The committee meets monthly as a working group, and holds a public meeting about every two months so citizens can hear the reports and ask questions. Minutes of the public meetings and of the first organizational meeting are posted here. Approved minutes are also on file in the County Executive's office at the courthouse.

Next public meeting: Tuesday, October 19, 7:00 p.m., Ellard County High School cafeteria.

County Executive's conference room, courthouse, 2:00 p.m.

County Executive McNally called the meeting to order and explained that he was forming a citizens' committee to look into the Year 2000 computer problem as it affects Ellard County, to make sure each public service had a plan, and to give the public plain information. He asked Lloyd Redmond to serve as chairman. Mr. Redmond accepted on the condition that "nobody uses the word apocalypse in my presence." So noted.

Each member agreed to make an inventory of every piece of equipment and every computer system in their area that keeps track of the date, find out from the makers whether it will work after December 31, and report back in May. Mr. Browne said the county's existing emergency plan for ice storms and tornadoes would serve as the backbone of any Y2K plan, since a power or phone outage is the same outage whatever causes it. Agreed to hold the first public meeting in May. Adjourned 3:40 p.m.

Circuit courtroom, courthouse, 7:00 p.m. Attendance: 64 citizens, all members but Sheriff Crawford (in court in another county).

Opening. Chairman Redmond welcomed everyone and said the purpose of the committee was "to find out the facts and tell you the facts, and to keep the Y2K salesmen from scaring your grandmother."

Co-op. Mr. Watkins reported the Co-op had listed 212 items with any kind of clock or date in them, from substation equipment to the postage machine. Thirty-eight needed testing and six needed replacing or upgrading. Four of the six were done. The billing software upgrade was due in June.

Water. Mr. Lewis reported that the plant's control computer, installed in 1986, was not Y2K ready and could not be fixed. The utility board had approved a replacement, to be installed in June. He said the plant could be run by hand in any case, as it was before 1986, and two of his operators remembered how.

911. Mrs. Stimson reported that the dispatch software vendor would install an upgrade the last week of May.

Banks. Mrs. Baum reported that both banks expected to finish their testing by June 30, as federal examiners required, and would send letters to all customers over the summer.

Questions from the public. Mr. Nick Bellamy asked whether he should buy a generator. Chairman Redmond said not for Y2K, and gave a short talk on generator safety and backfeeding which the secretary will not try to reproduce here, except that it was heartfelt. A citizen asked whether Social Security checks would come in January. Mr. McNally said the Social Security Administration had announced its systems were ready and that January checks would be paid as usual. Another citizen asked whether the courthouse computers would lose the property tax records. Mr. McNally said the trustee's and register's offices were working with their vendor and would report at the next meeting.

Adjourned 8:55 p.m.

Extension office meeting room, 7:00 p.m. Attendance: 41 citizens, all members.

Water. Mr. Lewis reported the new control computer was installed June 22 and had been tested by setting its clock to December 31, 1999, and letting it roll over to January 1, then to February 29, 2000, and to March 1. It passed. He announced that in August his operators would run the plant by hand for one full shift as a drill.

Co-op. Mr. Watkins reported all six replacements were complete, the billing upgrade was installed, and every item on the list had passed a rollover test.

911. Mrs. Stimson reported the upgrade had been installed and tested, and the center's generator had been serviced.

Courthouse. Mr. McNally reported the trustee's and register's offices had received upgrades from their vendor and had tested them. The property tax records are also printed and bound every year, and "the books in the vault don't need electricity."

Schools. Mr. Foran reported the heating controls at two schools had been replaced. The school buses contain nothing that knows the date.

Fire. Chief Pena reported that all nine volunteer departments had agreed to staff their halls from 10:00 p.m. New Year's Eve until 6:00 a.m.

Radio. Mr. Benbow reported fourteen licensed members of the amateur radio club had volunteered to operate from the courthouse and the fire halls on New Year's Eve, and that the club would hold a practice net in the fall.

Extension. Mrs. Henderson presented a handout, "Y2K and Your Household," and said she had given the program to five homemakers' clubs and the senior center.

Questions from the public. Mrs. Jan Sebring asked what to do about her daughter's insulin if the power went out. Mrs. Henderson said to ask her pharmacist and doctor, that insulin keeps for a time at cool room temperature, and that the fire halls would be open. Chairman Redmond said that if any family had a medical need for electricity, they should let the Co-op and Mr. Browne know now, so they could be checked on first, as in any outage. Mrs. Sebring said she would.

Adjourned 8:30 p.m.

Fellowship hall, Big Sinking Creek Baptist Church, 7:00 p.m. Attendance: 88 citizens, all members.

September 9. Chairman Redmond reported that all members had watched their systems on September 9 (9/9/99) and that nothing out of the ordinary happened anywhere in the county.

Water. Mr. Lewis reported that the hand-operation drill was held August 17 and the plant ran normally for eight hours with no computer. He invited any citizen who has been told the county will be without water to come tour the plant.

Banks. Mrs. Baum reported both banks had finished testing and mailed letters to all customers. She asked that people not withdraw large amounts of cash, and said deposits remain insured exactly as before.

New Year's Eve plan. Mr. Browne presented the plan: the emergency operations center will open in the courthouse basement at 8:00 p.m. on December 31 with representatives of the county, sheriff, Co-op, water plant, road department and radio club, and will stay open until all reports are in on January 1. Sheriff Crawford said he would have extra deputies on duty and asked the committee to remind everyone not to fire guns into the air at midnight. Bro. Greenman reported that eleven churches have announced watch-night services.

Questions from the public. A citizen reported that a man at the flea market was selling "Y2K survival buckets" of freeze-dried food and telling customers that the county would have no water or power for a month. The chairman said that was not true, that the man was welcome at the next meeting, and that the man was not expected. Mr. Bellamy said he had decided not to buy a generator after all. (Applause.)

Other. Chairman Redmond reported that the committee's page on the Internet had been visited over 5,000 times since May, and thanked his grandson for setting it up. Next public meeting set for Tuesday, October 19, at the high school. Adjourned 8:45 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Clara Schroeder, Secretary