Representatives of the national capital's security and emergency response agencies met Thursday to begin planning for next January's presidential inauguration. The meeting was chaired by Darrell L. Darnell, director of the District of Columbia's Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency .

Darnell is responsible for coordinating over a dozen local and federal agencies who have roles in the Jan. 2009 festivities, from protecting dignitaries to planning and responding to a terrorist attack to regulating food vendors and issuing special inaugural license plates.  

Once the presidential review stand is erected, the last item on the pre-inaugural checklist of 70 tasks is the responsibility of the D.C. Water and Sewer Authority: "Check and secure manholes on parade route."

"We will be ready to the best of our ability," Darnell said in an interview.