Labor Day holiday is Monday, Sept. 4
Monday, Sept. 4 is Labor Day, which means that King County government offices will be closed. All offices will be back on schedule Tuesday, Sept. 5.
On Sept. 4, most Metro Transit buses will operate on Sunday schedules.
If you have questions about your holiday schedule, please speak to your supervisor. Have a safe and healthy holiday.
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Animal Services hosts free vet clinic
Crossposted from the DES Express
Washington Health Outreach and The Ellevet Project teamed up at Regional Animal Services of King County (RASKC) headquarters in Kent recently to provide free veterinary care for pet owners facing financial hardship.
“It went really well,” said Anna Ludwig, board pre
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Thunder Run uses KCIA as western hub for the first time
Crossposted from the DES Express
King County International Airport – Boeing Field (KCIA) supported Thunder Run, an emergency exercise managed by a consortium of volunteer pilots and other groups, for the first time last month. KCIA served as one of the hubs west of the Cascade Mountains for the drill, which involved folks from all over Washington and Oregon. Read more.
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Ernest Kandilige appointed permanent Metro Deputy General Manager
Crossposted from Metro Matters
Since the beginning of the year, Ernest Kandilige has been serving as Metro’s Interim Deputy General Manager. Starting today, I’m delighted to share that we will no longer need “Interim” in his title, as I have officially appointed Ernest as Metro’s Deputy General Manager.
As Deputy General Manager, Ernest is focused on supporting Metro operations in Vehicle Maintenance, Bus Operations, Transit Facilities, Safety and Security, Marine and Rail. I am confident in the leadership that Ernest brings and know how deeply he cares about the role Metro plays in improving the quality of life in King County. Ernest leads with equity at the forefront and is committed to helping Metro bring our Long Game to fruition. His focus on continuous improvement will help us deliver services that our riders care about and create a space where employees can feel supported to experiment and learn. Read more.
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New public website, www.KingCounty.gov, now live
King County has successfully transitioned our public website (kingcounty.gov) to a new platform! The new website provides a user-centered experience with information that is easier to find, navigate, and understand. The site features a modern design and simplified organization that reflects current best practices. Universal templates offer consistent experiences across departments and encourage “plain language” content written for 5th-8th grade reading levels. Thank you for your patience while we settle into this new and exciting online space! Here’s what you can expect:
- Be prepared for customer questions. Online visitors will see the new King County homepage; your department’s webpages may also look different. Customers may need help navigating to popular web content.
- If issues persist, try clicking “refresh” on your browser window, or clearing your browser history. If that doesn’t work, please contact your department’s Web Content Manager(s) for assistance.
- If you still had web content hosted on the old web platform, your pages have been copied to a short-term page repository (STPR). Pages look different in the STPR, but are publicly accessible and function as usual. Editing content in the STPR will be difficult until your department can rebuild pages in the new Sitecore 10 platform – whenever possible, your team should focus efforts on publishing pages to the new platform. Talk to your Web Content Manager to find out when your new pages will go live in Sitecore 10.
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Tips for clean air indoors on smoky days: A Public Health comic
Crossposted from Public Health Insider
When it’s smoky out, it’s important to do all you can to keep indoor air clean. Check out these tips from our crafter’s corner and don’t forget to visit www.kingcounty.gov/wildfiresmoke for more tips and resources. More information about protecting your health from wildfire smoke, including how to make a DIY box fan filter is at www.kingcounty.gov/wildfire smoke. View the entire comic here.
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Employees, others get an opportunity to test out “zippy” electric vehicles
Crossposted from the DES Express
Fleet Services recently hosted their first “Ride and Drive” event focused solely on light duty electric vehicles, the kind you might drive at work or home one day (or already!). The goal was to provide information and opportunities for King County employees and folks from other agencies to try out electric vehicles, enticing them to consider using them when more become available.
Attendees met first to hear presentations from electric auto makers.
“Ford, Volvo and Mack Trucks all focused on their vehicle electrification programs, what’s available and what we can expect in the next few years,” said Melody Bennett, Climate Change Program Manager in Fleet Services. Read more.
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Kelsey Urban gets a birds-eye view of the county’s potential risks
Crossposted from the DES Express
When your job is to help manage risk for King County, it’s critical to understand what those potential risks are. So, when an opportunity came to get a birds-eye view during a routine King County Sheriff’s Office (KCSO) helicopter flight, Kelsey Urban, the new Deputy Director of the Office of Risk Management Services, jumped at the chance. Brendan McCluskey, Director of Emergency Management, joined in to provide an emergency management perspective. Read more.
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Voters renew Veterans, Seniors and Human Services Levy—continuing nearly two decades of successes
King County voters approved the Veterans, Seniors and Human Services Levy for the fourth time, ensuring that veterans, seniors, and resilient communities can continue to access a broad range of programs and services in King County. Read more in the official press release.
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State retirement plan contributions change Sept. 1, 2023
Employer contribution rates for some of the following retirement plans will change on Sept. 1, 2023, as approved by the State Legislature. The state Pension Funding Council adjusts contribution rates, as needed, to fund the retirement benefits earned by members.
The PERS employer rate will change to 9.53% for all PERS plans.
You will see the new employer contribution amounts under employer-paid benefits on your paystub beginning Sept. 14, 2023.
More information is available on the Washington State Department of Retirement Systems (DRS) website. If you have any questions about the rate change, please contact DRS at 800-547-6657 or recep@drs.wa.gov.
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