Rowan Governments Say They’re Y2K-OK

BY WESLEY YOUNG,
JOHN PATTERSON
AND MATTHEW WINTER
SALISBURY POST

When you turn on your tap in the new millennium, the water will flow, authorities say.

Ambulances will roll if they need to, and you’ll be able to check a book out of the library.

Local governments say they are ready for the Y2K computer bug – or will be – by the time the calendar flips over to the fateful day.

So why’s the city of Salisbury buying gasoline-powered generators for each of its water and sewer plants?

‘‘We had to do that as a part of good operating procedure,’’ said Mike Crowell, with the city of Salisbury. Crowell is technology services manager, and is thus responsible for making sure the city is ready for Y2K.

‘‘They are actually a result of Hugo,’’ Crowell said. ‘‘We realized we can be affected by hurricanes.’’

Of course, the generators will also come in handy should the electricity fail because of an errant computer chip. Not that Crowell expects that to happen. But the equipment is there and ready. Water will flow.

Y2K– also known as the Millennium Bug – refers to problems some computers will have because programmers originally used only the last two digits of the year in their coding. Because of this, affected computers or computer chips will not be able to read past the year 1999.

County systems

Rowan County Manager Tim Russell is talking about plans to do a test drive to find out whether county systems are really on go. The county will load copies of all its programs on a leased computer this summer, and set the date to kick over into the new year. Then technicians can see if their predictions of smooth sailing really hold up.

But the county isn’t leaving anything to chance, either: Nobody in information systems will be allowed to take any leave in January. It helps, Russell added, that Jan. 1 comes on a Saturday.

‘‘We will have a good weekend to check the system,’’ Russell said. ‘‘We have a policy putting staff in place in case something happens.’’

Emergency services

County and city officials say those important emergency services – fire, rescue and law enforcement – are ready for the year 2000.

At the center of most emergency services is the 911 telecommunications hub, located inside the Rowan County Justice Center. Frank Thomason, director of Rowan’s Department of Telecommunications, said his systems are ready.

‘‘We had to do several modifications for the software and some hardware upgrades for the (911) system,’’ Thomason said. ‘‘We had some hardware issues on our 911 controller because of the computer chips in there that were date sensitive. We updated those to handle any potential problems.’’

Other agencies, including Rowan County Emergency Services, the Rowan County Sheriff’s Department and Salisbury City Police, have also taken the proper steps to avoid Y2K problems.

‘‘We’ve known it was coming for a long time,’’ said David Boling, the county’s director of information systems. ‘‘We’ve gone through and updated the crime management system (in the Sheriff’s Department) and the other records systems.’’

Boling said most upgrades won’t cost the county extra money because computer vendors routinely provide maintenance and support.

‘‘A lot of the software that had the Y2K bug in it was replaced anyway because it was outdated,’’ Boling said.

The Rowan County Detention Center won’t have to worry about getting an upgrade – it already had one last year. According to Boling, the detention center was running on an old and outdated system that needed to be replaced anyway.

‘‘That was a business decision ... to go ahead and update the jail last year,’’ Boling said. ‘‘That puts them in good shape for the change (to 2000).’’

Traffic signals

County and city officials say they think Y2K fears have been overblown. But Crowell notes that Salisbury is still waiting to find out if traffic signals are going to work. The supplier – the same one the state uses – hasn’t yet certified that the lights are OK.

‘‘The equipment is up to date, so there is nothing we can do,’’ Crowell said. ‘‘We are relying on the vendor.’’

Crowell said the city is basically in good shape. The city leases its hardware. Since that is rotated every three years, the city’s equipment is new enough to avoid a problem.

Meanwhile, the city has been checking software, and replacing it in cases of doubt.

The city Utility Department has found some lab equipment that doesn’t meet the Y2K standard, but it is not critical stuff.

‘‘We didn’t have the manpower to develop software, so we bought most of it,’’ Crowell said. ‘‘And the vendors are doing a good job of making software compliant.’’

Boling, with Rowan County, predicts that Rowan County will come through with little problems in the new year.

But even if problems crop up, Boling said, most county records are kept manually in addition to on computer.

He noted that the ambulance billing system was one are that would experience problems without a correction. But he added that ‘‘knowing that, that is the first place we are going to look.’’

Kannapolis Police

Police protection in Kannapolis is fully Y2K-compliant, according to Lt. Terry Kiser. Computer system contractors already have updated the department’s public safety software, including software for the department’s mainframe computer that coordinates 911, dispatching and records, Kiser said.

‘‘If 2000 rolls around tomorrow, we’ll be ready.’’

The upgrades were covered by the department’s computer maintenance contract, Kiser added.

The 911 system in Kannapolis is part of a larger, countywide system run by the Cabarrus County Sheriff’s Department.

Although part of that system has been upgraded, additional work needs to be done, according to Lt. Phillip Patterson. The department is lucky to have recently received a grant to upgrade its computer system, and potential problems with Y2K are minor, he said.

The 911 system upgrade will not force Cabarrus County to raise its current 41-cent per month, per line, telephone surcharge, Patterson said.

The biggest task left to make the entire system Y2K-compatible is replacing Cabarrus’ 911 answering terminals, he said. The city soon will replace these terminals, which display and record 911 the time and address from which someone calls 911, with up-to-date PCs, he said.

‘‘We’re at the final end of our study mode’’ for that project, Patterson said.

Kannapolis city offices also apparently have exterminated their Y2K bugs. The city purchased new office equipment about a year ago. Although the new PCs are year-2000-compliant, the city has asked its maintenance contractor to come in next week to make sure, according to Mike Shin, city finance director.

The electronic equipment used to distribute water and treat sewage are not date-dependant, and should already be Y2K-compliant, Shin said.

‘‘The only concern we have as a city is if Duke Power doesn’t come through for us and supply power,’’ Shin said. ‘‘But my understanding is that they already have one plant year-2000-compatible and they’re working on the other. So as long as we have power, we’ll be OK.’’

Rowan towns

Rowan County towns from one end of the county to another have been grappling with Y2K. A survey showed most have gotten their systems in place.

China Grove officials have adopted a relatively aggressive approach to the Y2K bug. The Board of Aldermen has formed an emergency preparedness committee to deal with the problem, and city officials have investigated everything from traffic lights and food supplies to the town’s liability in the event of various system failures.

During a January aldermen meeting, Public Works Director Kent Mishak reported that the city should be fine in regards to traffic lights, sewage disposal and water supply. However, officials also are working on back-up plans for generators to power private wells and heavy equipment to haul sewage to disposal pits if systems fail.

Elsewhere, Landis, Granite Quarry and Rockwell officials confirmed their computer systems are fine for Y2K.

Landis has had to check its electricity distribution systems, but Bobby Wood, town clerk, said he does not foresee any Y2K problems there. The town’s water and sewer system also should be free of millennium computer glitches because the system does not rely on ‘‘embedded chips’’ to function, he said.

Courthouse

At the Rowan County Courthouse, Clerk of Court Jeffrey Barger says state officials tell him the computers that keep records will work.

That’s all Barger has to go on: He hopes the state officials are right. If the computers did crash, the county would lose records of child support payments and the like. The cash register tape could help a recovery, he said, but that would be hard work. Most other court records have a physical record that a computer crash wouldn’t hurt.

‘‘Raleigh is telling us everything is OK,’’ Barger said. ‘‘We have to believe that they have done everything you can...’’