Councils revise timetable for sageguards systems

By Jason Collie

More councils have put back the date when they expect to be ready to handle the millennium bug.

Although all the 89 local authorities believe they will be prepared for the big day, a survey released today by Local Government New Zealand into Y2K readiness has seen 10 extend their timetables for preparing computer and other systems.

Only two out of three councils now expect their computer systems to be ready by next month, compared with 75 per cent in a poll in February.

Now the organisation wants councils to spend the last few months of 1999 working on contingency plans and communication with the public.

The chief executive of Local Government NZ, Carol Stigley, said it was consistent with other sectors for organisations to put back their timetables as they worked further into the problem.

Auckland City and Whangarei councils told the survey their computer systems and other equipment are ready and they have completed all their preparations.

Papakura expects to finish its preparations by the end of next month, while North Shore, Waitakere, Rodney, Rotorua, Hamilton, Tauranga and the Auckland Regional Council should be finished before October.

Manukau and Franklin say they will complete theirs between October and December.

Despite higher levels of testing on water and wastewater services, Local Government is still concerned that many councils have not signed up outside organisations and their own staff for fixing any problems.

Carol Stigley said the survey had also shown that councils were doing more testing on equipment, rather than relying on suppliers saying everything would be all right.

She expected the next survey, to be sent out next month, would give a better picture of how councils were going.

"With this one, we have said, 'Keep your heads down and your bums up.' In June, we will look at the signals out there ... what other help they need and are there any red alerts."