non-event in history."

2 - There will be minor to moderate disruptions, possibly lasting several days.

3 - It will be like Armageddon, with "a complete breakdown in the infrastructure."

4 - "The worst-case scenario is that in the first week or two in December people will panic, there will be a run on banks and stores," Flynn said. "I hope public education will keep the anxiety level down.

"Y2K is coming. It will be as bad as we want it to be, or as easy as we want it to be."

Flynn said the New Year's Eve celebration on the Las Vegas Strip will be the largest in Nevada history and one of the 10 largest in the world.

He said all of the department's 3,600 employees will be available, with all vacations and days off canceled during the holiday.

"Our business is to plan for the worst and hope for the best," Flynn said.

Metro is suggesting its employees stock up on a minimum of one week's food and water, a maximum of two weeks, prior to the end of the year, Flynn said.

He said Metro has been working on Y2K issues the past year to make sure services such as 911 and communications work.

Brian Rogers, operations manager for American Medical Response, Inc., Southern Nevada's largest ambulance service, said planning for Y2K began in January 1998 and the company will be compliant by June 30. Still, he said, the company will have backup generators for power and other essential services.

Ralph King, deputy chief of the Clark County Fire Department, said his agency has been assured by manufacturers that all equipment is Y2K compliant. He said the department is likely to make 200 to 300 emergency runs on New Year's Eve, with as many as 800,000 celebrants expected on the Strip.

"The issues I'm concerned with are prior to New Year's Eve," he said, with doomsayers stocking up on propane and fuel, creating accidents just waiting to happen.

Marlene Lockard, director of the Nevada Department of Information Technolgy, said Guinn had ordered every state agency to have Y2K contingency plans in place by June 1. She said the state's goal was to have no interruption of vital services.

A dress rehearsal for the Y2K issue is planned Dec. 9, with state agencies addressing various trouble scenarios.

With some 42 million people expected to visit Nevada in 2000, any disruption in services could prove costly, Lockard said.

Martha Whetstone, regional director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency Region IX, said the agency would be providing help for all state and local government agencies.

FEMA will be activating emergency response centers Dec. 29 "just in case," she said.

"We don't think there will be major disruptions, but we think it's prudent to plan for small disruptions," she said. "We have time to prepare for Y2K and we do know how to fix it."

Jim Snyder of KVBC-TV, Adrian Abbott of KLAS-TV, Julie Tavares of KNEWS radio and Charles Zobell, managing editor of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, discussed the role of the media in covering the Y2K issue.