Crosposted from DES Express  Puget Sound Energy has selected King County’s Elections Building in Renton to be one of the sites for Round 1 of its Community Solar Program, currently under development.  “This is a really great opportunity to shine a light on renewable energy in general and Elections specifically,” said Sarah Calvillo Hoffman, Energy Manager for Facilities Management Division in Executive Services. “Elections is really interested in doing more sustainable things in general. There are lots of people who go to that building, and there will be signage about the project.”  Read more. 

Crossposted from GIS & You  Working from home since March means my unabridged Random House Dictionary is always just three feet away. Here is an entry…  Cat·a·lyst (n) 3. A person or thing that precipitates an event or change.  At its 2020 Annual Conference, the National States Geographic Information Council (NSGIC) presented its Geospatial Excellence Catalyst Award to the King County Information Technology GIS for Equity and Social Justice Team.  Read more. 

Crossposted from DES Express  Folks in Fleet have been busy working on ways to make processes more efficient. In fact, they have three examples of new or improved processes that will save the county money, reduce waste, and free up staff time for other Lean work.  “We’ve been on a Lean journey way before I got here in late 2018,” said Lynn Walters, shop supervisor. “COVID slowed everything down but we were able to get back on track.”  Walters said there has been universal alignment and support of the Lean efforts from the… Read More

Crossposted from DES Express  All county customers can now make payments online through the ePayment Storefront system, which launched early this summer. This is an important and timely improvement, since most King County in-person services are shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  Congratulations and thank you to employees from several divisions in the Department of Executive Services (DES) and other departments for their hard work and collaboration.  Read more. 

Crossposted from the DES Express Even with the COVID-19 pandemic, King County International Airport’s internship program continued this spring and summer, with a twist, thanks to an innovative new partnership between the airport and the Department of Community and Human Services (DCHS). “We are very excited to keep the internship program running this summer despite the challenges,” said Mohamed Nimeri, Managing Engineer. “Thank you, Eric and Kevin, for leading this effort!” Eric Miller and Kevin Nuechterlein, both capital project managers at KCIA, led the development of the new internship program. While many activities were shutting… Read More

Crossposted from the DES Express  A new book, “Solving the People Problem; Essential Skills You Need to Lead and Succeed in Today’s Workplace,” will be published at the end of the month. The book features several examples of how DES, specifically the Finance and Business Operations Division (FBOD) and the Business Resource Center (BRC), have had success using the tools associated with the DISC profile to improve communication, relationships and productivity.  The book includes an example of how the BRC has improved communication and increased productivity across the organization, while raising engagement, using… Read More