Kudos from a Vets 4 HIRE participant to DNRP section

This kudos comes from James Ott, who participated in the Vets 4 HIRE Program this year with the Department of Natural Resources and Parks.   My experience was incredible. I elected to do my entire time at the Bear Creek District due to child care. The crew there is wow, wow, wow. Parks District Maintenance Coordinator Joseph Hughes is a great leader and easily on par with any of the best military leaders I’ve worked with. I have decided to pursue a degree in Parks Management at the University of Montana. You certainly helped me figure out what I’m going to… Read More

Kudos! LHWMP wins award 

The Local Hazardous Waste Management Program (LHWMP) won a 2017 EPA Safer Choice Partner of the Year Award in the Supporter Category. Safer Choice is an EPA program that helps consumers, businesses, and purchasers find products that perform and are safer for human health and the environment. LHWMP is a multi-jurisdictional program that focuses on reducing public and environmental exposure to hazardous materials. The award acknowledges LHWMP’s efforts to support the Safer Choice program through Safer Choice-related communications and safer chemistry innovation which included promotion via the LHWMP website, publications, presentations, technical… Read More

KCIT featured in Microsoft’s Customer Stories

Microsoft has featured their work with King County in a recent “Customer Stories” feature on their website. This story discusses how King County is using Microsoft Dynamics 365 “as a rapid application development engine to replatform legacy applications and create new information systems.” The prospect of dealing with a government agency puts a knot in the stomach of most Americans. … But, King County, Washington, is committed to changing that view, with a mission to offer residents the ‘best-run government’ with every interaction. -Microsoft Microsoft spoke with several KCIT leaders working to… Read More

EMAP Accreditation awarded to King County OEM 

King County Office of Emergency (OEM) has earned full accreditation by the Emergency Management Accreditation Program (EMAP) – a validation of the capabilities of our disaster preparedness and response systems. Accreditation from this internationally recognized program represents a significant achievement and compliance with sixty-four industry-recognized standards. The rigorous EMAP process required a year-long internal self-assessment of OEM’s organizational programs, plans, and procedures, capped by an on-site peer-review by a team of EMAP assessors drawn from programs across the U.S. “For the past five years, OEM has completed a top to bottom assessment… Read More

Kudos to Jennifer Hills, Risk Manager, Executive Services 

This kudos is from Jennifer Ackerman, the Deputy Executive Director of the Public Risk Management Association. She is recognizing Jennifer Hills for her article published in Public Risk magazine. Hi Jennifer, Congratulations! Your article on the Risk-Crisis Continuum has been selected as Public Risk magazine Article of the Year! You were selected by the judging panel for your article. This is a big honor as you were chosen from a pool of practitioner-writers. Your name will be announced at PRIMA’s awards luncheon, to be held on Monday, June 5, during PRIMA’s Annual… Read More

Kudos to employees who care about our residents and our environment! 

This piece was featured in the Seattle Times’ Rant and Raves list. Kudos to a DNRP employee for saving a bird’s day! “RAVE To the woman working for King County who took my Saturday call about a coot (bird) trapped in a storm drain in Covington. She reached someone in Covington public works, who called me and said they were closed, but they were there first thing on Monday freeing the trapped animal. Public-sector heroes!

Kudos! Office of Risk Management Services featured in national magazine for significantly improving employee engagement scores 

In 2015, the Office of Risk Management Services scored 66% on the countywide employee engagement survey. While a positive score, Director Jennifer Hills sought to improve it. “What I realized was that we really needed to invest in becoming a more cohesive team,” Jennifer said. “We were an agency of strong individual performers but we really needed to come together as a team and start to build trust and have healthy conflict and have commitment around our goals and hold one another accountable to achieve the results that we were looking to… Read More

Kudos! KCIT and Parks win award for connecting with the King County community!

Kudos! Palliative Mobile Care Program featured in national news

This project, coordinated by King County’s Health Care for the Homeless Network and UW Medicine’s Harboview Medical Center was recently spotlighted for its life-saving work to provide care to King County’s homeless population. The Palliative Mobile Care Program aims to reduce unnecessary or unwanted end-of-life care and to give homeless people a say in the process. Since January 2014, has served more than 100 seriously ill men and women in the Seattle area, tracking them down at shelters and drop-in clinics, in tents under bridges and parked cars. Read more about this amazing program in the original article at USA Today.

Kudos to Career Support Services for helping employees manage careers and improve skills!

Career Support Services offers a variety of services, training and resources to King County employees in the areas of career development and job search, including support for career-service employees facing layoff. It has received rave reviews from employees who spoke with a career coach about their career plan, and also by employees going through layoffs. Employees from around the County have shared: “This is an excellent resource, I plan on utilizing more of the services offered as well as letting my co-workers know.” –Department of Transportation  “Very helpful, thank you for this… Read More