Training Spotlight: Meeting Mindfulness I and Business Writing Essentials
Meeting Mindfulness I, May 15: This workshop is a day of immersion into mindfulness, stress reduction, body awareness, and inner care. Mindfulness helps us meet challenges with more resilience, and to embrace the joys of life with more appreciation and awareness. Register and learn more.
Business Writing Essentials, June 5: Learn practical tips for producing professional-looking business documents, the importance of writing for a specific audience, and how to make the purpose and call to action clear. Review writing strategies for routine, persuasive, negative news, and personal messages. Includes hands-on exercises that reinforce the 5 C’s of good business writing—being concrete, clear, concise, courteous, and correct. Register and learn more.
View more training and development opportunities at www.kingcounty.gov/learning.
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Tech Tip: Lock your mobile devices with a pin or passcode
How to access the training:
To start your Cyber Security Awareness Training please login at:
https://sso.securingthehuman.org/kingcounty/
Your account for Securing the Human:
- Username: King County email address
- Password: King County email password
For more information about Cyber Security please visit our Sharepoint site:
https://kc1.sharepoint.com/teams/ITISRC/ISRCPUB
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They’re not your usual beach combers
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
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Former Seattle Police Chief John Diaz to oversee detention at King County
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 of the department, including management of 1,900 employees and a $250 million dollar budget.
Read more in the official press release.
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Learn how to boost your retirement savings
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.
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Pet of the Week: Bella
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.
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Get to know the new Office of Emergency Management Director
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 leadership included BioWatch, medical materiel management (such as the State Stockpile, Chempack, and the Strategic National Stockpile), Health Command Center, emergency and continuity planning, training and exercises, situational awareness and resource management, regional emergency coordinators and healthcare coalitions, infrastructure protection, and intelligence.
Brendan already is familiar with King County OEM, as he was the on-site assessment team leader for the Emergency Management Accreditation Program (EMAP), which OEM achieved in 2017. His positive impression of the OEM program and staff is what led him to apply for the position.
Brendan is looking forward to being part of a team that promotes quality, flexibility, and innovation. He will be key to our efforts to further enhance standard work at OEM, approach emergency management with an equity lens, and prepare us for EMAP reaccreditation in 2022.
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Celebrating Administrative Professionals Recognition Day
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.
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A new easy way to protect against phishing, to be implemented May 1
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 you identify emails coming from outside email addresses.
When any email is delivered from an outside email address, the following will be added:
- In the “Subject’ line, the word “EXTERNAL” will be added.
- A warning message will be added to the body of the email message.
This warning message will let you know the email came from outside the county and has the potential to be a phishing scam.
Some cybersecurity tips
- If you receive an email from what appears to be another King County employee, but the external warning message has been added to the email, this is a potential phishing scam.
- If you receive an email from an external email address, do not click any links or open attachments unless you know the content is safe.
- If you’re not certain if the links or attachments are safe and the email came from someone you normally get emails from, call the sender and verify they actually sent you the email.
- Do not reply to the email to ask them if they actually sent the email. You could be communicating with a phishing fraud scammer.
- If you don’t know who sent an email, delete it.
This new process will be implemented May 1. For questions or concerns visit the KCIT Support Site at https://helpdesk.kingcounty.gov.
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Featured Job: Clean Water Ambassadors-High School Intern
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, and the careers that contribute to improving water quality and protecting the environment. The hope is for interns to pass on the knowledge they gain to members of their school and community.
Learn more about this position or view all available positions.
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