“Try to stay positive, one day at a time, one trip at a time and enjoy your free time doing whatever makes you happy.” – Vicki Leslie, Metro Transit Operator of the Year

Known for her safe driving, quick wit and ability to brighten the days of her riders and coworkers, bus driver Vicki Leslie today was named King County Metro Transit Operator of the Year.

Metro officials and fellow bus drivers praised Leslie during a surprise ceremony in Bellevue, echoing commendations she received from customers over the years. Leslie has been driving Metro buses since 1981.

“Vicki is an extraordinary employee who gives her very best every day on the job – to her riders and to her co-workers,” said King County Executive Dow Constantine. “She is exceptionally deserving of this recognition, and a great example of how King County provides truly top-notch customer service.”

Read more in the official press release.

At the ceremony, a band also celebrated Vicki with an awesome rendition of Proud Mary, tailored to driving her bus on the east side. View video of the celebration and song below.

Shared from the DCHS Touching Base Newsletter

Five weeks into operations, DCHS has made significant strides as it works to implement Coordinated Entry for All (CEA), a regional coordinated entry system to connect those experiencing homelessness to housing and services. CEA aims to reduce barriers to housing for those facing a housing crisis through a standardized assessment tool and coordinated referral and housing placement process.

In June, King County took over referrals for family and young adult programs, which has been managed by Catholic Community Services and All Home through Family Housing Connection and Youth Housing Connection since 2012. Since the launch of CEA at King County, 141 youth and families have been referred to housing. In addition to working with families and young adults, CEA is now also providing assessments to homeless single adults. Referrals to single adult programs will begin in mid-September after assessments have been conducted county-wide.

In July, three of the five Regional Access Points (RAP) across King County opened, providing a central resource point where households experiencing homelessness can get help finding housing and other resources. These three locations in Seattle, Renton and Federal Way are able to provide assessments for all populations. Additional RAPs will soon open in North Seattle and East King County.

Until all RAPs are fully up and running, those who are currently experiencing homelessness can access CEA in several other ways. All can call 211 and ask for an intake assessment; as well, young adults can visit one of the young adult access points, and veterans can call Operation: WelcomeOneHome.

The goal is to streamline the process for all homeless populations – families, young adults, veterans and single adults – so that they can be quickly identified, assessed and connected to housing support services and resources. To that end, the Homeless Housing Program has been working with the Behavioral Health and Recovery Division, Developmental Disabilities Division and Employment and Education Resources to create a seamless system of care.

For more information about Coordinated Entry for All, visit www.kingcounty.gov/cea.

To learn more about what DCHS is doing in our community, read the most recent issue of the Touching Base Newsletter (on SharePoint).

Finding new and better ways to recover threatened salmon species in King County is a top priority of the Water and Land Resources Division of the Department of Natural Resources and Parks.

Chris Gregersen, an Environmental Scientist who works to monitor projects designed to improve fish habitat, has recently done just that while saving the county about $45,000.

The Watershed and Ecological Assessment Team use an in-water, fish sampling technique called electrofishing. It’s a process that temporarily stuns fish allowing them to be gathered and evaluated – without being harmed – and then returned to the water.

Traditionally boats used to do this are often too big, difficult to maneuver, expensive or dangerous for the environment the team works in. They needed something lighter and agile, and began considering building a custom cataraft specifically for King County waterways.

A cataraft is a simple pontoon boat, with basic seating for just a few people and storage for items. An electrofishing cataraft adds two large electrode anodes to the front for electrofishing.

After discovering the $60,000 starting price, Chris and the team got the green light to build their own cataraft in-house. They worked with staff from Human Resources; Safety and Claims; Employee Ethics Program; and Procurement to draft a proposal to build the cataraft.

They collaborated internally with colleagues throughout their division to gather input. Once the legal planning, safety requirements and budgets were confirmed, Chris began working on the cataraft, completing it in just seven days with a total budget of $15,000.

A Washington native, Chris began with DNRP as an intern in 2008, and came on board full time in 2012 as an environmental scientist. He has always been passionate about fish, biology and habitat monitoring, and was excited to use his welding skills to make the cataraft project a reality.

“I feel incredibly fortunate to have had the opportunity to put my skills to work and help bring this idea to life,” Chris said. “I have been rowing catarafts for close to 10 years, and fabricating them for six, so the idea of building an electrofishing cataraft in-house made sense.”

While still relatively new, the cataraft is already making waves. Chris and his colleague Dan Lantz recently presented their innovation at the Northwest Environmental Training Center in California. With attendees from all over the West Coast, King County was the only organization with an electrofishing cataraft.

“People were super interested in our setup and how we built it,” Chris said. “We said we needed something nimble and versatile for river restoration projects that could help us study complex salmon habitats.”

The new cataraft is perfectly customized for surveying salmon habitat in the rivers of King County. To the team, the success of the project is due to the way in which employees worked together to develop it.

“King County brings together a huge variety of policymakers, engineers, scientists and experts, and that makes for a really diverse and knowledge-rich working environment that allows us to be on the cutting edge,” Chris said.

“This latest tool allows us to help plan for future projects and provide better habitat for salmon, trout and other fish to thrive.”

The cataraft without the electrical anodes attached.

Chris and other researchers out at night monitoring the fish.

Temporarily captured fish.

Catching the small fish to measure them.

Measuring a little guy.

The cataraft with the anodes attached.

The anodes at work.

This is a big guy.

Construction of the cataraft was taken on by Chris Gregersen.

Construction took knowledge of welding and other skills.

Chris and a colleague out during the day.