The King County Recorder’s Office is now located on the fourth floor of the King County Administration Building, making it easier for customers to access documents, records, and marriage licenses and certificates.

The Recorder’s Office made the move from the third floor of the Administration Building to put its services in easy reach of customers who enter the building from Fifth Avenue.

“Our previous location on the third floor of the Administration Building was not easy for some customers to find, and the third floor had a split level with two separate customer service counters,” said Norm Alberg, Director of the Records and Licensing Services Division. “By moving to the fourth floor, we are making our services more accessible and efficient for customers and combining to a single counter.  In addition to improving customer access, we reduced our square footage.”

Alberg thanked the employees in Facilities Management Division who ensured that the transition occurred with minimal disruption to customer.

“We’d like to recognize the efforts of the Facilities Management Division for the design and implementation of the improved space, move from the 3rd floor, and meeting the project deadline in a tight timeframe,” Alberg said. “We were serving customers on the 3rd floor until close of business on Friday and opened up, ready for customers on Monday morning.”

The Recorder’s Office records and provides access to over 350 types of documents, including:

• Real estate documents (deeds, mortgage documents, real estate tax affidavits, etc.)
• Survey, condominium and plat maps
• Liens
• Marriage applications and certificates
• Miscellaneous documents (powers of attorney, wills, community property agreements, military discharge papers, etc.)

The Recorder’s Office joins the Licensing Section’s Vehicle and Vessel Licensing on the fourth floor, part of the Department of Executive Services’ Records and Licensing Services Division (RALS). The new address is 500 Fourth Ave., Suite 430, Seattle, WA 98104.

On February 11, 2014, PBS NewsHour visited Juvenile Detention to film a story about Pongo Teen Writing – a volunteer, nonprofit organization – and the therapeutic impact of poetry on at-risk youth.

Richard Gould, the founder and Executive Director of Pongo Publishing Teen Writing Project, has been helping troubled teens express themselves through poetry and has published their work in anthologies since mid-1970. He has volunteered his services at Juvenile Detention since 1998. Detained youth have responded to Mr. Gould’s encouragement and help by writing about traumatic events in their lives, such as, losses, death, abandonment, abuse, and parental addiction. Several anthologies have been published over the years highlighting poems written by detained youth (who are not identified in the book by their full name).

PBS featured this innovative program in its ongoing series “Where Poetry Lives,” during its March 17 NewsHour program. Reporter Jeffrey Brown and U.S. Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey learned more about the program and how it empowers young people in crisis to express themselves. Watch the nine-minute video here.

For hours on end, bus drivers manage to keep a schedule, check fares, give directions, remember stop requests and more, all while safely maneuvering an extra-large vehicle through unpredictable traffic, adverse weather conditions and some really tight spaces! The fact is, bus drivers don’t have an easy job; they just make it look that way.

On Tuesday, March 18, join us in celebrating the contributions of our hard-working bus drivers, Access drivers and rail operators. It can be as simple as a smile when you board the bus, and a “thank you” when you leave. And, don’t forget you can submit an official commendation for a job well done, so your drivers can be formally recognized for their efforts. (You can do that any time of year!)

While you are riding, you can tag your tweets #MetroSmiles with kudos or thanks for your driver. Whether tweeting or using our online comment form, be sure to note the four-digit bus number, route, time and direction so we can make sure your commendation reaches your driver.

Print out and personalize a thank you card – Want to deliver a more tangible token of your appreciation? Choose from four “thank you” card designs. Just download and print out the PDF and cut out the card(s) you want. Learn more about International Bus Driver Appreciation Day.

The Department of Executive Services (DES) held its first-ever All-Hands Meeting on February 26 with more than 500 employees in the 832-person department taking part in one of the two sessions.

The All-Hands Meeting, which brought employees from DES’ 10 divisions, agencies and offices together as one department, featured a short video highlighting a dozen DES employees talking about how they “Deliver Excellent Service” every day; an overview of DES’ “clarity map” that will guide the department over the next 10 years; the results of a recent survey of DES employees focusing on the four elements of a high-performing organization; and a live panel discussion about employee engagement.

Attendees also had the chance to take part in an interactive instant poll, focused on DES’ core value of respect. Attendees texted, tweeted or went online to answer the question, In one word, what does RESPECT in the workplace mean to you? and watched as the results appeared live in a Word Cloud. Some of the words that appeared most frequently were Trust, Honesty, Value, Recognition, Listen and Courtesy. See the full Word Cloud below.