The task force's main responsibilities are in three areas:

• Conducting community-wide Y2K awareness and preparation activities, such as promotional campaigns and neighborhood organizing.
• Contingency planning for possible disruptions to key infrastructure, such as water, food, sewer, heat, electricity, and communications.
• Coordination with other area units of government (townships, cities, county, school district). task force activities do not include any technical work to fix Y2K problems in any organization or system.

Some people think the Y2K problem is TEOTWAWKI (The End Of The World As We Know It) and are taking an individual survivalist approach to preparation. Some at the other end of the spectrum are very cynical, seeing all the Y2K talk as hype and fear-mongering by some consultants and lawyers who hope to make a lucrative living off it.

Our task force's position is that truth is likely somewhere in between but that there's no 100% foolproof way of knowing. We support the position of the American Red Cross that it’s best for families and communities to prepare for Y2K like they would for a severe winter storm - several days to a week in duration. An equally plausible scenario is that Y2K disruptions could be very light and intermittent yet lasting many weeks. Again, nobody really knows. Therefore, early on in our discussions, we agreed that it was best to mount a community readiness effort that not only prepares us for both scenarios, but also one that:

• Better prepares the community for other types of disasters, such as severe ice storms, tornadoes, chemical spills, or blizzards.
• Engages organizations, citizens and neighbors in a way that strengthens relationships, weaving a tighter fabric throughout the community.
• Establishes a structure that neighborhoods can use after Y2K problems pass, one that could facilitate the creation of more block parties, civic discussion forums, and local volunteer-type projects.
• Leaves people feeling like celebrating, not red-faced, should Y2K come and go without any disruptions.

Our task force has eight members and meets every other Monday morning. We use a private Internet mailing list to supplement our internal communications in between meetings. We've divided up responsibilities among the committee members in this way:

• Local small business owner - Small businesses, non-profit organizations
• Director of Emergency Management (part-time city staff member) 
• State and Federal Y2K community preparedness liaison - Individual/family preparedness
• City Finance/MIS director - medical/health community
• City Council member - Area banks
• City Administrator - Area units of government (communications with neighboring cities, townships, counties, etc.), water, sewer contingency plans.
• Volunteer fire/rescue squad member - Emergency shelter/food
• Police Chief - Incident commander, emergency communications
• Citizen representative - Overall community awareness; media liaison 
• Neighborhood networks/block leaders - Churches, schools.

The first four months of the year we've spent our time on infrastructure contingency planning. For example, early on we learned that the city had only a limited supply of diesel fuel in storage to run its backup generators. We asked the city to make arrangements with a local fuel company to have a truck of diesel fuel reserved for city emergency use, including the generators to run the water pumps, wastewater lift stations, and the wastewater treatment plant. Diesel fuel can be pumped from the truck to city equipment without electricity.

This summer, we've taken considerable time discussing emergency-shelter plans with St. Olaf and Carlton, the two local colleges. We've put up a web site and have a bi-weekly Y2K column in the local newspaper. We'll soon be meeting with the medical and health care community to understand their needs and vulnerabilities, and with local food companies to work out a plan for emergency food supplies. We approached the local ministerial association early in the spring about involving the churches in creating neighborhood networks of citizens meeting and planning together. They embraced the idea, and this fall, initial public awareness meetings will be held in over a dozen churches for people in their neighborhoods, not their congregations.

As volunteer block leaders are identified and given some initial training, they'll each begin hosting a series of living room meetings in their neighborhoods during the months of October, November and December. Each neighborhood group will have a list of tasks to work on, for example:

• Create a plan for regularly checking on those neighbors with medical problems who might not be able to call for help if the phones don't work.
• Create a plan to help those neighbors who don't know how to drain their water pipes should there be problems with heat supply.
• Create a plan for regularly disseminating emergency information to all the neighbors should there be problem getting that information via traditional means (phones, TV and radio stations, the Internet).
• Create a plan to transport neighbors who don't have cars to emergency shelters should there be long-term problems with heat supply.

Additional community awareness activities planned for the fall include inserting flyers in the utility bills of all city residents, hosting a two-week online panel discussion and forum in Northfield Citizens Online's Web Cafe, a panel discussion on the local radio station's weekly talk show, and additional coverage in the local newspaper. Details on these and other activities are regularly updated on our task force web site at www.nco.northfield.mn.us/y2k. Contact me at griffw@nco.northfield.mn.us.