CS99: Pre-Y2K Report

Hanover Year 2000 Assessment

Michelle Cavallaro, Eric Jenkins and Lillie Ng

Computer Science 99: Current Trends and Ethical Issues in Computer Science

Dartmouth College Department of Computer Science

March 15, 1999

Abstract

The town of Hanover, New Hampshire has established a Year 2000 Task Force. In this report, we investigate the plans and course of action taken by the town of Hanover with respect to Y2K readiness, including Hanover's progress in relation to other small New England towns and the town's timeliness with meeting scheduled goals and deadlines. We begin by explaining the history of the Y2K task force and its assessment of specific town needs. We, then, explore Hanover's assessment of town software systems in terms of Y2K compliance. We additionally address the individual town department preparedness for the new millennium, including the Fire, Police, Sewer and Water Departments, as well as the town library. We briefly discuss the town's consideration of external factors, and describe the town's general emergency plan in terms of Y2K contingency planning. We conclude that the town will have prepared their personal computers by January 1, 2000, and due to assurance from vendor compliance letters, recent computer purchases, and limited use of computer technology in certain departments, the town's public works and emergency services should also be prepared.

Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Background
  3. History of Hanover's Y2K Task Force
  4. Assessment of Software Systems
  5. Police and Fire Departments
  6. Water and Sewer Departments
  7. Howe Library
  8. Town Administrative Services
  9. External Factors
10. Contingency Planning
11. Conclusions
12. Acknowledgments

Introduction

The town of Hanover, New Hampshire has established a Year 2000 task force to address the concerns of Y2K compliance at the local level. Made up of seven members representing the array of town services, the Y2K team meets every other week. Despite initial struggles over the last six months, the town's Y2K task force has begun meeting its outlined goals by focusing on examining the personal computing environment and collecting vendor compliance letters for external components. The group is about a month behind its deadline schedule, but members are not concerned and believe the town will be ready by the end of the year. The town has budgeted money for computer equipment replacement, and has investigated the compliance of all personal computer hardware and software using a Y2K assessment package from Tally Systems, a Lebanon, NH-based software company. Equipment other than PCs, such as traffic lights or alarm systems, have not been tested, but the town has gathered many vendor letters, assuring the safety and compliance of the respective piece of equipment. Other town equipment, such as the wastewater treatment plant equipment, only requires manual work and electricity and, therefore, will remain unaffected by Y2K. The task force members take Y2K issues seriously, and seem secure in their progress and relaxed about the upcoming millennium. By attending task force meetings, visiting various town departments, and speaking with many town officials our group has attempted to capture Hanover's Y2K progress.

Background

New Hampshire, USA: Hanover, small town of about 9,266, nestled in the Upper Valley by the Vermont border, is preparing for the Year 2000.

Hanover, NH is a small town with a population of 9,266. ^[1] Like most small towns in New Hampshire and other states, Hanover is taking action to prepare for the year 2000.

The town of Hanover is responsible for providing normal services on and after January 1, 2000. These services include public safety, water, and power. Hanover is also concerned with assuring normal operation of infrastructure such as the sewage and traffic light systems.

The state and Hanover have not collaborated their Y2K efforts. However, for statewide utilities such as electricity, gas, and 911 emergency systems, Hanover must seek Y2K assurance from the state government agencies and from regional power suppliers.

Hanover has not collaborated extensively with other small towns either, yet Hanover shares several key problems in common with most small towns. Most small towns are faced with a short period of time in which to implement changes in preparation of Y2K and develop contingency plans. Because of this time pressure, there is a sense of urgency which consumes much of the towns' talent and resources.

Most small towns are working on Y2K issues on their own, according to Paloma O'Riley, head of the Cassandra Project, an Internet based group that promotes small town collaboration in fixing the Y2K bug. ^[2] So far, about 50 organizations of this type exist across the United States, but these few organizations cannot help all 32,000 small towns in the USA.

By identifying more similarities between small towns, perhaps this common information could be used to empower all small communities. Two examples of small towns other than Hanover are Lowell, MA and Weymouth, MA. These towns provide contrasting Y2K efforts with Hanover.

Lowell, MA is ahead of the game. They have not only established a Y2K committee, but have also involved the entire community through a volunteer fundraising program. Lowell's Y2K efforts seek to educate the entire community about the problems that might accompany the new millennium. They provide workshops in which members of the committee and community hammer out contingency plans for various scenarios.

Lowell Y2K preparations are fairly comprehensive as is documented for the community and the outside world through the web. They have also established the Belvidere Neighborhood Association (BNA) in addition to a Y2K committee. The BNA seeks to ensure that the total community is prepared for Y2K. The BNA will not only look into essential government services, but also businesses, non-profit organizations, and churches. ^[3]

In contrast to the steady progress of Lowell, the other extreme is Weymouth MA. According to Gary North of the Quincy Patriot Ledger, “Local leaders have no idea what has to be done, they want to find out what other communities have done.” This approach is called the Yugo Problem, which is essentially a follow the leader approach. ^[4]

Weymouth's main concern is the replacement of their non-compliant computer system. They have yet to hire a Management Information Systems (MIS) consultant or form an official Y2K committee.

Hanover lies between these two extremes. They have formed a Y2K committee and begun to address Y2K issues. Residents of the Hanover can expect to have normal town services after January 1, 2000.

History of Hanover's Y2K Task Force

The seven-member Hanover Y2K task force holds bi-weekly meetings at Town Hall on Main Street.

In July 1998, the town of Hanover assigned the task of addressing the town's Y2K problems to the Town Technology Committee (TTC). According to Hanover Y2K task force member Michael Gilbar, an MIS specialist chaired this committee. Gilbar is also the town's Director of Administrative Services. In August 1998, the chairman resigned, and Victoria Bedi took over as chair of the committee. Bedi is the technical services director at Howe Library. The TTC made slow progress in the months following August 1998. ^[5] In November 1998, the TTC sent a memo to Gilbar expressing concern about their ability to complete their assigned task. They felt overwhelmed and less-than-prepared to address the Y2K issue. The committee was dealing with three separate technical consultants who each kept different on-call hours making communications strained and meetings unproductive. ^[6] According to Gilbar, the task force lacked direction, knowledge, and initiative. Gilbar disbanded the task force and replaced it with a smaller team. The current task force is still chaired by Victoria Bedi. ^[7] The current members and their specialties are as follows:

Jeryl Frankenfield, Fire Captain
Gerald A. Macy, Police Officer
Victoria Bedi, Head of Technical Services, Howe Library
Paul Jordan, Buildings Superintendent
Richard Read, Y2K Technical Consultant
Sue B. Romano, Financial Analyst
B. Michael Gilbar, Director of Administrative Services, Hanover ^[8]

The new task force took an approach that assigned concise tasks to each member. Since the new task force was created, the members have expressed a need for a full time MIS consultant. Although a salary has been allotted for this new employee in the town budget, no one has been found to fill this position. The Y2K task force scheduled deadlines initially devised in December of 1998. The rest of this paper will address how the task force has or has not met these deadlines and what steps the task force is making toward full Y2K compliance.

Assessment of Software Systems

When asked his opinion of Hanover's strategy with regards to Y2K, Michael Gilbar said:

The plan is in line with the Y2K practices being put in place across the country. In very general terms, the process is Awareness, Assessment, Renovation, Test/Remediation, Contingency Planning. We are in the Assessment phase and with the installation of software patches and new hardware will enter the Renovation phase in March. ^[9]

The Y2K task force set the following deadlines in December 1998. As of January 1, 1999 the team planned to define and document the budgetary needs for Y2K compliance. As part of Hanover's Y2K strategy, the task force developed surveys to be sent to vendors. Such surveys would document Y2K compliance as assured from individual vendors. Also as part of the documentation effort, the task force planned to devise a disclosure statement with regard to Y2K compliance.

As of February 1, 1999, the Y2K committee planned to perform computer and software inventory within all town departments. Also planned was an inventory of all non-reparable and replaceable hardware. Lastly, the team planned to assess risk and impact of potential failures of systems in the year 2000. The Y2K team had met its January and February goals at their last meeting on March 9, 1999.

The Y2K task force plans to have a comprehensive contingency plan by April 1, 1999. Their contingency plans include assessment of data exchange between external sources and town systems.

Awareness

In the February 1999 budget draft, the town allocated $22,500 to replace computer equipment. The Town of Hanover asked independent technical consultant, Richard Read, to aid in their efforts to inventory and test the town's computer systems. He is responsible for the assessment of all town hardware and software. He also installs or replaces software on PCs. According to Read, “The town takes the Y2K issue very seriously and has budgeted for it. The investment in the [Assessment Reports] is substantial, on the order of $5,000 for the software alone.” ^[10]

Assessment

The Hanover Y2K Task Force is inspecting all computer equipment used at the various town offices for Y2K-compliance.

Various systems vendors have submitted compliance notices. A draft of a vendor compliance survey was to be drawn during the last week of February. Hanover is relying heavily on these compliance letters in order to save both time and money. However, the task force ran a commercial inventory software product created by Tally Systems, Inc., a Lebanon, NH-based Y2K software firm, to determine the actual hardware and software components of every computer used by the town's departmental offices. According to their website, Tally Systems provides detailed inventory listings of hardware and software. Tally Systems also enables software Y2K compliance analysis according to the vendor. ^[11] Once the town used Tally Systems software to create an inventory of hardware and software, Read then sent the inventory to Tally Systems, who will return a list of non-compliant software on Hanover computers.

As of March 10, 1999, Read had performed date rollover tests on all personal computers in all town departments. ^[12] If the test failed, Read then attempted to find a pre-made patch for that particular component.

Part of the assessment phase involved identifying mission-critical systems. To date, the task force has compiled no list.

All the town departments run Intel-based personal computers. The first patch on Read's agenda is the patch for Microsoft's NT operating system, which is easily obtained from the Microsoft web site. Read plans to have the patches installed by March.

The town departments run a few different versions of Microsoft Office 97 – the Standard edition, Office 97 for Small Businesses, and the Professional edition. In the process of assessing the town computers, the task force has decided to standardize the software being used across the departments throughout the town in order to simplify testing as well as reduce the number of applications licensed by the town, in turn lowering costs. The task force plan to convert all users from the Corel Suite 8 Quattro Pro spreadsheet database program to the Microsoft Office Suite, which includes Microsoft Excel. However, there was some concern with the representation of dates in Excel spreadsheets. In particular, Read was uncertain whether the files stored four digits instead of two digits for the date. Read plans to use Tally Systems' PC 2000 software management tool to analyze this problem. In addition, the task force plans to hire a part-time employee, probably a student from a local school, to run through the computers to check the spreadsheet files for four-digit compliance. Excel is used most importantly as a tool for drafting the budget. Not much other important data is stored in Excel.

Other software used by the town offices includes Microsoft Word and Microsoft Outlook. Read plans to use patches available from the Microsoft web site to ensure compliance. The task force agreed that every computer should use Microsoft Outlook in place of the current Eudora mail client since Outlook is included in the Office package.

Renovation

At their biweekly meeting on March 9,1999, the Y2K Task Force discussed renovation of PCs. This includes implementing necessary patches and allocating funds for new equipment. Read stated that he will not install the Windows 95 patches onto town computers because these patches were fixes to minor and easily avoidable Y2K problem within the DOS operating system. The need to make all old date sensitive spreadsheets able to read four digits for the year was reiterated.

The task force produced a partial list of software that would be standardized across all the towns PCs. This software includes Microsoft Office 97, Acrobat Reader, Adobe PageMaker, and Microsoft Internet Explorer. ^[13]

Testing/Remediation

After the assessment process is completed, software on individual personal computers within the town departments, like this Internet access computer at Howe Library, will comply with Y2K.

The Y2K Task Force has not yet reached the testing/remediation phase. However, Richard Read does anticipate replacing “a substantial number” of computers this year.

“The computers that failed the Centennial 2000 rollover test are expected to pass when the patch is applied. Any machine that does not pass after the patch is applied will be [declared obsolete] and removed from service,” ^[14] according to Read.

Contingency Planning

The task force recognizes the importance of contingency and emergency planning for the year 2000. The town hopes emergency plans already in place will be adequate for any Y2K disasters. We will discuss Hanover's emergency plans later in the report.

The task force recognized the need to provide training to town employees on the new software. The Police and Fire departments are specifically concerned about training and will set up specific hours for employees to use a town-owned training CD-ROM. The task force drew on knowledge of similar situations such as when the Town switched from WordPerfect to Word as the standard word processor.

The task force has established August 31, 1999 as the date when all training and conversion is to be completed.

Police and Fire Departments

Police Department

Control panels on the side of fire trucks have software components, but none are date-sensitive.

Based on a visit to the Police station and Dispatch Center on March 10, 1999, we discovered that the Police Department should be prepared for the effects of Y2K. The most critical computerized piece of the Police Department's machinery is the dispatch equipment. Since Hanover dispatches for so many towns — Hanover, Lyme, Orford, Piermont, Bradford, Fairlee, West Fairlee, Strafford, Vershire, Thetford, Springfield, Plainfield, Grantham, Grafton, and Norwich and Upper Valley Ambulance ^[15] — Y2K compliance is critical. All computer hardware and software contained in the Dispatch Center was purchased approximately six months ago, and all other equipment is either radio equipment, phone equipment, or other equipment ensured to comply by an outside vendor. If the power were to fail, the Police Department has a generator that would run any equipment requiring electricity. If the Lucent phone server or phone lines were to go down, the Dispatch Center has five direct lines to Bell Atlantic for emergency use. The other key piece of equipment in the Dispatch Center is the alarm receiver. The alarm receiver records any pulled alarm and alerts the dispatch operator to take the appropriate action. The vendor of this piece of equipment has assured the police department of its compliance, but the department has yet to test the alarm receiver for Y2K compliance. The Police Department has not yet contacted the state concerning the compliance of the statewide 911 system, but Police Officer Gerald Macy plans to contact someone at the state in that regard.

Other police computer equipment such as PCs or patrol car laptops were purchased within the last six months and have passed Read&146;#s compliance tests. No other equipment in the patrol cars requires computer equipment or date calculations. The building facilities in the police department include several jail cells. The locks are all mechanical and can be opened or closed using a master key, so they are not affected by the potential dangers of Y2K. ^[16]

Fire Department

While visiting the Fire Department on March 10, 1999, Captain Jeryl Frankenfield explained that many of the town's automated systems (traffic lights, fire alarms, the defibrillator machines, elevators, etc.) are on a seven-day clock and will not be affected by Y2K. Richard Read describes the seven-day clock as knowing the day of the week, but not knowing the year and not using dates for calculations. ^[17] For example, a traffic light, might be programmed to handle more traffic at 5:00PM Monday through Friday, but knowing the time of day and the day of the week does NOT necessitate a year calculation. There is never an interruption in the days of the week; that is, Thursday will never magically disappear from a week. For this reason, equipment on a seven-day clock will not be affected by the Y2K rollover.

The oldest piece of emergency alarm equipment still being used today in Hanover is the wire telegraph.

All of the PCs and software in the Firehouse were bought within the last year and passed Richard Read's rollover test. The firehouse record-keeping and informational software is compliant as long as “2000” is entered rather than “00”.

All of the fire trucks are less than two years old as they were purchased or refurbished in 1997. Each truck contains some embedded systems that allow for fuel regulation based on weight and other factors, but such systems do not use date calculations. Additionally each truck can carry 1000 gallons of water (for a total resource of 4000 gallons of water distributed among other trucks) inside of the truck so that the firemen are not reliant on hydrants to put out fires in rural areas. The pump systems are mechanical and do not rely on computer systems to run.

As mentioned earlier, all alarms either run on a seven-day clock or do not run on clocks at all. The brand new alarm system for the Kendall Retirement Community does run on a computer system, but came with a letter claiming its Y2K compliance.

Since the Fire Department and the Police Department are in the same building, any electrical problems would be covered by the generators in that building as mentioned earlier.

Finally, Captain Frankenfield showed us a telegraph machine in the Firehouse. The telegraph machine is attached to alarms all over town, so that if any alarm goes off, a code is punched out onto the telegraph tape. Next to the telegraph is a list of numbers and locations that decodes the punch code to let firemen know what alarm has gone off. If all else fails, the telegraph will alert the firemen to any alarm. ^[18]

Water and Sewer Departments

Hanover Water Works Company

Hanover Water Works Company serves the Town of Hanover with approximately 1650 connections delivering anywhere from 900 to 2100 gallons of water everyday. ^[19] Included in the pipeline is Dartmouth College who, in 1996, used about 25 percent of the water distributed by the Water Works. ^[20] The college jointly owns the company at 52.8 percent, with the remaining portion held by the town. The two parties are currently considering handing off jurisdiction of the company over to the town. ^[21] However, the timeframe for that is uncertain, said Peter Kulbacki, Director of Public Works for the town and General Manager of Hanover Water Works.

This uncertainty has presented some confusion in identifying which party will be responsible for Y2K assessment and related issues. Yet, the Hanover Y2K task force is not concerned about the water supply. Michael Gilbar has asked Hanover Water Works to submit a Y2K disclosure statement as of the task force's meeting on March 9, 1999. Although there was some uncertainty as to which department the water company will fall under, the supplier is confident the water system will function normally when the Year 2000 rolls around.

The area's water supplier began looking at the potential affects of Y2K on its services in the Fall of 1998, according to Kulbacki.

Kulbacki said he is not concerned about the water delivery service. “The water will flow,” he said.

Similar to the assessments of other town departments, the water company does not rely on computing equipment to monitor their water supply. There are few computer chips to worry about as most systems are manual.

“Fortunately, or unfortunately, the systems are so old that they pre-date any problem associated with Y2K,” Kulbacki said. “Either that or the systems are so new that there will be no problems.”

Most systems at the Hanover Water Works and the Wastewater Treatment Facility are mechnical systems without date-sensitive computer instructions. Shown here is one piece of equipment, part of the wastewater treatment process.

The newest component of the system is the disinfecting system for which the Water Works had received a Y2K compliance letter from the vendor. The remaining components are manual and would not be affected by computer-related glitches. In a similar fashion, the mechanics and machinery at the sewer department are mostly from 1988 purchases, according to Bill Mathieu, Chief Operator of the Wastewater Treatment Facility. ^[22]

The water system is a “gravity-fed,” “on-demand” system unaffected by flow fluctuations. The system does not expect to provide a given amount of water at any given time. That is, if Dartmouth were to delay the start of Winter term by one week, thereby decreasing the utilization of water during that time period, there would be no impact on the water system in terms of expected or excess delivery. The Wastewater Treatment Facility, which has many more pumping stations than the handful run by the water supplier, would be more concerned about monitoring the flow of their system, Kulbacki said.

Not concerned about the water pumping stations which has few electronic components, the company is taking a closer look at the software on their personal computers used to store operations data. The billing and accounting software is the area of major concern for the Water Works, which relies on these tools to keep track of incoming funds. The software is a DOS-based program called, NEMRC, (pronounced “nim-er-ick”), produced by the New England Management Resource Center, Ltd., and used widely by Vermont towns. The program is not-Y2K compliant. The company is looking to upgrade to a different data system, but is concerned about being able to convert the data from the old system to a new one yet to be chosen. A translation program to convert the data from B-trees to a comparable data-storage format is needed, Kulbacki said. The town, which also uses the NEMRC system, is working with the Water Works to find a workable solution. One consideration was to upgrade their complete systems to a windows-based package, such as Microsoft Access.

The water company received no guidance, guidelines or notifications from agencies from the state, regional, or federal level. It received only a newsletter from the Public Utilities Commission (PUC), a state agency, which warned that the PUC may impose fines on the company if their normal services are not provided due to a Y2K-related issue, according to Kulbacki.

The Y2K task force came to a consensus that since the water system is operated by manual pumps, with no flow control or adjustments handled by computers, they need not be concerned about the potential of any Y2K-related affects. The same can be said of the wastewater treatment process.

Wastewater Treatment

The Wastewater Treatment Facility treats about 1.2 to 1.3 million gallons of wastewater a day.

The Wastewater Treatment Facility of the town sewer department serves the Town of Hanover, including Dartmouth College. The facility treats about 1.2 to 1.3 million gallons of wastewater a day. ^[23] Bill Mathieu, Chief Operator of the Wastewater Treatment Facility said his department has been aware of Y2K-related issues for a long time and is not concerned with it.

The Wastewater Treatment Facility was the only department that has been continually receiving letters from state agencies requiring a response and assurance of Y2K compliance.

Like the water supply, the wastewater treatment process is mechanically manual, from the pumping stations to the separation process to the purification process. Plant operations equipment is also completely manual. The few electronic systems are not date-sensitive. Most timers are actual mechanical timers with a knob dial that is turned to the appropriate setting, similar to those found on kitchen countertops. Flow control checks and monitoring are done at the remote sites and within the plant. The one alarm panel at the wastewater treatment plant indicates when and where a problem exists in the system. The alarm system is connected to the Hanover area dispatch at the police station. Communications within the department, with dispatch, and other offices are done via radio.

Electricity supplied by the Granite State Electric Company powers the large treatment facility and on-site generators back up the facility should the power fail. The treatment plant also holds several large mobile generators that can be deployed to the remote pumping stations or lent to other divisions within the town that experience power problems.

This PC used to store data at the Wastewater Treatment Facilty runs a 286-processor and uses a 5.25" floppy drive.

Operations data important to the record keeping of the treatment facility and the wastewater system is currently stored, entered, and retrieved from a personal computer with a 286 processor. The current process relies on data stored on 5.25" floppy disks. The computer does not have the 3.5" floppy drive that is more conventional and standard today. However, according to Mathieu, the department is aware of this concern and has allocated funds to replace the outdated system with a new computer in July. The critical data will be transferred to 3.5" disk format using a computer at Howe Library, which has both types of floppy drives.

A new, computerized system that would allow centralized processing control of remote pumping stations within the water delivery and wastewater treatment systems is being considered. This new system, widely known as SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition Systems), ^[24] would allow for remote logging and controlling of the pumps within the water supply and wastewater treatment system. Most of the monitoring and adjustments are currently being done manually at the remote pumping sites. If approved in the July 1999 town budget, this system may be purchased for the water company and the wastewater department and would be a considerable upgrade from the current system, Mathieu noted. The system would provide extensive data that would allow technicians at the office to better assess alarm situations or unexpected problems.

In addition to governing the water supply and the sewer department, the Public Works Department of the town oversees the operations of town buildings, grounds, the local roads and highways and other local services. Eight town buildings fall under the jurisdiction of the department: the municipal and public works buildings, the libraries at Etna and Hanover and the fire stations in the two towns. Little information was available about the Y2K compliance of such buildings. The members of the Y2K task force have not received any updates recently from Paul Jordan, Buildings Superintendent and member of the Y2K task force, but feel assured that Jordan is on top of any compliance issues that might arise with the town buildings.

Howe Library

Howe Library uses computers for online information access and circulation bookkeeping.

Howe Library is home to many computer systems ranging in four major categories: Online Public Access Computers, Circulation Desk Computers, Reference Computers, and Operations Computers. Thirty percent of Howe Library computers failed to comply in the initial Tally Systems rollover tests completed by Richard Read. ^[25]. As of the latest March 9, 1999 meeting of the task force, most of these failing computers have been determined reparable with patches. The rest will be replaced with new compliant hardware.

The current library software, which incorporates OPAC databases, reference databases, circulation information, and operations software, was purchased in 1995. This system has already encountered Y2K related issues. In issuing library cards with post 2000 expiration dates, Howe librarians were puzzled with a bug in reading 00 as the date. The problem was resolved after a short time when library technicians entered the four digit 2000 instead of two digits. In this case, the software was compliant. The library director does not expect other problems with this software. ^[26]

The library also houses a ValleyNet Server. The library has no administrative control over the server, but benefits from fast access in exchange for offering the physical space for the server.

Town Administrative Services

The town has been fervently documenting their efforts by recording meeting minutes, copying lists and inventories for their files, and collecting their Y2K compliance letters from outside vendors such Bell Atlantic, Lucent, and Granite State Electric. By recording their preparedness, the town is attempting to limit its liability with respect to any problems arising from Y2K. In fact, Hanover is carefully assessing its liability with regard to its banking. Hanover offers many services to its employees through local non-local banks. These services include direct deposit, credit unions, and Housing Subsidy Wires (HUDS). In speaking with Michael Gilbar it is clear that obtaining Y2K assurance from the banks will not directly limit liability for Hanover, but provides the town with the option of litigation against the bank if they fail to live up to their promises. ^[27]

External Factors

Although the town has considered the effects that banks will have on their operations, they have not considered many other external factors and considerations. Two factors we identified as important and brought up with the committee at the last task force meeting on March 9, 1999, were community education and supply chain interruptions. The task force had not considered educating the community about the issues surrounding Y2K and concluded that it was beyond their scope of responsibility to educate the community members about Y2K. The task force had also not considered the effects of supply chain interruption and was uncertain how Y2K would affect the delivery of town supplies like food to Grand Union.

Contingency Planning

Assessing the Need for Contingency Planning

The task force's main focus is to ensure that town services will be unaffected by Year 2000-related issues or to provide alternate means of delivering their services. In ensuring the integrity of their system, the task force has reviewed all the processes involved in the delivery of their services. The decentralized nature of operations of town services did not hinder the task force in developing and carrying through smoothly the processes and software assessment plan with the help of technical consultant Richard Read. Since processes in the individual departments addressed above involve few computer systems, the potential for any problems arising from Y2K-related glitches is slim. The task force was confident any computer-related issues with data conversions or software would be fixed well before the end of the year. Yet unforeseen problems with the combination of disruptions in services either local or external may lead to a more significant impact than a mere disturbance, which is the crux of the importance of Y2K assessment and planning.

The dispatch system housed in the Hanover Police Department building serves Hanover and a number of nearby towns.

As of the March 9, 1999 task force meeting, the members had not previously discussed in depth contingency plans, which was an item on their agenda for the following month, a timeframe of April 1, 1999. When asked about historic plans of action in response to previous large-impact incidences, the committee noted that the town has a general emergency management plan that dictates emergency response procedures and is a source for external resources. Although the plan, thorough and complete, prepares the town to respond to situations of any nature, the committee ought to review a few worse case scenarios that could be associated with Y2K-related problems, Gilbar noted.

Additional external factors with the potential to be affected by Y2K-related problems were considered by the committee. Noting the dependency on outside agencies, the 911 emergency response system and the communication channel with the Emergency Management Office in Concord, NH, Police Officer Gerald Macy proposed contacting these two agencies. Macy was to see if they had any additional plans or resources set aside specifically for Y2K, and to request any Y2K disclosure statements they may have drafted. The committee had the sense that their peer towns and the other agencies, at the state and local levels have their hands full with assessing the immediate day-to-day town services. Drafting additional backup plans was not an immediate focus for the committee since all towns do have effective emergency management plans.

Town of Hanover Emergency Management Plan

The 1993 draft of the Town of Hanover Emergency Management Plan ^[28] provided an impressive, precise and complete Emergency Operations Plan (EOP), where every emergency channel was explored. Scenarios covered included fire situations, nuclear emergencies, floods, power outages and water contamination. The plan outlines the chain of command, persons responsible, procedures to follow and includes a list of community resources to draw upon.

Hanover is a small community not affected by large, integrated systems found in high-rise cities. “Everything is simple,” Fire Captain Jeryl Frankenfield said.

He drew on the example of the water system. Supplied by an open reservoir and appropriately designed so the flow system relied on gravity, Frankenfield reemphasized that the water flow will not be interrupted by Y2K.

In the review so far, the task force has found “nothing critical that makes [the town] operate,” Frankenfield said. Y2K is just another issue.

“The timeline ... and society is making us look at it,” but he said he does not feel any of the local departments' services will be affected.

Should there be an emergency situation, community leaders can refer to the EOP.

Chain of Command/Procedure

The Town Manager, the local coordinator of the EOP, coordinates a response with the town's health, fire, police and public works departments. The school superintendent is in charge of safely evacuating and directing students if class is in session. Should the situation extend outside the local area, the town coordinates operations with external agencies. These resources include the Federal Emergency Management Agency at the federal level, the Office of Emergency Management in Concord, NH, and Mutual Aid Districts in the Upper Valley region. Hanover and Lebanon share resources as part of the same Mutual Aid District. The American Red Cross and New Hampshire National Guard are two other nearby resources.

Warning System — Communications

Mobile generators, such as this one found at the Wastewater Treatment Facility, are used in case of power outages.

The Town Manager declares a state of emergency if the situation should so warrant. The declaration of a state of emergency and other information is communicated to the community via a variety of different media ranging from ringing church bells, to broadcasting announcements in the streets, and finally via direct door-to-door conversations. These tools, combined with the television's local stations, the Emergency Broadcast System and news media help inform local residents. In this day and age of the Internet and electronic forms of communication, as seen from the preceding examples, even the telephone system is not the last resort. Radio communications plays a key operational role within the town departments.

Emergency Resources Stockpiles

The EOP outlines a variety of emergency resource stockpiles. The list ranges from educational institutions, large and small local retailers to major suppliers in the region. The local construction company can supply plywood. Food supplies, clothing and sandbags are a few other emergency supplies.

The plan indicates blankets can be supplied by the local store Dan & Whit's, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Dick's House, K-Mart, JCPenney and the local chapter of the American Red Cross. Generators could be brought in from the Public Works Dept., Dartmouth College and Sears Roebuck. The Hanover Fire Dept., US Army Corp of Engineers, NH National Guard and the Concord Office of Emergency Management are ready to supply sandbags, if necessary. To aid in additional planning, engineers can be found at the Public Works Dept, Dartmouth College and the Cold Regions Research Laboratory. The closest emergency supplies stockpile maintained by the NH National Guard can be found just two exits away off of Exit 16 on I-89.

Cold War Influence

Many of the items in the EOP were developed to address concerns related to the nuclear arsenal paranoia of the Cold War. It lists fall-out shelters, procedures to create several monitoring and reporting stations, details on self-protection gear, and most importantly, the formation of a decontamination team.

Today, there are no longer excessive stockpiles of supplies, Frankenfield said. The Federal government program to subsidize dairy farms and other agricultural groups may no longer exist, or is at least no longer apparently extensive. The big sealed tins of peanut butter and high-energy food packets were distributed after communities stopped preparing for emergencies of this extent following the end of the Cold War.

An Example: Power Outages

Last winter, areas south of Hanover were damaged by the ice storm. According to Captain Frankenfield, everyone pitched in to help.

If there is a power outage, some places do not have backup generators, but other places do, said Frankenfield. Dartmouth College, for example, has a large mobile generator that could be brought used.

If the extent of the power outage is more extreme, the local power company, which is Granite State Electric in most cases, has emergency plans of their own. Engineers from the power company arrive at the site of the incident in “transit-size buses” housing mobile stations with the necessary equipment to fix the situation and get the power running again as soon as possible, Frankenfield said.

State agencies have similar mobile command stations. The town's EOP outlines procedures to coordinate the outside agency's services with the town's own resources to handle the situation in the best possible manner.

“These are normal, everyday plans,” he said.

Conclusions

Because of new equipment, transition to a town-wide unified operating system and core software, and patches installed under the recommendation of Tally Systems software, we think that the town's PCs and software will be compliant for Y2K. Most of Hanover's Public Works systems are run manually and supported by generators, and will not be affected by Y2K. On the first of the year, the water will run and the toilets will flush. Hanover has extensive emergency plans for electrical outage and other crisis situations that could easily apply to Y2K emergencies. Despite limited resources, decentralized government, and focus on town management and liability, we predict Hanover will be ready for the new millennium.

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the Hanover Y2K Task Force and the Town of Hanover for their tremendous support and patience in answering our questions and providing endless information. Many thanks to the Task Force for welcoming us to the Y2K assessment discussions. Many thanks to Howe Library, Hanover Fire Department, Hanover Police Department, and the Wastewater Treatment Facility for the informative on-site visits. Everyone has been very welcoming and friendly throughout our research process. Without the town's help and cooperation, we would not have been able to study assessment of Y2K-related influences at the local regional level.

Special Thanks to:

Victoria Bedi, Howe Library Technical Services
Sergeant Michael S. Evans
Jeryl Frankenfield, Fire Captain
Michael Gilbar, Director of Administrative Services, Town of Hanover
Paul Jordan, Buildings Superintendent
Peter Kulbacki, Director of Public Works
Gerald A. Macy, Police Officer
Bill Mathieu, Chief Operator, Wastewater Treatment Facility
Marlene McGonigle, Director of Howe Library
Richard Read, Y2K Technical Consultant
Sue B. Romano, Financial Analyst

Town of Hanover
Hanover Y2K Task Force
Hanover Fire Department
Hanover Police Department
Hanover Public Works Department
Hanover Wastewater Treatment Plant
Hanover Water Works Company
Howe Library

Works Cited