Pet of the Week: Roomba
Shared from King County Adoptable Animals
Roomba is a 1 year-old, female, black Pit Bull / Labrador mix (#A558570). Her personality color is RED, meaning she is a spirited dog with a fun-loving personality! She’s cautious in new situations, but once you gain her trust she will show you what a spunky and fun dog she can be! This sweet girl is hoping to find an understanding family who can work with her on her confidence building, and will probably do best in a home without young children. Once she warms up, Roomba is full of energy and loves to play. She will do best with lots of exercise and something to keep her mind busy. She is also a very smart dog and already knows several commands. Roomba seems to do well with other large, energetic dogs, and would do best with a slow introduction when meeting any other dogs in her new home. Roomba is spayed, current on vaccinations, and microchipped. Her $100 adoption fee also includes a certificate for a free veterinary exam and an opt-in 30 days of free pet insurance through Trupanion. See more of Roomba on Instagram!
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Superior Court CASA Program needs volunteers
Open House Sept. 5.
If you are looking for a volunteer opportunity that will have an impact on a child’s life, the King County Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) Program is calling your name.
CASA volunteers are the independent voice that judges and others depend on to represent the best interest of children under 12. Currently, we have more than 600 children who need someone to speak for them in court.
“I have been a CASA for 11-plus years; it is the most meaningful, life-changing, soul-nurturing work I have ever done,” said Biz Alpaugh, a current CASA volunteer.
For more information call the CASA Program at 206-477-4245, visit the website or attend an Open House on Sept. 5, Oct. 3 or Nov. 7 at 1401 E. Jefferson, Suite 500 from 10 a.m. to noon.
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King County Water Taxi extended sailings for tonight’s Seahawks game
The King County Water Taxi offers additional nights of extended evening service on its West Seattle route for Mariners, Sounders and Seahawks home games during their spring and summer schedule. Aside from normal extended service on Friday and Saturday nights, there will be extended evening sailings today, Aug. 30, for the Seahawks preseason game.
Learn more at www.kingcountywatertaxi.gov, and view the extended evening sailings schedule here.
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Training Spotlight: Introduction to Organizational Performance Management
Have you ever struggled to create measures for your program? Do you ever find yourself getting lost in the sea of measurement jargon? Do you ever wonder why we even measure organizational performance?
If you find yourself answering “yes” to any of these questions and have a desire to improve your skills and knowledge of organizational performance measurement, this course is for you!
This training is being offered Tuesday, Sept. 11, 8:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. in room 560 of the Administration Building. Learn more and register on Eventbrite.
There is also space available in the Sept. 12 Stories that Engage training featured last week in our Training Spotlight.
Learn more and register on Eventbrite before these sessions fills up, and visit Learning and Development on KingCounty.gov to learn more about trainings and other opportunities to invest in YOU!
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And the winner is… King County Elections!
Crossposted from Election Connection
Election Center’s Democracy Award
The Election Center has announced that King County Elections won its Democracy Award for the department’s 2017 media campaign, “Why Vote.” The campaign featured two powerful videos, the “Multiplier Effect,” an animated spot designed to illustrate the importance of voting, and “The Struggle,” a more somber depiction of the hard fought battle for voting rights in this country. They aired on a variety of digital platforms.
“We wanted to send the message that your vote matters and you shouldn’t take it for granted,” said Director of Elections, Julie Wise. “And with all the noise out there right now, we knew we needed to do something fresh and even a little provocative.”
King County Elections partnered with Seattle-based public affairs agency Mammoth on the campaign, which ran on network and cable TV, YouTube, connected TV, and social media platforms. It also aired in movie theatres across the region.
King County Elections Operations Manager Janice Case and Director Julie Wise (second and third from left, respectively) stand with all the award winners from this year’s conference.
The Election Center is the preeminent organization for training and certification of election and voter registration administrators. Awards were announced at the annual conference in New Orleans, which included hundreds of election officials from across the country.
Pictured: From left, King County Elections Operations Manager Janice Case and Director Julie Wise receiving the award from an Election Center presenter.
Pictured: From left, King County Elections Director Julie Wise and Operations Manager Janice Case.
Read more in the official press release.
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City Hall Park line up
Today from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., the Paparepas food truck will be out at City Hall Park next to the Courthouse Building serving Venezuelan arepas, empanadas, and its famous quesillo dessert and tequeños.
Tomorrow, Bread and Circuses will be at the park serving gastropub burgers and sandwiches. Friday, check out Don Lucho’s as they serve traditional Peruvian dishes as sandwiches.
The trucks will be in City Hall Park from 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. between 3rd and 4th Avenues, just south of the Courthouse Building. You can see the upcoming food truck schedule here.
Today and every day, Monday through Friday, a park concierge will be on-site from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. There’ll be giant chess, cornhole and other games, bistro furniture and Adirondack chairs, and buskers from noon to 4 p.m.
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Executive meets with employees working in science at latest Listening Session
King County has hundreds of employees working in the sciences on some of our region’s biggest challenges, from protecting fish habitat to helping people manage and overcome diseases, to keeping waterways clean, and King County Executive Dow Constantine recently met with six of them to learn more about their work and experiences.
At his August 6 Employee Listening Session, Executive Constantine had a wide-ranging conversation with Lara Whitely Binder, Climate Preparedness Specialist from the Department of Natural Resources and Parks (DNRP); Ecotoxicologist Carly Greyell and Water Quality Planner Josh Kubo from Water and Land Resources Division; Environmental Scientist Nina Wester and Process Control Supervisor Rick Butler from Wastewater Treatment Division; and Meaghan Munn, an Epidemiologist with Public Health – Seattle & King County.
Photo left to right: Josh Kubo, Lara Whitely Binder, Rick Butler, Executive Constantine, Carly Greyell, Meaghan Munn, Nina Wester.
“I’ve been hosting these listening sessions for a while now with different groups of employees from different areas and fields with different perspectives, and they’re always really interesting and informative,” Executive Constantine said. “This one is especially timely for me right now when we look at some of the challenges facing our environment locally, whether it’s the health of orcas or salmon, the impacts of pollution on our waterways, or the greater intensity and frequency of weather events.”
Munn, who works on King County’s Hepatitis C Test and Cure Program funded by a grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), talked about her work to help people infected with the hepatitis C virus (HCV).
“The new HCV drugs are 95 percent effective and can actually cure Hepatitis C, which is a pretty major breakthrough,” Munn said. “Our project is to get people connected to care and get them treated.”
Greyell, who works in the Toxicology and Contamination Assessment Group, spoke about some of the challenges in tackling polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, that enter local waterways.
“I focus a lot on PCBs because that’s the contaminant that is big in the Duwamish and it’s really important for the orcas as well, as they’re endocrine disrupters,” she said. “We do a lot of monitoring to see which tributaries we might be getting the most PCBs from, and it’s definitely coming from the stormwater, it’s runoff from the land in certain areas. We do have a lot of information about that but it’s not in our jurisdiction; obviously they’re the places that are most developed and we do our work in unincorporated King County.”
Kubo, a Fish Biologist, talked about some of the difficulties facing Puget Sound’s salmon population.
“We’re producing a lot of fish out of the Puget Sound, a lot of hatchery fish and some decent wild fish,” he said. “However their survival from when they leave the Sound to when they come back is very, very low.”
He said that food web issues, contaminants, and a well-supported theory that the Upper Pacific is reaching carrying capacity for salmon are just some of the reasons for this struggle.
“Across all systems, from south Sound to north Sound, we’re having issues with making sure that the juveniles come back as adults, and hatchery fish are surviving quite a bit less than wild fish. So even if we were to produce a ton of hatchery fish, we might not get a lot of adults back.”
The group also talked about the current national environment around science, data and facts.
“Do you have any thoughts, stepping away from your day-to-day work, about the role of science in government and policy making, and the odd situation we find ourselves in having to defend the scientific method against political orthodoxy?” Executive Constantine asked the group.
“I feel lucky to be in a government context that supports science and the integration of science into natural resource management or any kind of resource management,” Kubo said. “At this level I feel that science is not only valued but there’s a continued push to produce good science because it will get utilized and it will get integrated. There’s almost a sigh of relief that you still get to do science.”
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Executive Constantine’s Proclamation recognizes 55th commemoration of The March on Washington
King County Executive Dow Constantine today issued a Proclamation marking the 55th Commemoration of the August 28, 1963 March on Washington DC for Jobs and Freedom.
“Whereas, more commonly known as “The March on Washington,” this event was held to draw attention to the continuing challenges and inequalities faced by African Americans a century after emancipation,” Executive Constantine wrote in the Proclamation. “I encourage all residents to join me in memorializing this historic milestone in America’s Civil Rights Movement.”
Read the full Proclamation below.
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Executive branch EEO/AA Committee recruiting new committee members
The Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action Committee is recruiting new committee members for the 2019 – 2021 term. The committee is employee-based and serves in an advisory capacity to the county executive; developing and reviewing strategies, systems, policies and guidelines to implement and enhance executive branch EEO/AA plans.
The committee is actively recruiting representatives from:
- Department of Adult and Juvenile Detention
- Department of Community and Human Services
- Department of Public Defense
- Department of Transportation
- Human Resources Division
- Prosecuting Attorney’s Office
- Public Health – Seattle & King County.
The application period closes Sept. 14. Please visit www.kingcounty.gov/jobs for additional information regarding qualifications and to apply. A short video with additional information regarding the committee can be found at https://youtu.be/ZVMEwdFtZFw.
Contact Diversity and Inclusion Manager Mara Cardenas at 206-477-2358 or Mara.Cardenas@KingCounty.gov for additional information.
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King County pilots innovative solutions for shelter, permanent housing
The King County Department of Community and Human Services placed an order for 29 modular units to house approximately 100 people, the County’s first acquisition of modular housing to provide affordable, mobile units that can be placed into service much faster than units built by traditional construction. The County is also partnering with the City of Shoreline on a supportive housing project for 80-100 people that proposes to model modular construction for permanent affordable housing development.
Architectural rendering of Modular Micro Dwelling Units.
Modular is a type of housing in which the components are manufactured elsewhere and then assembled at the building site. It allows for custom construction at economical prices. Since modulars are built indoors at a facility, there is never a weather delay.
The $4.5 million contract with Whitley Evergreen of Marysville calls for two types of modular housing to be delivered by the middle of next year: congregate shelter and micro dwelling units. The modular manufacturer for the Shoreline project will be identified later this year. All three projects will have 24/7 onsite services provided by community-based agencies.
The State of Washington contributed $1.5 million for the congregate shelter and dwelling units.
“To tackle the housing crisis, we need to explore different options to get people housed quickly. Modular housing has shown great promise, and may play a key part in our regional response,” said Executive Constantine. “To be successful, we will need everyone – local jurisdictions, neighbors, and community partners – to help us take this approach to scale and give people secure and stable places to live.”
Modular Congregate Shelter
King County is developing a prototype modular congregate shelter project tentatively planned for County-owned land on Elliott Avenue in Seattle.
Project: Campus-like layout, with nine dormitory units – 8 beds per unit – to house 72 people. Individual storage lockers in every dorm. Connected to common buildings via walkways.
Target population: People with behavioral health needs and people exiting homelessness. Singles, couples, pets welcome.
Provider: Catholic Community Services providing 24/7 case management.
Funding: $4.5 million King County funding, including $2.7 million to purchase modules and site improvements. Per person cost: approximately $62,500 in capital costs includes sleeping quarters, full kitchen facility, full bathroom facilities, laundry and case management offices.
Special features: Campus will include building with common area dining/kitchen/gathering room and program space; building with toilets, sinks and showers; and building with laundry facilities, storage space and offices. Heat and air conditioning in all buildings.
Modular components: Buildings are built to last at least 20 years, and can be moved to different locations.
Timeline: Manufacturing completed June, project complete approximately in August 2019.
Testing: Pilot testing functionality of movable buildings for purpose-built shelter as a model that can be replicated on public land, faith-based properties or sites held for future development.
Modular Micro Dwelling Units
King County has ordered 20 prototype Micro Dwelling Units to create housing for about 25 people, singles and couples.
Project: Fully permitted homes with a living/sleeping area, kitchen, bathroom and closet.
Target population: People needing affordable housing. First application for people with behavioral health needs and people exiting homelessness.
Provider: Downtown Emergency Service Center providing 24/7 case management.
Funding: $3 million King County funding, including $1.8 million to purchase modules. Per unit cost: approximately $150,000 (does not include land). Location still to be determined.
Special features: Fully contained housing with heat and air conditioning and all life safety features such as fire suppression sprinklers.
Modular components: Buildings are built to last at least 20 years and can be moved to different locations.
Timeline: Manufacturing completed June, project complete approximately in August 2019.
Testing: Pilot testing functionality of high quality movable modular buildings for affordable housing as a model that can be replicated on publicly-owned land, faith-based properties or sites held for future development.
Modular Permanent Supportive Housing
King County and the City of Shoreline are collaborating on a new permanent supportive housing project located at North 198th and Aurora Avenue North in Shoreline. The City and County have selected Community Psychiatric Clinic as the service provider and Catholic Housing Services as the development consultant. The community outreach phase of the project has just begun.
Project: 80-100 housing units – studios and one-bedroom – with 24/7 onsite case management.
Target population: People with behavioral health needs and people exiting homelessness.
Providers: Community Psychiatric Clinic – owner and service provider. Catholic Housing Services – development consultant. Selected through a competitive process.
Funding: Land provided by City of Shoreline and $4.5 million from King County Veterans, Seniors and Human Services Levy. Additional funding still under development.
Special features: Onsite physical and behavioral health clinic open to the public.
Modular components: The project is exploring components to be fabricated offsite and assembled onsite on a fixed concrete foundation. Building will meet all Shoreline building code requirements for multi-family residential buildings.
Timeline: Public notification process September; in design phase now.
Testing: Speed and cost of modular affordable housing construction vs. traditional construction.
Employee News 