An employee was assaulted at work earlier today, Thursday, July 29, on the second floor of the King County Courthouse. We are grateful for the actions of the King County Sheriff’s Office Marshalls who stopped the assault and apprehended the perpetrator.

This incident is a sad reminder that all employees should be aware of their surroundings and potential threats in and around their workspace. If you see anything or anyone that looks unusual or out of place, please call Facilities Management Division (FMD) Security at 206-296-5000. If it’s an emergency, call 9-1-1 first, then call FMD Security when you are able.

As a follow up to any assault, threatening behavior, or observation of this behavior, please remember to report it to the FMD Security Unit using the Online Security Incident Report form. You can report incidents that happen at work or on your commute. Notify your supervisor, manager, and/or director as soon as you can.

We have created a list of safety tips online and safety tip videos using information from SPD, designed to help you enhance your personal safety and avoid potential trouble:

Safety Tip #1 | Safety Tip #2 | Safety Tip #3 | Safety Tip #4 | Safety Tip #5

Remember that you can use the tunnel from the Goat Hill Garage to access the Chinook Building, Administration Building, and Courthouse, to avoid using surface streets. If you work after regular business hours and feel unsafe about walking to your vehicle or to other transportation, you may call the 24-hour Emergency Dispatch Center at 206-296-5000 and ask that a security guard accompany you.

Major wildfires are currently engulfing many parts of the western United States and Canada, including our own state, and it is very likely that we will soon experience wildfire smoke in our region.

Wildfire smoke can cause a range of health problems, including chest pain, coughing, fast heartbeat, headaches, and asthma attacks. Some people need to be outdoors for their work or other responsibilities, so now is the time to get prepared. If we experience unhealthy air conditions in King County, it is recommended that you limit your time outdoors. If you are concerned about doing field work in these conditions, please consider these tips and guidance:

• Talk to your supervisor about possible options to reduce the amount of time you spend outdoors by performing desk work or alternate work assignments on smoky days.
• Departments should evaluate planned field work to determine whether some work should be postponed, where possible, to a time when conditions have improved.
• The air quality level can change quickly, so check air quality conditions regularly and if possible, adjust your schedule to avoid travel and working outdoors during periods when air quality is the most impacted by smoke conditions (keep in mind air quality is typically the worst in the middle of the day during wildfire smoke).
• If you must work outdoors, limit time outdoors to a minimum and find a safe location to breathe filtered air while maintaining social distancing during breaks from outdoor work.
• Drink plenty of water.
• If you have medical conditions that could be worsened by wildfire smoke, consult with your medical provider and speak with your supervisor to work out the best options for your schedule on smoke days.
• You may be able to use accrued vacation or comp time when there is wildfire smoke instead of reporting to your designated work location. You may request leave, subject to approval by your supervisor. If you have no leave accrued, your supervisor may approve leave without pay to cover absences. Please refer to HR Bulletin 2011-0009 County Operations During Emergency Situations and Inclement Weather to learn more.

It is not known how much protection cloth face coverings or surgical masks provide from wildfire smoke. N95/N100 masks can provide protection to some people when worn properly but can also worsen conditions for people with existing respiratory conditions. N95 and KN95 masks are available through your agency’s Safety Officer where needed. Safety Officers may contact Fleet Stores for masks at fleetstores@kingcounty.gov.

If you are working indoors, Public Health has provided some guidance on How to Keep Indoor Air Clean on Smoky Days.

More information from Public Health – Seattle & King County about wildfire smoke and your health can be found here. Additional information from WA Department of Health and EPA on indoor air filtration during wildfire smoke can be found here and here.

Additional updates will be provided as conditions warrant.

There’s nothing like an old-fashioned Lunch and Learn session for comradery, sharing ideas and learning what your colleagues have been up to. Unless it comes during a pandemic where everyone is working from home and lunch is maybe a can of soup. Despite the lack of in-person interaction, the Water and Land Resources Division (WLRD) has made a success of their Lunch and Learn series on their equity and social justice programs.  

WLRD, affectionately referred to as “Willard” and a division of the Department and Natural Resources and Parks, launched this series in April to spotlight equity and social justice (ESJ) programs and projects within the division.

“The events provide an opportunity to share successful ESJ work and ideas for operationalizing ESJ while building change agent capacity and community to sustain the ESJ effort,” said Janet Credo, an ESJ lead in WLRD.

The ideas for improving ESJ standards within the agency range from the creative to the practical, such as the ESJ Hiring Best Practices Guide developed by the River and Floodplain Management Section to the 1% for ESJ pilot project in the Wastewater Treatment Division.    

One program that has had great success is the ESJ Engineer Training Internship Program. According to Claire Jonson, Senior Engineer in WLRD, who serves as the facilitator of these Lunch and Learns, they were able to fund long-term internships lasting up to two years. Although the pandemic temporarily paused the program in spring 2021, staff and interns were able to adapt in a work-from-home environment by May 2020.

“The program boasts a 100% success rate of all interns finding full-time employment in the field of engineering after graduation, including with King County. We consider that a huge success,” she said.

Besides the increased diverse recruitment focus, there are other ongoing programs and those in development geared toward education and information.

“We’re creating a network of ESJ change leaders across the agency,” Janet said. “And we plan to continue to provide these opportunities to showcase uplifiting, exciting and innovative ideas that will continue our mission of moving toward an equity- and socially-just organization.”  

We’re tops in tech! King County has been named the nation’s #1 Top Digital County by the Center for Digital Government and the National Association of Counties. The group surveys public IT departments around the country annually for effectiveness.

This year, technology played a vital role fighting the pandemic as a rapid digital transformation from King County Information Technology’s (KCIT) and IT leaders around the County helped keep people safer. “It was…one of the best examples in the survey of both recovery from and response to the pandemic,” said the Digital County judges.

“It’s about digital transformation and merging the physical and digital spaces,” said Tanya Hannah, Chief Information Officer for King County and Director of KCIT. “If COVID taught us anything, it’s that people want to connect with government wherever and whenever, using whatever technology they have available.”

Here’s a small sample of how King County leveraged technology to better serve the employees and the public:

• Better collaboration and productivity. The County moved from Skype to a more stable, collaborative communications platform, Teams. This has allowed onsite, mobile or teleworking employees increase collaboration and better productivity of teams using features like IM / chat, meeting and provides a one-stop” location for SharePoint, OneNote and Office tools. A whiteboard feature will soon be available!
• Improving employee experience. The Business Resource Center rolled out a more efficient travel and expense tool, Concur. This tool allows employees to electronically submit receipts, seek reimbursements and schedule travel. In addition, new capabilities were introduced such as the ability to use any mobile device to update personal information and benefit enrollment choices.
• Future of Work. KCIT developed a Future of Work site to support employees in whatever way they may be working, including fully remote, hybrid or in-person. Conference room technology updates, and County facilities updates support new ways of working, including hot-desking/hotel style reservations for employees working in a hybrid model.
• No-contact virtual services. King County residents can now access a number of online services such as Zoom for Telehealth; video conferencing for jury selection and witness testimony; and virtual plumbing permitting inspections.
• Paperless transactions. More than 92% of King County’s paper permits moved online.
• Senior Tax Exemption. Seniors, veterans or disabled homeowners can check if they’re eligible for property tax breaks easily online, which improves tax equity.

Congratulations to KCIT and fellow King County employees whose hard work and innovation are reflected in this award!

The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention recommends youth engage in 60 minutes of physical activity a day, yet in King County, only 19% of youth meet these recommendations. Many barriers such as rising costs, limited transportation options, along with policies and practices result in inequities of access to physical activity disproportionately impacting youth of color, youth living in poverty, and immigrant and refugee youth. King County Parks’ Youth Sports Grants aim to invest in programs and capital projects that will reduce barriers youth face to participating in physical activity.

These Youth Sports Grants have supported programs as diverse as All Girl Everything Ultimate Program (AGE UP), which partners with schools in south Seattle to provide no cost ultimate frisbee to youth of color, Cham Refugee Community providing sports and recreation opportunities to youth of Cham and East African descent, and Baseball Beyond Borders, which mentors and develops young black athlete leaders by instilling baseball fundamentals.

King County employee volunteers make it possible

The process of evaluating applications to inform how the County invests public funding is made stronger through the participation of many County employees who volunteer their time to review applications by serving as evaluators. 

“We really appreciate the expertise and lived experiences they bring to the process to inform how King County Parks invests in the community,” said Sarah Margeson, Program Manager. “Their input is vital to supporting more equitable access to sports and recreation for youth furthest from play equity.”

It is a program priority to recruit evaluators who represent communities most impacted by inequities. The Youth Sports Grants team is grateful for all the employees across the Departments of Community & Human Services, Public Health, Metro, Adult & Juvenile Detention, and Natural Resources & Parks who give their time to review applications.

Below are the King County employee volunteers who have participated in the grant review process.

With the end of mandatory telework for Executive Branch employees on July 5, King County departments have begun to implement their Future of Work plans for how they will operate and serve customers in a post-pandemic environment.

For some employees, this means moving to a new location or a new model for delivering services. Some will accomplish their work primarily in person, others primarily remotely, or they make work a hybrid of both.

To help you during this transition, King County has built a centralized Future of Work intranet site (employee access only) to provide resources, tools, news, and answers to your questions.

The site is divided into five subsites, each with a range of resources for you:

• What to expect returning to in-person work
• Technology and workstations
• Moves and space consolidation
• Health and safety expectations at work
• Personal safety at work.

This site will be regularly updated with new information and resources, so please bookmark the site, and check back often for updates and answers to your questions.