Crossposted from Clean Water Stories  This Earth Day, a determined group of engineers, scientists, lab technicians, technical trainers, managers and more stormed the shore in Discovery Park picking up litter and debris.  The staff at West Point Wastewater Treatment Plant take their stewardship of the park around the treatment facility seriously, and can often be seen toting trash off the beach and trails.  Read more from Clean Water Stories  

Bringing in a leader with strong management skills, a background in law enforcement and community policing, and more than three decades of public service, Executive Constantine named John Diaz as interim director of the Department of Adult and Juvenile Detention.  Diaz was Seattle police chief from 2010-2013. He began his career at the Seattle Police Department as a patrol officer in 1980 and held many leadership positions before being named Chief of Police.  Diaz was Deputy Chief of Administration, then Deputy Chief of Operations, for nearly ten years, where he oversaw administration… Read More

You and your spouse or significant other are invited to learn more about saving for retirement with the King County Deferred Compensation Plan.   Several in-person sessions are coming up April 30, May 1, and May 2. See details and registration. Other education sessions are offered throughout the year.   For more information about Deferred Compensation Plan education—including webinars—go to the Deferred Compensation web page.   If you have any questions, please contact KC Deferred Comp. 

Bella is a 1 year-old, female, Pit Bull mix (A575315). Her personality color is GREEN, meaning she is an adaptable dog who loves to go with the flow! Bella has lived in a foster home with another large dog and children and she got along well with them.  Read more.

The King County Office of Emergency Management (OEM) welcomes their new director, Brendan McCluskey. Brendan comes to King County from the State of New Jersey, where he was the director of emergency management for their state health department. Brendan has more than two decades of experience in government, emergency management, homeland security, and public health. Before joining New Jersey state government, Brendan was the deputy emergency management director for the state of Maryland, and led the emergency management program for the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. Programs under Brendan’s… Read More

King County Executive Dow Constantine and the King County Council both proclaimed today, Wednesday, April 24, 2019, as Administrative Professionals Day in King County. Administrative Professionals Day is observed annually on the fourth Wednesday in April to recognize the many contributions of administrative professional employees.  “I encourage all residents to join me in thanking administrative professional employees for their work and in expressing gratitude for their many contributions to our government,” Executive Constantine said in his Proclamation. View the Executive Proclamation here, and the Council proclamation here, or view them below.

Phishing is hitting us hard at King County. A common phishing tactic used by the bad guys is sending emails in which the display name in the “From” field looks like it’s been sent by someone within King County. But that email address is fake and actually from someone trying to phish you. Unfortunately, we don’t always notice when such an email is a phishing attempt. That makes us vulnerable to viruses and other problem. To help you identify these phishing scams, KCIT is adopting a new security feature to easily let… Read More

Salary: $16.46 Hourly  Location: Seattle, WA  Job Type: Intern  Department: DNRP – Natural Resources & Parks  Job Number: 2019SN09628  Closing: 5/15/2019 11:59 PM Pacific  The Wastewater Treatment Division (WTD) education and outreach team is partnering with the Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust to provide a high school summer internship program.  We are seeking 12 interns interested in learning how government agencies, nonprofit organizations and local communities influence the health of the waterways in the Puget Sound region.  Interns will gain a deep understanding of the role we all play in this issue,… Read More

Introduction to Public Speaking, May 16: Would you like to reduce stage fight and gain more confidence in speaking in front of a group? Whether you need to give a formal presentation or an informal presentation at a staff meeting, learning key skills will increase your effectiveness and self confidence. In this course you will learn strategies to deal with nervousness, plan and deliver an effective presentation, and practice presentation techniques to capture audience attention. This course offers a supportive enviornment in which you will practice and recieve feedback and from the instructor and fellow participants. Register and… Read More

Bring your Intersectional Selves and join your colleagues Sunday, June 30, as we march in celebration and support of Seattle’s LGBTIQQA community! All are welcome; feel free to bring your friends and family! Can’t make it to the parade? You can still order a t-shirt to show your support for the community (details to come).  Please email Mariah Taylor at mariah.taylor@kingcounty.gov with “Pride 2019” in the subject line.  To remain informed: Get on the distribution list to stay up to date on Pride related activities including important dates, t-shirt sales, and Parade details. Mariah… Read More

Crossposted from Tails from RASKC  The sun is out for Annie, our Pet of the Week!  This young Chinese Shar-pei/Pit Bull mix was a little shy when she first arrived, but her caregivers were patient and took time to get to know her. Once she realized how much they cared for her, Annie opened right up! She also has velvety soft fur that everyone loves to snuggle!  Read more https://tailsfromraskc.com/2019/04/12/pet-of-the-week-annie/ 

Dear fellow King County employee, Yesterday I delivered my 2019 State of the County address at the Preston Community Center in East King County around the theme of our “True North”: Making King County a welcoming community where every person can thrive. These words sum up all that we’ve been working toward in the almost 10 years that I have served as your County Executive, and what we will continue to focus our efforts on in 2019 and beyond. In my address, I announced a new Public Health model for maternity and… Read More

Joined by community members at El Centro de la Raza, King County Executive Dow Constantine, Seattle Mayor Jenny A. Durkan, and Seattle Foundation President and CEO Tony Mestres created the first-ever Regional Census Fund to provide $1 million in funding to help community organizations prepare for the 2020 Census, which will be conducted April 1, 2020. The Regional Census Fund is a $1 million pooled fund that will allocate money to Seattle and King County-based community organizations to help fund outreach and other activities for the United States 2020 Census. Read more in the… Read More

Crossposted from King County Local  One of our goals at King County Local Services is to help our unincorporated communities thrive. This week, we took a big step in that direction as Hugo Garcia, our first Economic Development Program Manager, joined our team.  Hugo brings nearly 15 years of economic development experience, serving both rural and urban communities. He’s worked directly with small businesses during prosperous and tough economic times, and understands the dedication required to run a local business. Born in Guadalajara, Mexico, he immigrated to Seattle with his family in… Read More

Employees attending the Department of Community and Human Services’ quarterly All Staff meeting on Monday, April 15, got a sneak preview of the Executive Branch True North statement and values from Chief People Officer Whitney Abrams before they are officially launched later this year.  Whitney talked about the interconnected nature and interdependence of our work, and the need to connect our work to a central vision, a True North, and the actions that will help us achieve the True North vision.  “Some of the things that we’ve been hearing back as a… Read More

King County’s Adult Drug Diversion Court (Drug Court) is a nationally recognized program implemented in 1994. The program supports our community by providing treatment and other ancillary services under the auspices of the Court to eligible defendants with the goal of rehabilitation and empowerment.  Drug Court has saved lives both figuratively and literally with Wednesday, April 3, being no exception. After taking two doses of methadone and recognizing a potential overdose, a participant knocked on Drug Court’s door seeking help.   This program traditionally helps save lives over the course of many months,… Read More

Salary: $19.14 – $24.25 Hourly  Location: Kent, WA  Job Type: Multiple job types-career service and/or temp  Department: DES – Executive Services  Job Number: 2019JI09726  Closing: 4/29/2019 11:59 PM Pacific  Are you someone who takes great interest in the health and wellbeing of animals and can also work considerately and effectively with their human owners? Are you interested in being a leader in service excellence, committed to building an enduring legacy of continuous improvement and employee engagement? Are you a team player? Regional Animal Services of King County (RASKC) is seeking dynamic and experienced… Read More

King County employees are welcome to take advantage of an available discount for upcoming Seattle Symphony performance on Saturday, June 16 at 2 p.m.  This performance, featuring conductor Steve Hackman and titled Harder, Better, Faster, Stravinsky, weaves together pop-classical matches like Brahms’ Academic Festival Overture  with Lady Gaga’s “Born this Way,” and Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony with Muse’s “Uprising” and Chance the Rapper’s “Paranoia,” creating a compelling musical landscape that is both strikingly modern and enchantingly classical. Three vocalists join the full orchestra for this special presentation.  Buy tickets using promo code CONDUCTOR19. Purchase tickets here. 

Team Building For Success, May 23: Want to showcase your strengths and make a positive impact in your organization? Your ability to participate, collaborate and resolve issues will set you apart as a “go-to” person in any organization. In this interactive course, learn skills to develop group understanding, evaluate team roles, develop methods for resolving underlying conflict within a team, and use these skills to collaborate with team members to achieve workplace objectives. Register and learn more.   Introduction to Career Development, June 11: In this workshop you will learn the key elements of career… Read More

During the months of April and May, KCIT will be implementing a new mobile device management solution, Microsoft Intune.  This new solution will provide an improved experience when accessing King County digital resources like email, calendar and contacts from a mobile device. Intune supports current iOS and Android mobile devices and will enforce security policies improvements such a change to 6 digit passcodes. In fact, you can prepare for Intune now by changing to a 6-digit pin code today; devices’ built in fingerprint reader and facial recognition are also acceptable passcodes on… Read More

King County will celebrate the many contributions of our Administrative Professional employees at the 4th Annual Administrative Professionals Recognition event on Wednesday, April 24, from 11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m., in room E-942 of the King County Courthouse.  This year’s event will focus on our “Gratitude” for the contributions of all Administrative Professionals. There will be guest speakers, and light refreshments will be provided. Space is limited so please register for the event, and arrive early so as to allow extra time for security screening.  Questions? Email administrativeprofessionals@kingcounty.gov. 

To allow for system maintenance, the PeopleSoft system will not be available this weekend beginning 3 p.m. Friday, April 12. During this planned outage, the Business Resource Center (BRC) will apply vendor updates and maintenance.  This work will begin on Friday, April 12, at 3 p.m. and is scheduled to be completed by 6:30 a.m. on Monday, April 15. The system will not be available for access by any County staff during this outage window. There will be a communication sent out to all County staff when the system becomes available.  We realize that this outage impacts PeopleSoft… Read More

Crossposted from Bytes and Boxes On March 23, the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel (DSTT) converted to Link light rail trains only, and bus service was moved to surface streets. At the Archives, we’re reminiscing over these photographs of its construction, showing a glimpse of 1980s Seattle and the people who built the tunnel. The photos below come from Series 1844: Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel project files and Series 1147: Office of Information Resource Management Printing and Graphic Arts photographs. Ask an archivist if you have any questions about any of these photographs or the other transit-related records held… Read More

King County employees are saving time and money while reducing traffic congestion and carbon emissions by making the most of their Employee Transportation Program benefits.   In January 2019 alone, almost 7,300 employees used public transit at least once, saving money on gas, parking costs, and wear-and-tear on their personal vehicles. Last year King County employees took more than 2.2 million transit trips across 12 transit services, saving $3.5 million in fares.    “Over time, the Employee Transportation Program has been adding more services so County employees have even more choices to commute to work,… Read More