Employee News

Posted on January 6, 2018 by Lilia Cabello Drain

2017 brings a bond rating boost, lower costs for vital infrastructure

Operating a regional wastewater utility requires more than a dedicated workforce and highly specialized equipment. It also takes money, especially when it comes to funding new facilities to make sure our system keeps pace with population growth.

Just like you might borrow money to invest in a new home, or remodel a kitchen, we borrow money to build new facilities, or to upgrade or expand our system, by issuing bonds.

Visualizing King County: Timber cruise reports from 1907-08

Crossposted from Bytes and Boxes

New online! The King County Archives recently completed a project to image and rehouse 45 volumes of Assessor’s timber cruise reports dating from 1907-08. Valued by researchers for their detail and accuracy, the reports are a unique resource for this time period in King County. We are thrilled to make high-quality copies of these records easily accessible through our public search site.

The imaged reports document natural topography like ridges, swamps, and waterways; vegetation and soil types; human impacts such as areas that have been burned or logged; and the built environment, including trails, houses, farms, roads, mines, mills, and railroads.

Sing-a-long: “These are a few of our public health things”

Crossposted from Public Health Insider

Smileys on restaurants and signage on clinics
Saying “you’re welcome” to all who come in it
Kicking off Best Starts with com-mun-ities

These are a few 2017 things!

Spray parks and hygiene and tales made of doodles
Noro in oysters
And phthalates in noodles
Wild bats that fly and may carry rabies

These are a few 2017 things!

Happy New Year from King County Employee Health & Well-Being

Crossposted from Healthy Incentives

As announced last month, there are exciting changes coming to the Employee Health & Well-Being Program, and happy days are ahead for King County employees! In case you missed it, visit the New Health & Well-Being Program site or check out this short video regarding the upcoming changes.

The Employee Health & Well-Being team is excited to get the New Year going. As we prepare to introduce the new program, here are ways to remain involved:

Stay engaged

Many of the programs and activities you enjoy are still available so stay engaged! See the list here.

Chief deputy of King County Sheriff’s Office featured in national magazine

Chief deputy Jim Pugel is featured in a recent article by the Pew Charitable Trusts entitled Law Enforcement Veteran Offers New Perspective on Policing.

“I was taught to catch the bad guys and put them in jail and then go out and do it all over again.”

The article discusses criminal justice reform, recidivism rates, the LEAD program here in King County and how real-world consequences changed Jim’s thinking about crime and punishment.

Filing project streamlines record keeping and recruits new employees

Crossposted from Clean Water Stories

The file room on site was bulging. The file cabinets overflowed. Folders lived on top of the cabinets with arrows and sticky notes pointing to them. People complained about papercuts. Off-site, decades of active and inactive files were stored together chronologically, making it difficult to respond to requests for records about specific facilities and to remove outdated files from closed facilities. Something had to change.

The Industrial Waste Program works with industries to prevent pollution. And they take record-keeping seriously. Some of their active files date back to the 1960’s. As long as a facility is in business, its Industrial Waste Program files are still active and must be kept. Even after a business closes, Industrial Waste must keep the inactive records for a certain period of time.

Breaking down the Employee Survey results: Communications

The results of the 2017 Employee Survey are out and we’re sharing some of the findings in key areas of the survey. This week we’re looking at communications.

Q52. I feel well-informed about County news and events: 75% agree | 18% neutral | 7% disagree. This is a 2 percentage point increase from last year, and a 24 percentage point increase from our external government benchmark.
Q48. I receive the information I need to do my job well: 69% agree | 18% neutral | 13% disagree. This is a 2 percentage point increase from last year.
Q4. I am clear about what I am expected to achieve in my job: 83% agree | 9% neutral | 8% disagree. This has remained consistent from last year.

We are now acting on what you told us and are launching our action planning process to ensure we are addressing these and other issues you said are important to you.

You can see the full survey results here (intranet). Employees in all branches and departments of King County, except the Superior Court, District Court and the Sheriff’s Office, and employees who are not Short Term Temps, interns or started before August 25, 2017, were invited to participate in the survey. Note: Due to rounding of numbers and “not applicable” and “I don’t know” answers, some totals may not equal 100 percent.

Posted on January 3, 2018 by Lilia Cabello Drain

Featured Job: Court Commissioner

Closing Date/Time: Mon. 01/29/18 11:59 PM Pacific Time

Salary: $160,728.00 Annually

Job Type: Regular, Full time, 35 hrs/week

Location: Multiple locations in King County, Washington

Department: King County Superior Court

Description: King County Superior Court is recruiting for two Court Commissioner positions: A current opening for Family Law Commissioner and an anticipated opening for Ex Parte Commissioner. Candidates may apply for either or both positions. Qualified candidates may be placed on an eligibility list for future recruitments.
Commissioners fill a variety of statutory and constitutional responsibilities and preside over the Ex Parte, Probate, Family Law, Juvenile Court dependency and offender, Involuntary Treatment Act and Criminal Plea calendars as assigned by the Presiding Judge. They may be designated to sit as judges pro tempore from time to time.

Contact: For more information contact King County Superior Court Human Resources at (206) 477-1536.

Learn more about this position, or view all available jobs.

Posted on January 2, 2018 by Lilia Cabello Drain

Kudos! Archivists acknowledged for book contributions!

Waterway: The Story of Seattle’s Locks and Ship Canal by David Williams and Jennifer Ott was published this year as a part of the regional centennial celebration of the opening of the Lake Washington Ship canal and the Ballard Locks.

Several staff from King County Archives were acknowledged for their contributions in the new book, including archivist Carol Shenk, assistant archivists Jill Anderson and Rebecca Pixler, and reference specialist Greg Lange.

Kudos to these Records and Licensing Services Division staff for their innovation and contributions!

Posted on January 2, 2018 by Lilia Cabello Drain

Social Media Spotlight: KC Employee News blog

King County has more than 13,000 employees who work to make a difference in our community every day. We strive to tell stories that highlight the work we do – in health and human services, law enforcement, courts, parks, wastewater treatment, transportation, and much more – and that also supports our residents, builds strong communities, and helps to make our region a great place to live and work.