Share your ideas for future King County services
KCIT needs your to help shape the services you receive from King County.
Please take a few minutes to complete a brief questionnaire about how you would like to use technology to interact with King County. The questionnaire is also available in Chinese, Korean, Somali, Spanish and Vietnamese.
We want to hear your ideas as KCIT develops the King County Strategic Information Technology Plan for 2020-2023.
As the regional government for 2.2 million people, King County wants to better leverage technological advances to provide our employees, residents and customers with the services they want in the way it works for them.
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PeopleSoft weekend outage beginning 6 p.m. Friday, July 12
To allow for system maintenance, the PeopleSoft system will not be available the weekend of July 12 through July 14.
During this planned outage, the Business Resource Center (BRC) will apply updates and maintenance.
This work will begin on Friday, July 12, at 6 p.m. and is scheduled to be completed by 6:30 a.m. on Monday, July 15.
Please ensure that you have entered your time into PeopleSoft before 6 p.m., Friday, July 12, where appropriate.
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 users. We appreciate your understanding and support.
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Be prepared for an earthquake
This morning’s magnitude 4.6 earthquake near Monroe, Wash., is a good reminder that we need to be prepared for an earthquake in our region. Our goal is to ensure the safety of our employees and continue to provide as many County services as possible in an emergency. Here are some general tips on earthquake preparedness at home and at work:
Before an earthquake
- Predetermine safe places in your home where you could DROP, COVER, and HOLD, during an earthquake. This could include under a sturdy desk or table.
- At work, make sure under your desk is free of clutter, so if an earthquake happens, you have room to DROP, COVER, and HOLD.
- Make sure all your bookshelves, dressers, and other tall pieces of furniture are attached to a wall stud.
- NEVER store heavy items on top of bookshelves or storage shelves. Store the heaviest items on the bottom.
- Know how your family will communicate and where you will meet if separated
- Build an emergency kit with basic supplies and don’t forget supplies for your pets. Find checklists and tips at makeitthrough.org.
- Make sure your furnace and water heater are attached to the wall.
During an earthquake
- Keep calm. Do not run or panic.
- DROP low, COVER your head, and HOLD. Remain where you are. If indoors, take shelter under your desk, table, doorway, or stairwell. Stay away from windows, outside doors or other potential trouble spots.
- Wait until the shaking stops. If your building is safe to stay in – STAY. If you have to exit, always take the stairs.
- If outdoors, do not attempt to enter any buildings until authorities say they are safe. Stay away from overhead electric wires, power poles, or other potential hazards.
- If you are in a vehicle, slow down and drive to a clear space away from overpasses, power lines, buildings, and trees. Stay in your vehicle.
- If you are trapped in an elevator, keep calm and do not panic. Emergency help has likely been notified. The structure of the elevator will be checked before the elevator is turned back on.
- Listen to your weather radio or keep a local TV/radio station on for information and emergency instructions.
After an earthquake
- Authorities will provide instructions and status as soon as possible. When deemed safe, an “all clear” will be given.
- Use extreme caution entering buildings or work areas.
- Be prepared for aftershocks. Usually these are weaker than the main quake, but they may cause great damage because of structures, poles, or trees weakened by the main quake.
- Do not use open flame or sparking devices until advised that there are no gas leaks.
- Stay away from fallen or damaged electrical wires.
- Avoid making phone calls, except to report a 9-1-1 emergency. To contact family, try text messaging first.
- Do not use elevators during or immediately after an earthquake.
At work
- Talk to your supervisor about your role in an emergency and know how to contact your supervisor.
- If adjusting a work schedule, working at an alternative location, teleworking, or taking vacation are options for your job, please discuss beforehand with your supervisor. Visit our telework website and familiarize yourself with AnyConnect, our VPN tool.
- Learn about leave and pay policies in HR Bulletin 2011-0009 County Operations During Emergency Situations and Inclement Weather.
- Update your home phone number, cell phone number, and personal email addresses in PeopleSoft.
Stay informed
- KC Inform – King County’s employee emergency notification system. Make sure you can be reached in a major emergency, at home or at work. If you haven’t yet registered your personal contact or work cell information in KCInform, please contact kcinform@kingcounty.gov anytime or 206-296-3830 between 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Monday – Friday to request your unique registration link. Watch this short video to learn more or visit our website.
- ALERT King County – our region’s public information and notification system. This public opt-in system is used to quickly and broadly communicate important information regarding emergency situations, threats to public health and safety, and impacts to critical infrastructure. Use it to register your physical home and work addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers so you can receive geo-targeted text and voice alerts wherever you are. Register here.
Other resources
- Call the Employee Hotline—206-205-8600 (save it to your phone now!).
- Check your King County email. Log on at outlook.kingcounty.gov.
- Contact your supervisor for instructions.
- Follow King County on Twitter—@KingCountyWA, @kcmetrobus, @kcroads, and @kcemployees
Visit the Emergency News page at kcemergency.com for regional impacts.
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Heartfelt congrats to 2019 Bridge Fellowship graduates
This year, 27 employees King County employees graduated from the Bridge Fellowship at a ceremony in downtown Seattle. The Bridge Fellowship is a 20-week, intensive professional development program that provides opportunities for employee development and advancement.
Watch this short video that celebrates this year’s graduates. For more information about the graduation, read this recent article. Learn about the Bridge Fellowship at www.kingcounty.gov/Bridge.
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Exec meets with employees on visit to Steve Cox Memorial Park
This spring and summer, King County Executive Dow Constantine is traveling 100 miles in 100 days through King County Parks, meeting many of the dedicated employees, partners, and volunteers who contribute to the region’s spectacular parks and trails.
He recently visited Steve Cox Memorial Park, a popular athletic complex located in White Center, named in honor of Sheriff Deputy Steve Cox, who was killed in the line of duty in 2006.
“Parks Coordinator Darlene Sellers led me on a tour of the historic gymnasium built in the 1930s where we offer the White Center Teen Program, providing a safe, welcoming space for young people to connect,” Executive Constantine said after the tour. “I met Coach Tony Rago, who leads the PAL Boxing Club. I also toured the new multipurpose field that we built with funds generated by the King County Parks Levy so it can be used for soccer, lacrosse, and baseball.”
Watch the video below.
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Free admission: King County Employee Day at the races Sunday, July 21
King County employees and one guest will receive free admission to Emerald Downs Racetrack Sunday, July 21 for the King County Express Stakes, which includes the Fiesta Premio Esmeralda.
Employees must show their King County ID at any of the 12 gates, which will provide the employee and one guest tickets that include free admission, official program and tip sheet, and chips and soda. Children 17 and under get in free.
In addition to this year’s King County Express Stakes, there will be the Mt. Rainier Stakes – the final prep race for the richest race of the season, The Longacres Mile.
Schedule:
- 12:30 p.m. Newcomers Center open
- 1 p.m. First race
- 6:30 p.m. Approximate conclusion
Parking: Free general parking with shuttle service to the building | Valet $15 | Preferred Parking $10
Seating: There are plenty of seats, umbrella tables and benches available on a first-come, first-served basis
- Grandstand seats $2.50
- Box seats (with cocktail and limited menu service) $40 for a 4-seat box; and $60 for a 6-seat box
- Restaurant reservations (full service restaurant with your table reserved for you through the race day)
- Paid seating options. Please call customer service at 253-288-7711
Fiesta Premio Esmeralda
One of our largest attended days, this year’s 13th annual Fiesta Premio Esmeralda includes dancing horse demonstrations (first show is before the first race on the track in front of the grandstand), Hispanic dancers, and Mariachi Band. Food and product vendors are in the Paddock Park along with fun activities for the kids. Learn more about the Fiesta Premio Esmeralda on their Facebook page.
For more information, visit the Emerald Downs site.
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From Standing Rock to Public Defense, Natasha brings a spirit of social activism to her work
By Leslie Brown, Department of Public Defense
In 2016, five months after graduating from Pepperdine University, Natasha Frazier headed from her home near Washington D.C. to the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota to support the growing resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline.
She pitched her one-person tent on the reservation, assuming she’d melt into the ranks of the swelling movement. But she quickly found herself drawn to the work of several volunteer defense lawyers and eventually joined the legal defense team in Mandan, North Dakota, a 40-minute drive from Standing Rock.
Natasha spent 15 months in Mandan, a small city on the Missouri River, where she lived within walking distance of the Morton County District Courthouse. The work – assisting attorneys representing the hundreds of protesters swept up in mass arrests – mattered deeply to her. Both her father and grandfather are from the Cheyenne River Reservation, which borders Standing Rock, and Natasha is an enrolled member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe. She felt moved to help defend indigenous people and their allies seeking to protect the traditional homelands of the Lakota Sioux.
Natasha also discovered that she excelled at defense work. And when she saw an announcement for a staff position at the King County Department of Public Defense, she decided to apply. Last year, Natasha moved from North Dakota to Seattle – her first time in the city – to begin her new job as an investigator in one of DPD’s four divisions.
“I went to North Dakota to camp and ended up with a career,” Natasha said, smiling.
The transition proved virtually seamless. According to Ryan Gray, her supervisor, “She has a much deeper understanding of the job than would be expected given her experience.”
As an investigator, Natasha works on both misdemeanor and felony cases, interviewing police officers, eyewitnesses, toxicologists, and more. In her first year alone, she interviewed more than 250 witnesses, locating them in homeless encampments, at motels, in jail, in homes, and in offices. She enjoys the work immensely, she said.
“With every case I work on I have the unique opportunity to examine a single event from the perspective of multiple people,” she said.
Because she interviews such a diverse array of people, she finds she has to think quickly on her feet, adjust her communication style as needed, and be both very focused but also open and friendly. “I love that every day is different,” she added.
Natasha has also taken on a leadership role at the county. Last summer, she became a member of the King County Native American Leadership Council, a forum for First Nations and indigenous people and their allies to build community, leadership, and cultural preservation.
“It’s been a great way to continue doing advocacy work,” she said.
Natasha was born in Anchorage, Alaska, and spent her childhood throughout the United States, in part due to her father’s work for Indian Health Service. After graduating from high school in Maryland, Natasha attended Pepperdine in Southern California on a Posse Scholarship, a full-tuition leadership and merit-based scholarship. The Posse Foundation recruits, trains, and funds young leaders to succeed in college, supporting them as they become social change agents on their college campuses and beyond. (President Obama donated a portion of his Nobel Peace Prize money in 2010 to the organization.)
After graduating from college with a degree in sociology, Natasha attended the 2016 White House Tribal Nations Conference as a youth delegate, where she and others discussed the historic nature of what was happening at Standing Rock. Natasha was horrified by the reports of violent arrests and confrontations coming out of Standing Rock. Two weeks later, she left D.C. for North Dakota.
It was a heady time. The hours were long. And as Natasha put it, “There was zero separation between my work life and personal life.”
Today, she said, she’s grateful to work in a large organization and to have a more balanced life. “But I’m glad for having had that experience in North Dakota,” she added. “It was intense and fast-paced, and it prepared me for the work I’m doing today, for the complexity and challenges of public defense.”
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Final opportunity! Applications open for Professional Development Scholarships
As a part of the Master Labor Agreement (MLA) and Investing In YOU, applications are now being accepted for Professional Development Scholarship Awards for training that occurs anytime between September 6, 2019 and December 31, 2019.
Scholarship awards are only available to King County employees who are represented by a union in the Coalition of Unions and who meet additional eligibility requirements.
Scholarships are intended to support employees in growing their careers at King County. This could include enhancing your knowledge and skills for your current job field; obtaining a professional certification, license, or pursuing a degree that is related to paid work performed at King County; or preparing you for a career change in job fields performed at King County. Each quarter, $37,500 of the $150,000 total 2019 budget is allocated for scholarship awards. There is a maximum allotment of $2,500 per qualified employee in 2019 for approved training opportunities. If there are more qualified applicants than funds available, a lottery process will be used.
How to Apply: Eligible employees may apply online at the County’s job page at the posting titled, “MLA Professional Development Scholarships.”
The current application period closes July 26, 2019.
Please note that this is the final application process during the term of the one-year professional development fund pilot authorized by Article 12 of the Master Labor Agreement (MLA). The County will be evaluating the success of the pilot and a decision to continue the pilot will likely be negotiated in 2020 during bargaining for a successor MLA.
For more information go to Professional Development Scholarship Fund Program or email ScholarshipFund@kingcounty.gov.
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Training Spotlight: Basic First Aid/CPR/AED
Basic First Aid/CPR/AED, initial training, multiple dates: The “Medic First Aid” program provides basic first aid, CPR, and AED (automated external defibrillator) training, with no prerequisites. Employees will learn techniques to assist ill or injured individuals until professional caregivers arrive at the scene of an accident. An emphasis is placed on confidence building through hands-on learning in a low-stress environment. This certification is valid for 2 years. Register and learn more.
Additionally, First and CPR classes are available through Public Health.
View more training and development opportunities at www.kingcounty.gov/learning.
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The little things that keep King County moving
Did you know that FBOD’s Accounts Receivable (AR) is responsible for licensing all Metro Transit vehicles?
AR maintains titles and acquires license plates for all new Metro buses put into service. The team goes through a title process that includes notarization and payment to get these vehicles on the road.
Read more from DES Express
Employee News 