King County, City of Maple Valley partner to invest in clean water and community
The City of Maple Valley recently completed one of the 26 projects funded in part by the County’s most recent Water Quality Improvements Projects grant package. The project significantly reduces contaminated stormwater runoff from 216th Avenue Southeast, a busy arterial, into local salmon creeks.
“Improving water quality is good for both King County residents and the environment,” said Councilmember Reagan Dunn, who has been looking forward to seeing the results.
In addition to the installation of curbs, gutters and permeable landscaped medians, those results include using four modular wetland systems, a type of green stormwater infrastructure, to collect and treat surface water and reduce the amount pollutants flowing into Cranmar Creek – a tributary of Jenkins Creek. Both creeks provide critical habitat for Coho salmon smolt.
“These modular wetlands are designed to filter out 80% of the sediment that normally wash straight into nearby waterbodies,” said Elizabeth Louden, WaterWorks Grant Administrator with DNRP’s Wastewater Treatment Division. “We’re pleased this grant made a difference, and the City of Maple Valley could make a significant improvement to local creeks.”
For more information on this project, including before-and-after photos, visit the City of Maple Valley’s Capital Improvement Projects site.
King County Wastewater Treatment Division’s mission is to protect public health and enhance the environment by collecting and treating wastewater while recycling valuable resources for the Puget Sound region. Wastewater Treatment funds are used to support projects that improve water quality and invest in community partnerships. Funds are awarded directly by Council through the WaterWorks Grant Program for the 26 Water Quality Improvements Projects. For more information, contact Elizabeth at 206-477-4297 or water.grants@kingcounty.gov.
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Employee navigates “hire-to-retire” transition for others
Working in benefits planning to help those who are retiring can be a challenging job. With an aging workforce, there’s always work to be done and a new person to transition into retirement.
Carmen Johnson, a Retirement and Benefits Navigator, has happily taken on this task, enjoying the work she does to help outgoing King County employees start a new adventure in their life.
“I find it so rewarding,” she said. “It’s an emotionally and mentally challenging time for people and I get to help them through it.”
With an average of ten thousand people turning 65 in the United States each day, according to the Pew Research Center, many things need to be done to ensure employees can easily transition from “hire-to-retire.”
Part of a retirement team, Carmen has been with King County since 2012 and in her current role for almost two years. She got involved right away in learning all about the many things that impact retirement.
“There’s a lot to learn,” she said. “Social security, Medicare, VEBA, PERS – and laws and programs change constantly, so it is a continuous process of educating myself.”
“But I don’t really have any negatives to my job. I really enjoy helping people.”
Staying up to date on current policies, while also working with employees to retire means there’s never an average day. Carmen also works with the New Employee Orientation (NEO), Verification of Employments (VOE), processes paperwork for both new hires and retires and also schedules out the Medicare and Social Security employee workshops.
These workshops are an exciting part of her work, in that she can meet employees from all across King County and get to know each of them and their retirement goals. Carmen facilitates at least two workshops a month.
“I enjoy meeting people from all over the county and helping them through all of their varied situations,” she said. “It’s great to get out of the office and learn about the wide variety of employees that help make the county run.”
“I can’t do that at another employer and I like it a lot.”
Carmen looks forward to providing even more opportunities to retiring employees this year. She and the retirement team are working to keep employees engaged and excited about the shift to retirement, by giving them the tools and education needed so that they will be taken care of long after their time at King County ends.
“We’ve got more training workshops planned and we’ll be updating the website to be more informative,” she said. “We know we’re going to see a lot of people retiring in the next few years and we plan to be prepared.”
For information about benefits planning, visit the Benefits, Payroll and Retirement section of the King County website or contact kc.benefits@kingcounty.gov.
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United Way free tax preparation available
Tax season is upon us and King County would like to highlight United Way of King County’s free tax preparation services as a convenient option available to you, your family members, and your community! Tax time can be stressful and expensive, but it doesn’t have to be; consider taking advantage of this free service so you can avoid costly tax preparation fees and maximize your refund.
United Way offers free tax preparation services at over 27 locations throughout King County and online from now through April. Households making under $64,000 can have their taxes prepared by a certified tax preparer, plus they can get connected to other community resources and public benefits.
There are two easy ways to file:
Online: File your taxes online for free with United Way’s My Free Taxes tool if your household makes under $64,000 at www.MyFreeTaxes.com.
In-Person: Locations can be found throughout King County with convenient hours to meet your schedule. No appointments are needed. To find a location near you, languages available, a list of what to bring, and other details, visit United Way’s website at www.FreeTaxExperts.org or call 2-1-1.
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Get in gear during your commute!
You’ve spoken, and the County heard you. In addition to the improvements made at King Street Center last year, Facilities Management Division and Healthy Incentives have joined together to make improvements to the cyclist accommodations at the Chinook Building; they are installing additional lockers.
For the commuters among us who have been considering cycling to work, there are many ways the County supports you – regardless of your particular work site location! Many County facilities accommodate cyclists with bike parking areas, lockers and showers. If you don’t feel like pedaling the entire way, King County Metro Buses and Vanpools can carry you and your bike. You can also visit Metro online to learn more about the many Metro and Sound Transit bike racks and lockers at transit facilities and Park & Rides throughout the County.
If you have concerns about safety and reliability, the County web site provides information on bicycle safety and other bike resources (including maintenance and repair).
Need a little healthy incentive? Biking is one of the commuting methods that qualify for either REI® or Union 76® gift cards! The cards are worth $20, $40 or $60 dollars – depending on the number of months you qualify each quarter.
For more information about cyclist resources in your facility, contact your HR representative. For more information about commuting options, and to obtain a Carpool, Bike & Walk Incentive Program registration form, contact Employee Transportation Program Manager Hossein Barahimi, 206-477-5853 or ETP@KingCounty.gov.
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Executive Constantine announces continued commitment to health care priorities as Congress debates rollback
Shared from the DCHS Touching Base Newsletter
“I will fight to protect families and ensure access to care.” – King County Executive Dow Constantine
The people of King County benefitted dramatically from the expansion of health insurance and other reforms under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) – and a repeal without a comparable replacement threatens widespread damage to the region’s health and economic well-being.
More than 200,000 people access health care in King County through the ACA, including many people now eligible for Medicaid coverage under Medicaid expansion.
That has made health and behavioral health care possible when treatment and other services were previously out of reach.
But that coverage could be in jeopardy if the new administration and Congress move forward with threats to repeal or significantly roll back the ACA. King County Executive Dow Constantine held a news conference in Seattle on Jan. 23 to draw attention to all that could be lost for individuals, families and our community.
“I will fight to protect families and ensure access to care. I will make sure Congress and the new president understand what’s at stake for our residents. And our public health and human services and community partners will do everything in their power to prevent people from suddenly being left without care,” said Constantine at the news conference.
In the past four years in King County:
- The number of uninsured working-age adults has dropped by 54 percent since 2013, to just 7.7 percent, the lowest level ever recorded.
- The uninsured rate for children has also reached an historic low of 1.6 percent.
- The uninsured rate for African Americans dropped by nearly two-thirds, from 27 percent to 10 percent.
Pictured Jim Vollendroff, BHRD Director, responds to questions about behavioral health care.
In addition to those who may lose Medicaid coverage, many more in King County would be at risk if Congress does not maintain the ban on discrimination against people with pre-existing conditions and the ability to keep adult children on family health plans until age 26. Removing these and the core requirement that everyone participate in insurance could result in a “death spiral” in the insurance market, impacting not only those who have benefited from the Affordable Care Act but also the broader population.
These items will be at the top of King County’s federal legislative agenda that Executive Constantine and the Council take to Washington, D.C., in April. More information is available here.
To learn more about what DCHS is doing in our community, read the most recent issue of the Touching Base Newsletter(on SharePoint).
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King County open regular hours today
King County operations, including Superior Court, District Court, Department of Judicial Administration, Elections, Department of Assessments and the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, will open at regular hours today, Tuesday, Feb. 7, unless advised otherwise by your leadership.
Icy road conditions and freezing temperatures may impact your commute this morning. Please let safety be your guide when making commute decisions. Where allowed, employees may be able to telecommute or take a day of accrued vacation or comp time instead of reporting to their normal work location today. Check with your supervisor for more information. First responders and other Level 1 staff are expected to report to their work location as usual.
HR Policies: When an agency remains open, but conditions prevent you from reporting to work on time, notify your supervisor as soon as possible. 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. Sick leave may not be used. Refer to HR Bulletin 2011-0009 County Operations During Emergency Situations and Inclement Weather
Commute: Some Metro Transit bus routes in Southwest King County are operating on snow routes, so please check Metro’s snow alerts page for travel updates and use extra caution. You can also sign up for Metro Transit Alerts (text, email, tweets via @kcmetrobus).
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Social Media Spotlight: Dow Constantine Twitter
King County Executive Dow Constantine
Follow the official Twitter account of King County Executive Dow Constantine for Executive news and updates. This account is monitored by the Exec and his staff.
Follow the KC Exec on Twitter today!
Click here to view all King County social media pages.
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Featured Job: Oracle Applications Developer – Senior
Closing Date/Time: Mon. 02/13/17 4:30 PM
Salary: $40.53 – $51.38 Hourly, $84,302.40 – $106,870.40 Annually
Job Type: Term Limited Temporary, Full Time, 40 hrs/wk
Location: Chinook Building, 401 5th Avenue, Seattle, Washington
Department: King County Department of Information Technology
Description: King County Information Technology (KCIT) is looking for a Senior Application Developer to play a vital role in the success of numerous King County agencies by supporting multiple applications/systems and critical and complex development projects. Responsible for the full software development lifecycle, this developer will recognize the best solutions for organizing, integrating and provisioning data, thereby developing the data portion of complex applications tailored to meet client needs.
Learn more about this position or view all available jobs.
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Tech Tip: Staying connected all the time via Skype
Some King County employees have jobs that require, at times, 24/7 availability. Skype for Business has a tool that forwards all work calls to the phone of your choice IF your work phone isn’t picked up at your desk. It’s called Simultaneous Ring. It just requires a few checked boxes, as we show you in this video.
Employee News 