President Ronnie Pruett called the meeting to order. After Jerry Blanchard introduced the guests, President Ronnie asked Dick Hagemeyer to stand. Ronnie pointed out that Dick was a former president of our club. Ric Cannada did Health and Happiness. He told us that Vernon Anderson had suffered a slight stroke.
     Don Sanders led us in singing Happy Birthday to President Ronnie, and Pat Milieu gave the invocation.
     Jerry Orr introduced Susan Johnson, the Chief Executive for Business Services for the City of Charlotte. Her talk was about the upcoming year 2000 problems, which were caused by the high cost of computers and storage when programs were first being written. She joked you could blame it on second grade teachers who had taught us all to use two digits for the year on all school papers. She said it was a worldwide problem, which affected not only computers, but also all communities and businesses. She told us there are 16 dates in the years 1999 through 2001, which can cause problems.
     She detailed how the city has dealt with the issue. They prioritized the areas where testing and work need to be done. The first priority was Public Safety and Health, which includes water, police, fire and transportation. She said their work has been an exercise in minutia. They have inventoried every system and piece of equipment to determine if there is going to be a year 2000 problem.
     The city is broken down into 13 key businesses, 9 operating and 4 support. The heads of the businesses are responsible for making sure their area will not have problems with either software systems or equipment. She said it is turning out there is not as much of a problem with embedded chips as had been expected.
     Susan heads an oversight group, which requires the heads of the business units to report regularly on six areas: suppliers, products and services, processes, facilities, networks and software. She said that suppliers are a potential problem because though they can tell you they are not going to have any year 2000 problems, you are not going to know for sure that they have done everything right.
     She said they were working with the leading expert and tracker of the year 2000 issue. The Gartner Group. She explained this group has a rating system of zero (have not done anything) to five (compliant and externally verified). The city will reach at least level four in all areas, she said.
     Susan talked about her meeting with the key vendors for the city (Duke Energy, BellSouth) and how she knew they would not have year 2000 problems. She tied this back to a need not to panic. She said there would be inconveniences and small interruptions, but we need to help keep people from panicking. She said we should be prepared for small businesses to have the most year 2000 problems and suggested a number of steps for us to take. We should carry a list of prescriptions our family members take in case records are not available. We should keep the last two months of major financial statements and list major surgical procedures performed on members of our families in the last two years. She also added it would be prudent to stock away a week's worth of groceries.
     She said the city would be ready. She finished by taking questions.

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New Member

WARREN  M.  LUDLAM

Travel Agencies, Cruises

Cruise Holidays of Charlotte
McMullen Creek Market
8316 Pineville Matthews Rd.,
Ste. 801 (28226)
540-9000
FAX 540-9009

     Warren M. Ludlam is president and owner of Cruise Holidays of Charlotte, the regional office for the Western Carolinas. With over 230 locations globally, Cruise Holidays is the oldest and largest company in the world specializing exclusively in cruise vacation and business travel for individuals, groups and corporations. It is renowned as a leader in the cruise industry for its very high level of customer service and expertise. The office is located on the courtyard in McMullen Creek Market retail/office center on Pineville-Matthews Road.

     Warren's hobbies are fly fishing, salt water fishing, snow skiing, and, as a first-time dad of a little one, searching (he world for a cure for sleep deprivation.

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June 29 Passing the Gavel

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DID YOU KNOW?

     By now you should have received the 1999-2000 Committee Assignments. Be sure to note your assignments for next year. Your Committee Chair should be contacting you soon.

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Click here for photos of this Meeting

Powell Majors

POWELL'S

OBSERVATIONS

     Pam Syfert, in Washington, D.C., for a meeting of the League of Cities, spent time checking out Nordstrom's on Tyson's Corner. She found Nordstrom's vaunted customer service no better than Belk's. Nordstrom will open a store in SouthPark.
     Freda Nicholson has a Blue Ribbon Committee to study proposals for an aquarium which she would like to see built uptown between 1-77 and 1-277.
     Don Steger and Mike Elder are the Board Chair and Executive Director, respectively, of Goodwill Industries of the Southern Piedmont. 1998 revenue was in excess of 11 million dollars and not a cent was spent for fundraising.
     Katie Tyler helped the Raptor Center by purchasing patriotic earrings and a pin, designed by Ann Hand, at a recent fund raiser. She joins Hillary Clinton, Barbara Bush, Donna Shalala and Madeline Albright as owners of these unusual accessories.
     Rex Welton serves as a director of Habit for Humanity of Charlotte.
     Don Haack is now president of the Better Business Bureau. Jerry Grohowski is the operating officer.

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