Buck Wargo
CITY HALL -- After spending nearly $7 million over the last six years,
Glendale is in fine shape to weather the Y2K bug, city officials said
Wednesday.
City departments across the board from Glendale Water & Power to
Public Works said they don't expect any problems when the clock strikes
midnight on Friday. Power should remain on, traffic lights should operate
and water should flow through the tap, officials said.
"We are ready," said Imelda Bickham, Glendale's information services
director who has overseen computer upgrades. "I don't think there will be
any problems. What we don't know is from a people perspective. I don't
know how they are going to react to the millennium changes. We are seeing
all of this stuff on TV about Seattle canceling their celebration because
of fears of terrorism. It is the human element, not the systems element
that is going to be significant."
Glendale has spent about $2.5 million to upgrade its utility billing
system and another $2.5 million for its financial system that tracks
purchases and expenditures, Bickham said. The city has also upgraded
systems that process permits and citations.
Some 800 personal computers have been purchased and another 400
upgraded to combat the millennium bug, Bickham said. Attributing the $7
million to Y2K is not entirely accurate because many of the computer
systems were aging and needed to be replaced soon anyway, she said.
The problem with computer systems that are not Y2K-compliant is that
they don't recognize the date 2000. Instead, they read it as 1900, which
can result in errors and shutdowns, Bickham said. Many processes are
based on the ages of accounts or people, she said.
Glendale Water & Power will have its Grayson Power Plant fired up to
supply the community power in case out-of-state power plants and
transmission networks do not work. The Grayson plant opened in 1941 and
does not operate on computerized controls that are sensitive to dates,
said Bill Hall, the city's electrical services administrator.
"We are not worried. We think everything will be OK," Hall said.
Just in case, Glendale Water & Power will have 45 workers staffed on
New Year's Eve to handle any emergencies. Hall said it is not unusual at
holidays to have power outages.
"The biggest threat is people shooting guns and hitting transformers
and drunk drivers running into poles. That is the kind of stuff that
normally goes on New Year's Eve," Hall said.
Glendale will be topping off its water in reservoirs by noon Friday so
it has a supply of three to seven days in case the city is unable to get
water from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. No
problems are expected, Hall said.
Glendale's traffic lights should also be unaffected by the Y2K bug,
said Public Works Director Kerry Morford. The computers that operate
traffic signals are not directed by dates. City elevators would have shut
down if embedded chips were not replaced, Morford said.
The city will use its radio system and "ham" radio operators if phone
lines shut down.
Y2K doesn't end on New Year's Day. Bickham said bugs may develop in
systems later in January. The biggest threat from the millennium bug,
however, is rural electric systems, smaller cities and small businesses
that couldn't afford to make investments in their computer systems, she
said.
"To them, the cost of fixing it was greater than the risk," Bickham
said. "They didn't have the funds to pay for the insurance and are
running the risk."
