City Will Plan for El Nino, Millennium

The City Council, anticipating the best and the worst, is calling for two task forces to prepare for millennium celebrations and for the possible wrath of El Nino weather this winter.

The millennium party committee should involve groups from the city’s businesses, schools, churches and “the whole gamut” of potential celebrators, said Councilman Mike Spurgeon, who proposed the idea.

“The way time moves in this day and age, the year 2000 is coming very soon,” he said, adding that planning for the city’s centennial in 1988 started two years before the big event.

His fellow council members agreed and asked the city manager to come back in two or three months with specific recommendations and guidelines for the committee.

The council also agreed that Public Works and other departments should report back in 30 days on how the city’s resources would fare if weather this winter becomes as violent as predicted.