LOCAL OFFICIALS ANTICIPATE FEW Y2K-RELATED PROBLEMS.

Byline: Angela M. Lemire Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA - The city is at the ready.

When 1999 rolls over to the Year 2000 tonight, four emergency response coordinators will be on standby at City Hall. They will be prepared to call in field service workers to repair street lights, police to control crowds and traffic, HAM radio operators to set up emergency communications systems, accountants to track all those expenditures, and a hash of others to remedy emergency scenarios that could stem from technology adjustments to the four-digit date change and millennium hype.

But local officials closely working on Y2K preparedness will tell you it's all a precaution: Electrical grids, water lines and sewers are expected to be up and running come Jan. 1; Banks are reporting no incidents of mass savings withdrawals, nor do they predict economic collapse; and people aren't expected to storm grocery stores, as many families by now have stocked up on extra food and water.

``There's going to be a lot of people on call at a moment's motice, but we don't anticipate needing to do that,'' said Emergency Response Coordinator Donna Nuzzi. ``But an ounce of prevention, as everyone knows, is worth a pound of cure.''

City officials have reported they expect no breakdown of computers used in government services, and have generators at facilities such as City Hall and Field Services to continue operations in the event of power failures.

Los Angeles County Sanitation plant officials in Valencia and Saugus also are confident they will have no problems, because actual pumping systems are mechanical - not computer-reliant - and the plants have ample backup power to operate.

``We'll have a full staff (tonight), we have generators at each of our 11 plants, and all our chemicals are topped off,'' said Los Angeles County Sanitation spokesman Don Avila. ``Even if Edison shuts down, as long as we have our own power and chemicals, we're all set.''

``We're treating Y2K like any other emergency,'' Nuzzi said and likened the city Emergency Operations Center (EOC), to be set up tonight, to one used following the 1994 Northridge Earthquake. If fully activated, the EOC will have emergency phone and computer stations, televisions, charts, maps and portable communications equipment to orchestrate response teams.

But the major difference from an earthquake response center will be that local officials might receive some advanced warnings of problems.

In a statewide program called ``Follow the Sun,'' city, county and state officials will begin monitoring world events as the year changes to 2000 in other time zones. Beginning with New Zealand, local officials will be able to watch other communities experience the millennium change, and see whether it brings any worst-case scenarios, like power failures, looting, or terrorism.

A critical benchmark in the monitoring will be at 9 p.m. local time, when the first American timezone - which includes New York City - experiences the changeover.

If any problems occur there - even minor ones like traffic jams - officials here will be able to predict similar occurances, and begin planning and allocating resources three hours early, Nuzzi explained.

Officials say they foresee the most significant Y2K-related concern as the ``human factor,'' but even that seems mitigated by there being few major celebrations in Santa Clarita to draw large crowds.

``There's no one big event taking place, so we're hearing that a lot of people plan on staying home,'' said Nuzzi. ``Our own people, who we would have to call in, have told us they plan on staying home.''

And like any New Year's Eve, police have said their major concern is for drunk drivers. Moreover, they're worried that a motorist will hit a utility pole, knock out power in one neighborhood and trigger Y2K panic from residents who will assume the national power grid shut down.

Residents are encouraged to watch local and cable television access channels, listen to radio and refer to news media for accurate information.

Both Avila and Nuzzi agreed that California may be one of the best prepared states for Y2K, especially with the advantage of having a later time zone.

Even if Y2K brings none of those worst-case scenarios that some have envisioned, people may use their preparedness kits that stored up extra food, water, light and power sources, to prepare for more likely events, like mudslides, floods and earthquakes, they said.

``California's been way up on things, but that's because we're so used to natural disasters,'' Nuzzi said. ``We deal with these things all the time.''