Crossposted from the Wastewater Treatment Division blog

In 1966 the Wastewater Treatment Division was created to protect our waters and our health every day. Here’s one story of our progress. – By Monica Van der Vieren

Raw sewage flowed from pipes at every street end. River waters in cities were so dead that fish would avoid swimming upstream. “Scum and toilet debris floated on the water,” said one person, shaking his head. “It stunk.”

That was the Puget Sound region 50 years ago.

Half a century later, WTD is celebrating all of the men and women who commit their careers, skills, talents, and creativity to the regional wastewater treatment system that has transformed our waterways.

Read the story and see (just some!) of the photos from the 50th Celebration last week on the WTD blog at the link below.

Read more at the Wastewater Treatment Division blog

It’s not easy to step in to a new role, especially for a short time. It takes an understanding of the job duties, but also an appreciation of its goals and culture. Susie Slonecker has stepped into the role of interim Human Resources Director with just this, as well as an awareness of the work being done and also a positive and collaborative way to improve upon it.

A northwest native, Susie first came to Washington for college, attending the University of Washington, Seattle. She returned to her hometown of Eugene, OR for law school before coming to work for the King County Prosecutor’s office in 1993. In her time here, she has become well known for her ability to work with employees and labor relations professionals from across the County on labor and employment issues. She continues to bring these skills into her work within HR.

“I’m looking at things we’re doing and saying ‘is this the right way to do it, and if not, what is the new way to do it?’” said Susie. “It’s about finding a balance and giving employees the space to breathe so that they take the time to do their work well.”

“In any job, everyone seems to be running all the time, and I just think, do we need to be?”

Ensuring work is done in an efficient manner, while still being conscious of employees needs is an important part of how Susie addresses workplace improvements.

“It’s looking at how do we prioritize our work and chunk it out,” she said. “There’s these great big policies and initiatives but saying ‘I’ll get work done on this part’ helps us not lose focus on our own day-to-day.”

“At the heart of Human Resources is humans. We need to listen to a problem in the work place and learn how to collaboratively solve it.”

Susie takes on the community approach to her work because she believes it’s integral to being an award-winning County with nationally recognized practices. She understands that at times it can be difficult due to the divisions and separations between each department, but explains that the success of one hinges on the achievements of all.

“HRD is here to be a partner and a resource. I know there’s some employees who may think we just say no, but we can really help with the many challenges that come with being a big employer.”

“We’re listening and thinking of ways to do things to help people become better employees.”

Done in a strategic and holistic style, Susie works to ensure the system is working well for each employee by helping managers become coaches, providing tools for the workplace and holding people accountable for their actions.

“It’s about supporting both sides of employees – getting to that point where something works for the whole group – and checking back with people to be sure they are happy in their workplace.”

For The Defense tells stories about the people who work for King County’s Department of Public Defense: Their work, the issues they face, the challenges they experience and the successes they celebrate. It looks at the criminal justice system through the lens of public defense — issues of racial disproportionality, the criminalization of people who are poor and mentally ill, reforms that are needed to make the system fairer and more equitable. Finally, it looks at the clients we serve. When we can, we’ll tell their stories, too.

Follow the For The Defense blog today!

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Three tips to make your life easier and keep our records tidy.

King County Information Technology data shows that August is one of the most popular months of the year for vacation. This can result in our King County Electronic Records Management System (KC ERMS) being packed with “Out of Office” email responses – 27,357 right now to be specific!

Below are some tips for keeping these and other transitory records from ending up in KC ERMS.

No camping: Don’t let “Out of Office” notices camp out in your inbox. These are transitory emails and they clog up your inbox making it more difficult to find the important stuff. To declutter your inbox search for “Automatic Reply” in the search box, highlight the messages and delete all.

Take out the trash: Automatically empty your deleted items folder when you close Outlook. Items left in the deleted folder or the trash can slow Outlook performance and are subject to public records requests. To change your Outlook setting to automatically delete messages in the deleted items folder every time you close Outlook, open Outlook, click, File, click Options, click Advanced and check Empty Deleted Items folder when exiting Outlook.

Missing You!: No doubt you’ll be missed while you’re away, but if you don’t want to see a notification of every call you missed while away on vacation, turn off the missed call notification option: Open Outlook, choose File, choose Info, choose Manage Voice Mail, then Outlook Web App will open. Log into that. Make sure you are in the Phone Menu on the Voice Mail tab. Under Notifications uncheck Send an e-mail message to my inbox when I miss a phone call.

That’s it! Have a nice vacation and don’t forget the sunscreen!