With 199 days left before the year 2000, John Koskinen, Chair of the President’s Council on Year 2000 Conversion, met with the nation’s mayors to outline the "Community Conversations" initiative launched by the White House last month. The initiative - supported by toolkits available through the Conference and the White House -- helps mayors bring together utilities, hospitals, businesses and governments to share information with local residents.

"Community Conversations" brings together important players to get factual information into the hands of the public," said Koskinen. "When we share information, we get the appropriate reaction from the public regarding Y2K issues."

Koskinen pointed out that the two biggest risks in the face of the year 2000 are public overreaction and public complacency.

"The absence of information generates anxiety," Koskinen said. "We must manage against this problem. We must also be aware of people having a false sense of security. As more positive information is generated regarding Y2K readiness, complacency increases."

The positive information Koskinen refers to includes the recent finding that 93% of the federal government’s mission critical systems are Y2K compliant, with the Pentagon expected to be compliant by October of this year. He warns, however, that the Y2K status of the federal government serves as only a backdrop. The real Y2K questions will be those surrounding local issues: What will happen to my bank? How will my local services be affected? As such, the participation of the mayor is critical.

"Make sure your city isn’t the one on CNN, with residents standing in line at banks, supermarkets and drug stores because they didn’t get the information they needed," said Koskinen.