Michael Jacobson receives national Excellence in Government Leadership Award

Michael Jacobson, Deputy Director of Performance, Strategy and Budget, has been recognized by the Association of Government Accountants with their 2018 Excellence in Government Leadership Award. This nationally recognized award is given to professionals who exemplify and promote excellence in government financial management, outstanding leadership, and innovative management procedures. It recognizes the cumulative achievements of state or local government professionals who have served as a role model and consistently exhibited the highest personal and professional standards. “This award represents cumulative career achievements, all of which were available to me due to the… Read More

Tech Tip: Leveraging Skype for Business at King County

Over the past year, KCIT and Employee News have shared a range of great Skype for Business articles. Here’s a rollup, in case you missed any! Tech Tip: Skype for Business: How to Skype with external customers: The Skype for Business (Lync/UC) account on your computer is a simple and effective way to have meaningful (remote) meetings with clients, partners and customers even if your client, partner or customer doesn’t have a Skype for Business account. Tech Tip: Skype Bite – How to Use Instant Messaging: Want to get in touch with someone fast?… Read More

Stormwater mapping: A glimpse into the world of tracking where the rain goes

Crossposted from The Downstream Blog Aeronautical engineers, consultants, graphic designers, and Geographic Information System (GIS) professionals formed an unlikely, but unstoppable, team at King County’s Water and Land Resources Division last year. The project team’s short-term goal was to map the stormwater drainage system within parts of unincorporated King County, an assignment that allowed them to test their field skills and environmental passion. To help accomplish this, a team was brought together as part of an ongoing effort to map stormwater drainage system that had not been inventoried, as required by King… Read More

All Home: Count Us In 2018 Report

The 2018 Count Us In report found 12,112 people experiencing homelessness across the region on January 26, 2018, including 5,792 people sheltered in emergency shelters, safe havens and transitional housing and 6,320 people on the streets, in vehicles or staying in tents or encampments (both sanctioned and unsanctioned). The count includes a 15 percent increase in unsheltered people and a four percent increase overall, the smallest increases in homelessness in the region in the past four years. The biggest improvement was a 31 percent reduction in veteran homelessness, the result of increased… Read More

Winning – it’s what we do!

Crossposted from Election Connection We’re proud to share that we recently won several awards, three for our voter access programs and two for videos we created last year. NACo awards-transparentFirst things first, we received three awards from the National Association of Counties (NACo) for the great way we’re improving voter access for residents here in King County. NACo’s annual Achievement Awards recognize programs that are innovative and enhance services for residents. We won the 2018 Achievement Award from NACo in two different categories. We will be formally recognized for these awards at… Read More

Kudos! to DAJD’s Linda Robson for winning a Gold Hermes Award

Linda Robson, Department of Adult and Juvenile Detention Communications Specialist, wrote Giving inmates the skills to clean up at work and in life as the In Depth column for the November 2017 edition of the department’s monthly employee newsletter, which we featured in KC Employee News. Linda’s piece won a 2018 Gold Hermes Creative Award in the Writing category for Publication Article in an international competition hosted by the Association of Marketing Communication Professionals. In Greek mythology, Hermes is the Olympian god of orators and wit, of literature and poets, and invention… Read More

Tech Tip: Updating King County-issued and personal devices

In case you missed it: Whether it’s on your county-issued mobile device or your own personal device, KCIT strongly recommends that you update the Operating System when your provider releases OS updates. These updates keep your device free of viruses, make it difficult for hackers to gain access to your information and help your existing apps work better. KCIT is rolling out Exchange Online throughout the county. This allows employees to access King County email anytime, anywhere and from any device if that device has the most updated software. For our security… Read More

Michael Jenkins and GIS on the SoundGuardian

Michael Jenkins is a King County Master GIS Specialist, Developer and Analyst with a focus on enterprise system design, and administration and application development. Michael’s King County GIS Center team manages the King County Geographic Information System, King County’s cooperative, multi-department, enterprise GIS; providing efficient, high-quality GIS leadership, coordination, infrastructure, and services to meet the business needs of our customers and clients in King County government, the Puget Sound region and beyond With more than two decades on the King County GIS Center team, Michael has seen and done a lot! In… Read More

Jennifer Hills named Public Risk Manager of the Year

Congratulations to Jennifer Hills, director of King County’s Office of Risk Management Services! She’s been named Public Risk Manager of the Year by PRIMA, a risk management association for public agencies. Jennifer received the award during PRIMA’s annual conference in Indianapolis. Jennifer has been a King County employee for nearly 20 years and has spearheaded several initiatives, including implementation of Enterprise Risk Management. ERM is moving King County from being a risk-averse organization to one that takes smart risks that enhance value. The award also honors Jennifer’s staff at ORMS who have… Read More

Featured Job: Ruth Woo Emerging Leaders Fellowship

Closing: 06/28/18 11:59 PM (GMT -8:00) $21.54 – $27.39 Hourly Seattle, WA Term Limited Temporary, Full Time, 40 hrs/wk Human Resources Division Job Number: 2018LL08197 Ruth Woo (photo by George Liu for Northwest Asian Weekly) King County has an exciting fellowship opportunity for those who have a demonstrated commitment to public service.  The Ruth Woo Emerging Leaders Fellowship is named after the revered community leader who was not only a community leader, but a mentor to many elected officials, and she dedicated her life to public service.  In her honor, King County… Read More