The following article appears in todays Petoskey News-Review online site. You may recall that this Michigan newspaper has been covering the Stitt family situation that has been the subject of many forum threads lately. ____________________________________________________________________

How well prepared are your local government officials for the Y2K problem? Do you know? Do they? The Y2K problem refers to a computer bug in which older computers use only the last two digits in determining a year. They therefore could interpret the year 2000 as 1900. There are all sorts of dire predictions about what might happen, ranging from the catastrophic, end of the world as we know it blather, to the equally ridiculous, dont worry be happy attitude. Theres no doubt Y2K is a problem that must be dealt with. To gauge how your local government is doing, here are some questions provided by the Presidents Council on Year 2000 Conversion:  Do you have an overall plan for addressing the Y2K problem?  Does your Y2K plan include goals for completing phases of the work? Are you meeting those goals? When will you be done?  Is there an individual in charge of Y2K efforts? To whom does this person report? Who reviews and monitors progress?  How much have you budgeted for Y2K work? How much have you spent?  How much testing have you completed on your system? Have you tested system interfaces with outside parties? Can you independently verify test results?  What obstacles have you encountered in preparing for Y2K? Have you overcome them?  What kind of contingency plans to you have for standard emergencies? Have you modified those plans to address potential Y2K failures?  Do you have a program for regularly sharing information with the public about your progress in dealing with the Y2K problem? Many communities have undertaken Y2K Community Conversations, meetings which attempt to answer these questions and provide an opportunity for further questions and answers. We hope everyone, both in government and out, will do the best they can to get all the information out, and make the Y2K problem a nonissue.

-- For (your@info.com), August 17, 1999